The Liebster Award

To my non-blogging readership, I beg indulgence as I depart from my usual habits to join in a sort of blogging game. Manoah’s Wife has kindly tagged me for an illustrious Liebster Award, the existence of which I was, alas! unaware until I received it. It’s design is, I believe, to channel traffic to bloggers with — as yet — small readerships through the use of trivia and questions. After appropriate reading and research, I have determined my responsibilities to be fulfilled in the following:

L’Trivia du Moi
In which I talk about myself

I’m a part-time instructor of college English, part-time instructor of private piano lessons, some-time church pianist, children’s choir director, adult choir soprano.
I’m an all-the-time writer, but that’s not my job.
I’m a twenty-something who still lives with her parents, an older sister of grown-up brothers.
I’m a listener, a watcher, a day-dreamer and a night-sleeper.
I’m a just-outside-the-circle stander, in-the-corner sitter.
I’m afraid, but I’ll be brave if you seem afraid.
I like real people and real conversations; I want to know your story.
I love poetry.
I also love alphabetical lists of names.
I have eight states, twelve houses, fifty first cousins to my history, and I’m not from here, and I’m still on my way Home.
I’m bruised and scarred from running up against my own insufficiency, but still and always I’m gathered into His grace.

I believe in Truth with a capital “T,” and my favorite places are the intersections of art or life or (fill in the blank) and that Truth. (Which, really, are everywhere, aren’t they?)

Answers to the Questions from Manoah’s Wife
1. If you could choose one fictional creature to be your pet/animal companion, which would you choose and why?
For the sake of absurdity, I choose Ball Body, a goblin creature from George MacDonald’s The Princess and Curdie, because it is exactly as its name indicates and nothing more than its name indicates, and therefore fills me with mirthful delight.

2. Name a favorite moment of yours from any movie released in the 1980s and explain why.
Eric Liddell’s “When I run I feel His pleasure” speech from Chariots of Fire has to be the winner, however overused it may be as a sermon illustrations: things are generally overused because they are good.

3. If you had to be chased by some hostile fictional creature or character, through a fictional landscape, which ones would you choose and why?
The lion who chases Shasta and Aravis across the border into Archenland in C. S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy. Because, for all his seeming hostility, that lion is Aslan.

4. In-N-Out, Five Guys, or Chik-Fil-A?
Chik-Fil-A, I suppose. Though, to be fair, I’ve never been to In-N-Out.

5. Name a song you really like from a musical genre you don’t generally like and explain why this one works for you.
Well, I’m not a fan of rap in general, Christian or otherwise. But Christian rapper Shai Linne’s song “Faithful God” has me pretty impressed. Still not my favorite pleasure-listening, but TRUTH. Wow.

6. What is, in your opinion, the best portrayal(s) of the Elves/Fair Folk/Faeries in film? Multiple choices are permitted, but you must say why you think your choices are so good.
I don’t have a broad enough base from which to judge, as only The Lord of the Rings and the old animated Peter Pan come to mind. Jackson didn’t make the elves merry enough to suit my reading of the books, though they are lovely. And how do you even compare them to Tinker Bell? They aren’t sufficiently similar.

7. What was the last black-and-white film you saw, and what did you think of it?
That Hamilton Woman, with Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Sad story, but fascinating, especially because it actually happened. Also, those two are just pleasant to watch.

8. What did you think of the new trailer for The Desolation of Smaug?
I’ve not seen it. My current thought? Maybe I should see it.

Other Bloggers with Small Followings, Now Tagged for this Liebster Award:
I don’t know the size of your followings; I don’t know if this is something you’ll want to do at all. I’ve chosen you based on the bit I know about your blogging habits (or non-habits) and personalities. Jump in or not as you please, but have fun if you do.

1. Fullness of Joy
2. All the Grace Between
3. Bloggingmakesperfect
4. Cosmo
5. Hazel Eyes

Questions for those tagged:
1. A line (or two) of a poem that resonates with you? (If not a poem, a song lyric will do.)
2. Something on your currently-reading list, and why it’s there?
3. The destination of your most recent journey?
4. Something you’re pretty sure you’ll never read, and why?
5. If you could wake up tomorrow the possessor of advanced skills on any musical instrument, which would you choose?
6. A regionalism that forms part of your ordinary vocabulary? (And does it belong to the region you inhabit?)