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(l-r)
Director Lewis Burke Frumkes,
2nd Place Winner Mustapha Palmer, & Author
Carol Higgins
Clark |
Marymount College’s
Mortimer Levitt Essay Writing Contest
By Liza Young
Mortimer Levitt is 98 and still inspiring thousands. Not only
does Mr. Levitt provide philanthropic support to educational
institutions, he inspires students and educators alike with
his wit and his passion for living.
Named in his honor,
the topic of this year’s Mortimer
Levitt Writing Contest of Marymount College was a quote from
his latest book 96 and Too Young to Die: “Endless
trouble is the price we must pay for the gift of life, there
are no exceptions.”
These words generated essays which were intense and touching,
as indicated by Director Lewis Frumkes at the recent awards
ceremony for winners of the contest. Professor Frumkes explained
that he chose not to read any essays aloud as they are of a
personal nature, with many students requesting their essays
not be read aloud.
Guest speaker, Francine Prose, author of eleven critically
acclaimed novels and a finalist for the National Book Award
for the novel Blue Angel, shared her valuable perspectives
on writing.
She began by recalling
a hesitation to give advice to contest winners, but finding
a compromise by providing a list of 10 recommendations that
she feels is key to being an excellent writer. Among these
are “Read everything from George
Orwell to the New York Times” and read from the point
of view of the writer; that is, consider how the writer created
the work.
Also, Prose advises,
be observant and alert of surroundings. Listen carefully
when communicating with others, paying attention to how something
is being said, to the language used. She went on to point
out the importance of having the courage to write what you
notice. Ms. Prose emphasized that we keep in mind that there’s something each of us knows which no one
else may know. We each have unique experiences and perspectives
and the more this comes out in writing, the more “valuable
and beautiful it will be.”
What was also evident at the awards ceremony was the value
of writing powerfully with an economy of words.
Mr. Frumkes indicated
that first prize winner, Matthew Lopez, was able to successfully
write the essay using relatively few words—350 out of a possible 500—but that Matthew
had related to him that it took him a while to realize the
significance of Mr. Levitt’s words. The end result according
to Mr. Frumkes was a “stylish and poetic piece.”
Invited guest Dr. Gurcharan
Singh, Professor Emeritus of International Studies at Marymount
College, took a few moments to emphasize the power and also
the difficulty of writing something that gets the point across
without any wasted words. He recalled the story of Lord Byron
who won first place in an essay contest whose subject was “Why the color of wine was red rose?” Lord
Byron’s one sentence response —“Master saw
the water and it blushed”—won first prize in the
contest.
Illustrating the time
involved in being economical, yet powerful with words, Professor
Singh related the story of Winston Churchill who during World
War II wrote a letter to the President beginning with “I
wish I had more time to write a short letter.”
All winners of the contest received certificates of achievement
as well as generous bonds, sponsored by Mr. Levitt, and of
course the chance to respond to the inspiring words of this
charismatic and philanthropic gentleman.#
