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On My Birthday Eve

Yes, it is possible to get two dozen roses home on the subway!

Posted at 01:24 PM | Comments (4)
Category: Travels & Rambles

This Time, FICTION is Stranger Than Truth

Ladylee is hosting a week long birthday party for me on her blog. (How did she know that as a little girl,I always wanted a surprise party?!) Today, she has posted a short story inspired by my love of the Brand New Heavies and the fact that I ain't too proud to take the Greyhound to get to thier concerts. Oh, and she points out the other fact that I happen to own a pink fur coat and coordinating Tims!

That girl is something else.

Posted at 07:09 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Bookshelf

Good Hair Day!

You know, one of the most popular blog entries I have ever written was about the time I went as an adult to get a press and curl, as research for my new novel. When I check my sitemeter, there is always someone googling the subject and they visit the blog. Almost two thousand people have viewed the pics on flickr!

There is no denying that black women and their hair is a real hot-button topic. (Remember the Imus fiasco?!) Well, someone's got their finger on the buzzer again. Here is the recap as best I can give it:

An associate editor at Glamour said that unprocessed black hair is inappropriate for the workplace. Glamour them apologized for being so stupid and to show they were serious, they hosted a panel on the subject. (Wow, that's really going to make a difference!) So Janice went to the panel and gives a pretty amusing twitter report.

I, on the other hand, am celebrating my birthfest, and cannot be bothered to think too hard about oppressing depressing topics. Next week, I'll be back on the front lines. But for now, does anyone know a good spa in Jersey City? And related to the topic of this post: Ladies, if you go to a spa, you can usually substitute an extra 30 minutes of massage time for the hair part of your "luxe package." Just FYI for those of us with a gorgeous head of Glamour "don'ts".

Posted at 08:16 AM | Comments (5)
Category: Current Events

Throw The Book At Me

Okay, I was trying not to go on and on about my upcoming birthday. (It's Friday.) But since Ladylee is raising a ruckus up on her blog, and Nichelle (a birthday girl TODAY!) is so cute about her special day, I will do a birthday-themed post.

The question is whether or not books make good gifts. I say YES YES YES. I'm a person who both loves to read and who also likes the idea of people actually buying books, so you can just imagine how much I like the idea of people purchasing books for ME!

Well, a friend of mine, let's call him Mr. Poetry Man, begs to differ. He says on the one hand, it seems obvious to give a book as a gift to a writer. She'll love it and it is always a good idea to keep women happy. On other hand, reading is such a solitary pleasure, that you are actually giving the person a gift that will take the person away from you. And if you like her enough to choose a book for her, you probably like her enough to want her attention.

"Well," I said, "I get it that you might be sad to be away from her while she is reading, but maybe the gift is that she gets a little time away from you."

"That's not very nice," said Mr. Poetry Man, handing me an early birthday gift. It is rectangular, a little bit heavy, about an inch thick.....

Posted at 07:27 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Travels & Rambles

What's New?

Since it is the end of the year, all the bloggers and newspapers are in 'Best Of' (and sometimes 'Worst Of The Best Of') mode. I am sorry to say that I didn't read many new books this year. I think this is one of real down-sides of the way the literary goodies are handed out. If a book doesn't "hit" within the year it was published... no awards, no citations for you! Of course we could get into what good is an award anyway-- Not to be negative but I heard from a very reliable source that at least once in the history of the National Book Awards, a finalist knocked out a tooth while dancing in his medal. He was truly cutting up the rug, attempted a ultra-funky spin, the medal flipped up and *POW*. And to add insult to (a literal) injury, the cash prize for a finalist was barely enough to cover dental costs.

This is not to say that I didn't do much reading this year. While at The MacDowell Colony, I had a ball with their library of all the writers who have ever visited. Also, after a hispter couple got into a brawl in my neighborhood, she got her revenge by dumping a box of his books on the corner of Newark and Jersey Avenue and I will admit to picking up a few choice items.

But as for books that were really "right now", I didn't read many. Did you?

Posted at 07:13 AM | Comments (3)
Category: Bookshelf

Saturday Links

Sexual Healing

It's award season everybody and the "Bad Sex Award" long-list has been announced. The award ceremony promises to be great fun with the bad passages read by an actor. (And I guess this is one time we should celebrate the lack of diversity in the list of finalists.)

I got a kick out of this list, but it got me to thinking about what makes a good sex scene, well, good. One of the best sex scenes I have ever read is by Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eye. The coupling in question takes place between Cholly and Pauline Breedlove, Pecola's parents. What makes it work for me is the way that the power struggle in thier marriage is played out in bed as well. Another memorable sex scene is in Percival Everett's Erasure. In this scene, Monk describes sex with a colleague as being like riding a bicycle.

You may wonder why I think these sex scenes are good even though they are not exactly sexy. I choose these examples because the sex between the characters works as character development and also layers the conflict in the overall novel.

There is a little bit of sex in my second novel, The Untelling, but it's not hot sex. Aria and Dwayne have an uncomfortable encounter as they are trying to get pregnant. (At least he is.) The characters have had sex many times before, but I thought that this moment was the only one worth sharing in the novel because it was the only time thier sexual experiences were really interesting and character-developing.

Now, if you were to ask me about the hottest sex scene I have ever read.. well, there is no titillation like adolescent titillation. (Indie rockers Royal Pink have a song called "Judith Krantz" that is totally dedicated to this principle.) So, that said, the hotter that hot writing award goes to Judy Blume for the two explicit pages in the novel, Forever.

notes:

The Lady Hamlet

This afternoon, I had another genuine New York Theatre experience. I saw a reading of Sarah Schulman's latest play, The Lady Hamlet at New York Theatre Workshop. For those of you not in the loop, a "reading" of a play is different from a performance. A reading consists of the actors seated in a semi-circle reading from the script. (You may recall that I participated in something similar when I was at MacDowell this summer.) This description makes it sound sort of dull, but the actors were so good that I could really imagine what the play will be like when it is actually produced.

Did you know that before most (white) actresses hoped to one day play Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, the dream role was for a woman to play Hamlet? This is what lit a fire in Sarah Schulman's imagination. The Lady Hamlet is the story of Margo Stayden Burns as actress who is determined to make it to Broadway as Hamlet. Other characters include Helen De Montpelier, an actress of an earlier generation who shares the same goal, having been a "Lady Hamlet" for years in France. The play is very cerebral addressing complex questions about gender and representation. The other very cenrtal issue is the matter of mentorship. Never fear, the meaty ideas of the story never weigh down the characters or snare the plot. Schulman strikes just the right note in this piece with issues that will provoke deep thought and meaningful conversation along with characters that will steal your heart. (The actors were just wonderful.)

After the play, there was a roundtable discussion. All participants were given a copy of the rules for the conversation "Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process." My favorite rule was that you had to ask "neutral questions." Here is an example:

"Why is it so dark?" is NOT a nuetral question. "What ideas guided your choices about lighting?" is.

I didn't participate too much in the after-play group discussion. I didn't feel that I know enough about drama to make meaningful comments. I tend to come at everything the way a fiction writer would. Character, character, character! So I just sat quietly and listened, and left feeling very impressed.

(No pics, sorry. It wasn't a picture-taking kind of event.)

Posted at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Living For The City

Sleep Deprived

I am sorry about the posting slow-down. I asked a friend, "Why have I been so tired lately?" He said, "Because you've been crazy busy." The man is a genius. So, I am trying to take it easy this holiday week, so there won't be so many posts. But I'll be back at my normal rate starting Monday, which, incidently kicks of what I am calling BIRTHFEST 2007! Can you believe I'll be 37 on Novemeber 30?

Posted at 08:29 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Reports from National Book Awards

Okay, I am the last blogger to weigh in on last night's festivities. Please forgive me. I've just gotten out of bed. I think I am going to break the report up into several segments. I've got so many reactions, but I just don't feel up to organizing them into one cohesive essay. So, I am thinking on entry about the food, another about the winners, another about who all I met... you get the idea.

Let's start with the most thrilling moment of the evening. I was in the little girls room-- I followed Natasha so we could dish about two people at our table kinda-sorta coming to fisticuffs. (It was minor, but still sort of interesting. A certain agent put a Vulcan death-grip on the person sitting next to me and told him to shut up so other people could hear.) Well, I was relating this, word for word, when in walks TONI MORRISON. Gossip ceased. It wasn't appropriate to take a snap shot in the loo... so I just sort of waited and stalked. (The result: the pic on the right of Natasha, Toni Morrison, and Terri McMillan!)

Another gushing celebrity moment was meeting Ira Glass. I am such an NPR Nerd. I will admit, here in public, to loving "This American Life." Check out the photo album. There's good stuff in there.

Posted at 12:15 PM | Comments (3)
Category: Living For The City

NBA: The Food!

We started with some sort of cold potato situation. Not exactly sure what it was called. Imagine potato wrapped in smoked salmon. Not exactly my favorite treat, but I ate it anyway. Then, the entre. Lamb chops. My favorite. The dessert was a mix of things, a little dab of ice cream, some sort of soft cake-like thing. What can I say? I came, I saw, I ate. And when it was over, Natasha and I went to all all-night diner and ate again!

Posted at 11:53 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Living For The City

I Guess We Do Sort of Look Alike

While at the National Book Awards, people kept congratulating me on my nomination. Some people complimented me on my beautiful reading. When I didn't win, a couple of really nice folks said they had been pulling for me, and certainly I'll get it next time. I was gracious, of course. But here's the thing: I wasn't up for an award! They had me confused with one of the following people: Edwidge Danticat-- who was nominated for "Brother, I'm Dying." or maybe M. Sindy Felin, who was nominated for "Touching Snow" or maybe Asali Solomon who read in the 5 Under 35 event. The picture at the left is me and Asali. All black people don't look alike but we sorta do.

Ed, got me on tape talking about this. I still stand by what I told him. I mean the flip side of all black folks seeming interchangable at an event like this is that every black woman in the room got to be a celebrity for one night!

Posted at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Living For The City

Tonight's The Night!

Tonight is the National Book Awards dinner! Natasha T., who is judging the poetry award, invited me to come along. (Yes, she asked me. I did not beg. Very much.) I won't be live-blogging the event--I don't want to be blackberrying under the table like I never been nowhere before-- but I will take pictures, but only when it seems appropriate, as I would not want to embarrass my host by going all paparazzi on Edwidge Danticat.

Luckily for everyone, some of my favorite bloggers are not so reserved, so for the blow by blow, visit Ed over at The Return of The Reluctant.

P.S. After having to be almost CARRIED OUT of the Hurston/Wright Awards due to my high heel situation, I am sort of taking it easy on the shoes this time.

Posted at 07:13 AM | Comments (1)
Category: The Writing Life

RIP Dr. Donda West

I ran across this video, thought you might like to see it.

Posted at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)
Category:

Link! Link! Link!

There is some good stuff on the web today!

Oops!

Lauren dashed off a quick post about meeting a reader of her blog in just a beautiful happy-accident kind of way. I, too, love running to members of this community. (Remember the first time I met Ladylee??)

Anyway, I have a story in a similar vein. I woke up this morning missing an old friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in forever. Scrolling through my phone memory I saw a number labeled CAROL. I pressed "call."

Well, here's the short version. The CAROL on the phone book wasn't my old friend, CAROL. It was CAROL, a member of the blog community, who had contacted me by email. Our phone conversation went like this:

CAROL: Hello
Me: Carol! It's TAYARI
CAROL: (hesitantly, and sleepily) Tayari. Oh, hi!
Me: Did I wake you up? What time is it where you are?
CAROL: Six in the morning.
Me: What? Where are you?
CAROL: At home. In San Francisco. Pacific time.
Me: What?? When did you leave St. Louis?
CAROL: I am confused. Who did you say you were again?

Okay, so that was awkward, but we ended up having a nice little chat! (Note to self, start putting people's LAST NAMES in my cell phone memory! Another note to self, also use people's REAL NAMES. Who in the world are "Uncle Ricky", "The Future", or "Airplane Guy"????)

Posted at 02:20 PM | Comments (2)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Lazy Saturday Links

This is NOT my Lucky Sweater

I bought the sweater picture here when I was living in Arizona. It was about 103 degrees outside. The purchase of the sweater was an expression of my confidence that I would get into Yaddo. Just after I mailed the application, I fell in with a rough crowd, the Name-It-And-Claim-It Crew. "You have to put it out there in the universe that you are going to The Yaddo!"

I did want to make it clear to the universe that I planned to spend January in upstate New York. That I had every intention of spending the winter of 2001 drinking hot chocolate with famous people while working on my masterpiece. And besides, you can get a fluffy wool sweater really cheap in Arizona.

So, I bought the sweater.

And I didn't get in. Everytime I went into my walk-in closet (which doubled as an office in those days) the sweater mocked me and all my positive thinking.

Flash forward to one year later. The tags were still on the sweater. Arizona was still the third hottest state in the union. I received a letter in the mail. The MacDowell Colony had granted me a winter residency for 2003!

I took the sweater with me and when I arrived, I tore the tags off with my teeth.

Posted at 10:03 AM | Comments (2)
Category: The Writing Life

Fabulocity!

Two things I am crazy about!

Posted at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Travels & Rambles

The Wallet and The Roadtrip-- Explained

Here is the explanation for the pop quiz posted on Monday.

My mentor Ron Carlsonturned me on to this idea back in 1996 or so when I was working on Leaving Atlanta. I think I have blogged in the past about my two-steps-forward and one-step-back writing process: I can get a good 100 pages into a project and realize that I am going about it all wrong and I have to start over. (My second novel, The Untelling, underwent THREE do-overs!) These set-backs used to devastate me. I couldn't understand why I couldn't get it right the first time. That's when Ron told me about the wallet.

Being a writer is about making mistakes. Big mistakes. Being bold it about trying new things that probably won't work. The key to success is how you feel about these missteps.

The people (24% of us who took the poll) who get happy just because they realized that the wallet was missing are in the best position. These are folks who just love being on the road. These folks are really into the process for its own sake.

I am in the middle (along with another 24%) who feels disappointed but am able to regain my rhythm once I have corrected the mistake. I'm the driver who will curse all the way home, but pop in a new CD and set out singing.

The rest (52%) will be mad until they have written enough pages to make up for the "bad" pages. These folks will look at the page count on their computer and think "I would have been finished by now if I hadn't spent all that time writing from the wrong point of view..."

The lesson, get happier earlier. We do this thing because we love it, right. Learn to love the whole thing. You'll have more fun and do better work.

Posted at 07:15 AM | Comments (3)
Category: Writing

Why Not To Hate On Jersey

Ladylee, I know you think this song is about you, but it's not.

Moving right along, I just found out about "Winter Getaway in Cape May", a four-day artists get-away on the coast of New Jersey. The dates for the workshops are over the King holiday, so you don't have to use vacation dates.. and.. here's the good part.. THERE IS A NEW SCHOLARSHIP.

This seems like a good way to get your year off on the good foot!

Posted at 12:39 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Travels & Rambles

The Road Trip & The Wallet

This has to do with writing, take my word for it. Think of it like a Cosmo quiz-- you know the ones that try to explain how the way you eat pizza determines who you'll marrry. Answer the question below and I'll get back with you on Wednesday to tell you what it all means.

Here's the set up:
You are on a road trip, in a fabulous mood as you burn up the highway. About 100 miles down the road, you realize that you have forgotten your wallet! You make a u-turn, go back home, get the wallet, and then set out again.

Posted at 06:05 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Writing

"Fall-Back" Links

Ohio State Murders

Last night, Sarah Schulman, my unofficial Virgil as I Dante my way through New York, took me to see Ohio State Murders, a play by Adrienne Kennedy. I was thrilled at the invitation. One of the reasons I moved from Urbana, Illinois to NYC was to, well, go to plays. But really, when you are new to town it's hard to know what to see. Sarah, an accomplished playwright, knows her way around the theatre district.

(Self pat-on-the-back: I found my way there all by myself on the subway, no help from friends or websites!)

The playbill was mysteriously worded, "Ohio State Murders portrays Suzanne Alexander, a fictional African American writer whose life both is, and is not, like her author's..." The effect of this was a uneasiness throughout the audience. Did this really happen? After all, the plot was pretty disturbing: An older well known black woman writer is giving a lecture at Ohio State University explaining why her work is so violent. On one level, it is a story of the birth of an intellectual and on another is a murder mystery and the crime is infanticide. When you factor in that Adrienne Kennedy is herself 76 years old and a graduate of Ohio State, you can't help but feel a tightening in your stomach.

The tickets were a little pricey ($80), but I am glad that I went. The theater itself was only about three-quarters full with a mixed audience. There was one celebrity spotting: Cynthia Nixon from Sex in The City was there with her partner. Beside me, Sarah Schulman said, "See, she is a real actor. She goes to see good plays, not just the red carpet stuff."

I am thinking to go to one play a month. Anyone have any suggestion as to what I should see next?

Related links:

Knock! Knock!

I am just getting back from Washington, DC where I gave a reading and workshop at American University. The picture you see above is from the combined creative writing workshop, a unique feature of their MFA reading series. Here's how it works: the visiting writer reads three student-manuscripts and leads a roundtable critique in front of the complete whole entire fiction program and thier teachers.

From the pic above you can see we had a lot of fun, but I was a bit worried going in. Leading a workshop is a bit like making macaroni and cheese... everyone does it differently.

Guest-teaching a workshop is particularly crazy-making for several reasons. For one, as a guest of the university, I tend to try and be low drama and low maintenance. Unlike J-Lo, I do not submit a rider in advance. I show up and do whatever work they need me to do with as little fuss as possible. But leading a workshop, well, you can't help but force your personality on the group. (This is not the way my mama taught me to be a good guest!) Secondly, I didn't want to step on the regular professors' toes with some of my, admittedly, idiosyncratic ideas about writing. I was able to restrain myself and not quite cut loose the way I do at my home workshop. And the third thing that threw me off was the knocking.

Apparently there is a whole trend in the MFA world that when someone says something you agree with, you knock on the table. For a person not used to it, it is like having an exchange with a flock of enthusiastic woodpeckers.

But can you believe that it works? It did! We had a great time. There were three really interesting a meaty stories on the table and the class of 45 gave valueable input and loving critique. Amazing. I wasn't traumatized and neither were they. As a matter of fact, we all sort of left the room sort of jazzed.

I must give credit where it is due. E.J. Levy, Denise Orenstien, and Andrew Holleran are the usual professors and I could see the evidence of all thier hard work.

Before I wrap up this entry, I have to say how nice it was to be in DC again. A few of my students from GA made the trek to American for my reading and also some of my good friends.

There are a few photos here.

Posted at 08:46 PM | Comments (0)
Category: D.C. Diaries