Have you seen Jane Campion’s latest film, Bright Star? What a freaking gift of a film. It’s Campion’s sexiest work yet, and the acting is as faultless as the direction. There’s a scene where Abbie Cornish lies back on a bed, and the white curtain billows into the room as though grasping toward her and the image is so exquisite that it’s painful. Campion has created an ideal metaphor for the experience of poetry: a movie which stirs every sense.
Oct
30
We were discussing embezzling accountants yesterday at work. Lately,
we hear about embezzling accountants an inordinate amount of the time. The last three stories involve hundreds of thousands of dollars, and long-term employees. Can you imagine walking into a place where
you’ve worked for 15 years, knowing you’re stealing from them, and
certain that you’ll continue to do so?
Anyway, from here we jump to signing your boss’s name to forms, etc.,
and finally my co-worker tells me she bought a new cell phone, and
decided, after a single day, that she’d return it because it sucked.
That first evening, she inadvertently dropped it in the toilet.
Completely ruined the phone. (And, ewww!)
The next day, she took the phone back to the store, and told them what
had happened. The store manager said they’d sign her up for
replacement insurance, and she could return the phone the following
day, change the date of the incident, and all would be well.
“But it didn’t happen like that,” my co-worker said.
“I know, but I’m the store manager, and I’m authorizing it.”
“It isn’t right.” And my co-worker left, with her ruined phone, and
plans to return it to the corporate office with an explanation of the
actual toilet incident.
Are you that honest? Brother, I’m not. And it’s hard to imagine that
honesty comes in relative shades of grey. But what I felt, during her
story, was something more like pity than admiration. There are no Mr.
Smiths in Washington. And cell phone companies routinely work us
over. She was offered a loophole, and she didn’t take it. Am I
rationalizing? Maybe. To be honest, I’m not sure.
Oct
27
Self, family, community. That is my progression of story.
If you live in Spokane, you’ll be able to buy my second novel, A FIELD GUIDE TO DECEPTION, tomorrow at Auntie’s Bookstore. If you live elsewhere, the book won’t be widely available until the first week of November. See, there are perks to living here.
Self, family, community. In RED AUDREY, the character I most closely identify with is Emily. I understand her. I love in a similarly selfish way. In graduate school, a girl said that she dug Audrey’s apartment because the purple made her feel like she was inside a bruise. Audrey’s apartment was like being inside a bruise. That is my favorite feedback of all time. Audrey is tricky. She’s the other pole. The girl who can leave what she loves because she loves it. SELF. To live without shame. To make a choice.
Sometimes writing FIELD GUIDE was like drawing blood. It felt like an argument with my own brain. FAMILY. If everything comes easily to you, does that make it more or less valuable? When isn’t heroism martyrdom?
I love Liv Tannen. I love her. I hope you will too.
