There is more than one Christine Trzyna on this earth.
This one does not presently Twitter.
I have never sent one Twitter message in my life!
The reason is that I can't believe anyone would be so interested in the minor details of my life that they would want to be interrupted frequently with updates and I CERTAINLY HAVE MORE TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN BE INTERRUPTED BY OTHER PEOPLE'S MINOR DETAILS! (All that using up time instead of using it! If anything I need hundreds of hours of uninterrupted time to write!)
There was a time when to do so I had to pull the phone out of the wall.
And you know. People who want to chat a lot on the phone seem to hardly ever want to go out and do something.
1/27/12
1/21/12
1/17/12
HAS TECHNOLOGY EFFECTED MY READING ?
HAS TECHNOLOGY EFFECTED MY READING ?
by Christine Trzyna
I'm a voracious reader. I need the intellectual stimulation and my interest are varied. I read a lot of memoirs and bios and I'm interested in cultural social histories and anthropology and archeology and so very much. I also read fiction though much less than I do non-fiction. Most of what I read isn't on the best seller list but sometimes it is. I read books that didn't come out this year, but I do head for the library New Book shelf every time I go.
Used to be that I fell to sleep most nights with a book. I read and went without a TV for years and didn't care, and possibly radio, mostly late night radio, subbed in, as I thought of myself as informed about world events and local news. For instance, I did not miss the World Trade Center falling down. I preferred to read from books, magazines, the written word, before it was all called TEXT.
I haven't succumbed to reading off an e-book reader, though I want to experience it. I don't want to roll over in my sleep and over one of those though.
I find myself reading off the Internet more than ever. I read news stories on the net and rarely buy a newspaper, so I'm glad I didn't stick with the Journalism major that was heading me towards newspaper reporting.
I read blogs other than my own though I'm not particularly devoted to creating a following or proving I have a thousand close personal friends. I met a woman who claimed that her following on Facebook was going to attend her wedding in Vegas. Never Happened.
Once in a while you do make a friend over the Internet and you should cherish a real friend no matter how far away. None of these technological options should, in my opinion, replace personal interactions with other human beings who like conversation. You must realize that nothing beats a friend who is close.
I don't think that the small details of my life would be all that interesting if I Twittered them. I'm no Demi Moore, and really, how dreadfully embarrassing to do all that Mrs. Kutchner Twittering and then be publically betrayed big time by the Better Half! If I were Demi my response would be to join a convent.
(I also never watch Reality TV, though I think Andy Warhol was the pioneer of unscripted film.)
For a brief time I tried text messaging. I found there are people who prefer to hide out in text messaging or e-mails who will be unreliable and irresponsible if you try to make a plan of action with them and so it's hopeless trying to engender a real friendship with them and so why try and get personal using technology? I still think it is very rude to make and take cell phone calls while at table, especially in a restaurant; too many people trying to impress you that they are popular or important with all that interruption of conversation.
What I seem to be accommodating more than ever because of technology as a media for communication is lots of interruptions in my concentration. What I seem to have acquired is a way to ignore all advertising and dismiss all pop up and other intrusions to focus. Like deep concentration deep conversation seems to be a rare experience these days.
Over the holidays I was watching a couple movies and a friend of a friend who is a Film School Major succeeded in ruining the movies by talking over the dialog, interjecting personal comments about the script. This is what we get for taking the movies out of movie theatres into the "comfort" of our homes. Really we need to get back to the theatre.
I still adore books. I adore the way they look on shelves all around the room. I love libraries. I go to libraries frequently. I can't imagine my life without reading. Without learning.
C 2012-2026 Christine Trzyna Writerly Life / Christine Trzyna
All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights.
1/13/12
SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER : WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY EXHIBIT IS A CALL TO FEMINIST ACTIVISM
Just the other day I went to Skirball Cultural Center to see about the exhibit "WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY."
I strongly suggest you do too.
This exhibit was emotionally stirring. It also re-excited my long felt feminism. The focus was on women in Africa and India and other 3rd World Countries but are those women so different that we in the United States?
The presentation is of light, airy sculptures that hold women's wishes which hang for long stretches above you . Or you can focus on a sheet screen while simply listening to the recording of women's voices.
You can write out your wishes for women you know on blue paper leaves which will be integrated into the airy sculptures or using a code on a computer that you're given when you come in, to move more Skirball money into micro-loans that can make a major difference in a woman's ability to support herself. thus participatory art also allows you to be an activist. How does that feel?
Subtle in presentation, there are the also the horrible statistics which do bring the issues of women not getting the medical care they need, or the educational opportunities, or being respected by their own husbands closer to home. There were also tributes more folk art by nature, to women who had died in childbirth.
Every ninety seconds another woman dies in childbirth in this world. There are estimated to be 10,000 women held in slavery (mostly as domestics) in Los Angeles alone. This slavery is not to be confused with the sexual slavery and sexual trafficking in which a hundred thousand mostly young and often innocent teenagers, are sold and forced into prostitution here and around the world. Los Angeles is a prime intake and movement place for these sexual slaves.
Also on exhibit at the Skirball are a few pieces about women and domestic violence, some testimonial in nature.
Here is a quote from one of those pieces. "Real love can be felt in the heart. It cannot be pounded onto our bodies."
THE LINK TO THE EXHBIT, which includes donors such as Dermalogica, DNA Foundation, and The Women's Center Los Angeles, is above.
C 2012-2026 Christine Trzyna
I strongly suggest you do too.
This exhibit was emotionally stirring. It also re-excited my long felt feminism. The focus was on women in Africa and India and other 3rd World Countries but are those women so different that we in the United States?
The presentation is of light, airy sculptures that hold women's wishes which hang for long stretches above you . Or you can focus on a sheet screen while simply listening to the recording of women's voices.
You can write out your wishes for women you know on blue paper leaves which will be integrated into the airy sculptures or using a code on a computer that you're given when you come in, to move more Skirball money into micro-loans that can make a major difference in a woman's ability to support herself. thus participatory art also allows you to be an activist. How does that feel?
Subtle in presentation, there are the also the horrible statistics which do bring the issues of women not getting the medical care they need, or the educational opportunities, or being respected by their own husbands closer to home. There were also tributes more folk art by nature, to women who had died in childbirth.
Every ninety seconds another woman dies in childbirth in this world. There are estimated to be 10,000 women held in slavery (mostly as domestics) in Los Angeles alone. This slavery is not to be confused with the sexual slavery and sexual trafficking in which a hundred thousand mostly young and often innocent teenagers, are sold and forced into prostitution here and around the world. Los Angeles is a prime intake and movement place for these sexual slaves.
Also on exhibit at the Skirball are a few pieces about women and domestic violence, some testimonial in nature.
Here is a quote from one of those pieces. "Real love can be felt in the heart. It cannot be pounded onto our bodies."
THE LINK TO THE EXHBIT, which includes donors such as Dermalogica, DNA Foundation, and The Women's Center Los Angeles, is above.
C 2012-2026 Christine Trzyna
1/8/12
THE JANE AUSTIN BOOK CLUB :FILM : BOOK BY KAREN JOY FOWLER, SCREENPLAY by BY ROBIN SWINCORD
The JANE AUSTIN BOOK CLUB is posted as a romantic comedy. I didn't think it was funny or "hilarious" like it says on the back of the DVD, but I did find this story interesting. I'm no Jane Austin expert but I suspect Karen Joy Fowler is, and while I was watching this film, I was thinking about writing workshops, and creative fiction, and how she must have plotted this story out.
Fowler, and then screenwriter Robin Swicord, wove a fiction story about a cast of characters (none of whom overplayed their part), friends, who form a book club to discuss the masterpieces of novelist Jane Austin, and find her stories relate to their 21st century lives. Starting, stopping, or ending romances...
Fowler, and then screenwriter Robin Swicord, wove a fiction story about a cast of characters (none of whom overplayed their part), friends, who form a book club to discuss the masterpieces of novelist Jane Austin, and find her stories relate to their 21st century lives. Starting, stopping, or ending romances...
1/3/12
MARK TWAIN Quote
"Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." - Mark Twain
12/12/11
BEN FRANKLIN : ONE NATION UNDER SEX BY LARRY FLYNT and DAVID EISENBACH
ONE NATION UNDER SEX
How The Private Lives of Presidents, First Ladies, and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History.
By Larry Flynt and David Eisenbach C2011
Palgrave-Macmillan Publishers
page 7
"Ben Franklin was not the first American newsman to realize that sex sells, he he was a pioneer in pushing the envelope of what was acceptable in print. When he entered the newspaper business in 1729, he attacked Philadelphia's only other newspaper for printing an article on abortion. Under the penname "Martha Careful," the 23 year old Franklin condemned his rival publisher in the voice of an outraged woman. "If he proceeds farther to expose the secrets of our sex in that audacious manner we will run hazard of taking him by the beard in the next place we meet him." Thus Franklin manufactured the first recorded abortion debate in America. He did not really care about the issue; he just wanted to sell newspapers and undermine the competition. A few year later, Franklin eliminated the rival newspaper and took control of the news business in America's largest city."
"Franklin started America's first gossip column, which he called Busy-Body, in 1729. Although he admitted to his readers that Busy-Body's content was "nobody's business," he vowed that "If any are offended at my publicly exposing their private vices, I promise they shall have the satisfaction in a very little time, of seeing their good friends and neighbors in the same circumstances." Franklin reported in 1731 how one unfortunate husband discovered his wife in bed with a man named Stonecutter... '
Page 8
"One of Franklin's most famous stories featured Polly Baker, who was on trial for having her fifth illegitimate child...The judges were so moved by her speech (while on trial) that one of them married her the next day. Franklin later admitted to Thomas Jefferson that he made up Polly's story and many others: "When I was a printer and editor of a newspaper, we were sometimes slack of news, and to amuse our customers I used to fill up our vacant columns with anecdotes and fables, and fancies of my own." More than any other founding Father, Franklin had a great appreciation for strong, sexually liberated, sassy women like the fictitious Polly Baker."
page 8-9
"He also invented America's first sexual and moral advice column. In 1731 he published an anonymous letter (which he wrote) asking, "Suppose a person discovered that his wife was having an affair with a neighbor, and suppose he had reason to believe that if he revealed this to his neighbor's wife she would agree to have sex with him, is he justifiable in doing it?" In the voice of the editor, Franklin self- righteously replied to his own letter,"Return not evil for evil, but repay evil with good."
Page 9
By attracting readers with salacious stories and an open discussion of sex, Franklin became the first American printer to make a profit from his newspaper. Other printers used their newspapers to advertise their other businesses - job printing and often a general store. Franklin puished ad sales and advised businessmen on the best ways to market their products in print. While other colonial newspaper crammed their ads onto the back page, he sprinkled his ads throughout his paper, making them harder to skip over. He plowed his fortune into funding other printers in cities up and down the seaboard and in return got a share of their profits and their big scoops. By age 42, Ben Frankin was America's first media mogul, with his own news network, and so rich that he could retire in 1747 to concentrate on the passions that would make him famous: inventions, science experiments, politics, and women."
How The Private Lives of Presidents, First Ladies, and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History.
By Larry Flynt and David Eisenbach C2011
Palgrave-Macmillan Publishers
page 7
"Ben Franklin was not the first American newsman to realize that sex sells, he he was a pioneer in pushing the envelope of what was acceptable in print. When he entered the newspaper business in 1729, he attacked Philadelphia's only other newspaper for printing an article on abortion. Under the penname "Martha Careful," the 23 year old Franklin condemned his rival publisher in the voice of an outraged woman. "If he proceeds farther to expose the secrets of our sex in that audacious manner we will run hazard of taking him by the beard in the next place we meet him." Thus Franklin manufactured the first recorded abortion debate in America. He did not really care about the issue; he just wanted to sell newspapers and undermine the competition. A few year later, Franklin eliminated the rival newspaper and took control of the news business in America's largest city."
"Franklin started America's first gossip column, which he called Busy-Body, in 1729. Although he admitted to his readers that Busy-Body's content was "nobody's business," he vowed that "If any are offended at my publicly exposing their private vices, I promise they shall have the satisfaction in a very little time, of seeing their good friends and neighbors in the same circumstances." Franklin reported in 1731 how one unfortunate husband discovered his wife in bed with a man named Stonecutter... '
Page 8
"One of Franklin's most famous stories featured Polly Baker, who was on trial for having her fifth illegitimate child...The judges were so moved by her speech (while on trial) that one of them married her the next day. Franklin later admitted to Thomas Jefferson that he made up Polly's story and many others: "When I was a printer and editor of a newspaper, we were sometimes slack of news, and to amuse our customers I used to fill up our vacant columns with anecdotes and fables, and fancies of my own." More than any other founding Father, Franklin had a great appreciation for strong, sexually liberated, sassy women like the fictitious Polly Baker."
page 8-9
"He also invented America's first sexual and moral advice column. In 1731 he published an anonymous letter (which he wrote) asking, "Suppose a person discovered that his wife was having an affair with a neighbor, and suppose he had reason to believe that if he revealed this to his neighbor's wife she would agree to have sex with him, is he justifiable in doing it?" In the voice of the editor, Franklin self- righteously replied to his own letter,"Return not evil for evil, but repay evil with good."
Page 9
By attracting readers with salacious stories and an open discussion of sex, Franklin became the first American printer to make a profit from his newspaper. Other printers used their newspapers to advertise their other businesses - job printing and often a general store. Franklin puished ad sales and advised businessmen on the best ways to market their products in print. While other colonial newspaper crammed their ads onto the back page, he sprinkled his ads throughout his paper, making them harder to skip over. He plowed his fortune into funding other printers in cities up and down the seaboard and in return got a share of their profits and their big scoops. By age 42, Ben Frankin was America's first media mogul, with his own news network, and so rich that he could retire in 1747 to concentrate on the passions that would make him famous: inventions, science experiments, politics, and women."
12/3/11
11/28/11
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN : AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE. AN ELECTRIC MIND: CHRISTINE TRZYNA FILM REVIEW
LOVED this video about one of my favorite historical characters. Yes, if I had the opportunity to travel back in time it would be to Philadelphia, where I would, pre-American revolution, have some long coffee house discussions with Ben. This one showed how a person born to a candle maker, who had aspirations past his station in life, made that happen. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was one of the FIRST NETWORKERS! Since he did not have associations due to station, he created clubs, joined clubs, and by working hard and clever, became a wealthy man, able to retire the publishing/ news business by 42 so he could be a gentleman of leisure and up to what he'd been interested in all along - science and invention. Ben also surpassed his religious upbringing mightily. This video/DVD came out in 2002 and was produced by PBS. Don't we just thrill to the PBS intro music, braced for yet another wonderful educational time?
11/26/11
11/25/11
GOT A QUESTION FOR YOU WRITERS OUT THERE!
Do we really have BETTER MEMORIES than most people?
I've long heard of the "long writer's memory" and I believe I am one of those people who has a very good memory. This doesn't mean I never forget anything or that I don't write things down. I often make lists of things I have to do, to try and stay on track with the ambitions of my day.
I've long heard of the "long writer's memory" and I believe I am one of those people who has a very good memory. This doesn't mean I never forget anything or that I don't write things down. I often make lists of things I have to do, to try and stay on track with the ambitions of my day.
11/23/11
MARK TWAIN HOUSE : WOMAN JAILED FOR STEALING A MILLION
Breaking News from Yahoo. "Twain, born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Missouri, had money troubles himself while living in the home from 1874 to 1891 -- a period in which he wrote such American classics as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn."Twain ultimately had to leave the Victorian Gothic home for lecture tours of Europe because of financial troubles."
11/3/11
SOUTH AFRICAN CAVE HOLDS ANCIENT ART SUPPLIES
Lead researcher Christopher Henshilwood of the University of Bergen, Norway, said the find represents an important benchmark in the evolution of complex human mental processes.
The ochre could have been used for painting, decoration and skin protection, according to the researchers.
The discovery shows that even at that time "humans had the conceptual ability to source, combine and store substances that were then possibly used to enhance their social practices."
Linking to the Associated Press article!
The ochre could have been used for painting, decoration and skin protection, according to the researchers.
The discovery shows that even at that time "humans had the conceptual ability to source, combine and store substances that were then possibly used to enhance their social practices."
Linking to the Associated Press article!
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