California Fever

Christina

I read lots of posts on lots of blogs that feature wonderful writing.  Christina's posts are routinely excellent.  But I gotta tell ya, this one positively knocked me out.

A Liar's Party

Betcha can't guess what I did last night...

Yes!  It was finally time to host "A Liar's Party" for Patry Francis!  We had it at the lovely home of my pal, Toni.  (Our place is way too small.)  The photo was courtesy of Bob, Toni's wonderful husband who went upstairs and left us to do our chatty thing.  Patry's husband, Ted, had dropped her at the party and then headed back to their hotel.

I was the only other blogger in attendance--the others are friends from my workplace (junior high).  The bloggers I would have invited all live some distance away, and I know it's hard for people on a weeknight.  I invited 12--seven of us were able to make it. 

From left to right:  me, Kathy (head of our English dept.), Patry, Toni (school nurse), Gina (teaches English and Drama--she recently won a grant for some training at the Globe Theatre in London this summer...our Drama students are currently in rehearsal for "Pirates of Penzance"), Esther (our much-loved former German teacher--she retired at the end of last year), Carolyn (head counselor...Taylor's grandma...Patry's granddaughters sent a gift for Taylor...so sweet!) and Debbie (our inclusion--special ed--teacher).

Toni and Debbie have lived across the street from each other for many years, and have been in a neighborhood book club for nearly as long.  So when I asked, Toni said she'd be happy to host us since her book club has previously hosted other authors.

And just to keep things really cozy...Toni's daughter, Lindsay, will be marrying Carolyn's son, Dan, this August.

This is a warm and wonderful group of women, and I hope that Patry enjoyed her evening with them.  I know that she has a game she somtimes likes to play with these book party groups, but we were so busy peppering her with questions that we never got around to it.  We learned that she likes to write in the mornings.  That she once read in a "Writer's Digest" publication to simply write 3 pages every day, even if one doesn't feel like it--so that's what she does.  About her earlier novels which were not published.  About suggestions her editor made for The Liar's Diary.   About some, um, interesting ways a few readers have responded to the book.  And how her oldest son waited 20 years to collect on a childhood promise.  See, you have to host a party so you can get all the juicy details, too!  ;)

Patry is just as smart and witty and sweet and delightful and wonderful as I'm sure you all imagine her to be.  She and I shared with the group the joys of blogging.  I started to say the highs and lows, but I can't think of a single negative that we mentioned, since we both love it so much.  (I guess the only downside would be that it can be a tad addictive.)  ;)

Patry shipped a box of books to my home late last week and since we all planned to buy books from her, after Jeffrey accidentally opened the box (not reading the label--thinking it was one of his usual Amazon shipments), I grabbed a copy and between Sunday and after work yesterday, devoured it.  (Well, the story, not the actual book.)  It's a page-turner!

And in a sweet twist for me, Patry and Ted spent Monday night in my hometown of Crescent City.  When I spoke to her after work on Monday, they were making their way down the gorgeous Oregon coast.  I had told them that Crescent City would be about halfway between Portland and Davis via the route they had mapped out.  (Laini hosted a party for her on Sunday night.)   So on Monday night Patry and Ted stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites, where old Seaside Hospital used to be located.  That was where my brother and I were both born and where we both had tonsillectomies--me at age 3, him at 12.  So imagine my delight when I phoned her from work yesterday morning and heard her say, "Oh, we're just leaving Good Harvest..."  She said last night that when the cafe staff had asked how they'd heard about Good Harvest, she nonchalantly replied, "I have a friend from Crescent City..."  Good Harvest is where we have breakfast when we're there--good food and great handmade willow furniture.  Patry and Ted had both been very excited to see redwoods for the first time--I told her she'd hit a big bunch of them just south of town, since 101 would take them through Redwood National Park.

The only disappointment about this entire experience was that Patry and I didn't have more time to hang out together. We had a few minutes as I drove her back to her hotel.  This morning she and Ted are off to Corte Madera to visit Book Passage, one of the country's best indie bookstores.  (I saw Natalie Goldberg speak there several years ago).  Her book tour continues in the Bay Area before they fly to Chicago later this week. 

It was a wonderful evening with a wonderful person.

*****************************************

In Unity Week news...  Unity Week is kicking my butt!  :)  There are three of us on staff who have organized these activities.  We each took the lead on one big project.  My big project was working with the kids on our Darfur committee.  Yesterday was their day to present, which they did during both lunch periods.  They set up a slide show to run onstage in our Indoor Commons, which is also our cafeteria.  But that was just a tease to entice kids to check out their exhibit in our (unused this year) Home Ec room.  I can't post photos here, because that would break my 'no student photos' policy, but their presentation was a huge hit.  They wanted it to feel like night, so they put dark paper over the huge windows and strung a bunch of white lights.  They had a slide show running and built an example of a simple structure a Darfur refugee might have in one of the refugee camps.  They had an information table, where they provided handouts and answered questions.  They also encouraged visitors to their exhibit to write postcards to President Bush to encourage him to take action to protect innocent civilians in Darfur.  They made green ribbons that students and staff could be seen wearing the remainder of the day in solidarity.  And they created a green ribbon paper 'wall' where students could write their sentiments about Darfur on large green paper ribbons which we now have displayed in the school lobby. 

Our school district's school climate coordinator was on-site yesterday and I encouraged him to check out their presentation.  Afterwards, he told me that he'd told the kids he was so impressed that he wants them to take their show on the road--to do their presentation at our sister junior highs.  They were quite excited by that news, and I couldn't be prouder of them.

Today at lunchtime (all three grades have lunch together on Wednesdays) we're staging a cultural fashion show.  We had a dress rehearsal at the end of the schoolday on Monday.  The fashion show committee has pulled together some wonderful outfits for the show--from Pakistan and Ghana and Vietnam and Japan and China and India and Tonga, etc.  And the show is going to open with a special performance by our high school's award-winning Madrigals.  Yours truly will be the commentator, and this morning I'll be helping our decorations committee set the stage for the show.

Monday morning I helped our language tree committee hang their piece in the Indoor Commons.  The kids came up with this concept to show all of the different languages spoken by our students--as based on a language survey they gave to all students last week.

There's also a world map in the Indoor Commons.  Last Friday, every student was given an opportunity (during their P.E. classes) to put a dot on the map indicating the country or state or city they most identify with.

And yesterday during lunch the two girls heading up a hands mural project got students to write on paper hands the nationalities or races they most identify with along with one thought about unity.

Tomorrow is a minimum day so our teachers can join their fellow teachers at their sister schools in articulation meetings.  I'm looking forward to having a nice, quiet afternoon in the office just so I can catch up a little!  :) On Friday, our assembly committee will be doing two shows of their Unity Week assembly.

This weekend?  I plan to sleep.  ;)

The Liar's Diary

I'm kinda crazy busy at work this week, so I'm afraid I don't have a poem for Poetry Thursday today.  The truth is I had no clue how to incorporate mathemetical terms into one (see the prompt post if you don't know what I'm referring to).  I LOATHE math.  :)  But that's okay, because there are more pressing matters at hand...

Patry's novel is being released today!  Run, speedwalk, crawl to your nearest bookstore and check it out!  Getting a book published in this day and age is no easy feat, so you know it has to be good.  I thought about pre-ordering a copy through Amazon, but I wanted the satisfaction of walking into Borders (just a few blocks from our house) after work today and seeing (hopefully) a whole bunch of copies on the shelf and purchasing one in person. 

From the Amazon site:

About the Author
Patry Francis’s poetry and short stories have appeared in the Ontario Review, The Massachusetts Review, the Tampa Review, and The American Poetry Review, among other publications. She is a three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and has twice been the recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. The Liar’s Diary is her first novel.  

And you thought she was just a lovely, super-nice, creative blogger.  ;) 

Best wishes to Patry today (I'm so excited for her!)  I hope The Liar's Diary is a big, big success!

Day 19

(It's only day 19??  Whose stupid idea was it to do this for 37 days?  I don't wanna do NaBloPoMo...I don't want to post daily for only 30 days, I wanna tack another week onto there.  And just to make life more difficult, why don't I throw down a writing prompt challenge on top of it?  Yeah, that oughta ratchet down my stress level.  Idiot.)

Okay, now that that's out of the way...

From page 37 of The Right to Write - An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron (and I honestly didn't know it was one of her books until I just looked more closely at the cover--it's one of the books I picked up at the library over the weekend):

...moods shadow the writing landscape like passing clouds.  They darken our perception of beautiful terrain and fool us into despair.

And later on that page:

"It's very hard to write without it putting you in a better mood..."

That second quote brought to mind the quote that appears at the beginning of Louise deSalvo's Writing as a Way of Healing:

So while our art cannot, as we wish it could, save
us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or
death, it can revitalize us admist it all...

Writing is survival...

Not to write, for many of us, is to die.

I have learned, on my journeys, that if I let a day
go by without writing, I grow uneasy.  Two days and
I am in tremor.  Three and I suspect lunacy.  Four
and I might as well be a hog, suffering the flux in
a wallow.  An hour's writing is tonic.  I'm on my
feet, running in circles, and yelling for a clean
pair of spats.

~Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

It's only now that I realize I've got nothin' this morning, so I guess quotes from books are all you're gonna get today.  Although it's not about writing, I love that Anne Lamott included this poem in Bird by Bird, because it makes me smile every time I read it.  And if you've ever sat in a 12-step meeting room--that freaky mother lode of people who can be simultaneously exceedingly grandiose while crippled by self-loathing (or as a friend used to say, "I'm the piece of shit the world revolves around"...and I count myself among their numbers)--then you might laugh even harder.  Let's just say this poem would play very well in an A.A. meeting room...it's by Phillip Lopate:

We who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting,
as a group,
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift.
Your analyst is
in on it,
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband;
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us.
In announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves.
But since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community
of purpose
rare in itself
with you as
the natural center,
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your disastrous personality
then for the good of the collective.

Day 17

Yesterday I let go of the 37th page part of my own writing prompt (because I loved the Sunday Scribblings prompt so much).  I thought my veering off-prompt might be a one-time thing...until I picked up the Datebook section in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle and read about Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays project.  I just have to share this with you, because this is about a project that came about because a playwright created her own daily writing challenge.

I'd read about the book previously, but hadn't realized until yesterday that the 365 Days/365 Plays were about to be produced all over the country.   From the Chronicle story:

All the hubbub is gearing up for what may well be the largest-scale theatrical collaboration in U.S. history.  Starting Monday, more than 600 theaters across the country will be presenting a Parks play a day (or in any case seven plays a week) for an entire year.  In each city or region -- San Francisco, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington, DC, plus areas around the Carolinas and the Mississippi River and a network of universities --  a different theater will be responsible for a week's worth of plays, then pass the baton to another theater.

How much do I love this idea?  A LOT.  I think it's extraordinary.  First of all, it's extraordinary that one of our foremost playwrights (a Pulitzer Prize winner) got the brilliant idea to write a mini-play every day for a year.  Secondly, because this is such a large collaborative project, it's bringing together theater companies in every region who may have never before collaborated, and, as mentioned in the Chronicle piece, might not have even been aware of the other's existence. 

Although you might never have guessed this from anything you've ever read here, I am a HUGE fan of live theater.  Heck, at one point in my mid-20's I thought I might like to make a career of stage managing.  (Before I felt like a fraud when a golden opportunity got handed to me on a silver platter and I ran from it in panic.)  So I am all over this like white on rice.  Think about the scope of this project and what a boost to theater companies all over the country it can be--providing work for 52 theater companies in every region.  The fact that this playwright is female and African-American...well, that's just icing on the cake.  :)

You know I'm not gonna throw up a post like this and not give you some links, so here you go...

Thought you might want to read the transcript of Suzan-Lori Parks on The Tavis Smiley Show here.

But here's the real gem:  Theatre Communications Group is going to publish each of the 365 plays.  The first installment is up--read it here.

The 365 Days/365 Plays website is here (although it appears to still be under construction).

The Chronicle story mentions how this collaboration evolved from Parks' discussions with Bonnie Metzgar, associate artistic director of Denver's Curious Theatre.  Curious' 365 Days info is here.  Here's the info for several other cities around the country:

San Francisco
New York
New Haven (Yale)
Los Angeles (and here)
Chicago
Atlanta
Austin
Seattle
Washington, DC

And I'm sure there will be many more areas involved.  You know what they say--check your local listings.

In the Tavis Smiley transcript, he asks her what drew her to writing.  He's written many non-fiction books himself, but professes admiration for those who can write fiction.  He says, "But with fiction, you have to create something, like, out of nothing. There's nothing here. You just, like--You create something out of nothing"  To which Parks replies, "Or you create something out of the great everything..."

Go tap into the great everything today.  If this project doesn't let you know the world is WIDE OPEN and CHOCK FULL OF POSSIBILITIES, well then, I don't know what will.  ;)

Day 15

"...what you write today is the result of some span of idling yesterday, some fairly long period of protection from talking and busyness...what you write today you thought and created in some idle time on another day."  That's Brenda Ueland speaking on page 37 of her classic book, If you Want to Write.

Do you agree?  Like Liz, I often don't have a preconceived notion of what I'm going to write about here.  Sometimes I do, like when I'm recounting my travels.  But most of the time?  No.  Like during this 37 Days Challenge (which I further complicated by challenging myself to use a quote pulled from page 37 of a random book)--I find a quote I think I might be able to use as a jumping-off point, but then have to really think about where to go with it.  Or more appropriately, where to let it take me.

Maybe Ueland was on to something.  Anyone who enjoys writing is usually a good observer.  And isn't cogitating part of that observation?  To think about what we've observed?  All good thinking is aided by stillness and a quieting of the mind.  Just think how many of us say that we get some of our best ideas in the shower, precisely because we're not thinking overtly.

Where do you find your idle time?  How do you carve it out of your busy days?  Water helps many of us still the chatter in our heads and unwind.  The majestic sonic beauty of a waterfall...the repetitive power of an ocean's waves...the surf gently lapping on a sandy shore...a river or stream rushing over rocks...the pressure of a shower head's spray beating the knots between our shoulder blades...kicking up splashes in a pool...a long soak in the tub.

I think one thing's for certain:  busyness is the foe of creativity.  I really believe that.  We may not overtly pre-create our 'product' (whatever our medium), but surely we come to the creative table feeling much more open to the process when we've given ourself the gift of replenishment through idleness.  Isn't it an old jokey cliche about writers that when they're staring off into space they're actually working?  They are.

I don't believe that idleness is the devil's playground.  In fact, I believe that whoever invented that concept probably did so after realizing the power of idleness.  If you keep people busy enough, they won't have time to think.  After all, no telling where that might lead.

 

37 Days of the 37th Page for 37 Days Challenge

P.S.  Today is Ciara's 9th Birthday.  Happy Birthday, C!  xoxoxo

Home

Today's 37 Days Challenge post will have to come later, since it took the alarm to wake me this morning and I'm once again running late.  (As J was turning off the alarm, I kept thinking, "That's okay--those are just the bells for the dancing tourists..." or some such nonsense.  I was convinced it had no bearing on me.)   

Speaking of tourists and travelers, my dear pal Pam has her next podcast up at Nerd's Eye View, and it includes an essay written by me.  The theme was home--as in, there's no place like it.  I wrote my piece early last Saturday morning, and since I didn't have our audio set-up hooked up and tweaked, I asked Pam if she'd mind reading my story herself.  She agreed, and did a fabulous job.  (You know someone gets you when they can read your words with the inflections you'd give them yourself.)  As indicated in her post, you can subscribe to her podcast's feed in iTunes.  Pam does a great job of putting her podcasts together. 

Take note:  She's soliciting audio files (or written essays) for her next podcast.  The theme will be:  "Quit Shouting at Me!" (open to your interpretation).  The deadline for submissions is November 24th.

Hope you'll take a listen. 

Day 9

I went to two book readings by Merrill Markoe when I lived in Portland.  The first was at Borders, the second at Powell's on Hawthorne.  I remember her telling us at the latter that she'd just recently seen an early showing of Best in Show and that it was hilarious.  I went to her readings because as the creator of Letterman's show, she has (in my mind) serious comedy cred.  And although you'd never know it from reading this blog, I'm all about the comedy.  Anyone who's carved out a career in comedy is a (s)hero to me.  What's the old saying?  "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." 

By now you might be asking, "What does any of this have to do with morning, today's Sunday Scribblings prompt?"  Well, here's the thing.  I woke up having slept beautifully, probably because we had a relaxing day yesterday.  And as I began to wake, I thought (for the 300 millionth time), "Maybe I should meditate this morning (before I start letting my head get all wound up, like I usually do)."  But instead all I started thinking about was how I hadn't yet written my Sunday Scribblings post.  So I jumped online and went to the site to assure myself that "morning" was really the prompt (having checked it a few days ago) and saw that there were already more than 50 posts linked and it was only 6:30 am on the West Coast.  I realize the rest of the world's time zones may have already posted their entries, but in keeping with the motif of the post I wrote yesterday, doesn't it seem like all these theme day blog groups are becoming yet one more thing we're racing to do?  People seem to be posting earlier and earlier.  And I don't mean hours earlier, but days earlier.  (I also participate at Favorite Things Saturday, but haven't lately since our good camera broke.  I know that shouldn't prevent me from participating, but I really enjoyed being in the group's Flickr pool.)  The prompts for the writing groups are being posted earlier and earlier, based on audience demand.  I thought it was supposed to be Sunday Scribblings.  :)

After all of that, I wasn't in the mood to write the overly-earnest post I might have otherwise posted.  I needed some comedy, so I pulled a Merrill Markoe book off the shelf.  The book I opened was How to be Hap-Hap-Happy Like Me!* and on page 37 I found:

Happiness Hint #6
Sit down and really talk to someone visiting from another country...

When You Wish Upon a Star Person

The woman on the other end of the phone was looking for some advice about finding an agent..."We've channeled a film script that is really outrageously good"...Because of the thousands of people in the greater Los Angeles area who are looking for an agent, how many also have a 900 number on which to record the daily message they receive from "Lord Jesus Christ Sananda, Commander and Chief of the Intergalactic Confederation (Press one)" or "Mother Mary, Universal Director of the Feminine Christ Energy and Key Member of the Karmic Board (Press six)."

She goes on to write how she called one of these numbers, and later visited the couple who are directors of the Extra-Terrestrial Communications Network.

I haven't opened this book in a very long time (it was published in '94), but I had to smile when I read that passage.  Having the super airy-fairy mother I do, let's just say I'm not unfamiliar with the words "Sananda" and "Christ energy" and "channeled a film script."  (My mother hasn't done the latter, but has friends who have.)  She's entitled to believe whatever she wants (her best friend is a psychic channeler), but what taxes my patience sometimes is that she doesn't preface her statements with anything like, "Well, I believe that..."  She simply restates what she believes she's been told by channeled entities as if it's fact...for all of us.

So this morning I say (to myself):  lighten up, stop racing to meet deadlines, take a few minutes in the morning to let your mind rest before filling it with mindless chatter.  (And how remarkable is it that our brilliant minds are so good at being mind-less?)  Reach for some comedy.  Start your morning with a smile.

(*The book is incribed, "Dear Marilyn--You are the most impressive person here and I believe you know it.  Love, Merrill Markoe"  I'm as mystified by that inscription as I was 12 years ago.  Maybe it was the leopard print coat...because when I reached the signing table and handed her my book, all I said was, "Hi.")

37 Days of the 37th Page for 37 Days Challenge

fortune cookie

Today's prompt at Sunday Scribblings is "fortune cookie."  I knew instantly what I had to share in response to that prompt, no matter how embarrassing it might be.  I'm sure I've mentioned here on more than one occasion that it's sort of a hobby of mine to think up goofy ideas.  I have lists of ideas that I've never pursued or acted on in any way.

Twelve years ago, I was homeless, unemployed and basically cruising up and down the West Coast in my old Monte Carlo, a few possessions in the trunk.  I'd been doing that for years--with the occasional work interlude thrown in for good measure--but my life was about to change.  I just didn't know it yet.  At one point I found myself in L.A.--Malibu to be exact, having been given the use of a friend's cabin on a swanky property for a few days.  After that respite, I parked the Monte Carlo in long-term parking at LAX and caught a flight to Phoenix.  My mother was living in Scottsdale at the time.  I planned to stay a week, but ended up staying a month.  Mom was working a 'normal' job then.  For 2-1/2 years she was secretary to the City Council member from District 8, Cody Williams.  (He's now President of The Greater Phoenix Black Chamber of Commerce.)

Here's the twist--she was living in a senior mobile home park.  At 60, she was, I suppose, technically a senior, but she's a very vibrant person and the park was anything but.  Her roommate owned the mobile home.  I can't remember how they'd met, but I think they'd known each other before becoming roommates.  Her roommate was, like Mom, into all sorts of airy-fairy stuff; she'd written a book.  (I have a copy sitting on the shelf right now.) 

My mother would head off to her job in her huge, old navy blue car that she'd dubbed "The Blue Uterus."  (A friend had given it to her.  It had tinted windows.  It was like driving around in a Munstermobile.)  Carol would head off to...well, I don't know where she'd go when she was gone, since she was mostly writing then.  She had a typewriter on her desk in her bedroom.  She told me to feel free to use it when she was out.  I was in a major "What the hell am I doing with my life?" phase, so there was much pondering going on.  One day when I was in the mobile home alone--in the senior mobile home park--I decided to take Carol up on her offer.  I sat down at the typewriter at her desk which faced the window.  I looked out at all the non-activity happening in the mobile home park (mix extreme heat with old people and you're lucky if you ever see a human outside) and challenged myself to come up with 101 ideas.  I was not going to get up from that desk until I'd brainstormed 101 ideas.  It didn't matter if they were good or crap--I just had to get to 101.  When I pull out that list now (yes, I still have it), the first idea is "Cosmic Cookies." 

My idea was for a line of fortune cookies, and I have three pages of typed fortunes that I brainstormed for them.  Most of the fortunes are crap, but there are few that don't strike me as too horribly awful.  At least not any more awful than the fortunes that are usually found in cookies.  Samples of some of the less-hideous ones:

An attitude of gratitude will lead to plenitude.

Respect is a birthright.  Once we begin to make our own decisions, it becomes an earned privilege.

The quickest way to get a chain reaction is to lie.

Children are the fruit of life--handle them tenderly and savor their sweetness.

Our brains are like computers; our thoughts are the software.  Program accordingly.

Praying only in times of crisis is the quickest way to become an atheist.

A lack of humility can quickly lead to humiliation.

Integrity can't be bought, but it can be sold.

Leave an impression without stepping on anyone.

Pain is your heart's way of telling you that your ego is blocking its view.

If you feel like you're going backwards, think of it as a running start.

Jumping for joy is good exercise.

In times of stress, focus on less.

Life is a picnic and doubts are the ants.

Fear is just near-sighted love.

The fortunes I'd write now, in a different chapter of my life, would likely be much different.  But I wanted to share some of those original fortunes to pay homage to that past version of my self.  The one who felt so lost that autumn of '94...not knowing that in a few short months she'd be head over heels in love with the love of her life.

Have a fortune you'd like to share?  Feel free to leave it in the comments.  May the cosmic always appear in your cookies.

Don't graduate.

I'm going to turn it over to Patti today.  Please, read her commencement address.  And don't forget to remember Delores.