I am a writer. I am published. I am working on a novel.INTERESTED?the paris review,salon.com,slate, the 80's,vanity fair, writers, poets and writers magazine, woody allen, sofia coppola, frieda, musicals,plays and playwrights,travel,trains, old lakes and farmhouses and castles, rachael evan wood, gywenth paltrow, hollywood old and new, new york, paris, london, italy, africa, america, billy bob thorton's acting, tony soprano, mental illness, self healing, something about lindsey lohan on screen, cohen brothers, fashion, french magazines, photo and writing magazines, paraben free products, collage, mixed media art, ink drawings, dance, shabby chic, country and vintage french decor, queens, conquering anxiety, health, organic eating, alternative lifestyles, sex, sylvia plath, anne sexton, mcsweeneys.net, ocean, swimming, mountains, road trips, bicycling, children, ap parenting, heroic acts in everyday life, presidential election, bill mahr, horseback riding, yoga, meditation, nutritional healing, alternative medicines, miracles, coffee bean, laughing, comedians, chocolate, ice cream cake, autobiographies, novels, how to books, magazines, dictionaries, encyclopedias, flats, tattoos, photo magazine, green living, writers, writing, art, music, music, my children, my children, cats and dogs
"Our cultural goal seems to be just the opposite: not to face trauma and heal it, but to avoid it all together. Failing to grasp this element of renewal, we are increasingly ruled by fear and anxiety. Signs of this anxiety are everywhere: removing shoes before boarding the airplane, hypervigilance over our children, our overreliance on antidepressants. All these measures share one thing in common: They do virtually nothing to prevent us from experiencing trauma when things go wrong.
Underneath this anxiety lies a fundamental confusion about the facts of life. We mistakenly think that happiness and personal growth depend on a lack of threat, that safety equals a healthy body and mind. What trauma teaches us is that the exact opposite is true.
"The object is not to conquer fear, but to become a connoiseur of fear, he explains."We teach our students to identify fear- to be aware of the physical sensations of panic and fear. What happens to them when they finally let go of the platform and leap to the trapeeze is that the anxiety is translated into excitement. What was terror becomes joy."
I'd like to meet:
those who absorb, observe, wonder, ponder, love, create, attempt, reveal, critique, embrace, uplift, explore, love,
heal, illuminate and push themselves to be people of honor, integrity, intellect, compassion and truth without the sickening lead finger pointing of snobs, wankers, right wingers, fundamentalist conservatives, super freaks who are sure freakiness is the only truth or anyone who thinks their truth is the only thing that's real or worthwhile. those who worship art and life but NOT at the price of their own humanity. those who laugh and laugh at themselves. those who can THINK and FEEL deeply but still manage to get out of bed every morning and do what needs to be done. or those who can't, but try.
Music:
'No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.'
-vonnegut
Movies:
virgin suicides,harry potters,valley girl,manhattan,the swimming pool,all about eve, fargo, the big lebowski,ghost world,the secret lives of dentists, the dreamers, the departed, bourne identity, casino royale, coalminers daughter, borat, knocked up,romancing the stone (what did you do- wake up this morning and say: today, i'm going to ruin a man's life!), lolita (both),spirited away, brokeback mountain, mean girls,marie antoinette, the virgin suicides, fargo, indiana jones,the goonies, flashdance, all things jon hughes even the mediocre ones like 'she's having a baby', murder on the orient express, the shining, beverly hills cop, parenthood,reality bites, sylvia, royal tenanbaums, annie hall, hannah and her sisters, witches of eastwick , amadeus, terms of endearment, officer and a gentlemen, grease, e.t., ....
Television:
The First 48 (when i can stomach it),Animal Planet, American Idol, (bizarre crush on Simon)The Office (esp.British) , 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Bill Mahr, Saturday Night Live-and THE SOPRANOS..hands down, the best television drama EVER. the caliber of great literature, as Mailer recently said.
Books:
everything by John Irving, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Eggers, Sylvia Plath, Jonathan Kozol, Anne Sexton, Camus and Neruda,Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Wonder Boys by Chabon, On Beauty, Much Norman Mailer esp. 'The Spooky Art', Grapes of Wrath, Lolita, Eleanor Roosevelt biography series, Margaret Atwood, Sue Miller, The Glass Castle, Didion, David Sedaris, Fall On Your Knees, Vonnegut, Henry Miller, some Anais Nin,
Robert Parker's Spenser mysteries, Jane Austen, The Corrections, Sophie's Choice, Updike, Rules For Old Men Waiting, Operating Instructions, Wrinkle In Time, Anne of Green Gables series, Catcher In the Rye, Franny and Zooey,
Natural Cures, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Under the Chinaberry Tree (books and inspiration for mindful parenting), Alice Munro, Bukowski, In Cold Blood, The Kiss,
Iris Murdoch, Panic Attacks a Natural Approach, The Body Never Lies (the lingering effects of cruel parenting), Thich Nhat Hanh,In Cold Blood, The Mixed Up Files.., The Secret of NIHM, Emily of New Moon, some Victor Hugo, The Black Stallion series, Water Babies, Gnomes, Fairies and Trolls,Shabby Chic, I, Elizabeth, Fear of Flying, Mary Poppins,Illustrated Encyclopedias, Lad A Dog,My Life With Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead, Narnia Chronicles, Special Topics In Calamity Physics,The Children's Hospital, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Sharon Olds, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jane Eyre, The Big House, The Glass Castle, Water Babies
Heroes:
Doctors Without Borders, Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, single parents, my mom for having the courage, my dog Percy for always rescuing me and for growling at that boy who yelled at me when I was small, my Grandma for her intellect, my aunt E. for her parenting, my uncle R. for his constant decency and honor, Martin Luther King Jr., my friend Hilary Butler for championing a worthy cause that makes her a target, (her new book is 'Just a Little Prick' about vaccinations), my friend Lacey for triumphing over a nightmarish childhood and kicking ass all over town, and every person dealing with great adversity with great depth, and every person dealing with day to day life with any appreciation of it's gift...those left behind.....and my sister Lura, for surviving.
