Monday, September 15, 2008
MACLAND!
Oh yes, I have been playing. This is my son and I acting like fools with the various backdrops Mac supplies. I realize the new photo on the left shows the eliptical trainer looking as if it is emerging from my head, but I'm on a learning curve. I've just discovered video ichat, but does anyone know if you can have these chats with people who are not on Macs?
And I'm proud to report I wrote a snarky letter to the NY Daily News because I'm tired of people writing in to say that they are voting for Palin simply because "they like her." I'm sure I'll get a lot of nasty letters back, but I have tough skin. Well, sometimes....
Sunday, September 14, 2008
We Can't Do McCain, no, no no
Thanks to Leora Skolkin-Smith for sending along this link.
And to Alex for this:
Check out The Point's anti-Palin, swing-state, crowd sourced ad-campaign. It brings together folks to make pledges towards a "We Stand Against Palin" newspaper ad.
Fight Back: give swing voters the facts about Sarah Palin:
http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/fight-back-broadcast-the-truth-about-sarah-palin
And to Alex for this:
Check out The Point's anti-Palin, swing-state, crowd sourced ad-campaign. It brings together folks to make pledges towards a "We Stand Against Palin" newspaper ad.
Fight Back: give swing voters the facts about Sarah Palin:
http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/fight-back-broadcast-the-truth-about-sarah-palin
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Women Against Palin--like me, me, me
Female? Think it's important to keep Roe vs. Wade? Believe in evolution, sex education and want a separation of church and state?
Join the club. Below is an email I received from Women Against Sarah Palin. I instantly wrote something, and I urge all of you to do the same.
Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control,the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.
Vice President. Ms. Palin's politicalviews are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for,and that we've so demonstrably benefited from. First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.
Therefore, we invite you to reply here with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.
Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence. We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin," which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply (womensaynopalin@gmail.com) at your earliest conveniencehe greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.
Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York, NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com
Join the club. Below is an email I received from Women Against Sarah Palin. I instantly wrote something, and I urge all of you to do the same.
Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control,the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.
Vice President. Ms. Palin's politicalviews are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for,and that we've so demonstrably benefited from. First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.
Therefore, we invite you to reply here with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.
Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence. We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin," which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply (womensaynopalin@gmail.com) at your earliest conveniencehe greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.
Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York, NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com
Friday, September 12, 2008
Writing Memoir? Read this book
I'm happy to be interviewing fellow UCLA instructor Lisa Dale Norton whose book Shimmering Images can jumpstart anyone wanting to write memoir. Thank you so much, Lisa!
1. Why do you think more people are writing memoir today?
I think it¹s a circle: As various books of memoir pull the spotlight‹and more and more do; all you have to do is scan the bestseller lists‹more people pay attention to memoir. They see it as a viable form, an outlet, something they too could try their hand at, and that action, by countless individuals, simply serves to make the form more visible further spinning the circle of popularity.
Plus, ours is a culture of self-revelation. From blogs to MySpace and Facebook, to reality shows, more and more people seem to crave the ³realness² of life experience, clothed in the garments of ³this really happened to me² (as opposed to the wisdom shared through fictional accounts), as a way to make sense of their lives. And in the end I do think that is why people come to memoir: to make sense of their lives. The process of writing memoir is a process of ordering the randomness of events and assigning meaning to those events‹this has to do with the very demands of story, of what it means to make a story, of what a story must do to be a successful narrative (as we have come to define it in contemporary Western culture). When this process of making a story from the material of the past (writing memoir) is done well, it opens up new possibilities for how a person might live in the future. That is the hidden power of memoir, and once realized, it is addictive and contagious in its appeal.
2. Can you talk about the pleasures and the pitfalls of writing memoir?
The pleasures cleave to the act itself. The very work of writing is a joy. And writing about one¹s own life contains within it the possibility of epiphany, or deep insight, a reordering of awareness. All this transformative kind of stuff is the meat of memoir, and while it is hard work, it is full of deep, enduring pleasure.
The pitfalls? Well, there¹s a learning curve, as with all the arts, and those who have had little practice and think they can just take up pen and paper and produce a great, publishable story‹because, well, it¹s their life, right?‹discover very quickly that such is not the case. Like all good art, writing memoir is simply not that easy. Just like the writing of fiction, poetry, or drama, memoir requires work. For many, this is THE biggest pitfall: the deceptive simplicity of writing memoir.
3. Can you tell readers what you mean by a shimmering image?
Shimmering images are iconic memories that stay with us throughout our lives of specific moments in time, which for some reason‹divined through the writing of the shimmering image‹we have never forgotten. These memories come back as little snapshots in our mind. They are not movies. They exist like photographs frozen in time. But there is a world behind each of those images, a world of story. And that is what writing memoir is all about: unearthing the meaning embedded in those images and in the reasons they have been remembered.
I have a Shimmering Image in my mind right now of a summer afternoon with my best friend when I was 12 years old. We are sitting on the stairs of my childhood home opening gifts we have given each other‹45 rpm records we bought at the drugstore of our small Nebraska town. The image exists as a still picture in my head of Terri sitting a couple steps below me. She is wearing a plaid cotton sleeveless, button-down blouse and a pair of shorts. Her hair is cut square around her face and her bangs ride the top of her dark eyebrows. She is wearing glasses.
And that is all there is to that image. I know though that there is a story behind that ³picture,² that shimmering image. That is part of why I say such memories ³shimmer.² There is the energy of the story, housed in the image, waiting to be told, and it brings a kind of visible resonance to the memory, which I swear, makes it shimmer. Were I to explore this Shimmering Image further in a piece of memoir writing, I am sure I would discover a deep sea of unexplored feeling and meaning attached to the memory.
Here¹s a little of what I would discover if I went one step further on the memoir path: A tornado warning has just been issued for our town. The crazy up and down howling of the siren from the fire station on the hill has alerted everyone for miles around to take cover. I can see the greenish-grey sky outside the kitchen windows, at the bottom of the stairs, swirling with clouds. My mother is telling Terri she must run across the field to her house; her mother will be worried and expecting her, but Terri and I sit placidly, slowly unwrapping the records, caught in that place of childhood immunity, stubbornly clinging to our summer day.
It is through this kind of exploration of our Shimmering Images that we arrive at the core of the transformation that is fundamental to the process of writing memoir. Because we can not know beforehand what will be revealed we, as memoirists, must trust the organic process of discovery and pick our way forward on the path of revelation as we work with material from the past.
Shimmering Images are the doorway to that path.
4. I'm obsessed with how writers spend their days, so can you tell me how yours is spent?
A work with many clients who are writing narrative nonfiction books, and so much of my time is spent talking on the phone with those clients, reading their manuscripts, writing critiques and supporting their process of creation. Midwifery, you might say. I read. I putter. I teach classes for UCLA, and I speak publicly around the country at conferences and workshops, so some of my day might be spent preparing for that work. My garden and my birds absorb me. I swim. I spend a lot of time keeping my main relationship healthy and my career alive, and I write‹all sorts of things: interviews, like this one; short pieces for anthologies and newsletters; missives to family and friends; critiques of stories; emails; web material; blogs for the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-dale-norton ), where I muse about the power of story as it intersects with current events, and articles for my column on Authorlink.com (http://www.authorlink.com). And always I am searching my bookshelves and my memory shelves for the next piece that will guide my new book.
5. What are you working on now?
A new piece of literary nonfiction, the shape of which is currently like a ghost in the shadows. I feel parts of it, but do not have a complete sense of the threads I will bring together. I do know, though, that the story is set in Europe.
6. What question should I have asked that I didn't--and why?
The question is: What aspect of your new book, SHIMMERING IMAGES: A HANDY LITTLE GUIDE TO WRITING MEMOIR is most sacred to you?
The reason why that question should be asked is because it allows me to get at the heart of why I wrote SHIMMERING IMAGES.
What I have to say about this follows:
I firmly believe that the act of crafting a personal story from the random and often blisteringly chaotic events of a life is an act of sanity. It is a way of making sense of nonsense, of assigning meaning, and of organizing the core of who we are. Writing memoir allows us to reorder how we interpret the past; if we ³re-see² what we have always believed the past to mean, we establish new soil out of which the future can grow.
I see the act of making a memoir as an act of personal transformation. I have had this happen. When I wrote HAWK FLIES ABOVE: JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE SANDHILLS, I had no idea that it would close my past in such a profound way. I did not know that one narrative, that one choice of how to select and package the past would become so definitive. By writing HAWK FLIES ABOVE I learned that the one story we commit to in a book of memoir becomes our default interpretation of the past; it becomes our history. I didn¹t really get that before.
Many people think that memoir is just: This happened to me...and then this...and then this. But that is a serious misunderstanding. Memoir is the crafting of a narrative arc from an endless list of possible life experiences. Which ones we choose to include define how we, and others, will view our lives. The events that are left out of the story fall away, and this is as it should be; not everything can or should be included. (That is not memoir. That might be autobiography or just a compiled list, like something you might take to the store while shopping.) But a story has very specific demands‹in this respect memoir is no different than fiction. We must adhere to the demands of story when we craft a tale from life material.
What that means, though, is that we must be clear about the choices we make and why we make them. They shape our past, our present, and our future. When we realize this, we see that writing memoir is one of the most powerful forms of art. Inherent in it is the act of transformation.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Welcome to Macland and writing day
Now I feel like the new wife who keeps her ex around for chores. I am working on my beloved shiny new Mac but I have my PC running beside it with AOL opened and my blog. I admit I like having two computers because I am always afraid one will die and then where will I be? I know I should probably sell the Dell--it's only a year and a half old and then I'd have so much desk space I could rent it out to tenants if I wanted (which I don't really want, by the way.)
Hard writing day. Over two thousand words but none of them very good. Whenever I start a new book, it's always hard for me to untangle myself from the old. Nothing seems as good as what I just completed (never mind that the completed work is usually 4 years and 14 drafts and the new material is in draft one.) I feel as though I'm bastardizing parts of my last novel and it takes a while for the book to stand on its own legs and stretch them a bit. I'm not sure what the solution to this is except to keep writing, to trust that things will unjell, to say screw you to my fears and keep on going until the book unlocks itself for me. As Clea Simon says, "You have to get the rust out of the pipes before the water flows."
There is a fantasyland for writers that I imagine, a big glossy place with a huge welcoming arch and when you enter, you sit down to write and your story unfolds. All the plot pieces are in place, the layering of theme is nuanced, and on the first word, you are in that other writing world. It goes without sayint that you are also supremely confident. I sometimes, in my dark moments, imagine that ever other writer has free admission to this place, but I don't even have enough for a ticket.
Back to work...
Hard writing day. Over two thousand words but none of them very good. Whenever I start a new book, it's always hard for me to untangle myself from the old. Nothing seems as good as what I just completed (never mind that the completed work is usually 4 years and 14 drafts and the new material is in draft one.) I feel as though I'm bastardizing parts of my last novel and it takes a while for the book to stand on its own legs and stretch them a bit. I'm not sure what the solution to this is except to keep writing, to trust that things will unjell, to say screw you to my fears and keep on going until the book unlocks itself for me. As Clea Simon says, "You have to get the rust out of the pipes before the water flows."
There is a fantasyland for writers that I imagine, a big glossy place with a huge welcoming arch and when you enter, you sit down to write and your story unfolds. All the plot pieces are in place, the layering of theme is nuanced, and on the first word, you are in that other writing world. It goes without sayint that you are also supremely confident. I sometimes, in my dark moments, imagine that ever other writer has free admission to this place, but I don't even have enough for a ticket.
Back to work...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Guest Blog, How I Write by Clea Simon
My colleague and friend Clea Simon is guest blogging today. Clea is the author of of Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings (Penguin), Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads (Wiley), The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats (St. Martin's), and the Theda Krakow mysteries, Mew is for Murder, Cattery Row, and Cries and Whiskers (Poisoned Pen Press)and the upcoming Probable Claws! Many thanks, Clea!
How do we get started? Wow, that’s a big topic. But since Caroline and I are both starting new projects (dare I call them “books” yet?), this is what we’ve been chatting about. She’s letting me ramble on a bit – THANK YOU, CAROLINE – and I’m running her thoughts on my blog. How We Do What We Do…
The blank page is a daunting thing. No matter how many great ideas we have in the shower or while driving (always a favorite place for bits of dialogue and plot complications to pop up), when I sit down at the computer and see that blank page, my creative mind goes into hiding. Whatever I write won’t match those daydreams. However I craft a sentence, it won’t be as graceful, as evocative. As good.
So how do I get started? I’ll be honest, I almost forgot. This summer was eaten up by revisions and small projects, and although I’d promised myself that I’d start my next mystery in September, Labor Day came and went with nothing written. But then I was talking to a friend, another writer, who is thinking of recasting her screenplay as a novel, but was having problems. And it just came out: “Think of a scene and write it.”
Simple, huh? But that’s how I do it. Each night, as I make dinner or floss, I try to imagine what happens next. Not in a grand sense, necessarily, of motive or overall theme. But just what would naturally be the next scene. It might be chronological – the characters are going to sleep: Did they dream? Did they wake refreshed? Or do I not care about that and want to jump ahead to the next day at work, when I know someone is going to pick a fight? I don’t know what will happen, or how long that scene will be. Or even if that scene will make it into the next draft! But as long as I have a set up, a conversation, or even something my character has to do – well, I have something to work on the next day, and the page gets filled!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
I want to marry my Mac
I am thrilled to announce the wedding of me and my Mac. It's almost set up, along with the Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver and two other packages of software I got for a song at an educational discount (Plus they threw in an itouch and a color printer/scanner!) Everyone is invited to the wedding, and yes, we intend to have lots of children--I think an Iphone or two is about to be born in another year. Twins! No gifts for the happy bride and groom, just any tips for a onetime PC user to ease into using the Mac.
Some days the writing flows and other days, like today, I'm stuck. It's like writing through chocolate pudding, only not delicious at all. I can't seem to write a single sentence that feels real today and I might go and make empanadas instead of working,exept for the fact that I've made a pledge to do 1,000 words every day, and so I'm struggling on. I think it's important to realize that sometimes, that's just part of the deal.
Some days the writing flows and other days, like today, I'm stuck. It's like writing through chocolate pudding, only not delicious at all. I can't seem to write a single sentence that feels real today and I might go and make empanadas instead of working,exept for the fact that I've made a pledge to do 1,000 words every day, and so I'm struggling on. I think it's important to realize that sometimes, that's just part of the deal.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Why I love Gloria Steinhem (and you should, too)
This article by Gloria Steinem about Sarah Palin was in Friday's LA Times.
Wrong woman, wrong message By Gloria Steinem
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing - the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party - are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women - and to many men too - who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million voters.
But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want AND NEED. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.
Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her downhome, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmetize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for - and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."
This is not to beat up on Sarah Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people who say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the global spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Senator Biden's 37 years' experience.
Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."
She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.
So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, everything he does, right down to opposing the Fair Pay Act and the Violence Against Women Act.
Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which that increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot bears and wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but SHE supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.
I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., Association, she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.
So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin's selection has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are just merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.
Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest. Republicans may finally learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most the majority of women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.
And American women, MORE OF WHOM may suffer because of having TO DO two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.
This could be huge.
Gloria Steinem is an author, feminist organizer and co-founder of the Women's Media Center. She supported Hillary Clinton and is now supporting Barack Obama.
Wrong woman, wrong message By Gloria Steinem
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing - the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party - are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women - and to many men too - who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million voters.
But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want AND NEED. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.
Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her downhome, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmetize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for - and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."
This is not to beat up on Sarah Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people who say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the global spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Senator Biden's 37 years' experience.
Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."
She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.
So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, everything he does, right down to opposing the Fair Pay Act and the Violence Against Women Act.
Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which that increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot bears and wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but SHE supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.
I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., Association, she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.
So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin's selection has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are just merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.
Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest. Republicans may finally learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most the majority of women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.
And American women, MORE OF WHOM may suffer because of having TO DO two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.
This could be huge.
Gloria Steinem is an author, feminist organizer and co-founder of the Women's Media Center. She supported Hillary Clinton and is now supporting Barack Obama.
Let's hear it for Lit Soup!
Lit Soup is a fantastic blog run by literary agent Jenny Rappaport. She's offering new writers a chance to give back to the writing community and promote their own work by writing 500 word pieces on aspects of craft as it relates to novels/works in progress. I think this is a brilliant idea--and an incredibly generous one.
Go check out Jenny's fabulous site for more details.
John Scalzi is also opening up his blog for guest authors to talk about craft.
I plan to do both of these things myself, if they will have me, when it gets closer to my pub date.
Go check out Jenny's fabulous site for more details.
John Scalzi is also opening up his blog for guest authors to talk about craft.
I plan to do both of these things myself, if they will have me, when it gets closer to my pub date.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Tomorrow is Mac day!
Tomorrow, I get my Mac. I have to say that there is something about starting a new novel (even though I have a hundred pages done already) on a new machine that is so hopeful, and so wonderful. We all use every trick we can to get immersed in the long process of writing a novel, and I've decided that for me, there are stages to the process.
1. Stage one is the honeymoon stage. I have a premise that I am absolutely and totally obsessed with, characters I love, a first chapter that works (and this first chapter is my life support. I will cling to it when the novel gets rocky.
2. Stage two is disaster. I'm in the middle of the novel and I have written too much to junk it (plus there is that first chapter) but I have no idea what I am doing. The plot seems boring or nonexistent, the characters are cartoons, and the writing is slightly better than an 8th grader in a remedial class. Make that an 8th grader who doesn't read.
3. Stage three is panic. The novel is done and it makes no sense. I wail to Jeff that my career is over and he always grins and says, "Oh, must be going well then." I am mortified to call my agent and editor and I think seriously about how nice it might be to go to dental school instead, to laugh at this little stage in my life when I actually thought I could be a novelist.
4. Stage four is after ten more drafts when suddenly I realize the theme. I see what I have been writing about, which is generally nothing like what I started out on. I feel like I've run an 800 mile marathon, and gradually as I reach the finish line, I see a new idea forming for a new novel and the whole cycle begins again.
5. But wait there is another stage--the publishing stage. Many writers think publication will change your life. Ha ha ho. If you are lucky, you get reviews and good and bad ones, too. You may shake your head at the good ones (Am I really the next Hemingway? Last time I looked I didn't write about gruff men who like to hunt and I certainly don't write in chopped sentences) and weep bitter tears over the bad..("the tiresome Leavitt..."). In the space of one day, I got a full page rave in the Washington Post and then a full page pan in another paper (I'm still too wounded to mention the name), and the pan loathed everything the rave had adored. So who is right?
Many writers don't read their reviews. Many read to see if there are suggestions on how they can be better writers. Many read just for an ego boost. I always try to see if there are valid points where I can grow as a writer, and I admit, when I am in stage 2,3,4, I will pull out my good reviews and reread them to give myself courage to continue.
There is media--radio and TV--and then finally, it dies down and there is the bliss of you, the blank page, and a story you are obsessed to tell. (And hopefully a Mac to write it on!)
1. Stage one is the honeymoon stage. I have a premise that I am absolutely and totally obsessed with, characters I love, a first chapter that works (and this first chapter is my life support. I will cling to it when the novel gets rocky.
2. Stage two is disaster. I'm in the middle of the novel and I have written too much to junk it (plus there is that first chapter) but I have no idea what I am doing. The plot seems boring or nonexistent, the characters are cartoons, and the writing is slightly better than an 8th grader in a remedial class. Make that an 8th grader who doesn't read.
3. Stage three is panic. The novel is done and it makes no sense. I wail to Jeff that my career is over and he always grins and says, "Oh, must be going well then." I am mortified to call my agent and editor and I think seriously about how nice it might be to go to dental school instead, to laugh at this little stage in my life when I actually thought I could be a novelist.
4. Stage four is after ten more drafts when suddenly I realize the theme. I see what I have been writing about, which is generally nothing like what I started out on. I feel like I've run an 800 mile marathon, and gradually as I reach the finish line, I see a new idea forming for a new novel and the whole cycle begins again.
5. But wait there is another stage--the publishing stage. Many writers think publication will change your life. Ha ha ho. If you are lucky, you get reviews and good and bad ones, too. You may shake your head at the good ones (Am I really the next Hemingway? Last time I looked I didn't write about gruff men who like to hunt and I certainly don't write in chopped sentences) and weep bitter tears over the bad..("the tiresome Leavitt..."). In the space of one day, I got a full page rave in the Washington Post and then a full page pan in another paper (I'm still too wounded to mention the name), and the pan loathed everything the rave had adored. So who is right?
Many writers don't read their reviews. Many read to see if there are suggestions on how they can be better writers. Many read just for an ego boost. I always try to see if there are valid points where I can grow as a writer, and I admit, when I am in stage 2,3,4, I will pull out my good reviews and reread them to give myself courage to continue.
There is media--radio and TV--and then finally, it dies down and there is the bliss of you, the blank page, and a story you are obsessed to tell. (And hopefully a Mac to write it on!)
Friday, September 5, 2008
Book this Fundraiser
This is from an email from Amy Tan--Jeff and I just signed our books (I drew a coffee cup with a fork and spoon and stars on mine) and sent them off.
Dear Fellow Writers,
Below is a plea from Ayelet Waldman for contributions to a fundraiser. No, you don't have to WRITE a book for Barack. We are talking about THIS year's election. But if you are inclined toward voting for Barack/Biden, please be further inclined send one of your masterpieces, masterfully signed to Ayelet Waldman at her address below. If you are inclined toward McCain/Palin, don't disclose who you prefer, [OTHER], or [NONE OF THE ABOVE], please excuse the intrusion.
Also please feel free to send this to other writers who might be similarly inclined toward what we hope you are inclined toward.
Thanks.
Amy
This one is from Ayelet:
Hey guys,
We're doing a fundraiser (one of MANY) for Barack out here that's going to include a silent auction. I'd be your best friend if you would send me a signed book. I know I should be offering to buy one and send it to you with a return envelope, but I'm hoping you'll decide to just go ahead and give me one from your stash, and if it was for any other of my philanthropic ventures, I'd do that. But since the world is going to come a fucking end if Obama doesn't get elected, I'm thinking maybe you'd be willing to donate the book and the postage. The event is in 2 weeks...so I'd need it before then. I hope to get a few thousand dollars for this "signed book basket."
I'd also love you forever if you'd ask a few of your friends to send one, too. Turns out I have far fewer email addresses than I thought.
FOR THE ADDRESS, PLEASE CONTACT ME at carleavitt@hotmail.com. I don't feel right putting Ayelet's address up on my blog.
Caroline
Dear Fellow Writers,
Below is a plea from Ayelet Waldman for contributions to a fundraiser. No, you don't have to WRITE a book for Barack. We are talking about THIS year's election. But if you are inclined toward voting for Barack/Biden, please be further inclined send one of your masterpieces, masterfully signed to Ayelet Waldman at her address below. If you are inclined toward McCain/Palin, don't disclose who you prefer, [OTHER], or [NONE OF THE ABOVE], please excuse the intrusion.
Also please feel free to send this to other writers who might be similarly inclined toward what we hope you are inclined toward.
Thanks.
Amy
This one is from Ayelet:
Hey guys,
We're doing a fundraiser (one of MANY) for Barack out here that's going to include a silent auction. I'd be your best friend if you would send me a signed book. I know I should be offering to buy one and send it to you with a return envelope, but I'm hoping you'll decide to just go ahead and give me one from your stash, and if it was for any other of my philanthropic ventures, I'd do that. But since the world is going to come a fucking end if Obama doesn't get elected, I'm thinking maybe you'd be willing to donate the book and the postage. The event is in 2 weeks...so I'd need it before then. I hope to get a few thousand dollars for this "signed book basket."
I'd also love you forever if you'd ask a few of your friends to send one, too. Turns out I have far fewer email addresses than I thought.
FOR THE ADDRESS, PLEASE CONTACT ME at carleavitt@hotmail.com. I don't feel right putting Ayelet's address up on my blog.
Caroline
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Save us from Sarah, Part Two
A note to all by Anne Kilkenny--who lives in Alaska and knows Sarah Palin
Dear friends,
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .
Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks.
You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name.
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
(Google: anne kilkenny Alaska for more info about her.)
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this 0A small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During
those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002).
She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too.
She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtness of over $22 million. What did Major Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library?
No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rus hed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved!
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surpplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits,20 but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set
of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he intimidated her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job.
In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined). As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens.Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their impo rtance--but with
the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barr acuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.
CLAIM VS FACT:
*"Hockey mom": true for a few years
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school,
not since
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little20hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets
to early 20th century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings. I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship. I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
Anne Kilkenny
Dear friends,
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .
Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks.
You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name.
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
(Google: anne kilkenny Alaska for more info about her.)
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this 0A small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During
those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002).
She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too.
She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtness of over $22 million. What did Major Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library?
No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rus hed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved!
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surpplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits,20 but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set
of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he intimidated her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job.
In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined). As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens.Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their impo rtance--but with
the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barr acuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.
CLAIM VS FACT:
*"Hockey mom": true for a few years
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school,
not since
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little20hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets
to early 20th century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings. I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship. I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
Anne Kilkenny
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Save us from Sarah
Just the Sarah Palin fact's, ma'am. Or: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
1. Banned Books Week is coming up so in honor of that, let me point out that Palin wants certain "objectional" books banned from the local library. This is truly scary. 1984 anyone?
2. She doesn't believe in evolution and wants creationism taught in the schools. This is also very scary. What happened to the wonders of science?
3. She advocates abstinence only education, and yet her daughter is pregnant at 17. And even after this, she doesn't see anything wrong with abstinence only education. As someone who talked to teenaged mothers for over a year, I know what a rough road this is for them and how easily a life can be shut down and/or ruined. You can't shut down hormonal surges, but teaching kids about birth control and responsible behaviors could do a lot to stop the huge and growing problem of teen pregnancy.
4. As a mother, I would eat nails rather than put my child in a maelstrom of bad publicity, and yet that's what Palin's done because surely she knew that she would be putting her teenage daughter front and center. Yes, family is a private matter and off bounds in most cases, but when someone makes part of her creed an insistence on abstinence only education, and then her teenager gets pregnant--well, that's indicative of a certain hypocricy, don't you think? If Palin takes office, her daughter and her husband will have Secret Service. Great way to ruin a life.
5. Oh, let's not forget about her position on guns.
I'm afraid.
1. Banned Books Week is coming up so in honor of that, let me point out that Palin wants certain "objectional" books banned from the local library. This is truly scary. 1984 anyone?
2. She doesn't believe in evolution and wants creationism taught in the schools. This is also very scary. What happened to the wonders of science?
3. She advocates abstinence only education, and yet her daughter is pregnant at 17. And even after this, she doesn't see anything wrong with abstinence only education. As someone who talked to teenaged mothers for over a year, I know what a rough road this is for them and how easily a life can be shut down and/or ruined. You can't shut down hormonal surges, but teaching kids about birth control and responsible behaviors could do a lot to stop the huge and growing problem of teen pregnancy.
4. As a mother, I would eat nails rather than put my child in a maelstrom of bad publicity, and yet that's what Palin's done because surely she knew that she would be putting her teenage daughter front and center. Yes, family is a private matter and off bounds in most cases, but when someone makes part of her creed an insistence on abstinence only education, and then her teenager gets pregnant--well, that's indicative of a certain hypocricy, don't you think? If Palin takes office, her daughter and her husband will have Secret Service. Great way to ruin a life.
5. Oh, let's not forget about her position on guns.
I'm afraid.
The Devil, The Lovers, & Me
Kimberlee Auerbach really needs to be bottled and sold. She's fresh, funny, and she's written this glorious memoir that I absolutely love,
The Devil, the Lovers, & Me: My Life in Tarot that I raved about in my column in Dame Magazine
Kimberlee was gracious enough to allow me to pepper her with questions, too.
1. The structure of the book, with each chapter jumping off from a specific tarot card, is really part of its wildly unique charm. How and why did you decide to do the book this way?
I played around a lot with structure during the crafting of my one-woman show. I consulted a great dramaturge/director, Scott Embler, who kept telling me that the audience, and in this case, the reader, “wants to go on a journey with you, wants to understand things when you understand them.” If there is no journey, there is no discovery, so we made the choice to have the tarot reading span the course of one night, having it all unfold in real time, creating two protagonist arcs—the person in Iris’s apartment who is being illuminated by the reading and the person in all the flashbacks who is being illuminated by life experiences. I originally had it structured in a less dramatic way: I went to a tarot reader, she pulled some cards, I was like, what the hell, and then during the course of my life, the lessons started to click. Not bad, but not as good.
2. I see in the PR notes that you read tarot yourself, and as a fledgling tarot reader myself, I'm fascinated. How did you begin reading the cards? Do you read for others? (And who was that West Village tarot reader? I think I want to go.)
My older half-sister Lisa introduced me to tarot when I was in high school. She’s seven years older, so when I was a junior, she was already well on her way to establishing a career in New York City. The rest of my family and I lived in New Jersey at the time, so I’d hop on a bus and visit her for the weekend. We’d stay up late, light candles, listen to reggae and read her Mother Earth cards. I loved the magic of it, not the Ouija board of it, but the ritual aspect of it. When she got married for the first time in Squim, Washington a few years later, I bought my first deck, Healing Earth Tarot, with all these woodland creatures and crystals and bolts of fire. I loved it. There was one card of a woman inside an elevated cage, clutching the bars, screaming to the heavens in such incredible pain. Behind her, the door to the cage was open. She could leave at any moment, but was too focused on her pain to see her freedom. That really resonated with me, and thus started my tarot deck collecting and studying. I used to think the cards could tell the future, but the more I read them, the more I understood that they’re more like a Rorschach inkblot test than a tool for divination. I read cards for people all the time. Sometimes I get paid. Sometimes I do it for free. Other times I do it for charity. When I visit book clubs, I talk about my book and then read cards for everyone, which is a lot of fun. (Hey, all you book clubs out there, I’m here and available for you!)
As for Iris, she’s really my inner crone/wise woman. The two tarot readers I based her character on are Yris, who used to read tarot at a little place on Greenwich Avenue, which shut down a couple of years ago, and Carole Murray, who is still seeing clients on the Upper West Side. They’re both great, safe, insightful and super kind readers. I’d be happy to give you their number. I’ve met a few other ones since. We should tawk!
3. One of the many things I loved about this memoir was your notion that we make our own futures, that the cards merely act as a guide. Can you talk a little more about this? What do you think people can gain from a tarot reading--and what shouldn't they expect?
Well, unfortunately, there are a lot of scam artists out there, which is why tarot has such a bad rep. They prey on vulnerable and weak people. A while back, a friend of mine stopped into one of those neon sign storefront psychic shops. The reader told her that someone had put a curse on her and in order to get rid of it, my friend had to give her $300. She promised to say a little prayer and put the money under her mattress. My friend felt bullied, asked where the nearest ATM was, and came back with the money. RUN, if anyone tells you that they need to put your hard-earned money under their mattress in order to lift a curse. There are other readers who are psychic. They often use the cards as an access point to the collective unconscious or a higher intuitive wavelength. If you go to one of those readers, they could very well be right on target and tell you what you need to hear. They might helpful and insightful, but I would warn against giving anyone else too much power. I believe we have choice in every moment and can shift our lives based on belief and action. Nothing is written in stone. I prefer the kind of reading where the seeker does most of the work. When I give readings, I let people make their own connections. I simply tell them what the placement means, what the cards mean in that placement. I will point out themes, tie things together, but mostly, I back off. To me, gentle guidance is the way to go.
4. Your relationship with Noah is fascinating because it doesn't end up with marriage, but it most certainly ends up with a strong and wonderful love between the two of you. You talk about "not holding on so tight." Can you say a bit more about that and why that's the way to go?
Have you seen the movie Out of Africa? I think it handles love and attachment and the desire to own things and people so beautifully. Karen, played by Meryl Streep, moves to a farm in Africa, and over time, learns that she has little to no control over the land and that she can’t hold onto anything. When it comes down to it, we own nothing and no one. We are simply here for when we are here, love when we love. It’s a very Buddhist message. I’m not a Buddhist per se, and I’m certainly no Buddha. I struggle all the time with this concept. I am constantly reminding myself to let go, to love openly, to be free, to let others be free. I loved Noah and still do. I broke up with him a couple of months before my book came out, because we were still stuck and had become unhappy. I kept thinking marriage would be a panacea, that my needs would be fulfilled if we walked down the isle, if he committed the rest of his life to me. It would have been a disaster. I really believe some people come into our lives to teach us lessons, to help us grow and heal and learn. That’s what we did for each other. I still believe in marriage, but if I ever get married, I want it to be that we both keep showing up because we want to, because there is flow, because we know that loving is risky business and scary-as-shit, but we do it anyway, in the face of potential loss, change and death. We do it until we don’t want to do it anymore or until we die. I know, so dramatic. I used to think I could control people… if I was loving enough, pretty enough, perfect enough, then someone would never leave me. I don’t want to have to work so hard. I also think it’s much better to focus on loving than being loved. I think when you love you experience love, which means you can always have love in your life. Love is not something you can touch or hold onto or grip, and when you try to keep it the same, you suffocate it. That is what I have learned.
4. I'm obsessively fascinated with how writers work. Can you talk a bit about what your writing day looks like?
When I was writing my book, I tried to listen and pay attention to my rhythms. There were days I could write for ten hours straight and other days I would be lucky to be able to concentrate for ten minutes. I think it’s about finding your flow and not forcing the moment. Also, I am a firm believer in something Natalite Goldberg said, “If you are a writer, you are writing even when you are not writing.” That’s not an exact quote, but you get the point.
6. What are you working on now--and why does it obsess or interest you?
I am playing around with a few ideas. I want to veer into a self-help/self-transformational direction. I’m really interested in healing… in helping people, especially women, live more authentic, joy-filled lives.
7. I have to ask you about your job at Fox News because I know from the Observer article about you that you got a lot of flack about it. Do you feel that as a writer, it's easier in a way to take these soul-killing kinds of jobs because you can escape into your imagination and/or because everything is material in some way? (And will this be material?)
When I took the job at Fox, I was a kid, well, 25. I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to do on-air hosting, which I could still see myself doing. I thought working behind the scenes would be like going to graduate school, which in some ways it was. Oh, how we justify our lives away. After a couple of years, when I knew it was not the job for me, fear kept me there, fear of the unknown, fear of trying something new. And then, when I figured out I was a storyteller and writer, I wanted to put all my energy into that, instead of looking for a new job. I figured there would come a point when I could take a leap into a new life, and sure enough, I was right. I just had no idea it would take 9 years! I feel so grateful for the leap I took, for my new life. The cool thing about leaps is the unexpected. I used to dread not knowing what my life was going to look like, and now I find magic in it. My book helped me stumble upon a great, new, unexpected passion: teaching. I love it so much. I love helping people unearth and form their own stories. It gives me so much joy. I look forward to letting more new, unexpected passions unfold in the empty space I have created for myself.
7. What question didn't I ask that I should have?
Hmmmm. How about what am I reading now? You can check out my vlog on A New Earth: http://www.crucialminutiae.com/?p=1164
8. Will you read my tarot cards? (Just kidding.)
Hells yeah!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Happy Labor Day
Of course, I would have preferred cupcakes in this ad, but you can't have everything. This actually reminds me of this book Porno For Women which was a series of photographs of men doing the laundry, cooking dinner and saying things like, "Of course those pants don't make you look fat, darling!"
We're off early Saturday morning. See you all Wednesday!
Caroline
Amazing Opportunity from Publisher's Weekly
Every writer and media person knows and reveres Publisher's Weekly. It really is the writer's Bible, full of publishing info, reviews, interviews. When I published my first novel, Meeting Rozzy Halfway, I was flown from Pittsburgh to NYC to be interviewed by them, and it changed my life in so many ways. (Really.) The prepublication reviews from them are not just essential, they can be career-making. (Especially if you get a star!)
PW has its fingers on the pulse of publishing and now Nicole Bruce, from another great organization Authors on The Web, part of the Book Report network, alerted me that they are presenting a full-day seminar, where experts from Publishers Weekly will guide aspiring writers through everything they need to know about the business of getting their books published. With the help of top agents, authors, editors and marketing professionals, PW will show writers the way to get published. The seminar will take place on Monday, September 22nd at the NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012 from 9 AM to 6 PM.
In advance of the seminar, PW will collect and read proposals, or a piece of a manuscript. One lucky writer selected by PW's deputy reviews editor and staff will be profiled in an upcoming issue of PW read by agents and publishers. Submissions are due by September 5, 2008. Submission guidelines and details can be found at http://www.publishersweekly.com/pub101.
The seminar's keynote speaker is Wally Lamb, the New York Times bestselling author and two-time Oprah Book Club pick, whose work includes I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, SHE'S COME UNDONE and THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED (Harper, November 11, 2008). Each attendee will receive a complimentary copy of I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE.
The program includes:
-Continental breakfast
-Welcome remarks from Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of PW and Andrea Chambers, director of the Center for Publishing, NYU
-Keynote address from Wally Lamb
-The Nuts and Bolts of Publishing panel
-Lunch and networking
-Agent/Author/Editor Relationship panel
Attendees will also attend two breakout sessions in the afternoon for more interactive discussions; each track will be repeated twice. Breakout session topics include:
-Alternative Publishing
-Marketing & Publicity
-Writing for the Children's and Young Adult Market
The day will conclude with an on-site Cocktail Reception
More information on the panelists, breakout sessions and details on cost and registration can be found online at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pub101. NYU students can receive a 50% discount.
This is an amazing opportunity for any writer!
PW has its fingers on the pulse of publishing and now Nicole Bruce, from another great organization Authors on The Web, part of the Book Report network, alerted me that they are presenting a full-day seminar, where experts from Publishers Weekly will guide aspiring writers through everything they need to know about the business of getting their books published. With the help of top agents, authors, editors and marketing professionals, PW will show writers the way to get published. The seminar will take place on Monday, September 22nd at the NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012 from 9 AM to 6 PM.
In advance of the seminar, PW will collect and read proposals, or a piece of a manuscript. One lucky writer selected by PW's deputy reviews editor and staff will be profiled in an upcoming issue of PW read by agents and publishers. Submissions are due by September 5, 2008. Submission guidelines and details can be found at http://www.publishersweekly.com/pub101.
The seminar's keynote speaker is Wally Lamb, the New York Times bestselling author and two-time Oprah Book Club pick, whose work includes I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, SHE'S COME UNDONE and THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED (Harper, November 11, 2008). Each attendee will receive a complimentary copy of I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE.
The program includes:
-Continental breakfast
-Welcome remarks from Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of PW and Andrea Chambers, director of the Center for Publishing, NYU
-Keynote address from Wally Lamb
-The Nuts and Bolts of Publishing panel
-Lunch and networking
-Agent/Author/Editor Relationship panel
Attendees will also attend two breakout sessions in the afternoon for more interactive discussions; each track will be repeated twice. Breakout session topics include:
-Alternative Publishing
-Marketing & Publicity
-Writing for the Children's and Young Adult Market
The day will conclude with an on-site Cocktail Reception
More information on the panelists, breakout sessions and details on cost and registration can be found online at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pub101. NYU students can receive a 50% discount.
This is an amazing opportunity for any writer!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Cupcake of my dreams
I don't really like cake, candies or cookies (though I adore chocolate in bar form), but I admit to being a cupcake-aholic. Recently opened two blocks away is Sweet, this incredible store that makes these gorgeous little cupcakes like the red velvet beauty pictured here. Yes, they are pricey, but they are so gorgeous and they are a fantastic reward after a day of writing. And the place makes them in mini-versions so you don't feel too guilty about wolfing one down.
Plus, I just bought one of those new vibration exercisers (a steal on Amazon Prime with free shipping) so don't I deserve a little sugar? I'm thin and pretty healthy, but I want to stay healthy and strong. The research on these machines is fascinating, by the way. Built to build bone and prime muscles for astronauts who couldn't exercise, they're now finding that these machines can reverse osteoporosis (it did for my friend, Barb), tone muscles, help with MS, tinnitus, hormone imbalances and any number of things. Yes, I know it sounds vaguely snake oilish, but the research is sound. Plus, they really give you a workout. I have no idea what it is actually going to FEEL like, but it should be arriving for its place in my crowded office any second. (And I'm just waiting on one more check to go get my Mac!)
On the writing front, I wanted to comment on a Youtube video interview by Alice Hoffman about the writing process which helped me enormously. Alice talks about how she outlines and then throws the outlines away and then remakes them and then tosses them again. She talks about how important it is to forget any future audience and simply be in the zone and write the book you need to write, the book that obsesses you, which is something I tell my students--and believe myself.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Teaching tolerance to kids
The Harvey Milk Story illustrated by by David Gardner and written by Kari Krakow is one of the most wonderful kids' books I've come across.
The story of the "little kid with the big ears makes history" is also a warm, engaging story of one man who made a real difference in the lives of so many people. But the book isn't pedantic about Milk in any way. Instead, he's a real, living, breathing person on the page, owning a photography shop that becomes a meeting place, fighting for the rights of gay people, and going on to leadership. There's a wry sense of humor in the book and the terrific illustrations are full of warmth.
What is so great about this book is that my son spotted it on my desk, and took it and read it and then had all sorts of thoughtful questions about why anyone would want to kill someone just because he was gay.
Why indeed.
Books can open minds, and hopefully, change them, too. I can't wait for the upcoming Sean Penn Harvey Milk film, but in the meantime, go grab up this book.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Save us from these books!
I hate this one, which helps kids deal with Mom's incessent need for plastic surgery. Let's see, can't you just see Mom musing, "Hmmmm, tummy tuck or making Johnny's lunch? Face lift or another game of Candyland?" Notice that the self-obsessed mother isn't really looking at her child!
Ok, this next one is a little unnerving. The title, Momma,Is Daddy Going to Hell? is offensive enough, but it turns out the reason why Dad might be heading for the Inferno is because he is a big fat cheater! What a nice message for the kids! I can't wait for the sequel, Daddy, is Momma the Devil's Spawn?
Can these titles be far behind?
Mommy's Been Drinking Again
Hooray, Daddy's Scored New Needles
Our Family Members are all Heathens!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Roaming at home
Isn't that gorgeous? Some people vacation by sprawling on a beach or doing nothing. Not us. Every morning we biked ten miles on the boardwalk, then played minigolf, then hit the arcades (we do love our honkytonk) and then went to the ocean for a grand total of an hour at most (we don't love the frying pan quality of the beach) and then off to a movie, and then to a whale watch and then to the go karts and then to the rides and then to another movie and then...
I did have a jaws moment. My son was in the surf and i noticed a black fin slicing through the water. I stared, blinked, and there it was again, zooming closer. I became cool, clear, determined, and I strode into the water and grabbed Max who was becoming panicked by my expression. "Shark," I said and then I was about to shout SHARK to get everyone else out, when Jeff ran into the water and grabbed me, shaking his head and pointing. "Dolphin!" he said, and there they were. Three of them, arcing out of the water and back again. I didn't know dolphins swam so close to shore, but then again, it IS their ocean and not ours.
I also fell smash bang off my bike and bonked my head so soundly that three, count them, three bikini'd nurses rushed to my rescue. I have a bump the size of a doll's frying pan over my right eye, but I'm better than the woman we saw who tripped in front of a restaurant where we were eating and broke her nose in a torrent of blood.
I think it's because as writers we tend to sit in our offices all day, breaking for lunch, so a vacation to us is doing as much as we possible can. Which leads me to an important question.
What is the worst candy you have ever had? I contend that it's Circus Peanuts, those orangey soft candies that are supposed to look like peanuts (if you live on Jupiter, maybe), but my son insists that Swedish fish are the most disgusting. Jeff votes for Boston Baked beans, those little rat pellets of flavor.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
What in a name and V-A-C-A-TION!
Names in a novel are important. They define a character and they have to sound right, and feel right, and somehow lead to plot, too. Would an Adrienne cheat on her partner? Would a Nancy? Or what about a Neal? When I'm starting a novel, I go through a few names until I hit the ones that feel right--and sometimes, the right ones just appear. Almost all the time, they aren't names I would actually name a child of my own, but they somehow fit the character, which of course, is what you want.
The Baby Name Countdown from Da Capo is an excellent book for parents to be, but it's also a gem for novelists. It's columns and columns (140,000 names, actually) of wonderful, earth shattering, funny, moving, compassionate, angry, mean, loving NAMES. (But really, do you really want to name your kid DEMONIKA?)
I'm off on vacation from Monday to Thursday, and sans computer, so No new blog posts until I come back happy, rested and ready to write again.
Beauty is in the eye of the Mac beholder
Aren't these gorgeous? We are now the proud owners of two of them--a laptop and an Imac, and two ipod touches. Jeff's Dell laptop and desktop both died at the same hour (RIP) and since my Dell is only a year old, I have to soldier on. (Of course, I have all sorts of plans for splurging and getting a new Mac anyway, but that's a whole other issue.)
I seem to not have the regular female shopping gene for clothes or shoes (though a great lipgloss can sway me)> But put me in a store with any sort of technology and I want to shop for days.
There is something about beginning a new novel on a new computer that has its own kind of joy. It's got that hopefulness about it, as if you and the computer are beginning this journey together--I know this sounds insane a bit, but trust me, most novelists I know are indebted to their computers. It's a wonder we don't put them in the acknowledgement pages!
I now have twenty pages, and because we are off on vacation, I'm a little nervous. Will the fever sustain itself while I'm away? On the other hand, the beginning of any novel is always a wonderful time, because you're just dipping your toes in and the water is lovely. You haven't reach the thorny middle part when you realize you have 400 pages and none of it makes sense, and there isn't a dramatic question in any of your chapters.
Still, the thought of four days doing nothing but biking on the boardwalk, getting sugar shocked with fudge, playing mini golf and wasting--um, I mean, spending--lots of money in the arcades and staring at the ocean (I'm phobic about sharks and jelly fish and giant squid, so I stare and watch my son, who is fearless) is remarkably appealing.
Who knows, maybe when I come back, there will be my own shiny new Imac waiting for me!
PS, will the poster Fenway Fern please email me? Your post lets me know that we went to HS together and I want to know who you are!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Cbs early show
Oh sigh! For two hours I was supposed to be on CBS Early Show tomorrow on a panel of writers discussing John Edwards and infidelity and The Other Woman, which just came out in paperback. I spoke with the fabulous producer, then worried what to wear, what was clean, was black okay to wear on TV, would my hair look stupid, and where were my mirror earrings? And then just as I was getting really happy about having a car come and pick me up and take me there (and the studio is right next to the big Apple store on Madison), they called and said the segment was postponed.
It would have been really fun....
It would have been really fun....
Now let us all praise UCLA
I'm thrilled to be on the faculty of UCLA and every year they have a fabulous Writers Faire where you can connect with writers, courses and get inspiration--and all for free. Here are the details:
Sunday, September 7 UCLA Extension Writers' Program proudly presents Writers Faire 2008 11 am-3 pm UCLA Campus: Young Hall Courtyard Admission is free. Parking on campus in Lot 2 is $9.
Be our guest at the ninth annual Writers Faire featuring 24 free mini-panels and lectures in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, writing for the youth market, playwriting, publishing, feature film writing, and television writing. Writers of all levels are welcome!
Listen to 70 instructors/writers as they participate in lively discussions about the art, craft, business, and life of writing.
Enroll in most fall courses at a ten percent discount (advanced courses not included).
Get one-on-one advisement on courses and certificate programs.
Learn more about Los Angeles-area MFA programs and speak to representatives from five top schools.
Become familiar with Blackboard, the platform used in all Writers’ Program online courses.
Watch Final Draft representatives demonstrate their software (discounts are available).
Visit with more than a dozen professional and community organizations and writing-allied businesses, all of whom share a common goal of promoting writing in Los Angeles.
Click here (http://www2.uclaextension.edu/writers/events.php?eventID=20) to access a PDF of the 2008 Writers Faire schedule and videos of panels from last year’s Writers Faire. Or contact the Writers' Program office at (310) 825-9415 or at writers@uclaextension.edu for more information.
Sunday, September 7 UCLA Extension Writers' Program proudly presents Writers Faire 2008 11 am-3 pm UCLA Campus: Young Hall Courtyard Admission is free. Parking on campus in Lot 2 is $9.
Be our guest at the ninth annual Writers Faire featuring 24 free mini-panels and lectures in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, writing for the youth market, playwriting, publishing, feature film writing, and television writing. Writers of all levels are welcome!
Listen to 70 instructors/writers as they participate in lively discussions about the art, craft, business, and life of writing.
Enroll in most fall courses at a ten percent discount (advanced courses not included).
Get one-on-one advisement on courses and certificate programs.
Learn more about Los Angeles-area MFA programs and speak to representatives from five top schools.
Become familiar with Blackboard, the platform used in all Writers’ Program online courses.
Watch Final Draft representatives demonstrate their software (discounts are available).
Visit with more than a dozen professional and community organizations and writing-allied businesses, all of whom share a common goal of promoting writing in Los Angeles.
Click here (http://www2.uclaextension.edu/writers/events.php?eventID=20) to access a PDF of the 2008 Writers Faire schedule and videos of panels from last year’s Writers Faire. Or contact the Writers' Program office at (310) 825-9415 or at writers@uclaextension.edu for more information.
The mac is here!
Oh my God, it is so cool and now I want one myself. The itouch is charging and I can't wait to figure out how to use it, though my son insists it is his. (Well, of course, he jsut turned twelve so he has seniority over all of us...
Monday, August 11, 2008
A royalty and Mac and a thousand thank-yous
A royalty statement came in! You have no idea how happy and thrilled and excited I am--Girls in Trouble is four years old and it is still selling, which is amazing and wonderful, and part of the royalty was also for Coming Back to Me which is six years old. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, whomever bought my book. I owe you a signed watercolor. I owe you a hug. I owe you a night out on the town. I owe you everything because royalties mean that the publisher is happy because you earned back your advance. It means your chances of publishing again are that much better. And best of all, it means you have readers, which is really the most important thing of all.
As for us, we're heading for the Mac store where Jeff is getting a Mac laptop and I'm getting the itouch.
As for us, we're heading for the Mac store where Jeff is getting a Mac laptop and I'm getting the itouch.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
PC or Mac?
This dandy photo is a series that Max and I made at the incredible huge and wonderful and giant Mac store in Soho. It's some feature called Mirror Stretch, I believe, and we played with it for about a half hour, before moving on. What's most strange, beside the double Carolines is that Max's head is floating over his neck with white space in between. Actually, there IS no neck. And he looks nothing like himself, except for the major hair.
I want a Mac.
I've had a PC for a zillion years, though I worked on a Mac at my horrible Columbia House job (get a thousand videos for a penny...Bruce Willis back and better then ever, and a boss who chided me for calling films about ponies Horse Tales, because he said no one would get it.) I love my Dell, I really do. It's just the Dell service people I loathe. They never really help. They are all based in India, which is outsourcing which I don't approve of, and they always say, "Reinstall Windows."
The Mac store is so cool. Two huge floors and a theater (a theater!) where they give demonstrations and classes. It's open 24 hours a day, so you could mosey in at four in the morning and hang out if you wanted. Their help is called the Genius bar and the people who help you geniuses. Plus the Macs are so cool. We spent all our time playing on the big Macs, then on the lap tops, then on the iphones, then back to the laptops. one guy was at the same machine for all three hours, talking to himself.
And also, I asked if I could at least get a mac keyboard, and they said they wouldn't work with my PC. Is this true? I asked about six different people, just in case they were hiding info on me and they all said no.
Sigh. I got my new dell last year, but I think Jeff's going to get a Mac laptop.
So who has a PC and who has a Dell and who has a Mac and who has used both? (Original Mac owners tend to be very "nothing else will do-ish"....I know aprt of this is just my yearning for new technology, whatever it is, but stil...
What the hell is wrong with John Edwards?
Let me count the ways.
1. Hypocrite
2. Moron who might as well hand the election over to the Republicans who will have a field day
3. Moron who can't keep it in his pants
4. Lying idiot
His attitude reminds me of Roman Polanski, who, in the brilliant documentary WANTED AND DESIRED very matter of factly discusses his love for young girls and his insistence that he has done othing wrong. There's the whiff that because he's such a brilliant (and I do believe he is brilliant. He's one of my favorite filmmakers of all times) director, he's allowed special privileges, no matter whom he damages.
I admit that all things considered, I care less about someone's sexual dalliances than I do about people like Bush, Rove et al screwing the country with shady politics and a disatrous war. But given the moralistic climate of our country, this is just a stupid act.
I am also irritated with Edwards wife who should really show him the door and then lock it with a 90 pound deadbolt.
But wait, there's more! I feel like Ed Anger from the old Weekly World News, but I'm highly irritated with both Clintons, because they both seem as though, once again, they are hoping for a democratic lose, so that Hillary can run again in four years.
Don't you all feel that these politicians are five years old?
1. Hypocrite
2. Moron who might as well hand the election over to the Republicans who will have a field day
3. Moron who can't keep it in his pants
4. Lying idiot
His attitude reminds me of Roman Polanski, who, in the brilliant documentary WANTED AND DESIRED very matter of factly discusses his love for young girls and his insistence that he has done othing wrong. There's the whiff that because he's such a brilliant (and I do believe he is brilliant. He's one of my favorite filmmakers of all times) director, he's allowed special privileges, no matter whom he damages.
I admit that all things considered, I care less about someone's sexual dalliances than I do about people like Bush, Rove et al screwing the country with shady politics and a disatrous war. But given the moralistic climate of our country, this is just a stupid act.
I am also irritated with Edwards wife who should really show him the door and then lock it with a 90 pound deadbolt.
But wait, there's more! I feel like Ed Anger from the old Weekly World News, but I'm highly irritated with both Clintons, because they both seem as though, once again, they are hoping for a democratic lose, so that Hillary can run again in four years.
Don't you all feel that these politicians are five years old?
Friday, August 8, 2008
Let us now praise Backspace
Backspace is a wonderful organization online which supports writers (they also have a wonderful forum.) I just got back from the conference and I'm a little dazzled. The warmth and comradery of the writers there was incredible, and the dialogue we all had after the panel Leora Skolkin-Smith and I did, sparked discussions that continued out into the hall. As a panelist, I was completely thrilled, absolutely comfortable (I tend to be a bit nervous, to say the least) and the whole experience was filled with laughter. And as a writer, I thought the panels were great--really informative and great discussions. I definitely want to do it again, (the incomparably generous MJ Rose won an award for her service to other writers) and now I have my ebay new-with-tags Black rayon beaded dress to wear again to it!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Backspace writers conference
Tomorrow, I'm going to be at the Backspace writers conference in the heart of NYC talking with Leora Skolkin-Smith about the perils and pleasures of using your life in your fiction. I'm very excited to be there, ticked that I missed the cocktail party tonight, but happy I'll get to meet a lot of other writerly types. But it means getting out of my fave jeans and fave red tee shirt and putting on a dress!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
OK now I'm frazzled
So my blog was locked again for about an hour by the robots. If you never see a new post and want to know what's up, chances are I'm LOCKED. So email me and I'll tell you where my new blog might me! (Because if this keeps happening, I'm out of here.)
Monday, August 4, 2008
Obsession
I have been writing all morning on this new novel and am alternately excited, terrified and obsessed by it. I don't know if I can pull it off, but I'm so drawn to it, that I can't stop. My friend, the writer Rochelle Shapiro, told me that I've been wanting to write this particular novel for years but never could figure the right way into the story. Which goes to show you that ideas can simmer like soup, that sometimes there is indeed a right time to write something, and this is also a great nudge for all writers to keep notebooks of ideas, to never throw anything out. It may not work now, but it could ferment into something later.
That actually was the case with my first novel, Meeting Rozzy Halfway, which began as a story that I struggled over for two years. I couldn't get it--it was forced and wrong and it was written from a child's point of view about why her father was so terrifyingly distant. After a particularly bad week of writing, something sort of revealed to me. I don't know where it came from, but this voice emerged, and I began writing the beginnings of the story from an adult point of view. Ah, the mysteries of creativity!
On other mysterious fronts, our TV is possessed. We had DISH and the TV kept stopping so after four different replacement boxes, we went to DIRECT TV. Same problem, even worse. Now we have Optiumum and guess what happened? I think an electrician has to get in here, which will probably cost the price of a small country. Has anyone ever had such a problem?
Back to writing. I feel like I want to write all day, but I'm anxious about the well running dry. I love the sensation that all is great and tomorrow I can't wait to get back to my desk. Which is another question: When do you know when to stop writing for the day?
That actually was the case with my first novel, Meeting Rozzy Halfway, which began as a story that I struggled over for two years. I couldn't get it--it was forced and wrong and it was written from a child's point of view about why her father was so terrifyingly distant. After a particularly bad week of writing, something sort of revealed to me. I don't know where it came from, but this voice emerged, and I began writing the beginnings of the story from an adult point of view. Ah, the mysteries of creativity!
On other mysterious fronts, our TV is possessed. We had DISH and the TV kept stopping so after four different replacement boxes, we went to DIRECT TV. Same problem, even worse. Now we have Optiumum and guess what happened? I think an electrician has to get in here, which will probably cost the price of a small country. Has anyone ever had such a problem?
Back to writing. I feel like I want to write all day, but I'm anxious about the well running dry. I love the sensation that all is great and tomorrow I can't wait to get back to my desk. Which is another question: When do you know when to stop writing for the day?
Saturday, August 2, 2008
My blog is back~!!!
I'm hugely relieved! My blog was locked and they said it might take 20 days, so now I am thrilled!
After strugglng so hard with this new novel, I went back to the other novel I was working on-showed it to a few people, and all were excited (or at least, very, very kind) so now I'm newly obsessed. It's a much simpler structure with a strong through line, so I'm putting the other complex novel on the back burner for now until I figure out how to do it. Sometimes just obsessing and stressing about something shows you the way into the story, which happened with this one. And the comments of some very smart, tough writer friends--one in particular whom I can never thank enough-- also helped quite a bit, too.
We spent the day at the Fear Exhibit at one of my favorite places in the world, The Liberty Science Center. You could test your fear of falling, loud noises, electric shock, but where were tests for fear of clowns or giant squids or having to drive a car? Where was the exhibit about fear of demons or ghosts or another 8 years with Bush?
I know I always tell my writing students to write about what obsesses them, but it isn't a bad idea to also write about what you fear.
After strugglng so hard with this new novel, I went back to the other novel I was working on-showed it to a few people, and all were excited (or at least, very, very kind) so now I'm newly obsessed. It's a much simpler structure with a strong through line, so I'm putting the other complex novel on the back burner for now until I figure out how to do it. Sometimes just obsessing and stressing about something shows you the way into the story, which happened with this one. And the comments of some very smart, tough writer friends--one in particular whom I can never thank enough-- also helped quite a bit, too.
We spent the day at the Fear Exhibit at one of my favorite places in the world, The Liberty Science Center. You could test your fear of falling, loud noises, electric shock, but where were tests for fear of clowns or giant squids or having to drive a car? Where was the exhibit about fear of demons or ghosts or another 8 years with Bush?
I know I always tell my writing students to write about what obsesses them, but it isn't a bad idea to also write about what you fear.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Novel spasms
I know, I know. Whine, whine, despair. Everytime I finish a novel, I look at it in wonder and I forget how hard it was to write. (I know the metaphore is childbirth, but since I had a spectacularly magical pregnancy and a wonderful birthing experience with only one strange Jurassic Park labor moment, and I remember all of it, that doesn't hold for me.)Then I anguish over the new novel I've started, wondering why ONE. I can't just rewrite the novel I've completed that I now love and TWO. I can't just write the new novel as easily and fluidly as I am CERTAIN was my process for every other novel I've ever written. All evidence to the contrary somehow doesn't count.
I despaired about all of this to a lifeline, an incredibly talented writer friend and she said: Don't despair, sugar, these are swings. Remember that. You need to just realize the novel's in process and it's all pains and spasms for a while and lots of anguish and unclarity. But that DOES NOT mean it's not going to be great or working.
I think that is advice so good I should tattoo it on the inside of my eyelids so everytime I blink I see it and remember. Or at the very least, it needs to be a voice loop in my head.
I like that, though. Swings.
I despaired about all of this to a lifeline, an incredibly talented writer friend and she said: Don't despair, sugar, these are swings. Remember that. You need to just realize the novel's in process and it's all pains and spasms for a while and lots of anguish and unclarity. But that DOES NOT mean it's not going to be great or working.
I think that is advice so good I should tattoo it on the inside of my eyelids so everytime I blink I see it and remember. Or at the very least, it needs to be a voice loop in my head.
I like that, though. Swings.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Cape Fear
Warner Brothers is planning to make a movie of Marvin The Martian. This doesn't fill me with joy. When I was a little girl, Marvin terrified me. I had nightmares! Then again, I also am perhaps the only person in the world who doesn't like clowns and finds them chilling, as well.
Sometimes I find writing helps phobia. I'm anxious about driving so I wrote about it in Breathe. But besides normal fears (politics, war, terrorism, global warming) I'm also anxious about:
1. shark attacks
2. giant squid attacks
3. serial killers
4. choking
5. asthma (wrote about it)
6. planes
Anybody got a stranger list?
The boy is twelve
The photo is of FRED, not my son MAX. Fred is the YouTube hero of my son, though, and for Max's 12th birthday, coming up tomorrow, and celebrated this weekend, we really want to try and get him a Happy Birthday email from Fred, this YouTube character, but I've tried every email for Fred I can find and I even scoured Facebook and MySpace and wrote to him, there--alas, no luck, no response, no nada. Fred, in case, you don't know, is this 15 (I think) year old kid from Nebraska who puts the voice of a hyperactive six-year-old in his mouth. He's some sort of sensation and has been on CNN because of the millions of hits on his videos. And if you find a way to get to him and there is a response, the prize is 4 (count 'em) watercolors.
We haven't done this since Max was 7 and was addicted to Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. We managed to get a hold of Regis and he sent Max an autographed photograph that said, "Max, Someday YOU will be a millionaire! Happy Birthday!"
Sigh. If anyone knows Fred....
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I Shall Scream (with apologies to Oliver)
I seem to have some sort of acid in my fingers which destroys the letters of my keyboards in three months' time. I've tried different keyboards, putting clear nail polish on (messy and didn't work), and even bought one of those odd key condoms--a rubber sheet which tightly fits over the keys, which collected dust and drove me crazy. I tried press on letters (they faded.) I finally found a company that insists its press on-letters (see photo above) won't fade. Other than that, there is the (pictured above) Japanese keyboards in soft leather AND NO LETTERS AT ALL.
I also heard that laser etched keyboards might work.
Sigh...If anyone has a workable solution, you can get a watercolor of a ladder flying in the sky.
Friday, July 25, 2008
In the Zone
You know how runners reach a runner's high after a certain amount of time? I truly believe writers do, too. It always takes me a while to get into my work. I hit the desk at nine every morning (except weekends), I spend about a half hour fighting the urge to alphabetize my books ro dust the 75 snowdomes I have or rearrange my files, then I usually walk up and down the stairs a few times of mindless and unnecessary errands, like checking to see if the stray cat came back to our porch (not that I could take him in--I'm violently allergic), then I sit down. It takes me about an hour, and then something happens, and I swear it feels like an altered state of consciousness. It's like God's reward for you actually sitting down and opening up veins so you can write.
It isn't that the prose is great or the story flowing. It's simply that I am int his whole other world and I don't want to be anywhere else.
I just wish there was a way to jumpstart it so it could happen instantly.
It isn't that the prose is great or the story flowing. It's simply that I am int his whole other world and I don't want to be anywhere else.
I just wish there was a way to jumpstart it so it could happen instantly.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Let Hear it for the boy!
I adore my son Max and here he is in the theater company's production of The Music Man! He's rocking that long hair!
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