This Week on Full Frame: the Power of the Written Word

Full Frame

Writing has been used throughout history as a tool for communication, but the written word also has the power to inspire, instigate and revolutionize. Everyone can write, but what transforms writing into art? This week on Full Frame, we’re taking a closer look at the written word. From poetry and memoirs to self-help books and the art of calligraphy, our guests share the power of the written word in its many forms.

Tune into Full Frame on CCTV America at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 10, 2015. 

The great American novel with Tom Wolfe

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Tom Wolfe is hailed as the author of the 1960s hippie gospel, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” but what’s behind the man in the white suit?

Rejected by the New York Giants to play professional baseball, Wolfe turned to writing where he pioneered literary journalism, leaving conventional forms behind.

But it wasn’t until Wolfe was 57 years old that he said he found true freedom in his writing. Unlike non-fiction writing, novels were limitless and brought new power to the written word.

Wolfe is also the author of “A Man in Full,” among other noteworthy books, articles, columns and essays.

Tom Wolfe joins Mike Walter to share his thoughts on “The great American novel” and his worries for journalism in the age of quick information sharing.

Vijay Seshadri and the power of poetry

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If authors can paint a picture with words, Vijay Seshadri illuminates intangible emotions through his poetry.

Since discovering his love of poetry as a teenager, Seshadri has artfully traced a unique impression of the human consciousness. Seshadri says his immigrant experience and coming of age in Ohio during the 1960s has greatly influenced his poetry.

Through these experiences, Seshadri provides a rare understanding of American society, peering in from afar and seeing the “bigger picture.”

He received the Pulitzer Prize for his collection of poetry, “3 Sections,” but Seshadri says he isn’t motivated by fame. Instead, he is inspired by something greater – the power of the written word.

Vijay Seshadri sits down with Mike Walter on this week’s episode of Full Frame and shares his thoughts on poetry as a voice for the human experience.

Helpful habits for happiness from Gretchen Rubin

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When was the last time you kept your New Year’s resolution? Did you make it a few days? To the end of the month? Half way through the year? Well, Gretchen Rubin says your bad habits may be to blame.

Habits, she says, are the architecture of our lives.

Good habits keep us going, but it’s the bad habits that can get us off track and further away from happiness. Rubin said the best way to avoid bad habits is to learn your habit tendencies and utilize strategies that work for you.

Rubin is the New York Times bestselling author of “Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives” and “The Happiness Project.”

She uses her mastery of the written word to help readers make and break habits in order to overcome obstacles to happiness.

Learn how to leave your bad habits in the dust from Gretchen Rubin on this week’s episode of Full Frame as she shares her tips on creating – and keeping – helpful habits.

Follow Gretchen Rubin on Twitter: @gretchenrubin

Merging cultures with Freda Lee-McCann

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Freda Lee-McCann takes the idea of “the written word as art” quite literally.

McCann has given the art form of classical Chinese calligraphy a Western flare. As a Chinese-American navigating the space between two cultures, McCann merges her experience of both cultures in her art.

She combines traditional Chinese landscapes and calligraphy with what she says is a Western art style of collage.

But what she creates gives the inked words new meaning, celebrating centuries of traditional Chinese culture and Western influences.

Check out this week’s Full Frame Close Up with Freda Lee-McCann as she brings new meaning to the ancient art of Chinese calligraphy.