Fly Into the Mystery » writing

Patience rewarded

Emily — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:03:15 +0000

I was finally trained and approved to start blogging for work today- very excited to be writing again! I will let you faithful readers know when my official posts go live.

Baby shower

Emily — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:11:20 +0000

Delicious and relaxing.

At Home in Queens

Emily — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:38:55 +0000

My favorite things so far are grocery shopping (bitter melon! fresh smoked mozzarella!), a presentation on art classes at the Met for people with dementia and their caregivers, and having a lovely home with my honey. Yes, you can do that all in the same day in NYC. Now time to rest!

Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton: Book Review

Emily — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:44:06 +0000

Hamilton tells her difficult coming of age story without flinching. Her unusual childhood in agrarian New Jersey with an artist father and French ballerina mother was disrupted by divorce as she hit puberty. Walking along the railroad tracks at the age of 13, looking for a job, she goes into the first restaurant she finds- and the die is cast. “Be careful what you get good at, because you will be doing it the rest of your life.” a kitchen coworker warns her.

Hamilton structures her story well, moving forward and backward in time to illuminate the mistakes/choices she made and why she made them. After ten years in catering kitchens in New York, she cannot put to rest the idea that she should be doing something more “worthy” and heads off to Ann Arbor for an MFA in writing. (This is not a memoir that pretends to be written by a non-writer.) The alienating academic language and culture drive her back to the kitchen and a woman she meets working there gives her a first glimpse of the possibilities of her own restaurant. A restaurant that gives patrons a taste of childhood comfort and being cared for by the mother that she has not seen for twenty years. On her return to New York she makes such a restaurant.

As I wrote about on the desk set, my attraction to books and libraries was given to me by my parents, and in many ways at work I try to give that comfort and feeling of being recognized to my young patrons and their parents. I have frequently felt that I should be doing more or other than that. Blood, Bones, and Butter is a rare memoir of vivid convincing detail and compelling story that resonated with my experience of working life.

Prune, Hamilton’s restaurant, is what they call a labor of love which means she works ridiculous hours. By the end of the book she also has two tiny sons to care for as well as an unfathomable husband. She is searching for balance but unwilling to compromise on career or family or writing a beautiful honest book at the same time. For this reader, attempting to balance all these often unspoken and complex internal drives- for family, success, and art- Hamilton’s tale is as bitterly refreshing as a perfect negroni.

Mary Oliver @ Wellesley College

Emily — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:45:01 +0000

And I thought Smith was deluxe. Oliver read in the gothic Chapel and it was very good- she’s extremely endearing and read four poems about her dog. My companions had both gone to Wellesley and I think we were all feeling a strong dose of nostalgia- if we went back to College today we would get EVEN more out of it. I was especially taken with the newly renovated cozy calm stone meditation room in the basement- cushions arranged alluringly.

Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch

Emily — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:04:39 +0000

this is on my front steps and i didn't put it there

One of the many many benefits of working the desk in a public library is having first crack at book donations. My community gives us the best books and they invariably turn up when I need them. I.E. I am making an Egyptian art display and a dover ancient Egypt coloring book appears out of nowhere, ready to be photocopied and handed out to kids who want to color their own Nile boat. But I digress.

David Lynch’s book turned up last Thursday. It is a collection of his short essays on his creative process and how it has been aided by 30+ years of transcendental meditation. I found it soothing and inspiring. He writes about the creative life and how he worked hard to pursue it with the support of his practice. He explains that although suffering is part of the human experience and plays a role in his art- there is no need for him to suffer to portray it. Indeed, if he was suffering, mentally or physically, that would prevent him from devoting himself to his work. Phew. I’m so glad we are getting beyond the tired old tortured artist crap. Thanks, Mr. Lynch.

Also, I brought on my car trip Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. Ms. Gilbert seems to have abandoned her meditation practice. I think it really could have helped her with the questions she explores in this book on marriage and love and I sorely missed that dimension of her experience that she shared in Eat Pray Love.

On my desk this morning

Emily — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:23:27 +0000

As part of the class I took Monday, we gave eachother rules for writing a new poem. Mine are quite confining, but that’s the point. Often the mind likes boundaries to play within.

(Also my dad gave me a milk frother-works great!)

Surrealist Games

Emily — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:49:36 +0000

I took a class at Grub Street last night that involved games and collaborating to write poetry with the other serious thoughtful women in the room. It is so hard for us to break rules- very enjoyable to watch us try.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Emily — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:27:58 +0000

I’ve been following Grace Lin’s career since I moved back to Massachusetts- she is a diligent and thoughtful blogger and a neighbor (although we have not met). Before finding her blog, I had not noticed her work. But she is someone to watch because of the seriousness of her efforts and the playfulness of her work.

Her Newbery honor winner of this year is the quest of a young Chinese girl who seeks to change her family’s fortune. Grace started telling this story aloud when she was sitting in the hospital with her first husband who was dying of cancer. After he was gone, she did not want to finish the book. However she was able to work through her grief and tell this story and it has changed Grace’s fortune. The illustrations and the text work well together and it has the timeless dreamy quality of a classic children’s novel, that is, one written for a person of any age who is looking for answers and open to finding them through fantasy.

Go Grace! I am so looking forward to your future work, and your career is very inspiring to me. I have been on my quest now for three years and it feels like my fortune changes everyday. It is important to follow all the little red strings that pop up and not be afraid to listen to talking fish.

If I were a bell

Emily — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:27:37 +0000

I can’t remember what it is exactly that Nick said to me last week when I was scribbling in my notebook with dull devotion, as if it were algebra homework. But whatever it was that he said, it made a crack in my practice. Somehow… I have never gotten the hang of enjoying myself while I write. Compulsive interrogation with excessive force would be a better description of my process. But when Nick asked me what I wanted my writing to be like, I said funny. But how could I be funny if I wasn’t having fun?