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Beckoning Lovely

2016-08-02 · letter vlog · John · 3:04 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Nerdfighteria, Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: civic or action cta, community lore

John credits his friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal with an early radio break and, more importantly, with teaching him that stories work only when readers and writers are both generous; he recalls 8/8/08 and plugs her new book Textbook and her 8/9/16 gathering at the Bean.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Intro: John's friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal, her books, and a video in three parts like Plato's theory of the soul

  • ★★ John says his friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal has written many amazing picture books, which he'll send Hank, and the brilliant Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, and gave him an early big break. — 00:00:00

00:00:15 — Part one: his 2002 big break from Booklist to WBEZ and NPR, and the real break: readers and writers must both be generous

  • ★★★ In 2002, while John worked at Booklist, Amy emailed him; they corresponded, she asked for a two-minute piece for WBEZ, and he wrote an essay that night and recorded it. — 00:00:17
  • ★★ John recorded dozens of essays for WBEZ and a few for NPR's All Things Considered over the next years, which helped him get into publishing and sell Looking for Alaska. — 00:00:40 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John says Amy's real gift to him was not radio but teaching him that for stories to work, readers and writers must both be generous. — 00:00:52
  • ★★ John says that when he called Persuasion crap at 15, the fault was not Jane Austen's: he was reading ungenerously, looking for things to dislike. — 00:01:04
  • ★★ John says writing works the same way: Amy's books are special because she tries to make a gift for the reader, not to wow or impress them. (hedged) — 00:01:16

00:01:24 — Part two, 8/8/08: the first huge Nerdfighter gathering at Terminus, meeting Rosianna, Amy's Beckoning of Lovely at the Bean

  • ★★ John recalls August 8, 2008 as a big day: the brothers' first huge Nerdfighter gathering, helped by coinciding with a Harry Potter convention. — 00:01:25 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ That day John first met Rosianna, then a high school student and now his production partner in movie stuff. — 00:01:35 · Rosianna Halse Rojas
  • ★★ That evening Amy hosted The Beckoning of Lovely at the Bean in Millennium Park; what stuck with John most was singing an old soldiers' song to Auld Lang Syne with hundreds of people. — 00:01:40 · The Beckoning of Lovely

00:02:07 — Part three, 8/9/16: Amy's new book Textbook and her gathering at the Bean

  • ★★ Amy has finished Textbook, a companion to Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life ('not a prequel or a sequel; hopefully an equal'), out next Tuesday (9 August 2016). — 00:02:09
  • ★★ Amy is hosting another gathering at the Bean on 8/9/16; John urges viewers near Chicago to stop by and points to her video and the doobly-doo. — 00:02:18 · Chicago (city)
  • ★★ John hopes viewers outside Chicago too will join him in reading Textbook, with links in the doobly-doo. (hedged) — 00:02:34 · Chicago (city)

00:02:39 — People whose generosity holds us together, Hank's big news, a comment ask; Esther Day tomorrow

  • ★★ John says we all have people whose generosity lifted us up or held us together, and he has been thinking of them in light of Hank's big news. (hedged) — 00:02:39
  • ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to say in the comments who those generous people have been in their lives. — 00:02:47 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says amid the torrent of bad news it is easy to forget that we are here for each other and lucky to have each other, but we are. — 00:02:51
  • ★ John will see Hank tomorrow because it will be Esther Day. — 00:02:58 · Esther Day

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says Amy will be at the Bean on 8/9/16 from 8:09 AM to 8:09 PM, recognisable by a yellow umbrella. — video description
  • ★★ John says Hank's big news is discussed in this week's (week of 1 August 2016) episode of Dear Hank and John. — video description · Dear Hank and John

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Amy Krouse Rosenthal · principle of charity · Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal · The Beckoning of Lovely

Also: People: Jane Austen · Rosianna Halse Rojas

Works: All Things Considered · Auld Lang Syne · Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Persuasion · We're Here Because We're Here

Organizations: Booklist · NPR · WBEZ

Rituals: Esther Day

Concepts: Plato's tripartite theory of soul

Places: Chicago (city) · Cloud Gate · Millennium Park

Events: Terminus

Only in the description or credits: Dear Hank and John

Also centred on Amy Krouse Rosenthal: A Video about Videos · Positive Pranking: The TP Edition · The Terrible Burden of Destiny: Chicago and Waupaca · SIGNING MADNESS · Because We're Here · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed

Also centred on principle of charity: Ending The Great Airplane Seat Debate · An H of G

Later videos replying to this one