CHAPTER : CHURCHES AND CURSES
from BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR
by LARRY DOSSEY M.D.
(Note: an author who has written about the power of prayer now turns to the power of cursing... pages 26 and 27.)
"When he eventually obtained his Ph.D. in English literature, Richard felt poised for a bright future as a writer. Ten years later, however, none of his work had been accepted for publication and he felt a failure. The rejection slips contained the usual comments about "streaks of brilliance" and "great promise," but something was not clicking, something he could not put his finger on. Richard did not give up. He began to attend writers' conferences and seminars, hoping to remedy flaws in his technique that he could not see. Still nothing worked. Nearing forty, he began to console himself by recalling that many great writers had late beginnings... Following his latest rejection slip from a major publisher, he decided to set his work aside and visit his mother for Christmas.
MOM: "Richard, I know why you haven't become a writer. Since you were a teenager I've prayed to God Every night that he would give you something else to do."
Richard was stunned. "You mean that for twenty-five years you've prayed that I would fail as a writer?" he stammered....Why have you done this?" Richard demanded angrily through tears.
"His mother, too, began to cry, "Richard, I love you. I want only the best for you." Then she said, almost coldly, "Writer reveal things that should not be told - about themselves, about their families. Writers tell secrets that are nobody's business."
Note: Richard went to psychotherapy and began to pray for PROTECTION FROM HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS. He published a novel with a major publisher three years later.
9/22/10
JULES FEIFFER Quotation
"Success is nothing to sneeze at but failure, too, offers great possibilities."
- Jules Feiffer
- Jules Feiffer
9/20/10
TERRY MC MILLAN Quote
TERRY MCMILLAN 10 Questions Time Magazine September 13, 2010
Q: How do you feel about the label "Women's Literature?"
A: I don't like the label. It's right up there with using the term chick lit. They don't refer to books written by men as men's literature. I think its really sad that we have to use labels for anything. I'll be glad when they stop referring to me as an African-American writer and just say I'm a writer. That would make my day."
page 10
Q: How do you feel about the label "Women's Literature?"
A: I don't like the label. It's right up there with using the term chick lit. They don't refer to books written by men as men's literature. I think its really sad that we have to use labels for anything. I'll be glad when they stop referring to me as an African-American writer and just say I'm a writer. That would make my day."
page 10
9/15/10
I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN AWARD $5000 (5 more days till the deadline!)
There are 123,000 libraries in the United States and 10 librarians who, if selected, will win $5000. Nominations started August 2 and go on till September 20, 2010. (That means act NOW!)\
IS THERE A LIBRARIAN THAT YOU TRULY RESPECT AND ADMIRE?
Go to I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN and fill in the blanks!
IS THERE A LIBRARIAN THAT YOU TRULY RESPECT AND ADMIRE?
Go to I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN and fill in the blanks!
9/10/10
BOOK EXCERPT : REFLECTIONS IN A SILVER SPOON : PAUL MELLON
By Paul Mellon (with John Baskett, his London based art dealer.)
page 391 C Paul Mellon Published by William Morrow
"I have been an amateur in every phase of my life. An amateur poet, an amateur scholar, an amateur horseman, an amateur farmer, an amateur soldier, an amateur connoisseur of art, an amateur publisher, and an amateur museum executive. The root of the word "amateur" is the Latin word for love. and I can honestly say that I've thoroughly enjoyed all the roles I have played...
page 391 C Paul Mellon Published by William Morrow
"I have been an amateur in every phase of my life. An amateur poet, an amateur scholar, an amateur horseman, an amateur farmer, an amateur soldier, an amateur connoisseur of art, an amateur publisher, and an amateur museum executive. The root of the word "amateur" is the Latin word for love. and I can honestly say that I've thoroughly enjoyed all the roles I have played...
9/8/10
COMMENTARY ON JAMES TAYLOR PLACES IN MY PAST
This one goes out to Karen, a friend of mine from art school days, who died of a brain tumor about year ago, leaving a daughter about the age we were when we first met and had our artistic adventures. Only distance allows me to speak of her, and someday to write about her.
"Sometimes I can laugh and cry and I can't remember why."
New Video Summer 2016
"Sometimes I can laugh and cry and I can't remember why."
New Video Summer 2016
9/5/10
ERICA JONG Quote
"A book burrows into your life in a very profound way because the experience of reading is not passive." - Erica Jong in "O" Magazine 2003
9/1/10
SMITHSONIAN : THE OUIJI BOARD USING, NOVEL CHANNELING AUTHOR, Patience Worth,
Gioia Diliberto writes about PEARL CURRAN, who channeled the spirit of writer Patience Worth, who published novels and poetry in the early 20th century.
(Click on the title to get to the full article now!)
"Speaking through a Ouija board operated by Pearl Lenore Curran, a St. Louis housewife of limited education, Patience Worth was nothing short of a national phenomenon in the early years of the 20th century. Though her works are virtually forgotten today, the prestigious Braithwaite anthology listed five of her poems among the nation’s best published in 1917, and the New York Times hailed her first novel as a “feat of literary composition.” Her output was stunning. In addition to seven books, she produced voluminous poetry, short stories, plays and reams of sparkling conversation—nearly four million words between 1913 and 1937. Some evenings she worked on a novel, a poem and a play simultaneously, alternating her dictation from one to another without missing a beat. “What is extraordinary about this case is the fluidity, versatility, virtuosity and literary quality of Patience’s writings, which are unprecedented in the history of automatic writing by mediums,” says Stephen Braude..."
(Click on the title to get to the full article now!)
"Speaking through a Ouija board operated by Pearl Lenore Curran, a St. Louis housewife of limited education, Patience Worth was nothing short of a national phenomenon in the early years of the 20th century. Though her works are virtually forgotten today, the prestigious Braithwaite anthology listed five of her poems among the nation’s best published in 1917, and the New York Times hailed her first novel as a “feat of literary composition.” Her output was stunning. In addition to seven books, she produced voluminous poetry, short stories, plays and reams of sparkling conversation—nearly four million words between 1913 and 1937. Some evenings she worked on a novel, a poem and a play simultaneously, alternating her dictation from one to another without missing a beat. “What is extraordinary about this case is the fluidity, versatility, virtuosity and literary quality of Patience’s writings, which are unprecedented in the history of automatic writing by mediums,” says Stephen Braude..."
8/28/10
BOOK EXCERPT : MATT RIDLEY THE RED QUEEN
"Gossip is one of the most universal of human habits. No conversation between people who know each other well - fellow employees, fellow family members, old friends - ever lingers for long on any topic other than the behavior, ambitions, motives, frailties, and affairs of the other absent - or present - members of the group. This is the reason the soap opera is the quintessentially effective way to entertain people.: Matt Ridley
8/18/10
FROM PETER NEWCOMB in VANITY FAIR AUGUST 2010
Q
"Which moves more units; a BILLBOARD Number One album or a NEW YORK TIMES Number One best seller?
A
"It wasn't long ago when music labels could release almost any kind of pablum and watch it move more than 15 million copies... These days just selling a million copies is seem as a major victory.... Chart toppers sell 100,000 to 300,000 units a week.
Book sales are less predictable... According to Nielson Book Scan, the best selling adult fiction and non-fiction titles of 2010's first 18 weeks sold between 40,000 to 200,000 copies."
Peter Newcomb/ Vanity Fair - August 2010
"Which moves more units; a BILLBOARD Number One album or a NEW YORK TIMES Number One best seller?
A
"It wasn't long ago when music labels could release almost any kind of pablum and watch it move more than 15 million copies... These days just selling a million copies is seem as a major victory.... Chart toppers sell 100,000 to 300,000 units a week.
Book sales are less predictable... According to Nielson Book Scan, the best selling adult fiction and non-fiction titles of 2010's first 18 weeks sold between 40,000 to 200,000 copies."
Peter Newcomb/ Vanity Fair - August 2010
8/15/10
CHRISTINE TRZYNA PERSONAL DIARY : FUNNY : THE COSMO BOY I PICKED WOULD PICK ME!
HOT MEN FROM ALL 50 STATES ?
by Christine Trzyna
I was in a waiting room, wasting time, waiting, when I picked up a copy of a recent Cosmopolitan magazine.
Now as you know, I think what has happened to Cosmo since Helen Gurley Brown left is - well - traumatizing. Once in a while I go to a newsstand hungering for the OLD COSMO. But I have never once bought the magazine since THE BIG CHANGING OF THE GUARD over there in New York. (Use the search feature of this blog to see what I've had to say about Cosmo in the past!)
So... I picked up this Cosmo and there is a special feature, let's call it HOT MEN FROM ALL 50 AMERICAN STATES. Each state has one man elected (by ???) to represent all hot men from that state. There is one picture of each, a short profile of what the man is looking for in a woman, and CONTACT INFORMATION. A woman can SHOP these men!
I DECIDED TO AMUSE MYSELF by looking through these many pages of "hot men" to see if any of them walked on through the door that moment, I would be ATTRACTED. (When is the last time YOU saw someone and your heart went ping!?)
AND THEN - YEA - I SEE HIM! Whatever it is about him, I wonder, is it familiarity, because I don't have a "type" when it comes to looks.
Then I read what he has to say. He says,"I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE REALLY COOL TO MEET A WOMAN AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY!"
ooooooh! CAN THIS BE? (After my own heart?!)
Slightly thrilled to have found him, I begin referencing Cher, Madonna, Pamela Des Barres, and an assortment of other women notorius for younger men. I even think to myself that up to 20 years in age difference is still workable!
Sad, sad, sad, he was way too young for me - but perfect!
C Christine Trzyna 2010 All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
Affirmed C 2025
8/5/10
BOOK EXCERPT : SHOPTISM by LEE EISENBERG
SHOPTISM
Why The American Consumer Will Keep On Buying No Matter What
C 2009 by Lee Eisenberg
Free Press
pages 125-126
"... copy writing ... read any good selling paragraphs lately? The world's gone visual. The long copy block is dead. Studies point to an "endangered reading brain," the result of our overexposure to digital media. It's all about eye candy now. I open my wife's copy of Vogue. Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson is on the cover, aglow in a burgundy duchesse-satin dress by Carolina Herrera and Fred Leighton diamond earnings. Her face bears an assortment of hopes-in-a-bottle: Blushing Blush Powder Blush in Sunset Glow; Colour Surge Eye Shadow Soft Shimmer in Enchanted Sugar Sugar (sic); Cream Shaper for Eyes in Black Diamond; High Definition Lashes in Black/Brown; Brow Keeper in Almost Black: Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine in Blackberry Bloom - all from Clinique (BTW, a major Vogue advertiser)... Hundreds of photos, no words, spread after spread after spread of bronzed, long-legged, plump-lipped, sultry, unsmiling, icy hot, and scary-skinny models dressed in a sumptuous variety of shorts, day dresses, gowns, thongs, slinky tops...These women never smile, they scowl. This, too, is the result of methodical investigation. Scowls signal higher social standing, says a professor who runs experiments on the nature of smiles... Specifically lower status individuals appear to smile more than higher status individuals...
Why The American Consumer Will Keep On Buying No Matter What
C 2009 by Lee Eisenberg
Free Press
pages 125-126
"... copy writing ... read any good selling paragraphs lately? The world's gone visual. The long copy block is dead. Studies point to an "endangered reading brain," the result of our overexposure to digital media. It's all about eye candy now. I open my wife's copy of Vogue. Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson is on the cover, aglow in a burgundy duchesse-satin dress by Carolina Herrera and Fred Leighton diamond earnings. Her face bears an assortment of hopes-in-a-bottle: Blushing Blush Powder Blush in Sunset Glow; Colour Surge Eye Shadow Soft Shimmer in Enchanted Sugar Sugar (sic); Cream Shaper for Eyes in Black Diamond; High Definition Lashes in Black/Brown; Brow Keeper in Almost Black: Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine in Blackberry Bloom - all from Clinique (BTW, a major Vogue advertiser)... Hundreds of photos, no words, spread after spread after spread of bronzed, long-legged, plump-lipped, sultry, unsmiling, icy hot, and scary-skinny models dressed in a sumptuous variety of shorts, day dresses, gowns, thongs, slinky tops...These women never smile, they scowl. This, too, is the result of methodical investigation. Scowls signal higher social standing, says a professor who runs experiments on the nature of smiles... Specifically lower status individuals appear to smile more than higher status individuals...
7/21/10
CHRISTINE TRZYNA BOOK REVIEW of THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE by AIMEE BENDER
BOOK REVIEW by CHRISTINE TRZYNA c 2010
According to the Library of Congress this book is classified first under TASTE, then FAMILY SECRETS, and then PSYCHOLOGY.
But as I read it, it was clear to me that PSYCHOLOGY is the pivotal issue, in a family of members who all have little quirks or serious mental problems; we as readers are struggling through the shades of gray to DEFINE what is wrong with this one or that, which confuses us because we don't know how much we can believe, though we want to believe, through the narrator, Rosie, whose gift or curse is that she can taste other people's emotions through the food they prepare. Maybe the story as Rosie's proves that it is Rosie who is cracked.
Here are the FAMILY SECRETS not secret to us readers: A mother who takes a long time to find and accept her talent after much dabbling, who can't openly admit a cold and distant marriage, an affair that may be preserving her and her family somehow, or that she has a seriously mentally ill son, Joseph, mother's hope being what it is.
Joseph makes it through school as a science nerd with one friend in the world but is never property diagnosed or given help. He "disappears" after many a trial run. Then there's the father who is a successful lawyer but can't step a foot in a hospital, not even for the birth of his children, who hides his thoughts and feelings, without hiding in a bedroom like his son does. And the far-away mother/mother in law, who may be loosing her mind, and who no one visits or invites in, sends boxes full of discards, emptying her home bit by bit. Rosie is a daughter who feels obligated to let the life of a college student pass her by, though that is her heritage, because her brother can't achieve his goals and is railroaded to the community college instead of Cal Tech.
Was it intended or is this book an accidental case of magic realism?
The Particular Sadness of Lemon cake was sad. And it held my interest from beginning quirk to facing the reality that the family can't.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
C 2010 Aimee Bender
Doubleday is the publisher
7/8/10
CHRISTINE TRZYNA BOOK REVIEW of MACKENZIE PHILLIPS HIGH ON ARRIVAL
BOOK REVIEW by Christine Trzyna C 2010
Maybe in part, because I recall the urgency of her voice, I feel the tone of Mackenzie Phillips' memoir is incessantly passionate till exhaustion. As I passed this book on to others to read, I warned them, "Be prepared to be devastated." Do memoirs ever help others really? (I think sometimes they do.) Was this one intended to imply forgiveness to one's self and others? Isn't forgiveness over-rated?
Reading this one, I remembered years ago I read the memoir of Mackenzie's dad, John Phillips, famous writer of hit songs sung by the early 1960's quartet The Mamas and the Papas. I was stunned by his calm unapologetic amorality. He shrugged his shoulders about what an unmoved Papa he had been. He had not protected his daughter.
John Phillips, who used up most of his song writing money on drug addiction, had other children - a son, and two daughters by Michelle Phillips, Mackenzie's sisters, who may not have had the same experience of good ol dad. But maybe it's biology; whatever was amiss with John Phillips that his moral compass kept spinning was passed on to just one. "The problem," was and is, apparently drug addiction. But maybe drug addiction is too convenient and superficial the excuse. Mackenzie has had a horrible life, despite being supplied with economic and opportunity wealth, and despite all the pain she describes which we imagine she FELT, she did not know better to not participate in (drug fueled) incest as an adult with her father.
None of us who read this book believe Mackenzie will stay off drugs and a few of us felt irate that she did not know better.
High on Arrival was written by Mackenzie Phillips with Hilary Liftin
It's a Simon Spotlight Entertainment book
C 2009 Shanes Mom Inc.
Maybe in part, because I recall the urgency of her voice, I feel the tone of Mackenzie Phillips' memoir is incessantly passionate till exhaustion. As I passed this book on to others to read, I warned them, "Be prepared to be devastated." Do memoirs ever help others really? (I think sometimes they do.) Was this one intended to imply forgiveness to one's self and others? Isn't forgiveness over-rated?
Reading this one, I remembered years ago I read the memoir of Mackenzie's dad, John Phillips, famous writer of hit songs sung by the early 1960's quartet The Mamas and the Papas. I was stunned by his calm unapologetic amorality. He shrugged his shoulders about what an unmoved Papa he had been. He had not protected his daughter.
John Phillips, who used up most of his song writing money on drug addiction, had other children - a son, and two daughters by Michelle Phillips, Mackenzie's sisters, who may not have had the same experience of good ol dad. But maybe it's biology; whatever was amiss with John Phillips that his moral compass kept spinning was passed on to just one. "The problem," was and is, apparently drug addiction. But maybe drug addiction is too convenient and superficial the excuse. Mackenzie has had a horrible life, despite being supplied with economic and opportunity wealth, and despite all the pain she describes which we imagine she FELT, she did not know better to not participate in (drug fueled) incest as an adult with her father.
None of us who read this book believe Mackenzie will stay off drugs and a few of us felt irate that she did not know better.
High on Arrival was written by Mackenzie Phillips with Hilary Liftin
It's a Simon Spotlight Entertainment book
C 2009 Shanes Mom Inc.
7/1/10
MERCE CUNNINGHAM, Dancer and Choreographer QUOTE
"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no painting to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for unsteady souls." - Merce Cunningham
Quoted in the December 28 2009 - January 4 2010 TIME magazine, page 150.
Quoted in the December 28 2009 - January 4 2010 TIME magazine, page 150.
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