‘Chuckling’…….From ’Emergence’ Magazine…..
by Bernie Bell - 08:51 on 25 February 2025
‘Chuckling’…….
“Chuckling was bound to happen one day
For all the years I taught creative writing, there was one thing I wanted to pass onto my students, and it was, ‘Don’t Use Chuckle.’
What does it mean, really. See also grinning, chortling etc. If our jokes aren’t good enough for the reader to work out that something was supposed to be funny for the character, we can’t compensate for that by describing what kind of laughing our characters are supposed to be doing.
But then, today, I wrote this sentence, set late at night in an A&E department. The nurse is called Energy. Frank and Anne are my MacGuffin Bearers.
‘At midnight, Energy brought round tea and sandwiches to everyone left in the A&E waiting area. The lady sitting in front of Frank and Anne said, ‘Can I have cheese and pickle on wholemeal and do you have earl grey?’, which made both Anne and Energy laugh. ‘Cheese or ham on white,’ chuckled Energy. Frank sicked up into his bowl.’
I quite like it. I’m keeping chuckling in, though with some anxiety.
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IAN MARCHANT
FEB 21
From ’Emergence’ Magazine…..
an Emergence Magazine Production
The inner spiritual journey has long been made manifest in the physical world through the act of pilgrimage. Offering a structure to the search for what lies beyond the self, pilgrimage brings together spirit and matter, drawing one deeper into the mystery of unknowing. Yet the chance to embark on such a journey in today’s world is rare.
We invite you to step for a moment onto the path of the Shikoku Pilgrimage—a 1,150-kilometer route linking eighty-eight Buddhist temples around the Japanese island. This multimedia production from our archive travels between nine of these temples, wending over mountains, through cities, and beneath cedars; witnessing sacred sites such as the vine bridges of Iya Valley and the lamplit caves of Iwaya-ji; and encountering the teachings and legends of the Shingon Buddhist saint Kōbō Daishi. Through film, photography, original artwork, text on fine paper, and a soundscape of bells and birdsong, this experience shows how the boundary between trail and temple dissolves. Seeker and land entwined, the cherry trees are prayers, each footstep an act of ritual, and the destination a chant heard on the wind.”
https://emergencemagazine.org/feature/shikoku-pilgrimage/#/
“There is no beginning and no end.… This is one of many mysteries of pilgrimage. There is only the path traveled.”
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Orkney has the St. Magnus Way….
And here are a few of examples of sections of The Way….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/31/forgiveness/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/06/22/stepping-out-again/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/29/mooching-about-at-the-bu/
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