Q: How did you choose the title, The Beauty of Ordinary Things?
Harriet Scott Chessman: This may sound ridiculous, but I first discovered this phrase in a Chinese restaurant's fortune cookie: "You appreciate the beauty ofordinary things." (!!) I loved that! and held onto that little white piece of paper, and the idea of ordinary things as shining with an inherent beauty, for a long time. ...
I felt confirmed [about the choice of title] when I came upon the concept of "Ordinary Time," in the Catholic liturgical calendar. Benny and Sister Clare tell their stories over the course of the summer of 1974, primarily in Ordinary Time (from the Monday after Pentecost to the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent).
I also discovered that Thomas Merton has written powerfully about the importance of remaining open to the sacred within each moment and object and person. In No Man Is An Island, he writes about "the value and the beauty in ordinary things." I have yet to study Merton's work, and hope to do this soon!
In a larger sense, I wanted to write a book that honored the ordinary and the modest. Like Benny, I wanted to do what I could to tell the truth, without bells or whistles.
See this intriguing Q&A with Harriet Scott Chessman on the website of journalist and author Deborah Kalb (Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama).
From 10:00 a.m. to noon this Saturday (November 23), tune in to West Coast Live, San Francisco's original radio variety show, where Chessman will appear in conversation with host Sedge Thomson. (Listen in the Bay Area on KALW 91.7 FM, or stream live from anywhere in the world.)
