Rhymes with Camera

Rhymes With Camera has a new address!

2008-08-02T08:02:00.001-07:00

I'm revamping this blog and have moved it to a new domain:

blogspot domain: http://rhymeswithcamera.blogspot.com

regular domain: http://www.rhymeswithcamera.com

Eventually I will phase out this blog here but plan to repost the best of this old blog at the new address.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to resubscribe...
http://rhymeswithcamera.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Scheduled break

2008-06-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, I'm taking some time off from this blog to focus on other writing projects, including The Big Blog of Marvel, the Writer's Rainbow blog, Burning Words: Podcast Reviews, and my own creative writing. Thanks for stopping by.

2nd annual magical realism mentorship announced

2008-06-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

Announcing the opening of the 2009 Magic Carpet Ride mentorship application period.

This mentorship, an innovative one-on-one creative writing program, is the first of its kind to provide specialized instruction, direction, and motivation specifically for a writer of literary magical realism. The purpose of the Magic Carpet Ride mentorship is to assist a promising magical realist writer from anywhere in the world in the completion of a polished manuscript by the end of the session which may then be actively submitted to potential publishers.

Qualification
This mentorship, valued at $1500, will be awarded annually, and on a competitive basis, to a single applicant who is able to demonstrate:

• a deep commitment to completing their work in progress

• strong writing skills

• a desire to learn and to succeed

• a good understanding of the magical realist nature of their manuscript

Applications for the 2009 mentorship session are now available. Applicants must fill out an online application, respond to a questionnaire, send a 10-page sample and pay the application fee ($40 for members of MRCentral; $60 for nonmembers, which covers lifetime membership).

Postmark deadline for receipt of all application materials for the 2009 mentorship session is October 31, 2008. Email deadline for receipt of all application materials for the 2008 mentorship session is midnight [Pacific time], October 31, 2008.

More info

I'd like to know, "What makes a book funny?"

2008-06-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

On June 17 (tomorrow), the Field's End Writers’ Roundtable features Sheila Rabe as she discusses answers to the question, “What makes a book funny?” 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Bainbridge Public Library. Free + cookies!

Take this author out for lunch and help local literacy

2008-05-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

I think there are still some seats available, folks,

so come on out and join me for this worthy cause!

All books aside…

2008-05-23T08:45:00.001-07:00

We don't typically travel over Memorial Day weekend. We're the backyard guerrillas, or the local yokel boaters, or the dayhikers, or the clamdiggers, or the rainy day boardgamers, or the closet cleaners, or the barbecuers. And we always watch a lot of TV.

This time of year, for us, is tough on the downtime schedule. Between the wrapping up of school projects (concerts, plays, art shows), the finishing of after-school activities (for us, it's the end of the annual swimming season, the time for a year's worth of dance to culminate in four recitals, the end of the gymnastics term, final events for Y Guides, and piano recitals), and my own "putting to bed" of various projects which I take leave of during the summer for my own writing, there's not a lot of spare time to watch TV.

While our latest Netflix delivery languishes in its envelope, wondering when we'll turn it back in, Tivo, thank goodness, keeps us connected,

Okay, I can see the eyes rolling in the virtual universe. Listen, I'm not a TV-hating intellectual. I'm a GenXer. I grew up on TV. I know it can be evil. I know it can also be good. And on holiday weekends when the price of gas means it costs me $67 to fill up my small sedan's tank and the traffic on the ferries and the highways is atrocious, it's also a cheap, easy alternative to a blink-of-an-eye vacation. Hey, we do whatever we do together. What more could anyone ask?

The thing is, TV is about story. It's not about tuning out the world or grooming our kids' best antisocial behavior or choosing obesity. We watch together, we discuss themes, we muddle through questionable scenes or unravel complicated plots (well, my 12-year-old is the genius with unraveling the knots in Battlestar Galactica, truth be told; I wish she watched Lost so she could do us a favor there, but that series started when my girls were just way too young, and we'd have to watch the whole thing over again to catch all of us up on its mythos).

We've let most of our dramas and comedies slide to keep up with reality/game shows like Idol, Survivor and Top Model. No, those aren't stories, these are studies in human behavior, as well as competitions. Frankly, I don't see how they merit less than anything you find on ESPN, where both good and bad behavior are celebrated. And they're fun and entertaining, besides.
It's only fair to give the timely shows priority. It's hard to avoid spoilers even one day after results shows are broadcast, though some of these types of shows on our Season's Pass aren't quite so mainstream: I can still watch delayed episodes of Top Chef and Big Break without worrying too much about spoilers.

But we have successfully finished some of our favorites in the comedy and drama category this season: Reaper, Medium, Supernatural, Aliens in America (which I'm so bummed to learn was cancelled).

It's mainly the Big Dogs we're way behind on. And the fact is, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Watching 4 episodes of a complicated television drama like Battlestar Galactica, back to back, without commercials, is a great way to pass a rainy Memorial Day afternoon. It recalls the "Apes All Day" programming at TBS, which runs the entire Planet of the Apes series on New Year's Day. Sweet!

Other shows we're grossly behind on: Lost, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, My Name is Earl, The Office. And we're behind on these mostly because we consider this adult programming in our house (not safe for kids under 13). These shows always gets pushed to the after-bedtime slot, but lately, we haven't had the stamina to keep our eyes open past 9:45 most nights without resorting to toothpicks. Mom and Dad need a summer break just as much as the kids do.

There is always Everybody Hates Chris or Jamie at Home to turn to when we do find a random block of time in the evening and nobody wants to play Blokus or Monopoly or Labyrinth. But mostly we just flip on the Game Show Network or The Food Network and let it ride on busy schoolnights. With these channels, there's something for everybody, and if you're busy doing chores or checking email, it makes for satisfying background noise and brainless entertainment.

But lo! On the Tivoic horizon looms a whole new cluster of favorite programs to claim our attention! Summer TV never was so good.

In the family-safe corner: The Mole, The Next Food Network Star, and So You Think You Can Dance. The already-Tivo'd complete series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is new to us, will require our parental sneak preview to measure its appropriateness for our kids first, but then there's Last Comic Standing, and that's definitely not family-safe!

Not on the radar yet, but looking forward to them when they return, are three big-time family shows: Project Runway, Amazing Race, and Stargate Atlantis.

And let's not forget the Olympics in all this, coming in August, right? Now that's what Tivo's perfect for, capturing just those segments you like the best, and watching them at your leisure.

Don't worry, Luddite friends, we all still read print materials, on average, an hour a day, during the summer, not counting what we read online. And we exercise, we eat, we do laundry, we socialize.

Though I'm afraid there won't be TV or books tonight. We have tickets to Indiana Jones. Wouldn't miss that on the big screen for the world. (Did I tell you I was a GenXer?)

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

"Anecdotes about the link between the arts and intellectual achievement are legion."

2008-05-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Great quote, from a nice article by Jed Gaylin for the Baltimore Sun
["The arts link students' hearts and minds," 5.20.08]

I'm always amazed that there still exist some people who think that art is somehow elective or optional for human existence. It isn't, and this article explains quite plainly why.

RE: Puget Sound writers: MR class at Hugo House

2008-05-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

I'm offering this fun 1-hour workshop, Alchemy 101: The magical realist method for turning lead into gold (and back again), at the Richard Hugo House on June 7. Check it out here.

I need your help at the House

2008-05-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Dear writing culture friends and arts/humanities supporters,

I'm writing to ask you to sponsor me as I raise money to support Seattle's longtime literary and writers' community, The Richard Hugo House.

The Richard Hugo House was created in 1996 to serve as a central hub for writers and readers in Seattle to meet to build audiences for new work. Its membership numbers have swelled over the last 12 years to meet that need and their vision has expanded to include Hugo in the Prisons, Writing in the Schools (WITS), a new expansion of workshops for young writers, and programs for developing creative writing instructors.

The House is operated by a large body of volunteers and a very small staff of hard-working, dedicated people. I have been a member of and volunteer for the House for over five years now and can credit my own progress as a writer to their tremendous diversity of classes, hard-working staff, and commitment to their original vision: to support creative writing careers through a lifetime, to invest in essential work, to grow a teaching program for writers, and to build a vital community that is open and responsible, with programming that is both flexible and risk-taking.

But the House is so much more than that! Their special events, Capitol Hill facilities, residencies, and outreach initiatives have made the House one of the most inspiring writing communities in the US. You can learn more about The Richard Hugo House by clicking here.

Twice annually, they throw a necessary fundraiser called the Write-O-Rama. At this event, writers from all over Puget Sound converge at the House with their pledges and spend the day participating in free hour-long workshops (30 in total) offered by the creative writing teachers at the House. All participants have the opportunity to generate new writing, meet fellow writers, share their work, get to know the staff and, perhaps most importantly, to find new motivation to write. The most important thing to note is that, without this event, the House would not be able to continue to offer affordable workshops and the vast array of other educational and inspirational programming that are at the very core of any writer's life.

Hence my request: Would you be interested in sponsoring me for this year's Write-O-Rama?

The next fundraiser is slated for Saturday, June 7; I am already committed to spending the day at the House in a volunteer capacity, but I would love to bring in a few donations as well to show my support for this vital community.

Their goal this time is 100 donors, 100 dollars, but my goal is ridiculously simple: 10 donors, 10 dollars. If just ten of my friends could donate just ten dollars, I'd make my goal and be part of that larger equation.

Please consider sponsoring me (directions follow for online donations). I hope you'll join me in helping this thriving and necessary writer's community to continue doing good work for so many across the Puget Sound. I appreciate your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tamara Kaye Sellman

SPONSOR A WRITING FRIEND FOR WRITE-O-RAMA

It's easy to sponsor a friend to participate in Write-O-Rama online with your credit card. Here's how:
1. Click the “Donate Now through Network for Good” link below
2. Enter the amount you want to give–it is all tax deductible
3. Fill out your donation and privacy preferences
4. Under “Designation” type “Write-O-Rama”
5. Under “Dedication” type MY NAME (Tamara Sellman)
6. Fill out your credit card information as instructed
NOTE: You must make your online contribution by 5 p.m. on Friday, June 6 for it to count toward my total for Write-O-Rama (includes prizes and glory).

Thank you!

Donate Now through Network for Good

Magical Realism writing workshops online! C'mon, you know you want to! 2 more slots in 2 different workshops open!

2008-05-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

MR 101—Diagnosis: MR
I need two more to fill this workshop. Please register by midnight May 7. Bring a friend!
This popular workshop reviews participants' writings to determine what markers of MR they have employed and how to add or improve on them. Certain risks in writing MR and other formats of speculative writing also discussed. $60 fee includes lifetime membership to MRCentral.net!

To register, contact me in email and I'll hold your place.

MR 102—Rabbit's Hat
I need two more to fill this workshop. Please register by midnight May 7. Bring a friend!
This workshop is all about generating new magical realist writing. Weekly prompts and email reviews of all works submitted by participants in private setting help improve everyone's understanding of magical realist writing technique. $60 fee includes lifetime membership to MRCentral.net!

To register, contact me in email and I'll hold your place.

More info

Supernatural: "Ghostfacers"

2008-04-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, over my lunch break I had the best time laughing my way through the latest episode of Supernatural, one of my favorite Tivo'd shows (Tivo'd, meaning, I'll watch it during my lunch break).

The concept of Supernatural is basic: two hunters of demons, ghosts, and other evil miscreations take care of family business off the grid and across the US in areas commonly thought of as dangerously haunted or cursed sites.

In this particular episode, they're caught on tape moving in on a group of paranormal amateurs as part of the sophomoric reality show they're filming called "Ghostfacers." (It's clearly a parody of the SciFi Channel's cheesy Ghost Hunters. For my money, Paranormal State takes the cake for best show in the docu-drama/reality scarefest category.)

Anyway, if you get the chance to watch it, you'll laugh like crazy (except for the scary parts; Supernatural's all about the unholy freak out).

I'm pleased to hear that the show will be moving into its fourth season. I want them to solve Dean's mortal dilemma: will his deal with the demonette mean his life will end in just 2 months? Rumors have it next year will be an all-out demon war, but I hope they work with the mythos aspect instead, like the X Files did. That's the way to keep people hooked, if you ask me.

Stay tuned.

Inspiration from Anais Nin

2008-04-28T15:24:00.001-07:00

Still recovering from a lovely Saturday spent at the Field's End Writer's Conference, but in the meantime, here's a quote from Anais Nin to get you thinking about your writing life, your project-in-progress, your stickiest creative challenge, your current dream-in-words:

And the day came when the risk

to remain tight in the bud

was more painful than the risk

it took to blossom.

RE: Friday miscellany

2008-04-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

1. I'll be at the 3rd Annual Field's End Writer's Conference tomorrow. Hope to see you there! The weather looks positively lovely (for a change; it's been crazy and uncomfortable this whole spring).

2. Dmitri Nabokov has finally decided to publish his father Vlad's final manuscript, Laura, even though Dad wanted it destroyed. Wow. I heard he made the decision after running into an apparition of the family patriarch.

3. Two major Caribbean litterauteurs recently passed: EA (Archie) Markham (Guyana) and Aimee Cesaire (French Martinique). Markham's got a new book coming out and the fab Caribbean publisher, Peepal Tree Press, is helping to put together a fitting memorial for the well-loved writer. Cesaire, for those who don't already know, was the famed Father of Negritude and one of the most important and cherished voices of our times. Both amazing talents will be missed.

4. Seth Godin's "Write Like a Blogger" post is great advice for writers who, well, blog already. (If you don't, you should, is all I'm saying.) If you don't blog, then much of what Godin suggests probably won't make a heap lot of sense, but go there and read the entry anyway.

5. I wish I could travel to the Czech Republic in the next month. Borges and Kafka will be celebrated and compared in a month-long event organized by the Franz Kafka Society. How cool that will be!

6. You do know that books all around the world are being scanned for preservation, right? Learn more here; it's pretty fascinating.

Thinking: Afterthoughts

2008-04-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Ever fascinated with the mysterious ways of the human mind, I'm still mulling this piece from Creativity Portal: "Rethinking Thinking" by David Jiles.

Jiles, who has examined the best creative thinkers (Einstein, Hemingway, Picasso, Tesla, Beethoven and countless others) to find common secrets towards creative thinking, writes:

"People in every creative endeavor use a common set of general-purpose
thinking tools in an almost infinite variety of ways. These tools reveal the
nature of creative thinking itself; they make surprising connections among the
sciences, arts, humanities, and technologies. At the level of creative
imagination, everyone thinks alike. But, as master composer Igor Fyodorovich
Stravinsky explained in The Poetics of Music, is that “what concerns us
here is not imagination in itself, but rather creative imagination: the faculty
that helps us pass from the level of conception to the level of
realization.”

He narrows his discussion to a dozen talking points:

Observation
Imaging
Abstracting
Recognizing Patterns
Analogizing
Body
Empathizing
Dimensional Thinking
Modeling
Playing
Transforming
Dreaming

Check it out, if you're as fascinated as I am with the way the mind words.

Gen Xers have their say, and it's not looking good for Douglas Coupland

2008-04-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, I can't wait to read this book: X Saves the World by Jeff Gordinier. Will download it to my Kindle NOW.

2008-04-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across this statement from Deb Smith, who consults for Four Blocks, a specialized service for teaching elementary aged students basics like creative writing:

"I have found that my 2nd graders are very good at writing the 'middles' of stories. However they were not good at writing a topic sentence or a concluding sentence."

I find that bewildering. It seems like most of the writers I consult, all of them adults, spend the majority of their time on the first and last 30 pages of their novel. It's the middles which sag, lose their steam, or get overlooked entirely.

Certainly, most of the writing classes that address this more piecemeal approach to writing focus on beginnings and endings. So maybe that is part of the reason why adult writers seem more adept at the front and back ends of their manuscripts. Fewer pay attention to the middle structure.

But what about middles? Why do 2nd graders find them easy to locate?

The middle is the plot, of course. It's the point of the book. Think of all the good books you've ever read. Was it the beginning that made that book? The ending? Or, was it the middle you remember most of all?

Stylists will try to work their way around weaknesses in plotting by using clever tactics to give their books a sense of quality that hinges entirely on a throw-them-to-the-wolves beginning or drop-dead-gorgeous ending. But do we remember these books, aside from these overdeveloped devices? Not really.

TV shows, by the way, are about middles. So are plays. Video role-playing games with multiple endings really must have strong middles to work. Movies should be about middles, but sometimes they're about effects or gimmicks. Poems...well, I don't think of poems as having that sort of momentum. Poems are singular. Poems, unless their thick with narrative, don't necessarily have middles. They are breaths between thoughts.

So why else might it be that 2nd graders can grasp middles but adult writers can't?

I'll have to think a bit more about this. What do you think?

And just when I was getting so chummy with my Kindle, Amazon goes all "Carnegie"

2008-04-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Don't know about this yet? You should. Folks all over the US are making a federal case out of it, literally. Looks like a grand monopoly suit in the works, which will affect everyone who values books: readers, writers, publishers, booksellers. Be informed.

The breaking news on March 27 From Writer's Weekly:
"Reports have been trickling in from the POD underground that Amazon/BookSurge representatives have been approaching some Lightning Source customers, first by email introduction and then by phone (nobody at BookSurge seems to want to put anything in writing). When Lightning Source customers speak with the BookSurge representative, the reports say, they are basically told they can either have BookSurge start printing their books or the 'buy' button on their Amazon.com book pages will be 'turned off.'"

Followups:

Amazon – The Great Dictator
What is going on at Amazon? The Internet behemoth suddenly seems to be turning the screw on publishers. Last week it was Print-On-Demand publishers whose turn it was to feel its wrath, with its outrageous behaviour demanding that POD publishers use only Amazon's 'Book Surge' POD service or face putative measures. This week it is the publishing world in general.
(more)

Amazon Policy Concerns Many In Publishing Industry
The Washington Attorney General's Antitrust Division has advised Amazon.com of concerns it has received from several parties and has asked the company to respond. The Antitrust Division is also conducting an initial review of the marketplace and will respond to inquiries more full once the review is complete, according to Writers Weekly.
(more)

New publishing policy at Amazon angers authors: Writers see move to monopolize printing
A power struggle has erupted between several national writers groups and Amazon.com Inc. over the company's new publishing policy, which some charge gives Amazon a monopoly on book printing.
(more)

RE: I believe the children are our future

2008-04-08T07:23:00.001-07:00

Wow, NFFTY is too quaint a word to describe the experience of screening the National Film Festival for Talented Youth two weekends ago.

My family and I attended 2 of 3 days of the event, viewing dozens of short films written and produced by people ages 12-21, and were seriously blown away by their vision, their audacity, and their amazing storytelling skills. I am reminded, once again, that teenagers get a bum rap for simply being young. My experiences over my lifetime repeatedly debunk that notion, for I am usually inspired by the efforts, the thoughts and dreams, and the healthy energy of young people who have a vision for their own future. They are all poised at the very beginnings of their journeys and we need to be there to help them along the way to do the things that we couldn't or wouldn't do when we were their ages. The future starts with them.

The films were divided into four categories: narrative, documentary, animation/music video, and experimental. As for subject matter, let me give you just some of the topics we viewed to show you what's on the minds of American youth:

DOCUMENTARY
homelessness • family history • depression • civil war in Colombia • art • community-supported agriculture • book banning • children of war • Hurricane Katrina • bipolar disorder • the death penalty • environmental justice • memory • girls' self image • body decoration • racial understanding • religion • organized farm labor • the uses of fear

NARRATIVE
espionage • immigrant identity • dreams • random acts of kindness • drug addiction • cycles of life • female glam superheroes • unrequited romance • the dangers of LSD • intergenerational ties • WWI aviation • suicide • STDs • WWII battleground humanity • murder mystery • apathetic Americans • the final moments of an elderly man • love triangle • sci fi journey

MUSIC/ANIMATION/EXPERIMENTAL
farmyard supremacy • animal rights • dyslexia • cultural identity • unexpected friendships

While all of the films were amazing in their own way, there were a few standouts that deserve some special attention here in this blog. Please visit the links if you can (some of them offer ways to see the same movies we saw, right off your own computer) and show them support either through an email, donation, or a letter to your congressperson.

Afuera: An Argentinian teenaged girl emigrates to Los Angeles and sells the one relic of her past to support herself, a gold necklace with a Star of David pendant her grandfather bequeathed to her. This film sheds light on what being an immigrant in America could mean.

Big Bad Wolf: An excellent documentary on the way various cultural institutions use fear to motivate people. I'd say this is required viewing for all Americans who don't think voting and politics are worth the discomfort they bring. Directed by students ages 15, 17 and 18.

Bittersweet: A very simple narrative about how the way we treat each other can create a domino effect in our community.

Cows With Guns: Extremely funny claymation music video that walks viewers through the political challenges of animal rights activism. Whoever wrote the lyrics deserves some sort of grand award and recognition. I laughed so hard I cried. Reminiscent of the America Rock! videos of the 70s, but edgier.

Dis Order: Lovely and well-articulated piece about a dyslexic girl trying to take a test. The graphics show wonderful insights into the different ways that creative minds work and prove that dyslexics can still be true geniuses.

The End Is Near: Funny narrative about a boy so caught up in his college applications that he doesn't see the world falling to nuclear holocaust all around him. A pretty decent rendering of the apathy among Americans in general, who are usually too caught up in busy-ness to pay attention to anything important around them.

Invisible Children: MUST SEE. If you screen this film and don't leave with tears in your eyes or a stomach ache, then you aren't a human being, period. Three teenaged boys naively take their video equipment on a random trip to Africa and end up uncovering a terrible atrocity in Uganda: children who must hide at night from rebel forces or be abducted into a bloodthirsty regime of brainwashed boy soldiers. This film will make you laugh, cry, get really pissed off, and hope. This film has changed foreign policy.

The Last Stand: It's really touching to see sensitive movies about reaching the end of one's life produced by young people. This one shows a man making a choice about the way he will die. I was blown away by the filmmaker's lighthearted compassion.

March Point: MUST SEE. The filmmakers were at the festival and I am certain they have no idea how much power their film wields. Three young men from the Swinomish Tribe decide to make a film and end up uncovering an environmental atrocity in their own back yard which still hasn't been fairly addressed by politicians, despite the fact they went to the state and federal Capitols to seek assistance. I voted for Christine Gregoire and Patty Murray and was outraged at their response to the efforts of these young men, who simply asked for an audience. I've already written my letter of complaint to the both of them. Contact the filmmakers through Native Lens

Nice Touch: Oh, this one's so sweet! An elderly lady who plays the piano everyday breaks her fingers in an unfortunate accident. The neighborhood is not the same without her daily music until a little boy pays her a visit and she teaches him how to play the piano.

One Light: A 13-year-old Sikh's efforts to share his cultural identity with his non-Sikh neighbors makes a perfect rendition of the idealism of youth, and it seems to be making a difference in larger circles. I was proud that my children saw this film. Click the link to see it for yourself.

Release: Two suicides rock a small family. Heartbreaking in content, but the narrative was so artfully done that it ended up being one of the most beautiful films in the batch.

A Second Look: True stories from the streets. This filmmaker made a great effort to reveal the faces of the homeless, and they're not who you think they are.

Speaking Truth to Power: The Story of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee: I had no idea that there was a contemporary farm labor movement in the American South! This story features a current day Cesar Chavez, Baldemar Velasquez, who has worked tirelessly to get his people fair wages and better conditions. I want to express my thanks to the filmmaker for taking the time to tell their story.

The power of filmmaking takes on new meaning when you see the world through the eyes of creative and talented young people. Not only that, but it can open the eyes of people who are much older who may think that American youthsare only interested in sex, drugs and video games.

I have come away inspired and informed.

One caveat: these films, for the most part, are not suitable for kids under 12 without the supervision and engagement of a thoughtful parent. Even at age 12, the subject matter and approaches involved can be rather sophisticated and daunting for some children.

Let's face it, even my husband and I weren't prepared for the intensity of some of the films.

But no matter. You can parent your children by giving them only the safe view of the world or by opening their eyes (and your own) to the realities of the larger world. We chose the latter because the fact that these children took on these subjects and did something positive about them is enough reason. These could be our own talented children trying to solve the world's problems, after all. How could we not support them?

I took my 10- and 12-year-old daughters and found that the best way to deal with some of the subject matter and other more adult aspects of these films (including language and some violent imagery) was to have a solid bedtime discussion with the both of them to answer questions they had and to address their concerns, fears or discomforts over some of the films they saw during the day.

In the end, we are all still talking about the films and what we learned, and both of my children are now interested in studying filmmaking themselves (at the local level, starting with workshops taught at the public access TV studio).

And I couldn't be happier about that fact. The world doesn't need more people wearing blinders and earplugs. If we can all raise children to look and to listen, then we have done our world a favor.

Spring Break!

2008-03-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to a few days of low-tech living, so I'll be seeing you here again on April 7. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we have tickets to NFFTY for the weekend. Can't wait!

The National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY—pronounced“nifty”) was
formed in 2007 with the goal to become the most influentialyouth-oriented film
festival in America. The festival showcases films byfilmmakers (21 and under)
from across the country and hosts a number of paneldiscussions, workshops
and other year-round filmmaking activities in Seattle,WA.

New Magical Realism discussion blog

2008-03-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

New blog link! The Big Book of Marvel
Magical realism discussion—funny and serious, charming and cantankerous, from a bevy of fanatics. Come join in the fun!

2008-03-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

From the PEN America blog:

"As you may have heard, British memoirist Sebastian Horsley was denied entry into the US on account of "moral turpitude." As mentioned here before, PEN has long opposed ideological exclusion, and even if Horsley is no Doris Lessing, laws like this shouldn't be abided."

My response? Amen to that. Give me a break. US memoirists seem only to be flat-out liars, of late (no, not all of them, but it does seem to be a trend, maybe designed to sell books? Hmmmm). At any rate, in the so-called land of the free, how can we so pompously judge the work of foreign-born writers while we suffer the current stain on our own starched white shirt?

"And so Horsley has been invited to this year's World Voices festival, April 28-May 4 in New York (with satellite events in Boston-- i.e., Cambridge-- and Rochester). With any luck, the US government will get the chance to exclude him once again, and draw further attention to this frankly un-American policy."

My response? Now this is why I belong to PEN. Right on! (And please, America, let us choose a president and administration that's got open minds in its thinktank, k? We've been locked out of freethought for a tad bit too long, I say.)

"If they do so, though, he'll miss some great events: Ian McEwan and Steven Pinker; Rushdie, Eco, and Vargas Llosa together again; Rabih Alameddine talking with Aleksandar Hemon; Susan Bernofsky, Deborah Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eugenides, Wayne Koestenbaum, and Michael Krüger paying tribute to Robert Walser; the list goes on and on."

My response? I wish I could go to the World Voices festival. Sounds like just my cup of tea. I mean, come on…Rushdie, Eco and Vargas Llosa all in the same room? A miracle I won't have the pleasure to witness. Dear readers, if you happen to go to this event, please send me back a dispatch, wouldja?

RE: Motherhood as cure for writer's block

2008-03-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

I loved this quote from D.M. Bryan in an article in last Sunday's edition of the Calgary Herald:

"I get life block, where there's too many things to do…I don't have enough time to have writer's block. When I can find time to sit down, I write."

Also—

"…I didn't do much serious writing until my son was born. It seemed like a good time to sit down in front of a computer."

(I couldn't have said it better myself—though I had daughters, the only difference.)

Bryan's novel, Gerbil Mother, has just been released. Having just lost a beloved gerbil only a week ago, and digging this author's attitude, I'm already extending my literary sister vibe her way.

Learn more about this budding author:
http://www.newestpress.com/catalog/in-the-spotlight/in-the-spotlight.html

Gygax RIP; PENAmerica examines historical fiction; Death of the Zine?; my humble AI resignation

2008-03-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

So many interesting things happening this week, and I haven't had a chance to present any of them to you! Mea culpa. Some weeks are just busier than others.

In the spirit of sharing, let me distill these tidbits for you...

• Monster Manual man moves on
Gary Gygax, infamous co-founder of the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, which I played a little in college and which has deeply informed my writing life on the level that Tolkien and Bradbury have, died on March 4. (I still have my Monster Manual from 1985.)

I didn't know he was living in Lake Geneva, WI at the time. That wonderful place is just a 30-minute trek from my old stomping grounds in Wauconda, IL. Dungeons & Dragons was created 34 years ago and really, let's give it the credit it deserves: there would be no good electronic gaming of any kind without D&D's brilliant pen-and-paper blueprint. Gygax deserves to go down in the history books for being a forefather to one of pop culture's most significant shifts in entertainment.

Read the NYT obit here.

• A question for literary scholars…
PENAmerica wants to know: Is the fictionalization of historical fiction a growing trend or just a blip on the lit culture radar? They ask a rather interesting question after discussing the work of Ilija Trojanow, who "revisioned" the life of Richard Burton:

"Has historical fiction really become a larger part of the serious literary landscape over the last few years?"

My first reply is a kind of balking. Is it really so much a leap to call historical fiction serious literature? I have always stood in awe of historical writers who can move into territory out of time and resurrect it for me as the reader. That's no facile, formulaic feat. The very first book that comes to my mind as a successful fictionalization of historical fiction is Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. Who would say that was not a piece of serious literature?

If you would like to answer that question, take a gander here.

• Zines gone six feet under: Old news?
I hadn't been completely aware of the death of zines until I read this article by Tim Brown at Critical Mass (the blog for the National Book Critics Circle). And I'm still not sure I agree that it's all over for zines. Or, if it's all over for zines, it's because the internet came along and turned them into blogs or websites or McSweeney's and others like them came along and reinvented them as commercial enterprises. Thoughts, anybody?

• Crying Uncle!
Okay, I think it's pretty obvious right now that my weekly or twice-weekly column on American Intellectualism has seen way too much of the back burner. What can I say? New projects rise (or rot) like spring bulbs.

Since I took on the AI project last fall, I've started writing a new nonfiction book, began work on a new anthology, increased my volunteer efforts for one active writer's organization and accepted the responsibilities of conference director for another local writing community.

By now, you should sense what has become inevitable news, that I've decided to suspend my further adventures into American Intellectualism right now so that I can wrap up some other projects that need closure (the nonfiction book, overdue revisions on a novel, new revisions on a children's book, and the production of the anthology).

Thanks to those of you who wrote to me personally about the series. I'll probably pick it up again someday, but probably not in 2008. I appreciate your understanding, and thanks for reading.

Impressive Progressives from AlterNet

2008-03-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

I hadn't read AlterNet in a while, though I used to daily when I penned a short little weekly newsletter on free speech issues, Candleflame, for about 9 months after the US launched attacks on Iraq as a (fabricated, we know now) response to 9.11.

Trolling through my feeds today, I find this wonderful list of progressive titles that appeared in 2007, which were selected by AlterNet staffers, its readers, and book experts (though who they are, I'm not sure...).

The list is fascinating, to say the least, and I found a book on their top 10 that I have wanted to read for a while now.

"8. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Teasing out the consequences of a simple thought experiment—what would happen if the human species were suddenly extinguished—Weisman has written a sort of pop-science ghost story in which the whole earth is the haunted house ... After thousands of years, the Chunnel, rubber tires and more than a billion tons of plastic might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve, and with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the earth might revert to Eden. (New Yorker)"

It's a standout in a lineup primarily focused on war, terrorism and the military, as well as the evils of capitalism and American politics (though the honorable mention list includes titles addressing economics, class conflict, feminism, the beauty industry, and environmentalism).

Women's History Month: Famous Women's Libraries

2008-03-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

LibraryThing has a groovy entry on the libraries of several literary bluestockings.

(Funny, it was posted at their blog in early Feb instead of now, but no matter.)

Wanna read what Sylvia Plath, Susan B. Anthony, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Marie Antoinette collected on their library shelves? Compare with your own libraries? You can also comment on whose libraries you'd like to see revealed in LibraryThing or elsewhere.

Me, I want to know what's in the libraries of contemporary speculative writers like Katherine Dunn, Jean Hegland, Meg Rosoff, and Aimee Bender, as well as some classic writers and thinkers from the past, like Janet Frame, Carson McCullers, and Helen Caldicott.

Whose library would you like to check out (so to speak)?