Tayari's Blog: July 2005
July 28, 2005
Confessions Of A Video Vixen, More Thoughts
I wrote last week about how I read Confessions of a Video Vixen. Since then, I have been reading several tribute to the late Feminist Andrea Dworkin whose groundbreaking works focused on breaking the slence about rape, domestic battery, ponography and other violence against women. After reading several moving tributes to Dworkin and considering her work, I felt the need to post again about Karrine Steffans and her memoir.
July 27, 2005
It's SUMMER! I'm reading MYSTERIES
I just finished up Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky. I have to tell you, I just love mysteries, especially ones with female sleuths. I know that I seem to be the brooding type-- all about heavy seroius novels, preferably those in translation, but it's summer. And I gotta have my mysteries.
July 25, 2005
Confessions of a Video Vixen
I just finished Confessions of a Video Vixen and I must say that I found myself very disturbed by this memoir by Karrine Steffans. To me, it read like a slave narrative.
July 22, 2005
A New Update from Pearl Cleage!
I was speaking with Pearl today. She read all your wonderful blog comments about her work, specifically the poem, "We Speak Your Name." She has some pretty exciting news to share. So, with no further ado:
Oprah is preparing a documentary about the Legends weekend that will be aired late this year. The entire poem will be published at that time and it is my understanding that there will also be a dvd available of the documentary.
And you can go to her website for more details when they become available!
Posted at 09:50 AM | ![[comments]](http://www.tayarijones.com/images/comments.gif){kind=small}
Comments (1)
Category:
July 21, 2005
No Place For Me by John Fountain
Here is an excerpt from John Fountain's article explaining why he, a believing Christian, no longer attends church:
By the summer of 2002, there had been a myriad hurts and disappointments to accompany my disillusionment. When the then-pastor of my Chicago area mega-church responded to my inquiry about not being able to reach him for weeks, I was already bending in the wind."Do you have a cell phone?" he asked during a follow-up telephone conversation to a letter I had sent him.
"Yes," I answered.
"Then let me ask you something, John," he continued. "If you had a problem with your cell phone and you called SBC, would you expect to reach the CEO?"
His words blew me away.
Posted at 11:28 AM | Comments (3)
Category:
July 20, 2005
We Speak Your Name: More From Pearl
So many folks visit my blog looking for news about Pearl Cleage's poem, "We Speak Your Name." I have some good news! Here is a direct quote from Miz Cleage herself!
It will be published by Ballentine late in the year as a gift book. There will be pictures of me reading the poem and lovely lovely photos of all of the women who attended the function at Oprah's!
There you have it.
BOOKS ABOUT OTHER BOOKS
I am finally reading THE WIND DONE GONE by Alice Randall. You probably remember the drama a couple of years ago. (Check out the 209 reviews on Amazon!)This is the novel written from the point of view of the illigitmate BLACK sister of Scarlett O'Hara, who happens the be the concubine of one Mr. Rhett Butler.... The novel is intriguing, but I have a philosophical issue bugging me as I read it.
July 19, 2005
I want to read "The Sixteenth Minute"
I just heard the author of "The Sixteenth Minute" on the radio. It's a work of non fiction profiling people who used to be famous. Of course, I was most interested in Irene Cara, from Fame. Her fifteen minutes of fame were cut down to about ten because she seued her record company after they paid her only TWENTY BUCKS in royalties for her big hit, "Flashdance/What a Feeling."
I get bored
I'll admit it. A person gets bored. Even when she has deadlines starting in her face, when she has plenty to do.. a person gets bored.. and she takes internet quizzes.. so I took this one to find out what book is most like me.. and I got a weird result... (you'll see when you scroll click down.) ...so now I want everyone to take this quiz.. and let me know if anyone gets a result that involves a book by a black person...
Posted at 12:43 PM | Comments (9)
Category:
The Writing Life
BLESSED INDIFFERENCE
Recently, I met a mother and daughter at a writers event. The daughter was about fifteen, and the mother, maybe forty. The thing that got my attention was that the DAUGHTER was the one taking the workshops. The mom was there for moral support. Of course, my immediate thought was "Wow, that's so cool. I wonder what kind of writer I'd be if I had been to workshops and such when I was that age. I wonder what would have happened if MY parents had supported my writing when I was so young!" But once the initial envy faded, I realized how lucky I am that nobody really cared about my writing until my first novel was published.
Posted at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 17, 2005
Why I Don't Read the NYT Book Review
There are some publications I avoid. The NYT Book Reivew is one of them. At first, I chalked it up to my dismay that they've never bothered to review my novels, but I think it's more than that.
Posted at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 16, 2005
Atlanta Book Clubs?
Once again, I am writing about my friend, Stephanie, who has just moved to Atlanta. She's looking to join a book club. I am hoping that some of you who are members of Atlanta's fantastic reading groups will comment to this post. Tell us who you are and what you like to read. Are your meetings held at members homes, or do you go out?
And, I can vouch for Stephanie. If she joins your book club she WILL read the book. She also can cook.
Posted at 11:13 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 15, 2005
The Death of a Novel
Novels are like houseplants. Sometimes they just die on you for no reason at all. I have had several projects just give it up. It's such a worrisome phenomena. There is no telling when a project will just stop speaking to you.
July 14, 2005
It May Seem Like I am Obsessed with Terry Mac
But really, I'm not. But when I saw this, I had to comment. It seems that Terry MacMillans soon-to-be-ex husband feels that he is entitled to compensation (ie MONEY) because she based her book, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," on her romance with him. This is an entirely different issue than him asking for good old-fashioned alimony.
Posted at 01:11 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 13, 2005
Writing Out In The Cornfields
As lots of you know, I live in Urbana, IL. Not exactly a hotbed of literary life. I can't decide if this is a good thing or not. So many of my good friends live in New York City. They attend lots of literary cocktails parties. Book launches are just par for the course of an average weekend. I am curious as to what percentage of their daily diets is made up of cocktail shrimp.
Posted at 12:37 PM | Comments (3)
Category:
The Writing Life
PEANUT IS BACK HOME!
So many of your wrote in helpful suggestions for my friend, Stephanie, who has just moved to Atlanta. And I am sure that many of you read her grateful responses. Then, she wrote in when I was looking for "Lost and Found" stories-- just after moving to Atlanta her dog, Peanut ran away! Well, she just wrote in that Peanut is back home safe. See, there is such a thing as a happy ending.
July 11, 2005
Me, In the NYT
Yesterday, I published an essay in the New York Times for their series, "Summerscapes." It's called "Among the Belivers", and is a sort of amusing story about the time when I, the daughter of an atheist, was sent to vacation bible school.
Posted at 09:59 AM | Comments (6)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 10, 2005
AMONG THE BELIEVERS
This was published in the New York Times July 10th:
IN elementary school, I spent a great deal of energy trying to explain the difference between atheism and devil worship. Until second grade I answered the commonplace query: "Where do you go to church?" with this: "My father says that we don't believe in God." Adults took this information with shocked silence, but children lack restraint. "You're a devil worshiper?," they asked. I didn't think I was but I asked Daddy who assured me that we were not. "Atheists," he explained, "don't believe in the devil either."
July 08, 2005
Flash Fiction-- Pen/Faulkner
I have been invited to the Pen/Faulkner Gala in Washington, DC in September. Hurrah, right? Yes. It's a good thing. I'm thrilled. I bought a dress. Shoes. Bag. My inner debutante has risen to the occaision and taken care of all things superficial. All that's left is the hard part. I have to write a short piece, about 300 words, on the theme of Lost and Found. And I have to read this piece aloud at the gala.
Posted at 09:21 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 04, 2005
Goodbye To Stephanie
Those of us living in Champaign, Illnois will have to figure out how we are going to live without Stephanie Cook who is blowing this popsickle stand in favor of Hotlanta. Stephanie is a remarkable person: smart, funny, insightful and compassionate. We're going to miss her like crazy here in the Heartland. But since Sweet Stephanie is relocating to my natural habitat, I thought I should give her some helpful hints as she learns her way around town. So, here's my own BEST OF ATLANTA
Posted at 10:38 AM | Comments (10)
Category:
July 01, 2005
Summer Reading: The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
I just got finished reading The Wife, by Meg Wolitzer. It was very, very good. I can say that it really shook me. Just thinking about it puts me in a fragile emotional space. I have to say that I don't know how interesting it will be for the general population.. but maybe I am underestimating folks? But it was really gripping to read as a writer, as it is a novel about the writer's life.