Year 2011: 9 HubPages Articles That Took My Breath Away

I hope to be on HubPages long enough to make an annual tradition of sharing a handful of hubs that hit me in the solar plexus on the first read and that my middle-aged brain cells retained as particularly memorable, because they evoked a substantial response in me as both reader and fellow writer.

A caveat—this can't be an exhaustive list, because I've only been on HubPages for a few weeks. To be candid, because of this, as well as a divided focus on offsite web projects, I haven't had a chance to read the work of all of my HP colleagues and followers, so there are gems yet to be uncovered!

An aside: I'm one of those who only follows hubbers whose writing compels me. One day, I should add my entire Follow List to my profile, because, frankly, it's spectacular. To whit, there are folks I follow whose hubs I haven't included here, but whose bodies of work are in themselves quite noteworthy. That said, you'll want to go off afterwards and enjoy Audrey Howitt's lovely poetry, Patty Inglish's perfectly written articles, Brittany Todd's and Sweetzara's youthful, engaging contemporary styles, to name a very, very few.

But enough digressing—on to the hubs:

SANTA CLAUS CIRCA 2011,
A TRAGEDY IN RHYMING COUPLETS
by lmmartin
___________________

Dark, witty, poignant, highly-intelligent, written as a holiday card to the HP community, it's a Christmas fable, as well as a wicked satire, in which no demographic on the planet escapes. I urge you to read it, and to be stymied, as I was, about how so much cleverness, on so many different levels, can exist in a single piece of writing. Generally I'm not much into rhyming poetry, but I found Lynda's use of rhyme, purposely coupled with a disregard of standard poetic meter, highly effective and often laugh-out-loud funny. No surprise, as her entire HubPages canon consists of hours of worthy reading. Lynda's story-poem features engaging plotting; tongue-in-cheek archetypal characterizations; biting indictments of every exploitative segment of society—impersonal banks, money-grubbing corporations, effete government institutions; and finally, as all fables do, a simple, understated lesson. Freakin' brilliant.

THE BACK ROADS
by mjfarns
___________________

Mark is my brother in poetry, with a poet's voice that, so far in all of HubPages, seems the most similar to mine. He has a love of dense language full of rich imagery, and appears, like me, to abhor the mundane, reporter's approach to writing poems. This particular piece takes a familiar occurrence and makes it resonate, by bringing its ordinary scenario, and the individual elements within and surrounding it, into intense focus with his rich poet's brush. Mark touches on the implications of each moment, rather than handing us a mere laundry list. He fully investigates for us each nuance that we would likely ignore in our accustomed rush to get where we're going, and each moment seems more truthful as a result.

(An update: Mark has published Foster Home, a collection of poetry.)

SHADESBREATH'S RARE PHOTOS - THE BEAUTY OF NATURE
by shadesbreath
___________________

I can't bring myself to say too much about this hub. I don't want to wreck your experience. Go and see it. When you're done, read The Dim Gray Time Right Before Sunset. I had a tough time deciding between the two for this tribute, so I'm mentioning it. After that, you're on your own. Remember to take breaks and eat. In a few hours, take a nap. When you've had your fill of this crazy-smart, funny, candid, opinionated young guy, come back here and tell me how right I was.

PAPWORTH HOSPITAL SLEEP CLINIC STRICTLY FOR NIGHT OWLS ONLY. LINDA'S STORY.
by molometer
___________________

The first part of this hub's title might indicate that what's to follow comprises some dry, impersonal guidebook tour of a medical facility. I clicked in because of the last two words, which contained a glimmer of something more. Linda is the author's wife, and what actually follows is hard to describe, beyond my saying that it's my favorite thing Molometer has written. Some of this may have to do with the fact that my husband has a similar sleep disorder, but the balance goes further than this. The depth of love the reader perceives in the author, expressed in a matter-of-fact re-telling of his partner's story, without maudlin outpourings or indulgences, feels so deep and full in its simplicity and clarity, I wonder if he even realizes how gorgeous it is. I won't say more. You'll just have to read it.

AN IDEA STRIKES. WRITTEN IN THE STYLE OF LEE CHILD. PART 1.
by writeronline
___________________

This is a bit of a teaser. If it hooks you, you'll read the second part, and wait in breathless anticipation for the third, as I'm doing now. The piece features several attractive elements. The author originally wrote it as an exercise—an experiment in imitating the writing style of a novelist he admires. This aspect of the hub alone seems to have drawn the most comments. In addition, Writeronline happens to be a fortuitously gifted writer, with the necessary deftness and facility with language to accomplish such an experiment. In fact I urge you to read his other 3-parter from the beginning. Finally, this particular hubber seems to have mastered the ability of engaging with his commenters, to whom he listens without pandering, and whom he sometimes allows to guide how he proceeds. This particular experiment has begun to balloon into a project whose scope even he may not have anticipated. It appears that several of us have become invested in it!

MUSIC OF THE STREET
by emichael
___________________

It rightfully won an award in the HubPages "Patron of the Arts" Contest's Photography Division. Aside from the astonishing beauty of the photographs, two things seem immediately clear. Evan is a photographer with the innate ability to compose a story in each single visual element. He also has the skill to arrestingly design the entire aesthetic of a web presentation, and to create a consistent story arc, like a true web journalist. Something else will ring even more true if you take the time to read his other hubs. Evan is both a convincing academic writer, offering well-argued essays on subjects he's intested in, and a compelling personal writer, with a sometimes vulnerable, distinctly bluesy, lyrical voice.

THE COFFEE OF A LIFETIME
by windclimber
___________________

What made me read this piece from beginning to end was more than just my own personal love of the soul-affirming ritual that is a cup of coffee, and more than the eloquently descriptive narration of the several life vignettes that came to characterize and elevate each kind of coffee moment for Windclimber. What compelled me was the amount of heart that filled the hub. I felt as though I was being read aloud to, and could almost hear the warm musical soundtrack behind the storytelling. An immensely satisfying read, it won a well-deserved Hubnugget Award. It's a treat, even for non-coffee lovers.

EMBARRASING OR JUST PLAIN MORTIFYING?
by rutley
___________________

I'm fairly sure I found Rutley via one of the forum posts, clicked her profile photo, and gazed agog at the fact that she'd been on HP all of three weeks (one less than me), had published no more than eight hubs, but already had a couple of hundred followers—four times mine. What? Then I started to read. Should I wreck it for you with too much description? Will my words have the sad result of making you expect too much? I guess I'll just share that I might have been drinking at the time, or dealing with my monthly curse. Or maybe the piece is just that much fun. You decide.

A SHORT STORY
by olympuz
___________________

I love discovering terrific storytellers, and feel very much drawn to, among others, voices of other cultures. This hub is a fragment—the first part of a story—so a bit of a tease. It's incredibly compelling, however, not only because of the arresting image that accompanies the words, but also because of the well-crafted sentences, chock-full of imagery, and possessed of a sweeping rhythm that's transporting. We experience the environment with all five senses. We get glimpses of the protagonist's current psychological state in bits unobtrusively dropped by the author into the narration, which leaves us wanting to know more about the nature and object of his struggle. I, and the other commenters, encouraged Olympuz to continue, and hope he does.

I hope you all feel encouraged to read some of the hubs I've mentioned, and let the authors know how you feel about them. Have an excellent year of hubbing in 2012! ◊

© capricornrising . all rights reserved

| all |
___________________