Friday, April 27, 2012
Emotions into Art
I'm be teaching again this summer and I hope you'll all join me. The best way to get to me is through my regular website, http://www.rochellejewelshapiro.com/
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Seminar: How much humiliation does it take for a Writer to learn to Write?
Seminar: How much Humiliation does a Writer need in order to Write?
Watching Theresa Rebeck’s searing and funny play, Seminar, at The Golden Theatre, about an unethical, power-mad, but brilliant celebrity editor, Leonard (Jeff Goldblum) giving a $5,000 a pop seminar to wannabe writers, I was haunted by the memories of a few of the writing instructors I had had. Like Leonard, their teaching tools were humiliation, not just of your work, which they ripped apart with barely a glance, but your life was fair game as well. One teacher told me that I should learn to speak differently. He was a Queens brat like me, but had taken on a pompous, professorial tone. Even when he spoke one-to-one with you, he orated. And oh, how thumb-nosed I was for living in suburbia and being married with children, never mind that that was part of the theme of my first novel that I went on to publish with a major house.
If you dared to defend yourself against the teacher’s tongue lashings, you were licked. Leonard snipes to Kate (played by Lily Rabe), “If you’re defending yourself, you’re not listening.” If you tried to defend any of your classmates, it only went worse for them and for you. “If it were really good,” Leonard barks, “you’d fucking hate it. Writers in their natural state are as civilized as feral cats.”
Good thing I came to writing in middle age, because Izzy (played by Hettienne Park) was like just one of the many young women I saw who would have made Gloria Steinman plotz by screwing her way into the teacher’s favor, usually only to be dropped after the seminar was over. (Sometimes during.) . But for the women in this play at least, the great and terrible Leonard did throw them some literary crumbs. I had to laugh (a nervous and sad titter) at Leonard’s outrage that freshmen were now legally off-limits to him.
Was it worth all the money I invested in taking my own writing seminars? The time? The humiliation? Yes, because that’s what I needed to do to tell myself that I was really a writer back then. Even though I did have some fine teachers, the ones who humiliated me prepared me for things I’d have to face as a writer: scathing public reviews, readings where only two people show up and that’s because they were already in the bookstore and noticed that you put out a platter of cut-up cheese. How about the people who look at your picture on your book jacket, then back at you, and say, “I didn’t expect you to be so old.”
I had some nurturing writing teachers as well who didn’t go after a first draft like a shrike, tearing it to bloody shreds. But those classes wouldn’t have been entertaining enough material for a play. In fact, when Leonard does open his heart to Martin’s (Hamish Linklater’s) talent, the play falters. We want the blood!
Still, seeing Seminar has confirmed my commitment to never have a thing to do with another writing seminar. But, ahem, I must admit I do teach them.
Today, one of Leonard’s acid lines to Kate kept clopping me on the head. “Your story is a soul-sucking waste of words,” he said. It was as if Leonard had meant that line for me. All my writer’s angst was stirred up. But I did what I have taught myself to do. I turned on my computer, quieted the critical voices, and began to write.
Watching Theresa Rebeck’s searing and funny play, Seminar, at The Golden Theatre, about an unethical, power-mad, but brilliant celebrity editor, Leonard (Jeff Goldblum) giving a $5,000 a pop seminar to wannabe writers, I was haunted by the memories of a few of the writing instructors I had had. Like Leonard, their teaching tools were humiliation, not just of your work, which they ripped apart with barely a glance, but your life was fair game as well. One teacher told me that I should learn to speak differently. He was a Queens brat like me, but had taken on a pompous, professorial tone. Even when he spoke one-to-one with you, he orated. And oh, how thumb-nosed I was for living in suburbia and being married with children, never mind that that was part of the theme of my first novel that I went on to publish with a major house.
If you dared to defend yourself against the teacher’s tongue lashings, you were licked. Leonard snipes to Kate (played by Lily Rabe), “If you’re defending yourself, you’re not listening.” If you tried to defend any of your classmates, it only went worse for them and for you. “If it were really good,” Leonard barks, “you’d fucking hate it. Writers in their natural state are as civilized as feral cats.”
Good thing I came to writing in middle age, because Izzy (played by Hettienne Park) was like just one of the many young women I saw who would have made Gloria Steinman plotz by screwing her way into the teacher’s favor, usually only to be dropped after the seminar was over. (Sometimes during.) . But for the women in this play at least, the great and terrible Leonard did throw them some literary crumbs. I had to laugh (a nervous and sad titter) at Leonard’s outrage that freshmen were now legally off-limits to him.
Was it worth all the money I invested in taking my own writing seminars? The time? The humiliation? Yes, because that’s what I needed to do to tell myself that I was really a writer back then. Even though I did have some fine teachers, the ones who humiliated me prepared me for things I’d have to face as a writer: scathing public reviews, readings where only two people show up and that’s because they were already in the bookstore and noticed that you put out a platter of cut-up cheese. How about the people who look at your picture on your book jacket, then back at you, and say, “I didn’t expect you to be so old.”
I had some nurturing writing teachers as well who didn’t go after a first draft like a shrike, tearing it to bloody shreds. But those classes wouldn’t have been entertaining enough material for a play. In fact, when Leonard does open his heart to Martin’s (Hamish Linklater’s) talent, the play falters. We want the blood!
Still, seeing Seminar has confirmed my commitment to never have a thing to do with another writing seminar. But, ahem, I must admit I do teach them.
Today, one of Leonard’s acid lines to Kate kept clopping me on the head. “Your story is a soul-sucking waste of words,” he said. It was as if Leonard had meant that line for me. All my writer’s angst was stirred up. But I did what I have taught myself to do. I turned on my computer, quieted the critical voices, and began to write.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
DeCompmagazine--great find for writers
Fascinating online magazine for writers that allows you to comment on the contents.
http://www.decompmagazine.com/missing_bertone.htm#HCB_comment_box
http://www.decompmagazine.com/missing_bertone.htm#HCB_comment_box
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Hunger Games
If only you could have sat next to the fourteen year old girls that I did in Hunger Games, you would have enjoyed The Hunger Games even more, life even more. During the coming attractions, the girls bounced in their seats, elbows bent fists near their chins, saying, “Eeeee” with anticipation.
“I am coming back to see this every week until it’s not in the theaters,” one girl announced, “and when it goes on DVD, I’ll watch it each week.”
Both girls knew the lyrics to the song and so many pieces of dialogue from the book that they recited under their breath while the film was on.
The Hunger Games is thrilling. Instead of large-scale wars, two tributes (kids) are chosen by lottery from each district of this fictional world. The one who kills all the others is the victor. The focus is on love, honor, and heroism, and the murders are done in soft focus so that you don’t see much of the carnage. Don’t be afraid to take your tweens. Don’t hesitate to take yourself.
“I am coming back to see this every week until it’s not in the theaters,” one girl announced, “and when it goes on DVD, I’ll watch it each week.”
Both girls knew the lyrics to the song and so many pieces of dialogue from the book that they recited under their breath while the film was on.
The Hunger Games is thrilling. Instead of large-scale wars, two tributes (kids) are chosen by lottery from each district of this fictional world. The one who kills all the others is the victor. The focus is on love, honor, and heroism, and the murders are done in soft focus so that you don’t see much of the carnage. Don’t be afraid to take your tweens. Don’t hesitate to take yourself.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
ASCAP FOUNDATION NY MUSICAL THEATER WORKSHOP
There’s so much to say about the amazing song writer and lyricist, Stephen Schwartz, but probably just mentioning that he wrote the lyrics and music for Wicked would be enough. I just got home from an ASCAP Foundation New York Musical Theater Workshop which was directed by Stephen Schwartz with panelists Lynn Arrens and Andrew Lippa.
Here’s what I learned in the discussion that could benefit all writers, regardless of what you’re writing.
1. The order of the scenes if crucial. If the order is wrong, the show will fritz. Sometimes your last scene needs to be your first one, etc.
2. You have to know and show who the lead is from the get-go. The audience has to know who to follow. Who am I supposed to like? If you introduce too many characters in a strong way too early, the audience won’t have an alliance to any of them.
3. Be able to say what your play is about in a couple of lines as if you’re pitching it to a producer.
4. Your story needs to be filled with emotion, passion, and dreams.
5. Set up the protagonists and story clearly.
6. If you have characters who are new immigrants, they wouldn’t use words like “acronym,” for example. Keep your language true to the characters.
7. Your early scene should be a cliff hanger, leaving the audience dying to know what’s going to happen.
8. Know what your central dramatic question is. What is at stake?
9. Do not tell about a character. Reveal the character himself through his actions and dialogue.
10. Simplicity is the hardest, but most effective thing. The writing shouldn’t be about how clever the writer is, but about the characters and how to tell their story in a clear and humble way.
Here’s what I learned in the discussion that could benefit all writers, regardless of what you’re writing.
1. The order of the scenes if crucial. If the order is wrong, the show will fritz. Sometimes your last scene needs to be your first one, etc.
2. You have to know and show who the lead is from the get-go. The audience has to know who to follow. Who am I supposed to like? If you introduce too many characters in a strong way too early, the audience won’t have an alliance to any of them.
3. Be able to say what your play is about in a couple of lines as if you’re pitching it to a producer.
4. Your story needs to be filled with emotion, passion, and dreams.
5. Set up the protagonists and story clearly.
6. If you have characters who are new immigrants, they wouldn’t use words like “acronym,” for example. Keep your language true to the characters.
7. Your early scene should be a cliff hanger, leaving the audience dying to know what’s going to happen.
8. Know what your central dramatic question is. What is at stake?
9. Do not tell about a character. Reveal the character himself through his actions and dialogue.
10. Simplicity is the hardest, but most effective thing. The writing shouldn’t be about how clever the writer is, but about the characters and how to tell their story in a clear and humble way.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Kid with a Bike (or how to build a modern fictional hero.)
Seeing the French film, The Kid with a Bike, is a lesson in how to create a hero. The boy begins with hardship, a deep need. He can’t accept that he’s been abandoned by his father and won’t let love in the form of a neighborhood hairdresser who, in a random act of kindness, agrees to take him from his institutional home for the weekends. He is thwarted again and again in his attempt to reconnect with his father. Although this is the story of a specific boy, everyone can identify with the theme of abandonment, loss, and grief. Choosing a universal theme is one of the keys to getting the viewer to feel the feelings he sees on the screen or reads on the page. The modern hero, like this boy Cecile, is low-key in his emotions, not easily forthcoming. Watch Cecile after finding out that his father moved from his old apartment and sold his son’s bike. Does he cry about it? No, he shows his hurt by turning on the sink in the hairdresser’s beauty shop after she has warned him not to, silently staring down at the water cascading on his hands. Subtle, indirect way of showing his hurt which is more powerful than anything he could have said.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Why am I wearing black in spring while Beyonce is wearing bright yellow?
I have to take a fashion tip from her. But ah, spring in the Northeast. The week, you’ll see the magnolia bloom and the daffodils rising through the sodden ground. You’ll smell the heady scent, the permeating pollens which didn’t bother me one bit after seven years of allergy shots. You’ll see turtles sunning on the rocks in the Japanese Garden, ducks ducking ass-up in the lily pond. And in April, you’ll see the cherry blossoms in bloom. I remember them raining down on my daughter when she was a toddler, how she ran after them, head back, giggling, her chubby hands opening and closing. Ah, spring!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Rated P for Parenthood
Rated P for Parenthood
Posted on March 2, 2012 by Rochelle
RATED P FOR PARENTHOOD
Book and lyrics by Sandy Rustin
Music and lyrics by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer
Directed by Jeremy Dobrish
Starring Courtney Balan, Chris Hoch, David Josefsberg, and Joanna Young
RATED P FOR PARENTHOOD is a series of musical skits that cover parenthood from birth to the empty nest. It’s always easy to sit back and mutter over what could have been better: maybe if the skits were all about one family, maybe if the songs were sext-y like the texts typed on the background screen, or maybe if standard themes such as a mother’s grief on her child’s first day of kindergarten were omitted, the play might have been a rave. But if you sit back and hear the audience clapping and whooping it up, you know that this is a terrific pick for a night out with Mama-friends, especially since Playtime http://www.playtimenyc.com/ is offering great, affordable babysitting while you’re at the theater. The sitter/artists provide your children (ages 4=12) with cultural experiences while you get your own.
And Mamas, bring the Papas. The two best scenes involve fathers. In Mind Over Playground when two dads who are watching over their kids try to befriend each other, all the while each father worrying about what the other dad might be thinking about him. And the hilarious rap duet and breakout moves in Parent Teacher Conference as two dads anticipate the terrible things that will be told to them about their children.
Visit: http://www.ratedpthemusical.com
Posted on March 2, 2012 by Rochelle
RATED P FOR PARENTHOOD
Book and lyrics by Sandy Rustin
Music and lyrics by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer
Directed by Jeremy Dobrish
Starring Courtney Balan, Chris Hoch, David Josefsberg, and Joanna Young
RATED P FOR PARENTHOOD is a series of musical skits that cover parenthood from birth to the empty nest. It’s always easy to sit back and mutter over what could have been better: maybe if the skits were all about one family, maybe if the songs were sext-y like the texts typed on the background screen, or maybe if standard themes such as a mother’s grief on her child’s first day of kindergarten were omitted, the play might have been a rave. But if you sit back and hear the audience clapping and whooping it up, you know that this is a terrific pick for a night out with Mama-friends, especially since Playtime http://www.playtimenyc.com/ is offering great, affordable babysitting while you’re at the theater. The sitter/artists provide your children (ages 4=12) with cultural experiences while you get your own.
And Mamas, bring the Papas. The two best scenes involve fathers. In Mind Over Playground when two dads who are watching over their kids try to befriend each other, all the while each father worrying about what the other dad might be thinking about him. And the hilarious rap duet and breakout moves in Parent Teacher Conference as two dads anticipate the terrible things that will be told to them about their children.
Visit: http://www.ratedpthemusical.com
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Nathan Sawaya: Lego artist who brings kids to art
You should see the kids in the Contemporary Gallery of The Nassau County Museum of Att leaning into the Lego® sculptures by Nathan Sawaya. They were so excited—art that they could relate to, something worth being schlepped to a museum for.
Nathan was originally a corporate lawyer. While studying law at NYU, he built a Lego® model of Greenwich Village. Imagine how thrilled his mother must have been when she heard he was leaving the law for Lego®. But now, she must be saying, “My Son the International Brick Artist,” because that’s what Nathan Sawaya has become. Six years ago he won a Lego® building contest at Toys R’Us and left his lucrative job for a $30,000 a year gig as a Lego® builder at Legoland®. His work is now in private collections and museums all over the world, as well it should be. According to journalist Scott Jones, “Sawaya is a surrealist mash-up of forms and artists. Imagine Frank Lloyd Wright crossed with Ray Harryhausen, or Auguste Rodin crossed with Shigeru Miyamoto, and you start to get a sense of where Sawaya is coming from.” http://brickartist.com/about/
When we think of the mediums artists work in: oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, etc. why not Lego®?
And why not have children delighted at museums instead of turned-off?
http://eastmeadow.patch.com/events/nassau-county-museum-of-art-presents-lego-art-nathan-sawaya-recent-works-4f4fd113
http://abovethelaw.com/2010/03/nathan-sawaya-gives-up-corporate-law-for-legos/
Nathan was originally a corporate lawyer. While studying law at NYU, he built a Lego® model of Greenwich Village. Imagine how thrilled his mother must have been when she heard he was leaving the law for Lego®. But now, she must be saying, “My Son the International Brick Artist,” because that’s what Nathan Sawaya has become. Six years ago he won a Lego® building contest at Toys R’Us and left his lucrative job for a $30,000 a year gig as a Lego® builder at Legoland®. His work is now in private collections and museums all over the world, as well it should be. According to journalist Scott Jones, “Sawaya is a surrealist mash-up of forms and artists. Imagine Frank Lloyd Wright crossed with Ray Harryhausen, or Auguste Rodin crossed with Shigeru Miyamoto, and you start to get a sense of where Sawaya is coming from.” http://brickartist.com/about/
When we think of the mediums artists work in: oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, etc. why not Lego®?
And why not have children delighted at museums instead of turned-off?
http://eastmeadow.patch.com/events/nassau-county-museum-of-art-presents-lego-art-nathan-sawaya-recent-works-4f4fd113
http://abovethelaw.com/2010/03/nathan-sawaya-gives-up-corporate-law-for-legos/
Monday, February 13, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day to Mothers
See my post on MotherhoodLater.com
http://blog.motherhoodlaterthansooner.com/2012/02/guest-blog-post-valentine-to-motherhood.html
http://blog.motherhoodlaterthansooner.com/2012/02/guest-blog-post-valentine-to-motherhood.html
Friday, February 10, 2012
ASSISTANCE at Playwrights Horizons
ASSISTANCE
New York Premier of a new play by Leslye Headland
Director: Trip Cullman
Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater, 416 West 42nd St.
Opening night, Tuesday, Feb. 28th.
We all know them—the beleaguered corporate assistants who are giving up any hope of personal time, relationships, and sanity, all for the overriding ambition to be the next CEO, or at least have a better job title, or maybe, just maybe a raise. In a canny dramatist move, you don’t know what this company is and we never see the CEO, just hear him on the phone hurling abuse at his assistants, setting up impossible tasks for them, making them cater to him to him ways that are not only unnecessary, but sadistic. By doing this, Headland allows the reader to fill in the business, the face, because either we’ve worked for someone like that or we’re close to someone who is. The proof of that is to hear the audience roaring over the mayhem caused by this guy. A satire that’s all too true!
New York Premier of a new play by Leslye Headland
Director: Trip Cullman
Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater, 416 West 42nd St.
Opening night, Tuesday, Feb. 28th.
We all know them—the beleaguered corporate assistants who are giving up any hope of personal time, relationships, and sanity, all for the overriding ambition to be the next CEO, or at least have a better job title, or maybe, just maybe a raise. In a canny dramatist move, you don’t know what this company is and we never see the CEO, just hear him on the phone hurling abuse at his assistants, setting up impossible tasks for them, making them cater to him to him ways that are not only unnecessary, but sadistic. By doing this, Headland allows the reader to fill in the business, the face, because either we’ve worked for someone like that or we’re close to someone who is. The proof of that is to hear the audience roaring over the mayhem caused by this guy. A satire that’s all too true!
And what’s also true is that the creepiest, most dishonest and incompetent character played Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, (also seen in Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, et. al.) is the one who manages to get advancement. Isn’t that always the way?
Nick (Michael Esper, American Idiot, A Man for All Seasons) hasn’t gotten his promotion yet. He has glimpses of the truth of his situation, which makes him come to work hung over and become the compulsive jokester. When Nora (Virginia Cull seen in Man and Boy and Dividing the Estate) ,quits, Nick is on the edge of seeing the truth, but still trying to hide from it. Justin, another assistant (Bobby Steggert of The Minister’s Wife and The Grand Manner) has to break up with his therapist to prevent himself from seeing the truth about the futile and toxic environment he’s working in. Heather (Sue Jean Kim seen in The Drunken City)plays an inept hysteric who hardly lasts a day. Nora’s replacement, Jenny (Amy Rosoff seen in Dangerous Liaisons) who takes supplants Nora’s position like an opportunist weed, begins cool, collected, and ends up decompensating like the rest.
Nick (Michael Esper, American Idiot, A Man for All Seasons) hasn’t gotten his promotion yet. He has glimpses of the truth of his situation, which makes him come to work hung over and become the compulsive jokester. When Nora (Virginia Cull seen in Man and Boy and Dividing the Estate) ,quits, Nick is on the edge of seeing the truth, but still trying to hide from it. Justin, another assistant (Bobby Steggert of The Minister’s Wife and The Grand Manner) has to break up with his therapist to prevent himself from seeing the truth about the futile and toxic environment he’s working in. Heather (Sue Jean Kim seen in The Drunken City)plays an inept hysteric who hardly lasts a day. Nora’s replacement, Jenny (Amy Rosoff seen in Dangerous Liaisons) who takes supplants Nora’s position like an opportunist weed, begins cool, collected, and ends up decompensating like the rest.
This is a play to go to after a drink with your work mates. But it’s also a play to go to if you’re a parent with young kids. Thanks to a grant that it took ten years to secure, you can now get childcare while you watch the show. The sitters for Playtime are bonded, top-of-the-line folks from Sitters Studio who you would want to have around your child. But they are also artists who will provide a fun and creative cultural experience for your child while you enjoy the show.
http://uwskids.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/a-show-and-babysitting-all-together-playtime/
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Madonna at the Superbowl--Rock On, Girl
In 1990, I had no idea who Madonna was. I was forty-three years old and the last time I had taken an interest in pop music was when I used to watch Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and learn the latest songs such as “Earth Angel” and dance crazes like the Slop and the Frug from the Philadelphia bobby soxers. Oh, and I did have a healthy backlog of sixties songs to sing in the shower. “If I Had a Hammer” was perfect for when the water pipes began to make their knocking sounds. But I was a lyrics fiend and I couldn’t understand the words to the new music delivered by rock stars that suckled the microphone.
But then, at my daughter’s confirmation when she turned sixteen, the rabbi delivered a sermon railing against Madonna, her wantonness, the terrible influence she was having on teenage girls, instructing them to be Material Girls instead of Girl Scouts, exhorting them to be “Like a Virgin,” instead of a real virgin. The language in her songs he couldn’t bring himself repeat neither in nor out of temple. And her clothes! “Madonna,” the rabbi said, “was promoting cleavage on the bima,” meaning that the girls who followed her fashion wore low-cut dresses when they gave their bat mitzvah speeches.
Like the teens themselves, just tell me that I “shouldn’t” listen to or watch something and I have to. I just do!
When my daughter wasn’t home, I began to surreptitiously watch music videos on MTV and everything my rabbi said was confirmed for me when I saw Madonna in a scanty black leather costume, a studded iron collar clamped around her neck as she writhed in chains while singing a sultry song. But the more Madonna videos I watched, the more astonished I was with her talent. No matter what color she dyed her hair: black, blonde, brown, however short or long she wore it, she was an iconic beauty that I was sure would be emblazoned on the world’s consciousness forever like Marilyn Monroe or Marlene Dietrich. She has a slide trombone voice that can move you in any register. She can sound throaty, nasal, or clipped and tinny as a plucked electric guitar string. Her voice throbs through audiences, working them up to a frenzy. And she can deliver her lyrics with the passion of a Holy Roller speaking in tongues, yet you can understand each word and carry the song away with you.
Although I had to hand it to her as an entertainer, like my rabbi, I didn’t want my daughter to dance like Madonna whose choreographer might have used the Kama Sutra for inspiration. I didn’t want my daughter flipping through the pages of Madonna’s Sex book where Madonna looked like a Richard Lindner painting--hard-edged, veering on the abstract, but aggressively and assertively erotic. But would I tell my daughter not to listen to Madonna? Absolutely not, unless I wanted her to be Madonna’s greatest fan.
Hedging, I asked her, “So, what do you think of Madonna?”
“I like Guns N’ Roses better,” she said.
Phew, I thought.
And then, two years later when my daughter was on break from college, we were in the Museum of Modern Art looking at a show of Cindy Sherman’s photographs of herself as different characters such as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Sophia Loren in Two Women, challenging the traditional role of artist and model and how women were viewed in society, I started to think of all those Madonna videos I’d watched, how she’d entered a character so completely and left indelible images in a viewer’s mind. Who could forget her lying in the coffin in Like a Prayer or dancing before a backdrop of burning crosses? Who could forget her in the man-tailored suit and short, combed-back, short hair singing, Express Yourself? At the end of the exhibit, I read on a placard that Madonna had sponsored Cindy Sherman’s show. I stopped, live in my tracks, and reread it. I asked one of the docents about it. She told me that Madonna had not only backed Cindy Sherman’s show, but was a great supporter of other women artists.
I began to chat Madonna up to my daughter. “Did you hear that?” I said. “Madonna is not only bringing herself forward, but all her sisters, too. She’s a real feminist!”
My daughter, who had lived through the consciousness-raising groups I held in my basement, yawned a jaw-clicking yawn. Sure she yawned. She was never forced to wear a panty girdle or go to a commuter college because “girls should always live at home before they’re married.” My daughter kayaked rapids, climbed mountains, and went off to college where her dorm bathroom was coed. How liberated can you get?
I dropped the subject. But I never dropped my admiration or interest in Madonna/ She continues to inspire me. She has never stopped touring or innovating or broadening her interests. She’s constantly breaking new ground. She is a philanthropist, raising awareness of the orphans in Malawi. She’s published children’s books and launched a clothing line with her daughter and who knows what she’ll do next? Whenever I fall into the trap of I’m too old to do this ore that, I think of her still going strong in a youth culture, and I’m renewed.
I’m now confirmed in my belief that Madonna is a great example for my daughter and all our daughters. And to think I have my rabbi to thank for this revelation!
But then, at my daughter’s confirmation when she turned sixteen, the rabbi delivered a sermon railing against Madonna, her wantonness, the terrible influence she was having on teenage girls, instructing them to be Material Girls instead of Girl Scouts, exhorting them to be “Like a Virgin,” instead of a real virgin. The language in her songs he couldn’t bring himself repeat neither in nor out of temple. And her clothes! “Madonna,” the rabbi said, “was promoting cleavage on the bima,” meaning that the girls who followed her fashion wore low-cut dresses when they gave their bat mitzvah speeches.
Like the teens themselves, just tell me that I “shouldn’t” listen to or watch something and I have to. I just do!
When my daughter wasn’t home, I began to surreptitiously watch music videos on MTV and everything my rabbi said was confirmed for me when I saw Madonna in a scanty black leather costume, a studded iron collar clamped around her neck as she writhed in chains while singing a sultry song. But the more Madonna videos I watched, the more astonished I was with her talent. No matter what color she dyed her hair: black, blonde, brown, however short or long she wore it, she was an iconic beauty that I was sure would be emblazoned on the world’s consciousness forever like Marilyn Monroe or Marlene Dietrich. She has a slide trombone voice that can move you in any register. She can sound throaty, nasal, or clipped and tinny as a plucked electric guitar string. Her voice throbs through audiences, working them up to a frenzy. And she can deliver her lyrics with the passion of a Holy Roller speaking in tongues, yet you can understand each word and carry the song away with you.
Although I had to hand it to her as an entertainer, like my rabbi, I didn’t want my daughter to dance like Madonna whose choreographer might have used the Kama Sutra for inspiration. I didn’t want my daughter flipping through the pages of Madonna’s Sex book where Madonna looked like a Richard Lindner painting--hard-edged, veering on the abstract, but aggressively and assertively erotic. But would I tell my daughter not to listen to Madonna? Absolutely not, unless I wanted her to be Madonna’s greatest fan.
Hedging, I asked her, “So, what do you think of Madonna?”
“I like Guns N’ Roses better,” she said.
Phew, I thought.
And then, two years later when my daughter was on break from college, we were in the Museum of Modern Art looking at a show of Cindy Sherman’s photographs of herself as different characters such as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Sophia Loren in Two Women, challenging the traditional role of artist and model and how women were viewed in society, I started to think of all those Madonna videos I’d watched, how she’d entered a character so completely and left indelible images in a viewer’s mind. Who could forget her lying in the coffin in Like a Prayer or dancing before a backdrop of burning crosses? Who could forget her in the man-tailored suit and short, combed-back, short hair singing, Express Yourself? At the end of the exhibit, I read on a placard that Madonna had sponsored Cindy Sherman’s show. I stopped, live in my tracks, and reread it. I asked one of the docents about it. She told me that Madonna had not only backed Cindy Sherman’s show, but was a great supporter of other women artists.
I began to chat Madonna up to my daughter. “Did you hear that?” I said. “Madonna is not only bringing herself forward, but all her sisters, too. She’s a real feminist!”
My daughter, who had lived through the consciousness-raising groups I held in my basement, yawned a jaw-clicking yawn. Sure she yawned. She was never forced to wear a panty girdle or go to a commuter college because “girls should always live at home before they’re married.” My daughter kayaked rapids, climbed mountains, and went off to college where her dorm bathroom was coed. How liberated can you get?
I dropped the subject. But I never dropped my admiration or interest in Madonna/ She continues to inspire me. She has never stopped touring or innovating or broadening her interests. She’s constantly breaking new ground. She is a philanthropist, raising awareness of the orphans in Malawi. She’s published children’s books and launched a clothing line with her daughter and who knows what she’ll do next? Whenever I fall into the trap of I’m too old to do this ore that, I think of her still going strong in a youth culture, and I’m renewed.
I’m now confirmed in my belief that Madonna is a great example for my daughter and all our daughters. And to think I have my rabbi to thank for this revelation!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Third Coast runs valid short story and poetry contests
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Third Coast 2012 Fiction and Poetry Contests
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Fiction Judge:Jaimy GordonJaimy Gordon won the 2010 National Book Award for her most recent novel, Lord of Misrule, and was nominated for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Gordon’s third novel, Bogeywoman, was on the Los AngelesTimes Best Books List for 2000, as well as on Context's booksellers' list of the Most Important Works of Fiction published that year. She teaches at Western Michigan University and for WMU’s Prague Summer Program for Writers.
Poetry Judge:Major Jackson
Major Jackson is the author of three collections of poetry. His first collection, Leaving Saturn (University of Georgia: 2002), was the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Hoops (Norton: 2006) was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literature – Poetry. Jackson’s most recent collection is Holding Company (Norton: 2010).
New EXTENDED DEADLINE!2012 Third Coast Fiction and Poetry Contests$1000 Prize and Publication
NEW Deadline: January 31st
Final Judges:Jaimy Gordon and Major JacksonTo make it easier for you, this year we're accepting both mailed and online submissions. For more information, visit our contests page.
Guidelines:1. Submit one previously unpublished story of up to 9,000 words or three (3) previously unpublished poems. Multiple contest entries in one or more genres are permitted, but you must submit each piece separately.2. There is a $16 reading fee for each entry, and each entry fee entitles entrant to a 1-year subscription to Third Coast, an extension of an existing subscription, or a gift subscription. Please indicate your choice in your cover letter and include a complete address for subscription.3. All manuscripts should be typed (fiction entries should be double-spaced). Please include entry title(s) and page numbers on all manuscript pages. Since the judging is blind, the author’s name and identifying information (including address, telephone, and email) should appear only in the cover letter; identifying information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself.4. Simultaneous submissions are permitted; if accepted elsewhere, we ask that work be withdrawn from the contest immediately. If a poem or story is chosen as a finalist, Third Coast requires that it be withdrawn from any other publication considerations until the winner is selected. If the poem or story is scheduled to be published elsewhere before September 2012, please do not submit it.5. Winners will be announced in April 2012 and published in the Fall 2012 issue of Third Coast. All contest entries will be considered for regular inclusion in Third Coast.6. Writers associated with the judges orThird Coast are not eligible to submit work to the contest.7. No money will be refunded. Submissions will not be returned.8. To submit via mail, make checks payable to "Third Coast" and send entries to:
Third Coast Fiction or Poetry ContestDepartment of EnglishWestern Michigan University1903 W Michigan Ave.Kalamazoo, MI 490089. To submit to the contest online, please visit: http://thirdcoastmagazine.submishmash.com/submit.
Congrats to our Pushcart Nominees!Mark Wagenaar and Melissa Palladino (from Spring 2011), and Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, Jennifer Perrine, Bruce Bond, and Mariko Nagai (from Fall 2011).
SubscribeFounded in 1995 by graduate students of the Western Michigan University English department, Third Coast is one of the nation’s premier literary magazines—and one of only a handful of nationally distributed literary magazines to regularly include four genres. Third Coast consistently publishes excellent, and often award-winning, fiction, poetry, non-fiction and drama.
Stories and poems in Third Coast have recently appeared in the O Henry Award Series, The Pushcart Prize Series, Best American Poetry, and Best of the West: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri.
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Copyright © 2012 Third Coast Magazine, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber, submitter, or former contributor to Third Coast. Our mailing address is:
Third Coast Magazine
Department of English
Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo, MI 49008Add us to your address book
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Third Coast 2012 Fiction and Poetry Contests
Is this email not displaying correctly?View it in your browser.
Fiction Judge:Jaimy GordonJaimy Gordon won the 2010 National Book Award for her most recent novel, Lord of Misrule, and was nominated for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Gordon’s third novel, Bogeywoman, was on the Los AngelesTimes Best Books List for 2000, as well as on Context's booksellers' list of the Most Important Works of Fiction published that year. She teaches at Western Michigan University and for WMU’s Prague Summer Program for Writers.
Poetry Judge:Major Jackson
Major Jackson is the author of three collections of poetry. His first collection, Leaving Saturn (University of Georgia: 2002), was the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Hoops (Norton: 2006) was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literature – Poetry. Jackson’s most recent collection is Holding Company (Norton: 2010).
New EXTENDED DEADLINE!2012 Third Coast Fiction and Poetry Contests$1000 Prize and Publication
NEW Deadline: January 31st
Final Judges:Jaimy Gordon and Major JacksonTo make it easier for you, this year we're accepting both mailed and online submissions. For more information, visit our contests page.
Guidelines:1. Submit one previously unpublished story of up to 9,000 words or three (3) previously unpublished poems. Multiple contest entries in one or more genres are permitted, but you must submit each piece separately.2. There is a $16 reading fee for each entry, and each entry fee entitles entrant to a 1-year subscription to Third Coast, an extension of an existing subscription, or a gift subscription. Please indicate your choice in your cover letter and include a complete address for subscription.3. All manuscripts should be typed (fiction entries should be double-spaced). Please include entry title(s) and page numbers on all manuscript pages. Since the judging is blind, the author’s name and identifying information (including address, telephone, and email) should appear only in the cover letter; identifying information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself.4. Simultaneous submissions are permitted; if accepted elsewhere, we ask that work be withdrawn from the contest immediately. If a poem or story is chosen as a finalist, Third Coast requires that it be withdrawn from any other publication considerations until the winner is selected. If the poem or story is scheduled to be published elsewhere before September 2012, please do not submit it.5. Winners will be announced in April 2012 and published in the Fall 2012 issue of Third Coast. All contest entries will be considered for regular inclusion in Third Coast.6. Writers associated with the judges orThird Coast are not eligible to submit work to the contest.7. No money will be refunded. Submissions will not be returned.8. To submit via mail, make checks payable to "Third Coast" and send entries to:
Third Coast Fiction or Poetry ContestDepartment of EnglishWestern Michigan University1903 W Michigan Ave.Kalamazoo, MI 490089. To submit to the contest online, please visit: http://thirdcoastmagazine.submishmash.com/submit.
Congrats to our Pushcart Nominees!Mark Wagenaar and Melissa Palladino (from Spring 2011), and Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, Jennifer Perrine, Bruce Bond, and Mariko Nagai (from Fall 2011).
SubscribeFounded in 1995 by graduate students of the Western Michigan University English department, Third Coast is one of the nation’s premier literary magazines—and one of only a handful of nationally distributed literary magazines to regularly include four genres. Third Coast consistently publishes excellent, and often award-winning, fiction, poetry, non-fiction and drama.
Stories and poems in Third Coast have recently appeared in the O Henry Award Series, The Pushcart Prize Series, Best American Poetry, and Best of the West: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri.
follow on Twitter friend on Facebook forward to a friend
Copyright © 2012 Third Coast Magazine, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber, submitter, or former contributor to Third Coast. Our mailing address is:
Third Coast Magazine
Department of English
Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo, MI 49008Add us to your address book
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Friday, January 6, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Publishing Opportunity
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
GRATITUDE PRAYERS:
Prayers, Poems, and Prose for Everyday Thankfulness
Submissions close Friday, February 3, 2012
The purpose of GRATITUDE PRAYERS is to encourage individuals to appreciate the blessings in their lives and to cultivate an attitude of everyday thankfulness. Taking time to reflect on what’s good will help readers refocus their minds, which will increase one’s personal happiness.
Chapters have not yet been determined. The book will be packaged like Comfort Prayers and Serenity Prayers. In general, a maximum of 15 lines is best for each piece as this is the amount of text that will fit on one book page. If your selection will not work within 15 lines, you can submit a maximum of 30 lines (the equivalent of two book pages). However, I can only accept a few of the longer pieces so it may limit your chances of having a longer piece accepted. For prose pieces, a maximum of 130 words will fit on one book page. All prayers should be interfaith.
The final manuscript for GRATITUDE PRAYERS is due February 29 and reading the submissions for GRATITUDE PRAYERS is a top priority. Andrews McMeel Publishing hopes to publish the book Fall 2012, but it may be delayed until Spring 2013. If you have submitted for any of my other projects, please note that I'm far behind on reading submissions. I don't have an assistant, so it's a challenge to keep up with everything. Thanks for your continued patience.
The compensation for one-time rights is one complimentary copy of the book. Reprints are okay. The advance for GRATITUDE PRAYERS was quite small, so regretfully I'm not able to pay an additional monetary amount. As most of you know, publishing has changed drastically with fewer outlets for books. Even though e-publishing is generally successful for a lot of writers, the format isn't popular for gift books such as mine. However, I will do everything I can to find additional recognition for contributors. My books receive major publicity and have been featured in major magazines and newspapers such as USA Today, Family Circle, and Woman's Day as well as a "Dear Abby" column. Many of my contributors have been contacted by card companies to have their work featured on a card or plaque as a result of exposure in one of my anthologies.
Mail submissions to June Cotner, P.O. Box 2765, Poulsbo, WA 98370. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with sufficient return postage and mark “GRATITUDE PRAYERS” on the lower left-hand corner of your envelope. Please put all of your contact info on each submission. All submissions must be postmarked by February 3, 2012.
It takes me much longer to read and respond to submissions sent via email, so I much prefer snail mail submissions. If you live outside the U.S., you are welcome to email me no more than three submissions to june@junecotner.com. Please use GRATITUDE +as your subject line and include all of your contact info on each submission.
GRATITUDE PRAYERS:
Prayers, Poems, and Prose for Everyday Thankfulness
Submissions close Friday, February 3, 2012
The purpose of GRATITUDE PRAYERS is to encourage individuals to appreciate the blessings in their lives and to cultivate an attitude of everyday thankfulness. Taking time to reflect on what’s good will help readers refocus their minds, which will increase one’s personal happiness.
Chapters have not yet been determined. The book will be packaged like Comfort Prayers and Serenity Prayers. In general, a maximum of 15 lines is best for each piece as this is the amount of text that will fit on one book page. If your selection will not work within 15 lines, you can submit a maximum of 30 lines (the equivalent of two book pages). However, I can only accept a few of the longer pieces so it may limit your chances of having a longer piece accepted. For prose pieces, a maximum of 130 words will fit on one book page. All prayers should be interfaith.
The final manuscript for GRATITUDE PRAYERS is due February 29 and reading the submissions for GRATITUDE PRAYERS is a top priority. Andrews McMeel Publishing hopes to publish the book Fall 2012, but it may be delayed until Spring 2013. If you have submitted for any of my other projects, please note that I'm far behind on reading submissions. I don't have an assistant, so it's a challenge to keep up with everything. Thanks for your continued patience.
The compensation for one-time rights is one complimentary copy of the book. Reprints are okay. The advance for GRATITUDE PRAYERS was quite small, so regretfully I'm not able to pay an additional monetary amount. As most of you know, publishing has changed drastically with fewer outlets for books. Even though e-publishing is generally successful for a lot of writers, the format isn't popular for gift books such as mine. However, I will do everything I can to find additional recognition for contributors. My books receive major publicity and have been featured in major magazines and newspapers such as USA Today, Family Circle, and Woman's Day as well as a "Dear Abby" column. Many of my contributors have been contacted by card companies to have their work featured on a card or plaque as a result of exposure in one of my anthologies.
Mail submissions to June Cotner, P.O. Box 2765, Poulsbo, WA 98370. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with sufficient return postage and mark “GRATITUDE PRAYERS” on the lower left-hand corner of your envelope. Please put all of your contact info on each submission. All submissions must be postmarked by February 3, 2012.
It takes me much longer to read and respond to submissions sent via email, so I much prefer snail mail submissions. If you live outside the U.S., you are welcome to email me no more than three submissions to june@junecotner.com. Please use GRATITUDE +
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