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stevewiegenstein

~ News, announcements, events, and ruminations about my books, including Slant of Light, This Old World, The Language of Trees, and Scattered Lights, and about creativity, fiction, Missouri, the Ozarks, and anything else that strikes my fancy

stevewiegenstein

Tag Archives: Unitarian

Originality and conventionality

26 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Illinois, Personal

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Conventionality, Emerson, Originality, Quincy, Unitarian

A short excerpt from a talk I gave to the Quincy Unitarian Church, yesterday:

I think of Emerson’s famous comment about individuality: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” The adjective that often gets overlooked there is the “foolish” before the “consistency.” It’s not consistency itself that is the problem, it’s foolish consistency, following the dictates of convention without knowing why or having good reason. It’s fine to scorn the herd, but sometimes the herd is heading for the waterhole. Conventional wisdom is sometimes conventional because it’s wise.

It seems like the older I get, the more the idea of the wisdom of the elders makes sense to me. What the elders have to offer is accumulated practical experience, the knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. The word “orthodox” originally meant “correct thinking.” Rejecting the conventional sometimes means rejecting common sense, substituting what you would like to be true for what is true. My “unorthodox ideas” may just be whims. Emerson writes in “Self-Reliance,” “I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim,” but I would not recommend using whim to build your porch.

The entire talk will be up on their website before long.

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More photos

18 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Illinois, Personal, Photos, Slant of Light, Utopias

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bookstores, fiction, historical fiction, Illinois, Missouri, Quincy, Unitarian, utopia, writing

Some nice photos, courtesy of my daughter, of some recent appearances.

Talking about utopias at the Quincy Unitarian Church.

Signing at Great Debate Booksin Quincy.

The super-cool merchandise that Expressions by Christine in Quincy came up with to help me promote my book! Authors, take note…..they do wonderful work!

Next reading/signing

06 Sunday May 2012

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Illinois, Personal, Slant of Light, Writing

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bookstores, historical fiction, Illinois, Quincy, Slant of Light, Unitarian, writing

This weekend I’ll be doing readings/signings at the Quincy Unitarian Church on Friday evening and at Great Debate Books on Saturday afternoon. Although I am not living in Quincy now, I still consider it “home” and still love to visit the church–in fact, I’ve never transferred my membership out of it, despite my departure. When the folks at the church heard that my book was coming out, they immediately wanted to put on a celebration–so that’s what this will be! Wine and cheese and hors d’oeuvres, with a brief reading and lots of happy conversations.

Then for those who prefer Saturdays, a signing in a more traditional location: Great Debate Books, an independent bookstore at the corner of Sixth and Maine. Looking forward to both events!

Book Launch

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Daybreak, Illinois, Missouri, Personal, Writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bookstores, Civil War, fiction, historical fiction, Missouri, Missouri Writers Guild, novels, Quincy, Slant of Light, St. Louis, Unitarian

The official launch of Slant of Light will happen on April 19 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Subterranean Books, 6275 Delmar, in University City (on the Delmar Loop). The location is a bit serendipitous . . . a former student of mine from the 1990s is married to an employee there, so the connection was made.

That weekend, those of you who are attending the Missouri Writers’ Guild conference in St. Louis can pick up a copy there . . . I’ll be signing books on Friday, the 20th, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

If my Hannibal/Canton/Quincy friends can hold out till May, there will be at least one event up there. Working with the dear folks at the Unitarian Church for a wine & cheese party/book reading & signing . . . specific date and time to be announced.

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