I can remember the first time I realized I could not see – I was on a family drive rolling around in the backseat of my parent’s station wagon and they were talking about a billboard sign. I said I couldn’t read it – and then I had my eyes tested. The truth is if you don’t know you can’t see you just bumble around. That is just the way you see the world and until someone tells you otherwise, you think everything is normal and everyone sees the world the same way, with the same acuity. I had contact lenses when I was a teenager and was constantly losing them. They were expensive. When I … [Read more...]
Dharmalebrity: Celebrity and the Dharma
This is a short story called "Dharmalebrity" I wrote in 2017 and performed last year at Sacred Storytelling here in Los Angeles. The story centers around a Buddhist drug and alcohol recovery program and the intersection between celebrity (a religion in Los Angeles without tax-exempt status) and the dharma (the teachings of the Buddha). Listen to the audio recording on Soundcloud here, or below. … [Read more...]
Audio Personal Essay: Should I be sitting down?
Try this writing prompt: Look at one of the most harrowing experiences that have happened in your life from three different perspectives. I chose to write about the cancer I had in 2007. I picked the perspective of myself at the gynecologist, visiting a spiritual "medical intuitive" and watching the surgery performed on someone else via YouTube. I was fortunate to be able to read this piece recently at a literary salon and it inspired me to try to record it. Using just the simple tools on a Mac and uploading the file to Soundcloud allows you to create an audio essay that anyone can listen … [Read more...]
Writing Into the Mundane and Discovering Ourselves
I hear this voice all the time. No one is going to want to read this....it sounds...too personal, too unprofessional, like nothing I've read in the pages of the New Yorker. I am here to tell you that sometimes it sounds crazy. Sometimes it is rough around the edges, gap-toothed and feral. Writing that is batshit bananas is on to something - something new, perhaps honing into your own style, unique voice, and personal experience. I was recently circling something in my life and trying to figure out why it made me so *incredibly* emotional. I have always said, if trouble shows up on my … [Read more...]
Gentle Writing During Times of Change
I just couldn’t move on. I have always considered myself a compulsive journal keeper. I've been writing since pre-puberty somewhere between a few times a week - to one big end of the week catch up. Months have gone by this past year as I stare at the end of my turquoise Moleskine and I just wanted to get to that last page and have it be over. But I couldn’t – it felt like my brain wasn’t working in the same way. I suddenly was scared of my past. I was scared of memories, photos, and mementos setting me off. I now think I was in a deep protective mode – I had no interest in the past because … [Read more...]
Why Personal Essays are Important in the ‘Age of Trump’
How can we build trust and empathy in society in order to practice respect for all people? I am a teacher focused on helping writers communicate their personal truth. I am deeply concerned about the current administration’s support of “alternative facts” and “fake news.” I believe there is a pathology in America right now that uses self-deception, lying and deceit as a winning tactic. Over and over I’ve watched ignorant people get the attention they crave by saying outlandish and disturbing things. Last year a popular rapper made news by stating his belief that the world is flat. Republican … [Read more...]
10 Books to Inspire Your Personal Maps
As a personal mapping enthusiast, I have been collecting books that inspire me to keep drawing detailed pictures, even though I would not consider myself a visual artist. The pen to paper, having no idea what forms will come out, thrills me. It is pure emotional drawing....much like we did when we were children. The colors, shapes, images and words all come from a very deep and personal place. It feels good to have an intimate map of my internal state - it gives me a release and it is a "visual aid." I have explained my pictures to friends and suddenly we have a glimmer of understanding and … [Read more...]
Best Web Sites for Personal Essays
Curious about where to find personal essays that engage on both craft and storytelling? Here is my curated list of the websites that are publishing the best personal essays around. I go back to these sites over and over, for inspiration and entertainment. I love the variety of voices and dedication to publishing under-represented groups. These stories are inclusive and salty, unafraid, bold and emotional looks at life. We Are Mel/ Mel Magazine: The first-person essays published here are not afraid to take a hard look at what it means to be a man today. Focused on the sociocultural, Mel … [Read more...]
Inspiring Writing Prompts for Self-Care
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” ― Audre Lorde Writing is a way for me to hit the "refresh" button. To wring myself out when I feel like a crumpled rag or just get my feelings out in one long diatribe (that no one will ever need to see). I have definitely been through difficult times when I began to wonder if anything made me feel calm and at ease. Whether it was local trouble - seeing the homeless line the freeway underpasses here in Los Angeles and the pain of knowing how unkind society can be. Violence on the news … [Read more...]
Writing & Describing the Depth of Feeling
I received an email today from my mother, in the postal (snail) mail. It was a printed copy of an email I sent to my dad in 2002, which although it came in time for Father's Day I was too sad to open it with my father's passing. In the last few weeks I have come up with a lot of creative ways to describe how I feel such as, "covered in molasses" for my sticky inability at times to leave the house or that I am wearing "vaseline glasses" to describe that under water feeling where you feel a little bit separate from the world. I've told people that I am raw. Raw like someone took that 70s Lava … [Read more...]
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