I’m going to ramble incoherently today.
New York Magazine published this article, The Retro Wife, that tried to make a trend out of a minuscule sample size, that trend being women staying at home as the new feminist choice. The whole thing is pretty ridiculous, and then at the end, there’s…
good:
Make This Awesome ‘33 Ways to Stay Creative’ List a Part of Your Life
- Liz Dwyer posted in Education, Creativity and ListsThis list pops up on the web every few months—the Steampunk group on Facebook is the latest to share. What would happen if most people followed its recommendations instead of just clicking “like”? How would our society change if schools posted these and then operated accordingly? (Caveat for the kids: We’d have to nix “drink coffee”!) Of course the best thing about lists is crossing things off of them, so c’mon, let’s commit to putting some of these suggestions into practice.
»no thanks« by e.e. cummings (+)
shape poem in the form of a funeral urn dedicated to 14 publishers who rejected his book.
In this week’s issue of the magazine, Robin Schwartz photographed Lena Dunham’s dog Lamby for Dunham’s Personal History “A Box of Puppies.” Schwartz, who took her first photograph of an animal at ten years old, told me, “I am an animal person. I cannot survive without animals, this is who I have always been.” Her assistant on the shoot was her thirteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, who is also the subject of Schwartz’s body of work “Amelia’s World,” a magical portrait stretching over eleven years, which pictures Amelia with all types of animals—the largest is an elephant and the smallest is a Cotton-Top Tamarin. Schwartz is a professor of photography at William Paterson University, in New Jersey, and is represented by ClampArt.
Click-through for a selection of images from “Amelia’s World,” accompanied by Amelia’s captions and memories, and followed by a brief Q. & A. with Schwartz: http://nyr.kr/Xq4jkK
I've been obsessing with this clip every since I stumbled upon the GIF of this scene on my new favorite (albeit strange and perverse) blog. I want to memorize her words, her inflections and tone and perform it as many times as I can whenever possible. She's remarkable.
They have everything your bones ache for. You want to consume them. You want them to be your friend. Your mother. Your father. Your lover. You want them to see brillance in you, because their approval is the validation of your entire identity as an artist, writer, human being.
You think it'd be something to eventually grow out of. But as an artist, or someone with an artistic pursuit, I find myself falling into idol worship all the damn time. I can fall in love in a sentence. Fuck that, I can fall in love over a word so perfectly chosen it feels like it's grabbing me by the spine.
Then, if you're lucky enough, you get to meet your idols. If you're luckier still, you get to talk to them, take classes with them, learn from them -- the lighthouses of your dreams.
It is a humbling weakness. I want to be confident in my abilities, in my talent, in the results of the hard work I've put into my reading and writing, without needing the affirmation. I'm terrified people will think I'm a hack, a shitty, talentless writer, or worse yet, a dilettante. I don't want them to see the insecure, approval-seeking wannabe hiding behind my ambition. It is a painful reminder of my immaturity as a writer, as a person.
Approval seeking is a big part of that fear and the high you get from it is fleeting. It lasts as long as the moment lasts if not just a moment longer before you're aching for the next fix. More affirmation, more approval, special treatment.
I know enough to understand that gaining approval shouldn't be important. Having something to say is what is important. Putting in the hard work to say it in a way only I could is what is important. But it's still there, sitting in my chest, my pilot light of hope, waiting for you to love me.
| Julius Shulman |
| Me and my friend Bando in Apple Valley |
| That's my Dad second from the right (What a stud), with my Uncle Richard, Aunt Debby and Uncle Danny at the Grand Canyon. |
Left to right: Kima Jones, Krisserin Canary (Me! Duh), Elle Brooks, Tommy Moore, Lilliam Rivera and Terrence Flynn. Photo by Casey Curry. |
| Photo by Casey Curry. |
I loved Christmas growing up. The music, the tree, the presents. It was the time of year I got to cuddle up in warm flannel pajamas, and chase my brothers around the house.
Christmas is magical for children, and as you get older, year-by-year, the magic slowly fades away. Christmas becomes a chore.
As an adult I still want the magical Christmas that I had as a child, but unless you have children of your own there is no real way to reenact what you experienced growing up. Then there are other people who never had magical Christmases, or maybe they had too few. This time of year looms heavy in their heart because they know not to expect anything. Maybe they never celebrated Christmas, and going to school after the holidays meant having to explain that you didn't get any presents, that you didn't get the newest toy or backpack or lunch pail.
Then there are those, like my Mother-in-law, who don't get to have Christmas with their family. And others who are experiencing their first Christmas since losing someone important in their lives. There is a reason that the holiday season brings with it so much pain and sadness -- the memories of our childhood Christmas that haunt us.
Maybe its the fact that I'm unemployed, and I was unable to participate as enthusiastically in the buying and giving this year. Maybe its the fact that I'm seeing the unhappiness of the people around me, or feeling it myself. Maybe its because I've grown up and realized that these holidays are a little too manufactured, a little too forced, but Christmas has lost its magic for me.
| This year's Christmas tree. |
Tin House ended a week ago today. I miss being in lecture, I miss the excitement of hearing new truths about writing, about your friends, and about yourself. I want to keep the dream alive so I thought I'd write a small, not very well-digested recap, and outline some of my favorite things from the workshop, along with a few choice jewels of advice from the faculty.
I was rejected in 2009. It's a bit shame-making, admitting this past failure, but a writer's success, much like any artist endeavor, is defined by those who can triumph over rejection. I tell you about this rejection, because I want you to know how much it meant to me to be accepted this time; also to let friends who applied and were previously rejected (from anything!) know that success is possible with perseverance.
I labored over my submission, and when I was finally accepted I felt like I had won something. A prize that was bestowed on me not because of luck or chance but because of my hard work. It was, and still is, an incredible feeling. Tin House always seemed like some far off dream, something that only "real" writers get to experience. I went in with high expectations and they were met and surpassed beyond anything I could have dreamt or imagined.
| Aimee at her reading. |
| One of many cocktail receptions. |
| Steve Almond on Narration. |
The definition of our illness, or its chief symptom, seems to be related to bi-polar disorder:
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic-depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or more depressive episodes. - WikipediaWe allow ourselves to be consumed by self-doubt. We build a fortress of self hate so high that our only rescue is the opposite in extreme. Ebullient, childish, adoration of our literary genius.
I remember when I first heard about him, or read about him rather in Blackbook Magazine. Then I saw an ad for his new album on Grooveshark. Then I heard his name on KCRW on my way to work in the morning. Kind of frightening how well targeted marketing works.
I downloaded the album and liked a few singles, Domino, Living Dangerously, When the River, and when I found out he was playing a small gig at the El Rey I thought, why the hell not?
Naively, I went into the show thinking it would be a small affair, but he has an incredibly passionate following. A gaggle of 18-year-old girls and soft, overly-sensitive guys all lined up to hear Sondre and sing along to tracks old and new. After two unique, enthusiastic, and at times painful opening acts Sondre came on stage. It didn't take long to realize his appeal. When you listen to his music you hear the harmony, the honest and haunting voice. But in person it's a totally different story. He has a way on stage, a self-assured sexiness that is both obnoxious and intoxicating. He smiled seductively into the dark theater after playing his opening number, Private Caller, and said, "That's what I'm talking about," or something equally brash. The way he shook his hair, as if he'd studied old reels of John and Paul, makes you think he's been trained. The smarmy back and forth between his band mates made him seem arrogant, but his keen sense of humor made it almost forgivable. I don't want you to think he's all swagger and no substance. He's a talented lyricist, and an even better musician. He has incredible timing, and composition that extends my previous Beatles comparison.
Walking away from the show I was equal parts of annoyed and excited. His music is brilliant, but his sex appeal is infuriating. I think that sums it up.
And from his new album:
I love old books, and was so delighted to learn about abebooks while visiting Professor Braunmuller at UCLA a couple years back.
Just recieved this $3 copy of Boris Pasternak's Selected Poems. It's in great condition and has a lovely message written on the inside.
A beautiful show. The clothes might feel like a mix of hospital and Cuban cigar shop chic, but the set and the music are magical. I feel like I'm sitting at a cafe in Barcelona, watching Matisse's bathers walk up and down the boulevard in the heat of the late afternoon and into the night.
The shoes are pretty incredible too.
An excerpt from Beatice and Virgil by Yann Martel. So good I had to read it twice.
(Virgil and Beatrice are sitting at the foot of the tree.They are looking out blankly.Silence.)
VIRGIL: What I'd give for a pear.
BEATRICE: A pear?
VIRGIL: Yes. A ripe and juicy one.
(Pause.)
BEATRICE: I've never had a pear.
VIRGIL: What?
BEATRICE: In fact, I don't think I've ever set eyes on one.
VIRGIL: How is that possible? It's a common fruit.
BEATRICE: My parents were always eating apples and carrots. I
guess they didn't like pears.
VIRGIL: But pears are so good! I bet you there's a pear tree right around here. (He looks about.)
BEATRICE: Describe a pear for me. What is a pear like?
VIRGIL: (settling back) I can try. Let's see . . . To start with, a pear has an unusual shape. It's round and fat on the bottom, but tapered on top.
BEATRICE: Like a gourd.
VIRGIL: A gourd ? You know gourds but you don't know pears? How odd the things we know and don't. At any rate, no, a pear is smaller than an average gourd, and its shape is more pleasing to the eye. A pear becomes tapered in a symmetrical way, its upper half sitting straight and centred atop its lower half. Can you see what I mean?
BEATRICE: I think so.
VIRGIL: Let's start with the bottom half. Can you imagine a fruit that is round and fat?
BEATRICE: Like an apple?
VIRGIL: Not quite. If you look at an apple with your mind's eye, you will notice that the girth of the apple is at its widest either in the middle of the fruit or in the top third, isn't that so?
BEATRICE: You're right. A pear is not like this?
VIRGIL: No. You must imagine an apple that is at its widest in the bottom third.
BEATRICE: I can see it.
VIRGIL: But we must not push the comparison too far. The bottom of a pear is not like an apple's.
BEATRICE: No?
VIRGIL: No. Most apples sit on their buttocks, so to speak, on a circular ridge or on four or five points that keep them from falling over. Past the buttocks, a little ways up, there's what would be the anus of the fruit if the fruit were a beast.
BEATRICE: I see precisely what you mean.
VIRGIL: Well, a pear is not like that. A pear has no buttocks. Its bottom is round.
BEATRICE: So how does it stay up?
VIRGIL: It doesn't. A pear either dangles from a tree or lies on its side.
BEATRICE: As clumsy as an egg.
VIRGIL: There's something else about the bottom of a pear: most pears do not have those vertical grooves that some apples have. Most pears have smooth, round, even bottoms.
BEATRICE: How enchanting.
VIRGIL: It certainly is. Now let us move north past our fruity equator.
BEATRICE: I'm following you.
VIRGIL: There comes this tapering I was telling you about.
BEATRICE: I can't quite see it. Does the fruit come to a point? Is it shaped like a cone?
VIRGIL: No. Imagine the tip of a banana.
BEATRICE: Which tip?
VIRGIL: The end tip, the one you hold in your hand when you're eating one.
BEATRICE: What kind of banana? There are hundreds of varieties.
VIRGIL: Are there?
BEATRICE: Yes. Some are as small as fat fingers, others are real clubs. And their shapes vary too, as do their taste.
VIRGIL: I mean the regular, yellow ones that taste really good.
BEATRICE: The common banana, M. sapientum. You probably have the Gros Michel variety in mind.
VIRGIL: I'm impressed.
BEATRICE: I know bananas.
VIRGIL: Better than a monkey. Take the end tip of a common banana, then, and place it on top of an apple, taking into account the differences between apples and pears that I've just described.
BEATRICE: An interesting graft.
VIRGIL: Now make the lines smoother, gentler. Let the banana flare out in a friendly way as it merges into the apple. Can you see it?
BEATRICE: I believe I can.
VIRGIL: One last detail. At the very top of this apple-banana composite, add a surprisingly tough stalk, a real tree trunk of a stalk. There, you have an approximation of a pear.
BEATRICE: A pear sounds like a beautiful fruit.
VIRGIL: It is. In colour, commonly, a pear is yellow with black spots.
BEATRICE: Like a banana again.
VIRGIL: No, not at all. A pear isn't yellow in so bright, lustreless and opaque a way. It's a paler, translucent yellow, moving towards beige, but not creamy, more watery, approaching the visual texture of a watercolour wash. And the spots are sometimes brown.
BEATRICE: How are the spots distributed?
VIRGIL: Not like the spots on a leopard. It's more a matter of areas of shadowing than of real spots, depending on the degree of maturity of the pear. By the way, a ripe pear bruises easily, so it must be handled with care.
BEATRICE: Of course.
VIRGIL: Now the skin. It's a peculiar skin, the pear's, hard to describe. We were speaking of apples and bananas.
BEATRICE: Yes.
VIRGIL: They have smooth, slippery skins.
BEATRICE: They do.
VIRGIL: A pear does not have so smooth or slippery a skin.
BEATRICE: Really?
VIRGIL: It is so. A pear has a rougher skin.
BEATRICE: Like an avocado's?
VIRGIL: No. But since you mention avocados, a pear is somewhat shaped like an avocado, although the bottom of a pear is usually plumper.
BEATRICE: Fascinating.
VIRGIL: And a pear becomes thinner in its top half in a more pronounced way than an avocado does. Nonetheless, the two fruits are more or less similar in form.
BEATRICE: I see the shape clearly.
VIRGIL: But you cannot compare their skins! An avocado's skin is as warty as a toad's. An avocado looks like a vegetable with leprosy. The pear is characterized by a thin roughness, delicate and interesting to the touch. If you could magnify it a hundred times, do you know what it would sound like, the sound of fingertips running over the skin of a dry pear?
BEATRICE: What?
VIRGIL: It would sound like the diamond of a record player entering a groove. That same dancing crackle, like the burning of the driest, lightest kindling.
BEATRICE: A pear is surely the finest fruit in the world!
VIRGIL: It is, it is! That's the skin of a pear for you.
BEATRICE: Can one eat it?
VIRGIL: Of course. We're not talking here of the waxy, thuggish skin of an orange. The skin of a pear is soft and yielding when ripe.
BEATRICE: And what does a pear taste like?
VIRGIL: Wait. You must smell it first. A ripe pear breathes a fragrance that is watery and subtle, its power lying in the lightness of its impression upon the olfactory sense. Can you imagine the smell of nutmeg or cinnamon?
BEATRICE: I can.
VIRGIL: The smell of a ripe pear has the same effect on the mind as these aromatic spices. The mind is arrested, spellbound, and a thousand and one memories and associations are thrown up as the mind burrows deep to understand the allure of this beguiling smell — which it never comes to understand, by the way.
BEATRICE: But how does it taste? I can't wait any longer.
VIRGIL: A ripe pear overflows with sweet juiciness.
BEATRICE: Oh, that sounds good.
VIRGIL: Slice a pear and you will find that its flesh is incandescent white. It glows with inner light. Those who carry a knife and a pear are never afraid of the dark.
BEATRICE: I must have one.
VIRGIL: The texture of a pear, its consistency, is yet another difficult matter to put into words. Some pears are a little crunchy.
BEATRICE: Like an apple?
VIRGIL: No, not at all like an apple! An apple resists being eaten. An apple is not eaten, it is conquered. The crunchiness of a pear is far more appealing. It is giving and fragile. To eat a pear is akin to . . . kissing.
BEATRICE: Oh, my. It sounds so good.
VIRGIL: The flesh of a pear can be slightly gritty. And yet it melts in the mouth.
BEATRICE: Is such a thing possible?
VIRGIL: With every pear. And that is only the look, the feel, the smell, the texture. I have not even told you of the taste.
BEATRICE: My God!
VIRGIL: The taste of a good pear is such that when you eat one, when your teeth sink into the bliss of one, it becomes a wholly engrossing activity. You want to do nothing else but eat your pear. You would rather sit than stand. You would rather be alone than in company. You would rather have silence than music. All your senses but taste fall inactive. You see nothing, you hear nothing, you feel nothing—or only as it helps you to appreciate the divine taste of your pear.
BEATRICE: But what does it actually taste like?
VIRGIL: A pear tastes like, it tastes like . . . (He struggles. He gives up with a shrug.) I don't know. I can't put it into words. A pear tastes like itself.
BEATRICE: (sadly) I wish you had a pear.
VIRGIL: And if I had one, I would give it to you.
(Silence.)
Product manager, content strategist, social marketer, data enthusiast and creative writer.
Managed UCLA's main social channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, Pinterest and flickr. Within my first month at UCLA I increased engagement on Facebook posts 162%. Post impressions increased 176%.
Created and executed Social Media strategy for UCLA Commencement events, including live-tweeting the College of Letters and Sciences ceremony. Tweets during commencement activities received 1.7MM impressions, up from standard 200K monthly impressions.
Created and implemented "BruinForLife" campaign--the highest performing Social marketing campaign on UCLA's Facebook page. Worked with campus partners--UCLA Athletics, Events and Transportation and Volunteer Center to strategize social marketing for major campus events.
Site maintenance for comScore top 20 property that delivers helpful how-to advice to over 57MM unique visitors per month. Worked with a talented team of developers, designers and engineers to implement new programs and monetization models on the eHow article page. Participated in performance, A/B testing and was the lead product manager for eNewsletter and B2C blog strategy.
Lead product manager for typeF.com responsible for product design and strategy. Developed site concept and pitched to Tyra Banks and Bankable Inc.
Lead team of talented and passionate engineers, designers and SEO specialists to launch and maintain the site. Created Beauty School, Daily Look, Content personalization web apps. Worked with Treemo labs to launch typeF Beauty School iPad and iPhone application.
Managed strategy for homepage and newsletter programming, programming for social media outlets such as facebook and twitter, and content syndication through Yahoo! Shine, Huffington Post and Active.
Managed all content production for LIVESTRONG.COM. Worked with Demand Studios to guide content creation through their freelance network. Scripting and production for "Health Matters" show with Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Leslie Saxon. Drove content priorities through collaboration with the Product Development team to create engaging tools and content services on the site. Worked with PR to manage expert talent and content production for ongoing media outreach.
Created Demand Media Internship program that fosters an educational environment focused on giving students a well-rounded understanding of new media and online publishing.
Manage publication schedule for LIVESTRONG.COM. Grew weekly newsletter subscription from an initial 200K to 1MIL from June 2008 to Nov 2009. Worked with marketing and PR departments to create content-oriented promotions including the Diet Face Off, which engaged the LIVESTRONG.COM community and drove organic search traffic to the site. My main goals were to drive traffic to the site, and increase user engagement by producing relevant and topical content.
Content Manager for Employee Intranet Portal. Assist and plan look and feel as well as usability of the intranet with web developers. Manage staff of editors and writers to create weekly articles. Designed, developed and distribute weekly newsletter to 1700+ employees. Event planning and promotion.
Writing subject lines and promotional copy for commercial newsletter.
Managed content for Social Media and Creative Sections. Worked with a group of industry professionals for reviews of creative media. Recruit contributors and shepherded articles from pitch to completion. Assisted in creating weekly web analytics reports. Uploading data into content management system.
Editing and Writing Fact sheets for book jackets and catalogs. Assisting Managing Editor with collating materials for seasonal book launches.
General office assistance, filing, internet research. Pre-screening submitted materials i.e. reading scripts, pitches, reviewing pilots etc. Writing coverage for submitted materials for V.P. of Production
As Managing Editor I was responsible for helping the editor-in-chief and publisher with the monthly layout of the magazine, shaping the tone of each issue as well as hiring/managing interns and writers. I created and distributed our weekly newsletter and coordinated with the sales team for ticket and event promotions. Worked with advertisers to plan events for brand promotion and magazine publicity, and was personally responsible for writing and recruiting articles for the Politics and Culture section.