I spent this last Thanksgiving with my fiance’s family in a new location. I am slowly beginning to understand what it means to enter a family as an adult. Family is where our history lives. They are the people who can say, “that is the face mom used to make” and tell stories about their grandparents even though they may have grandchildren of their own. I really began to consider of all of the miracles and brushes of fate that bring us to the common table. The next time you gather, listen for the others that are present at the table in the stories we tell. Some fought in a war, some built … [Read more...]
A Quick “Field Guide” to Stunt Writing
Today I am heading into week two of teaching my second Stunt Writing for Personal Growth class on the Canvas Network. The first time I taught it was so magical, I was worried that this time it would not gel. I'm amazed that immediately students took to the concept, started leading the way, and just took the challenge. There were numerous times the first week when I would read a student's work and think, oh my gosh this is so amazing! They have broke through! They are accessing these deep and beautiful memories and laying them out like bittersweet gems. Teaching the Stunt Writing class, is for … [Read more...]
First in a Series of Video Writing Prompts!
Here is one of the first in a series of video writing prompts I have been recording. Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback. Also, if you use the prompt, post your work and send me a link!Write on!Erin Jourdan#1 in a series of writing prompts: Song Lyrics! … [Read more...]
Complimentary Compliments at the Silver Lake Reservoir
Hello neighbor! How are you today? I found that I was not a first smile giver, I was a second smiler, a smile responder. Do you smile at people first, or do you return other's smiles? I walk around the reservoir, in a daze, listening to podcasts, usually about the shitty state of the economy at Planet Money on NPR. I would look at people walking, jogging, hanging out at the park and think, yeah we are all in our own little bubble. I need to break out and GIVE the smile. To be a first smiler. Liz welcomed the idea of creating some good karma in the park. Overall we met some … [Read more...]
The Aggressive Positivity Challenge
All talk no action. All shirt and no trousers. There are many ways to say it, but complaining is completely useless. The squeaky wheel may get the grease, but is there a way to cut the badmouthing and make a more striking statement? I have been really interested in performance art lately. A friend did an audition to be an "actor" in one of Marina Abromovic's pieces for a private dinner at MOCA. Would it be appropriate to "appropriate" (the most beautiful difference between a verb and an adjective) Abromovic's piece for her own purposes? Is that art, true art, when you force a conversation, … [Read more...]
My 201th Post: Rewriting Personal Narrative #2
Sitting at home on a Sunday night, coming up with yet another timesaving plan for organizing my notes on "Rewriting Personal Narrative." I have about 20,000 words I have written over the last 2-3 years but only recently have I actually tried to be disciplined about the project. As you can see above, my journals I tabbed from 2005-2010, I would be a good candidate for graphomania. I know those two cartons don't seem like much but I was also writing blogs, stories, poetry, a play during the same period. Not that I am trying to say any of it was good. Far from it, a lot of my journals, like so … [Read more...]
My Response to Flavorpill’s 10 Essential Bad-Girl Anthems
Here is the article and I thought it was weak I mean--really--Hole's Teenage Whore? Lady Marmalade? I mean two songs about prostitution is, like, so empowering (out of ten). So here I go, you can be bad and enjoy it, ladies! Florence and The Machine "Kiss with a Fist" Some people are lovers, some are fighters. She makes our nasty side cute, and our cute side vicious. The Donnas "Too Fast For Love" (originally by Motely Crue) The recorded version is much better, clearer, but these women plus those guitar riffs are awesome! Missy Elliott Irresistible Delicious People think she's … [Read more...]
My lists of things that will hopefully go away, or return due to the recession.
Things that will hopefully go away with the recession:1) Space TourismWhy do we need a bunch of rich assholes in space? So that they can stand or float or whatever they do, above the Earth and scream, I am king of the world? Yuck. Stay home. 2) Children with Cell PhonesWhen I was kid, my parents would say "go out in the yard and play." Every time I see a kid with a screen attached to their face I feel nauseous. I mean I know you have to keep track of your kids and it is scary out there, but please there has got to be a better way to do it. Can't some things just be for adults? Like … [Read more...]
Bail Out the Writers or It’s the Marketplace, Stupid
The New York Times had an essay by Paul Greenberg "Bail out the Writers" comparing how the government plans on bailing out banks and insurance companies with how writers could be bailed out as an industry. It was written in jest, but I had an issue with some of the points because of his tone, which is as weary as a man who has spent too much time with words, and bad ones at that. He decries the overabundance of MFA students, multiple "Ann Beatties" (both the critically acclaimed author and the self-published author), and the mediocrity of it all. As someone who worked in the book publishing … [Read more...]
Rest in Peace David Foster Wallace
I went to see David Foster Wallace read in San Francisco in 2006 and wrote this post about the experience here: David Foster Wallace in Stereo.He seemed slightly tortured even then, but I thought his great humor and success would see him through. I half-considered it might have been an act, perhaps it was just his schtick and way of expressing his literary persona. His hall of mirrors type performance editing and responding to his own conversation. Nothing was simple, no thought stayed still for even a millisecond, the world moved to quickly to be understood. The thoughts, words and … [Read more...]