A friend in Oklahoma's blog this morning really inspired me. My heart aches right now over all the things it made me think about. Thankfully, I'm an optimist and I truly believe it's not too late to save our society from becoming a cesspool. But we all need to do our part to turn this freaking ship around. A link to his blog plus my response and call to action are now on the Open Books blog.
L&G,
e
P.S. -- After you read the blogs, I hope those in Chicago will suck it up and sign up to help Open Books with our Big Move. We can't do the bulk of our work until we get our books moved and sorted. They are used in critical community service programs and are sold to pay for all the literacy work we do. We desperately need people for the early Public Storage shifts, 7 - 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 2-3. Just this once, get up early on a weekend. Then you can skip the gym and eat all your want at Super Bowl parties as a reward.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Silver Lining zine: Favorite Questions #3
Three favorite questions for . . .
Jim Hall, Chicago, IL, 28
1. What's one BOOK that has made your life better?
The Brother's Karamazov because it's impossible to fee sorry for yourself when faced with a Dostoevsky character.
2. What's one ALBUM that has made your life better?
June of '44. Four Great Points. It proved to me that the music I wanted to listen to was out there, and that if I listened well enough, I could find it, and maybe make it myself.
3. What's one way you can take lemons and make lemonade?
I'm finding out just how productive I can be without constant internet access.
Jim Hall, Chicago, IL, 28
1. What's one BOOK that has made your life better?
The Brother's Karamazov because it's impossible to fee sorry for yourself when faced with a Dostoevsky character.
2. What's one ALBUM that has made your life better?
June of '44. Four Great Points. It proved to me that the music I wanted to listen to was out there, and that if I listened well enough, I could find it, and maybe make it myself.
3. What's one way you can take lemons and make lemonade?
I'm finding out just how productive I can be without constant internet access.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Silver Lining zine: Favorite Questions #2
Three favorite questions for . . .
Jennifer Levin, Santa Fe, NM, 33
1. What's one BOOK that has made your life better?
I re-read The World According to Garp (John Irving) when I was very unhappy with my choice of college during freshman year. It made me realize that I was studying the wrong thing in the wrong place and so I moved to Santa Fe to be a writer.
2. What's one ALBUM that has made your life better?
Furnace Room Lullabye by Neko Case and Her Boyfriends. I didn't realize anyone sang that way--belting, uncatagorizable--and the song "Guided by Wire" made me understand my own past in a way I never had before.
3. What's one way you can take lemons and make lemonade?
I'm a little burnt out on my job--but I have 65 hours of vacation to use up in the next six weeks, so I'm taking all of next week off for an impromptu "writing residency in my bedroom." Only two days to go!
Jennifer Levin, Santa Fe, NM, 33
1. What's one BOOK that has made your life better?
I re-read The World According to Garp (John Irving) when I was very unhappy with my choice of college during freshman year. It made me realize that I was studying the wrong thing in the wrong place and so I moved to Santa Fe to be a writer.
2. What's one ALBUM that has made your life better?
Furnace Room Lullabye by Neko Case and Her Boyfriends. I didn't realize anyone sang that way--belting, uncatagorizable--and the song "Guided by Wire" made me understand my own past in a way I never had before.
3. What's one way you can take lemons and make lemonade?
I'm a little burnt out on my job--but I have 65 hours of vacation to use up in the next six weeks, so I'm taking all of next week off for an impromptu "writing residency in my bedroom." Only two days to go!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Silver Lining zine: Favorite Questions #1
Three favorite questions for . . .
Kristen Brown, Austin, TX, 32
1. What's one BOOK that has made your life better?
Books don't normally affect me very much, and I don't really have favorites. (I know, I must be a Communist or an alien or something.) BUT, The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker, totally rocked my world. I think about that book almost every day. It taught me that I am not the only person who thinks in footnotes (!!) and who notices the minutiae of life. And it reminds me how it is BEST to be like that, because then you never take any of life for granted.
2. What's one ALBUM that has made your life better?
I'd have to say that Disintegration, by The Cure, changed my life more than any other album because it was THAT album that made me understand the emotional power of music and fall in love with music in general. AND, Robert Smith is hot.
3. What's one way you can take lemons and make lemonade?
Recently I realized that instead of complaining and whining every time I had to sit in the Credit Union drive-though for 35 minutes (!!) every two weeks on payday, I would use that time to call my grandfather, or balance my checkbook, or make to-do lists, or do any number of other things I complain about never sitting still long enough to do!!
Kristen Brown, Austin, TX, 32
1. What's one BOOK that has made your life better?
Books don't normally affect me very much, and I don't really have favorites. (I know, I must be a Communist or an alien or something.) BUT, The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker, totally rocked my world. I think about that book almost every day. It taught me that I am not the only person who thinks in footnotes (!!) and who notices the minutiae of life. And it reminds me how it is BEST to be like that, because then you never take any of life for granted.
2. What's one ALBUM that has made your life better?
I'd have to say that Disintegration, by The Cure, changed my life more than any other album because it was THAT album that made me understand the emotional power of music and fall in love with music in general. AND, Robert Smith is hot.
3. What's one way you can take lemons and make lemonade?
Recently I realized that instead of complaining and whining every time I had to sit in the Credit Union drive-though for 35 minutes (!!) every two weeks on payday, I would use that time to call my grandfather, or balance my checkbook, or make to-do lists, or do any number of other things I complain about never sitting still long enough to do!!
Friday, January 11, 2008
Silver Lining zine: Jessa Crispin's "Books for Getting Off the Couch"!
I asked some of my favorite writers and lit types to contribute lists of recommendations. Bookslut's fabulous editor Jessica Crispin, a fellow Chicagoan and former Austinite, came through with flying colors. Yesterday we wallowed in her list of books, and today we revel! - Erin
Top 5 Books for Getting Off the Couch by Jessa Crispin
Pussycat Fever by Kathy Acker
"All of us girls have been dead for so long. But we're not going to be anymore."
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Jackson will make you believe in the power of witchcraft and the rage of little girls.
Lawless Roads by Graham Greene
Greene's travel narrative of Mexico will make you want to go exploring yourself, even through the worst parts of his trip.
Becoming the Villainess by Jeannine Hall Gailey
Gailey retells fairy tales, Shakespeare's stories, and superhero plots with a quick wit and modern sensibility.
Don't Tell Me the Truth about Love by Dan Rhodes
These stories of love gone horribly and hilariously wrong will eclipse any problems you're going through.
Top 5 Books for Getting Off the Couch by Jessa Crispin
Pussycat Fever by Kathy Acker
"All of us girls have been dead for so long. But we're not going to be anymore."
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Jackson will make you believe in the power of witchcraft and the rage of little girls.
Lawless Roads by Graham Greene
Greene's travel narrative of Mexico will make you want to go exploring yourself, even through the worst parts of his trip.
Becoming the Villainess by Jeannine Hall Gailey
Gailey retells fairy tales, Shakespeare's stories, and superhero plots with a quick wit and modern sensibility.
Don't Tell Me the Truth about Love by Dan Rhodes
These stories of love gone horribly and hilariously wrong will eclipse any problems you're going through.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Silver Lining zine: Jessa Crispin's "Books for Wallowing"
I asked some of my favorite writers and lit types to contribute lists of recommendations. Bookslut's fabulous editor Jessica Crispin, a fellow Chicagoan and former Austinite, came through with flying colors. Thanks, Jessa!- Erin
Top 5 Books for Wallowing by Jessa Crispin
Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
There's something about Bowen's writing that makes me want to take to my bed for three days and languish in her prose.
The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis
It's a book to be read slowly, and repeatedly.
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
More than just a (friendly) philosophy book, it can reorder your entire brain. After all that, you might need a nap.
Troubles by J. G. Farrell
Farrell's description of the decay of an Irish big house, overrun with cats and madness, will cause you to lose days at a time.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The ultimate wallow book.
*Tomorrow -- no more wallowing for you! Jessa's Top 5 Books for Getting Off the Couch will be here!
Top 5 Books for Wallowing by Jessa Crispin
Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
There's something about Bowen's writing that makes me want to take to my bed for three days and languish in her prose.
The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis
It's a book to be read slowly, and repeatedly.
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
More than just a (friendly) philosophy book, it can reorder your entire brain. After all that, you might need a nap.
Troubles by J. G. Farrell
Farrell's description of the decay of an Irish big house, overrun with cats and madness, will cause you to lose days at a time.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The ultimate wallow book.
*Tomorrow -- no more wallowing for you! Jessa's Top 5 Books for Getting Off the Couch will be here!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Silver Lining short: Anna Price
The Silver Lining is a classic-rock-inspired band from Cambridge, Mass., and their 2006 album Well Dressed Blues is out on EYE-CON Records. I spoke with lovely vocalist Anna Price.
ERIN: How did you choose the name The Silver Lining for your band?
ANNA: So much of rock is really nihlistic and a-melodic these days, which is why I think it's lost so much of its audience. We wanted to say something a little bit more positive. The name the Silver Lining aknowledges that sometimes life can suck, but there's always a bright side too.
How do you find a silver lining when band life gets rough?
The important thing is to have other stuff in your life that makes you happy. If you count on the band as your sole reason for happiness, you'll put all kinds of pressure on yourself and you won't be able to enjoy the good parts. In other words, being in a band is really fucking hard so just try to have fun and don't take it so seriously.
What advice to you have for readers who need to kick a dark cloud in the ass?
Count your blessings. Most likely you're better off than 90 percent of the people on the planet, and the things that suck in your life are probably not so bad as they seem. Figure out what you can't change and accept it, and work to change the things that you can.
(I couldn't agree more. Thanks, Anna!)
ERIN: How did you choose the name The Silver Lining for your band?
ANNA: So much of rock is really nihlistic and a-melodic these days, which is why I think it's lost so much of its audience. We wanted to say something a little bit more positive. The name the Silver Lining aknowledges that sometimes life can suck, but there's always a bright side too.
How do you find a silver lining when band life gets rough?
The important thing is to have other stuff in your life that makes you happy. If you count on the band as your sole reason for happiness, you'll put all kinds of pressure on yourself and you won't be able to enjoy the good parts. In other words, being in a band is really fucking hard so just try to have fun and don't take it so seriously.
What advice to you have for readers who need to kick a dark cloud in the ass?
Count your blessings. Most likely you're better off than 90 percent of the people on the planet, and the things that suck in your life are probably not so bad as they seem. Figure out what you can't change and accept it, and work to change the things that you can.
(I couldn't agree more. Thanks, Anna!)
Monday, January 7, 2008
Silver Lining interview: Ariel Gore! Pt. 2
Silver Lining presents the second part of our interview with author and zine inspiration Ariel Gore. Her hard-won, entertaining, motivational, and gutsy insights begin in the previous post.
Erin: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career as an indie writer and publisher?
Ariel: Well, that's a hard question to have follow the last one, because now I am all worked up about how HORRIBLE it is. But it's not! It's amazing and excellent to be able to make an (albeit very modest) living doing what I like to do. I just read Anne Lamott's new book and interviewed her for our community radio station, and I am of course just so freakin' jealous because she makes enough money to have a lot more leisure time in it all than I do, but then I look around at my life and just breathe in my appreciation, because I trusted that if I worked really hard at doing what I love the world would somehow support me and that has been true. Through much poverty and other gloop--but always liveable poverty and other gloop.
What's the latest in Hip Mama world? Has your pregnancy given you a ton of new material to work with? (Of course, this interview was months ago, so it's not quite the latest now. Check out her website for more.)
I don't know. Not so much yet. I just found out IT'S A BOY. That's something new for me. But I'm not sure if the baby thing feels totally real to me yet. (Although, I can say, I really don't know why they discourage the teen mom thing SO much, pregnancy is really very uncomfortable when you're 36). Anyway -- my daughter is headed off to college in the fall, which is just head-spiningly amazing to me. Being the parent of a teenager is hard, hard in a lot of ways, but one thing I love is being reminded that as a parent I am dispensible. I have been important, but through all of my triumphs and fuck-ups, she is her own person with her own destiny. There were things that always came naturally to me that she is no good at, and there are whole worlds I have been terrified to even ENTER that she has, simply, mastered.
You were a big inspiration for the Silver Lining zine. Would you share with us some of your inspirations as a writer, a mom, or just in general?
Diane DiPrima, Katherine Arnoldi, Anais Nin, Micelle Tea, Anne Lamott, Mary Waters, China Martens. Well, that looks like a very femme list. I'm sure that some men should be on it, but they don't pop into my mind just now.
You talk about this in your book, but can you sum up your advice for women who think "I don't have time to be a lit star" or any other kind of star?
Well, a woman--any woman--has to make a real effort not to dissolve into everything that needs her. We are trained to put the thing that we want to do last--and with writing it's also WORK, so if we manage to carve out a couple of hours in the week for ourselves, we might as well just go get a drink and relax. So we've got to learn to put writing up there at the top of our to-do lists, and not let everyone else's wants and needs cut in line.
And lastly, is there anything on your mind these days that you think more people should be aware of or thinking about? Consider this question free reign to spread the word!
There's a lot of jealous meanness going around. There's a lot of frustration and grief on the planet right now. There's a lot of arrogance. Just don't get sucked into that. You are a unique and amazing genius -- and so is everyone else. Share some love, man. I know I sound like a freakin' hippie, but what are you going to do? Avoid everyone who has gotten sucked into that mean jealous arrogant thing, because it's super toxic and contageous. Don't try to save them or anything. Share the love, and then MOVE THE FUCK ON.
Erin: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career as an indie writer and publisher?
Ariel: Well, that's a hard question to have follow the last one, because now I am all worked up about how HORRIBLE it is. But it's not! It's amazing and excellent to be able to make an (albeit very modest) living doing what I like to do. I just read Anne Lamott's new book and interviewed her for our community radio station, and I am of course just so freakin' jealous because she makes enough money to have a lot more leisure time in it all than I do, but then I look around at my life and just breathe in my appreciation, because I trusted that if I worked really hard at doing what I love the world would somehow support me and that has been true. Through much poverty and other gloop--but always liveable poverty and other gloop.
What's the latest in Hip Mama world? Has your pregnancy given you a ton of new material to work with? (Of course, this interview was months ago, so it's not quite the latest now. Check out her website for more.)
I don't know. Not so much yet. I just found out IT'S A BOY. That's something new for me. But I'm not sure if the baby thing feels totally real to me yet. (Although, I can say, I really don't know why they discourage the teen mom thing SO much, pregnancy is really very uncomfortable when you're 36). Anyway -- my daughter is headed off to college in the fall, which is just head-spiningly amazing to me. Being the parent of a teenager is hard, hard in a lot of ways, but one thing I love is being reminded that as a parent I am dispensible. I have been important, but through all of my triumphs and fuck-ups, she is her own person with her own destiny. There were things that always came naturally to me that she is no good at, and there are whole worlds I have been terrified to even ENTER that she has, simply, mastered.
You were a big inspiration for the Silver Lining zine. Would you share with us some of your inspirations as a writer, a mom, or just in general?
Diane DiPrima, Katherine Arnoldi, Anais Nin, Micelle Tea, Anne Lamott, Mary Waters, China Martens. Well, that looks like a very femme list. I'm sure that some men should be on it, but they don't pop into my mind just now.
You talk about this in your book, but can you sum up your advice for women who think "I don't have time to be a lit star" or any other kind of star?
Well, a woman--any woman--has to make a real effort not to dissolve into everything that needs her. We are trained to put the thing that we want to do last--and with writing it's also WORK, so if we manage to carve out a couple of hours in the week for ourselves, we might as well just go get a drink and relax. So we've got to learn to put writing up there at the top of our to-do lists, and not let everyone else's wants and needs cut in line.
And lastly, is there anything on your mind these days that you think more people should be aware of or thinking about? Consider this question free reign to spread the word!
There's a lot of jealous meanness going around. There's a lot of frustration and grief on the planet right now. There's a lot of arrogance. Just don't get sucked into that. You are a unique and amazing genius -- and so is everyone else. Share some love, man. I know I sound like a freakin' hippie, but what are you going to do? Avoid everyone who has gotten sucked into that mean jealous arrogant thing, because it's super toxic and contageous. Don't try to save them or anything. Share the love, and then MOVE THE FUCK ON.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Silver Lining interview: Ariel Gore! Pt. 1
*In 2008, the Silver Lining zine goes online here at Just Eat The Cat! I'll be posting interviews, poems, essays, and other writings from friends around Chicago, Austin, the U.S., and the world at large. It's great stuff -- and better late than never! To kick things off, here's my interview with Ariel Gore, the author, zine publisher/editor, and Hip Mama who largely inspired Silver Lining (the zine and the Chicago writers group by the same name). Thank you, Ariel! And thank you to the contributors and readers for their talents, support, and patience. Viva 2008! - Erin
Erin: The Silver Lining zine's theme is making delicious, hilarious, rockin', and generally badass lemonade out of the lemons life inevitably hurls at us. Can you think of a specific silver-lining situation in your past, where you went from feeling downtrodden to feeling triumphant?
Ariel: Well, that's what it's ALL about, isn't it? I mean, you are born! What a fuck over! You get this human existence and you're wailing about it for a few minutes, and then you just have to say, well, all right, looks like I'm going to be here for a while, and the landscape IS strangely beautiful, I guess I might as well see if I can spread some love around. For me, success has been ALL about taking what the world told me was my handicap and turning that into my strength. Being a teen mom, you learn that real fast. When you have a kid as a teenager--ever an older teenager like I was--you can either be what the world tells you you can be, which is nothing, or you can just pack up and run away in the night and go to college and do your thing and be a bad-ass--sometimes awesome and sometimes tired and messed up--mama. The world told me I should be ashamed of myself, but I flaunted it: Yeah I'm a teenage welfare mother.
Your latest book is one of the best guides for writers I've ever read (and I've read tons). Would you give us a tidbit of writing advice you wish someone had given you along the way?
I'm so glad you like it! I think writers have to reimagine themselves as BOTH artists AND entrepreneurs. We have to dream big and work harder. We have to CREATE a context in which our work matters and makes sense. If you think of the beat writers or any creative community like that, they invented that grouping for themselves--they didn't wait around for some publisher to say, Hey, this might fit into a new little sub-genre I've been thiking about...
What do you think is the best advice for writers that, alas, must simply be learned the hard way?
Well, most writers are very sensitive. We dream of publishing and we dream of our work being loved and appreciated and accepted--and often our work is very personal so we interpret that love and appreciation and acceptance as being very personal, too, and when it all works we are happy and fufilled, but taking the praise personally sets us up, because someone is going to hate what we put out there. They are going to write shitty reviews of our genuine effort. And how can we not take that personally? Worse, someone is going to suddenly feel like it is his freaking CALLING to take us down a notch, and they're really going to get personal and ugly. This is more about being a public person than being a writer, but when you publish--even if only ten people read your work--you have become a public person, and humans are very, very cruel to each other.
Erin: The Silver Lining zine's theme is making delicious, hilarious, rockin', and generally badass lemonade out of the lemons life inevitably hurls at us. Can you think of a specific silver-lining situation in your past, where you went from feeling downtrodden to feeling triumphant?
Ariel: Well, that's what it's ALL about, isn't it? I mean, you are born! What a fuck over! You get this human existence and you're wailing about it for a few minutes, and then you just have to say, well, all right, looks like I'm going to be here for a while, and the landscape IS strangely beautiful, I guess I might as well see if I can spread some love around. For me, success has been ALL about taking what the world told me was my handicap and turning that into my strength. Being a teen mom, you learn that real fast. When you have a kid as a teenager--ever an older teenager like I was--you can either be what the world tells you you can be, which is nothing, or you can just pack up and run away in the night and go to college and do your thing and be a bad-ass--sometimes awesome and sometimes tired and messed up--mama. The world told me I should be ashamed of myself, but I flaunted it: Yeah I'm a teenage welfare mother.
Your latest book is one of the best guides for writers I've ever read (and I've read tons). Would you give us a tidbit of writing advice you wish someone had given you along the way?
I'm so glad you like it! I think writers have to reimagine themselves as BOTH artists AND entrepreneurs. We have to dream big and work harder. We have to CREATE a context in which our work matters and makes sense. If you think of the beat writers or any creative community like that, they invented that grouping for themselves--they didn't wait around for some publisher to say, Hey, this might fit into a new little sub-genre I've been thiking about...
What do you think is the best advice for writers that, alas, must simply be learned the hard way?
Well, most writers are very sensitive. We dream of publishing and we dream of our work being loved and appreciated and accepted--and often our work is very personal so we interpret that love and appreciation and acceptance as being very personal, too, and when it all works we are happy and fufilled, but taking the praise personally sets us up, because someone is going to hate what we put out there. They are going to write shitty reviews of our genuine effort. And how can we not take that personally? Worse, someone is going to suddenly feel like it is his freaking CALLING to take us down a notch, and they're really going to get personal and ugly. This is more about being a public person than being a writer, but when you publish--even if only ten people read your work--you have become a public person, and humans are very, very cruel to each other.
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