If you've read this blog for the five years it's been around, you know I'm an avid Michelle Kwan fangrrrrl. I've celebrated every one of her achievements/wins as if they were my own, so much so that my buddies call her my girl when they see her on TV. I think I even blogged an MK and Writing Week one year ;-).
I've watched her since she was eight. That was almost two decades ago. She never fail to move me whenever she's on the ice and these last three years, because of injuries, she'd been off the public ice. I've missed her.
Her skating evokes emotions that puts her performance on another level above everyone else's. This year, she formally retires from competitive figure-skating. This is her swan song, performed in Korea, appropriately titled Winter Song. I'm just happy that she's back, skating painless and still giving her all whenever she's out there.
I don't know why her skating affects me that certain way. I just know it's something I've strived for whenever I write--to be able to make my reader pay attention to the in-between details, to enjoy the power of emotions through words, and to be immersed in a unique story. It awes me that what she does inspires me creatively, that her art could reach out from within her and make me (and thousands of others) tear up, and finally, give me that extra push to work harder on my love of story-telling.
Competitive figure-skating hasn't been the same for me since she left. I hadn't realized how big a void she left till I saw her step on the ice the other night. With that special blend of Kwan Magic, the last three years' horrendous nightmare of contorted legs touching the top of heads to get those few extra "points" disappeared. At least, for five glorious minutes.
And that* is the difference between craft and art.
(Volume on video very loud. Volume control is beneath the video screen)
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