New Year News Letter
Welcome to 2019!
While the New Year is decidedly a human construct, I'm always thankful for the opportunity to start accounting for my days anew every 365. And, living in the 47th parallel of the Pacific Northwest, I breathe a sigh of relief as January 1st is ushered in, knowing I've made it through the darkest days (if not the coldest) as we gradually move from one tilted extreme toward another.
Our usual gray skies were clear yesterday and I snapped several mages of the first sunset of the new year. Here's one of my favorite. May its beauty be a harbinger of glorious things to come.
Thanks to a friend who introduced me to the practice a few years ago, I began "choosing" a word to guide the new year...but I don't feel like I choose the word as much as the word appears and chooses me. This year's unlikely word is "Burrow," and I wrote about it on my blog.
Another year-end ritual of mine is to clean out my closet. This year yielded three bags for the Goodwill. What practices do you have to usher in a new year? Send me an email or leave a comment on my blog. I'd love to hear from you.
Recommendations from the Recliner
A cold has confined me to pajamas and my recliner the past four days where I've done some revising, knitting (and ripping out my knitting), and a lot of streaming TV viewing. Below are some recommendations should you find yourself in similar circumstances.
Out of Many, One
This moving Netflix documentary tells the story of five immigrants going through the citizenship process. Their course, taught in New York City, features interactions with works of art that speak to all periods of our U.S. history (I hope this is happening in high schools and colleges). Two of those seeking citizenship worked in the rubble of the Twin Towers, another was an official in Venezuela, their stories really bring out the human side of a hot button issue. You can watch the trailer here.
13th
I missed this eye opening exploration of the Thirteenth Amendment and resulting prison-industrial complex when it was first released on Netflix a year ago and wish I'd seen it sooner. I learned SO much about the history of race and imprisonment and the massive impact this has on our society. One take away: 97% of people who are incarcerated have NOT had a trial. They're imprisoned because they can't afford bail, and plea bargain out of fear of incarceration for maximum sentencing, even if innocent. Here's the trailer. Be sure to watch Oprah's interview with director Ava DuVernay afterward.
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Season 2 of this witty Amazon Prime series by the writers and producers of The Gilmore Girls delivers more of what I already loved: sparkling dialogue, fabulous costumes. quirky characters, and late 50's culture and builds on it. This season all the supporting characters come alive with their own stories and struggles. Poignant and laugh out loud funny, I'm left pondering the nature of relationships, ambition, and creativity and what it requires of those of us who "want it all."
Relatable
Ellen DeGeneres takes the stage as a comedian for the first time in 15 years in this Netflix special. In addition to some wonderful physical comedy and lighthearted observations, she's thoughtful and articulate about the personal and professional fallout of coming out years ago and the need for all of us to live authentically.
This Side of the Divide: Stories of the American West
I'm thrilled to have a story alongside the legendary Tobias Wolff in this upcoming anthology from Baobab Press published in conjunction with the University of Reno MFA program.
"Set west of the Continental Divide, these narratives skillfully demonstrate the beauty, austerity, and danger of the untouched wilderness, delight in the mutual ease and asphyxiation of the hyper-urban and chart the interstitial spaces of the developing and the abandoned. Inhabiting the West’s richly varied landscapes, the characters in these stories provide a glimpse of the social and cultural diversity on display in these regions. Among these 15 stories, gathered from rising literary voices, a single mother struggles to maintain her individuality while raising an autistic son; a cathartic hike brings an unsuspecting widow face-to-face with her own mortality; a man injured in a train wreck questions his existence as he blindly wanders the desert; an aging cowboy rides the highways astride his magnificent horse, a final remnant of a fleeting era; Sasquatch looks for love in all the wrong places; and a divorcee tries to reconcile her present with her past, her heart with her head." (the part in italics is about my story.)
The anthology releases in February and is available for pre-order at Amazon and I'll be reading from it at an AWP Conference offsite event in Portland in March (details to come!)