Layering

Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamillo, (Candlewick Press) a children's book, is top-notch to read if you want to learn about layering, that is, having elements that weave through the story, giving it depth. See how she uses Blake's Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright to enhance the magic of this story about a boy who was whalloped by his father for crying at his mother's funeral, the grief that he kept in unopened suitcases of the mind, causing a rash so severe on his legs that the principal barred him from school. Read how this boy, with the help of a girl named Sistine, as in the Sistine Chapel, heals his heart through friendship and love.

This recipe is from my friend, Kim Ballerini, a English professor and the best cook I know.

This recipe and the Ostriker poem was sent to me by my friend, Kim Ballerini, for Rosh Hashonnah. Enjoy with me:

Pot Roast Brisket for slow cooker

3-4 lb beef brisket
2-3 Tbs flour1
2 Tbs herbs de Provence4-
5 carrots cut into circles2 big onions sliced1
14 ounce can of beef broth or beef stock
1 cup luscious red wine (optional) but it is a great option2
2 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves of sliced garlic
Salt and Pepper

Put flour, herbs, and salt and pepper in a large bowl or large Ziploc bag. Toss brisket in flour mixture and then place it in the slow cooker. If there is flour left over pour it over the meat. Layer the carrots and onions on the top. Add the beef broth and optional red wine and and cook on high for approximately 4 1/2 to 5 hours. Do not add potatoes--it just muddies it and I have no idea what those brussel sprouts were about—say no to such things. Let the ingredients be what they are. Serve the meat and sauce over "No Yolks" brand dumplings. They are in a clear bag and look like noodles but they call them dumplings. I don't know why. Serve the food and let the wine flow in deep red jewelled bliss. And all is well.

Opportunities to express yourself creatively are endless and can come at any time

When I was an art major in college, the head of the department made it seem that there were a few annointed souls who would become artists and the rest of us could forget it. True, one of their choices did show at the Whitney Biennial and has a lot of success, but the rest of us found our way as well. I became a writer; a friend a caligrapher, someone else a sculptor who teaches at a fine university, etc. So if you're creative, never let anyone tell you that you won't find your way to express it in the world.

My friend, Cara, a psychotherapist, is taking up acting in her middle years. She's already landed a few things and here she is in a pilot for the Discovery Channel...hold your breath...as a therapist running a support group for people who believe they have been abducted by aliens.


http://zeropointzero.wistia.com/activate/c89438b029

PLACES TO PUBLISH

Deadline: 9/17/2010 Submit to: Creative Nonfiction, Attn: Immortality, 5501 Walnut St., Suite 202, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 Theme: Immortality Type: Essays (5,000 words MAX) Publisher: See website URL: Anthology sponsored by Creative Nonfiction

Deadline: 1/31/2011 Submit to: Dream of Things. Submission Link Theme: Various topics based on one of 15 themes. See http://dreamofthings.com/workshop-2 for more details. Type: Personal essays (500-5,000 words MAX) Publisher: See website URL: Dream of Things

Deadline: 3/1/2011 Submit to: Slipstream, Dept. W-1, Box 2071, Niagara Falls, NY 14301. Theme: Sex-Food-Death Type: Poetry Publisher: See website URL: Slipstream

For All Memoir Fans

I recommend Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle.(Scribner.) It's been on the bestseller list for three years and you'll see why. This is a story of surviving a childhood that has to be read to believed, and prospering, and loving.

What I'd like you to be aware of it the motif that runs through this book of Jeanette's father's interest in quantum physics and see how that weaves through the book and makes for a socko ending.

My Third Grandchild, Eden

Frued's Last Session

There was nothing little about this play by Mark Germaine in the Little Theater at the West Side Y, Manhattan. Imagine Sigmund Freud who believed God was a fantasy having a session with C.W. Lewis who had just had a conversion experience. What a dramatic clash.
What we can learn from the play as writers is:
1. The importance of dramatic contrast, characters pitted against each other by education, class, philosophy....
2. This play was based upon another book, which means that we don't have to unearth all our own ideas. They are out there waiting for us, like fish leaping to our hook. Just follow your interest and you'll find the right books to help you create your own work of art.
3. The inescapable histories of the characters, both personal and what is going on in their environment. Imagine Freud and C.S. Lewis confronting a bomb threat during London's blitz.
How different it is to be in the audience when you're a writer!