tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53041100936313082422024-03-19T01:43:30.231-04:00Book Q&As with Deborah KalbPOSTING Q&As WITH AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS SINCE 2012!
Check back often for new Q&As, and for daily historical factoids about books. On Facebook at www.facebook.com/deborahkalbbooks. Follow me on Twitter @deborahkalb.Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.comBlogger10422125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-23683695666992217162024-03-18T14:17:00.000-04:002024-03-18T14:17:06.413-04:00Q&A with Tracy Borman<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqoC-9QU8vQ2rWOhJ4Eo1v6ILab2iQ2VZDlAAotOAxYzUoYBbsv6RkZsVIRlAGxBk7atVspYl5stca9EEnci3wEQgklZN1H7Km60o8o99DzUqR9i1Kk6N6SFEbYd32ITf5DAspu3LdFjhNxsWPddriK7-lM0lmTNqtgkcln2TgUem4oNklfZ98dNCA3lJ/s210/visit-thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="140" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqoC-9QU8vQ2rWOhJ4Eo1v6ILab2iQ2VZDlAAotOAxYzUoYBbsv6RkZsVIRlAGxBk7atVspYl5stca9EEnci3wEQgklZN1H7Km60o8o99DzUqR9i1Kk6N6SFEbYd32ITf5DAspu3LdFjhNxsWPddriK7-lM0lmTNqtgkcln2TgUem4oNklfZ98dNCA3lJ/s1600/visit-thumb.jpg" width="140" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="http://www.tracyborman.co.uk/">Tracy Borman</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Boleyn-Elizabeth-Daughter-Forever/dp/0802162061/ref=sr_1_2?crid=TWT9WO36U5ZN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FPpcSoDDYrpNeR4Ihm1ZQ_JXHSNrFSQJ4Mub2quTbWWwyYNo0jSd_RGlCem51XytJzLwLtghz8D581K72H4FdiXc28t8GauUOBmitLm5qTvrLCyrratAU0VXph-38sy0-T4Z00OQABnUJh3daweDxgXWdkDFuNhWiR09d0mAamSAmaInnsg0ZAsdqSeviRhkk_WQaSZUSLvE8e20Nqn62OeB3uYnJb6-J7oJ3Vw09xnIZQ5OLQuHvg5a-gfMHi5OJVkRaU54ThQDmPS27-wBT2QWgqMux34juW_25pGSU9Q.LHsrSJj-qb1XvCfpf3xFLWUTT1cWyM1OAM1VHkIw7Cc&dib_tag=se&keywords=tracy+borman&qid=1710785527&s=books&sprefix=tracy+borman%2Cstripbooks%2C63&sr=1-2">Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Forever Changed British History</a></i>. Borman's other books include <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crown-Sceptre-Monarchy-Conqueror-Elizabeth/dp/B09M92WPVQ/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=9s0DY&content-id=amzn1.sym.cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_p=cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_r=138-9947220-5750055&pd_rd_wg=bZJe3&pd_rd_r=471b5bb7-55b1-4888-8676-42f20c08c374&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk">Crown & Sceptre</a></i>. She is England's joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and chief executive of the Heritage Education Trust. </b> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Why did you decide to write a book focusing on Anne
Boleyn and her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: The short answer is because it had never been done. But
it had been a long-cherished ambition of mine. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I first came up with the idea while researching my book
<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeths-Women-Hidden-Story-Virgin/dp/0099548623/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=9s0DY&content-id=amzn1.sym.cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_p=cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_r=138-9947220-5750055&pd_rd_wg=bZJe3&pd_rd_r=471b5bb7-55b1-4888-8676-42f20c08c374&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk">Elizabeth's Women</a></i> back in 2007. In that, I covered the lives of about 50 women
who influenced my favourite queen. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anne Boleyn was of course the first of these but I could
only give her a chapter at most and I'd discovered enough about their
relationship to convince me that this was only the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Being able to revisit the subject and research it in
forensic detail has been an absolute joy. I found enough to fill about three
books!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: In the </i>Washington Independent Review of Books<i>, Allison
Thurman writes, “The prevailing view is that Elizabeth seldom mentioned her
disgraced mother in favor of emphasizing her status as her father’s heir. Yet
in <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/791/9780802162069" target="_blank">Anne
Boleyn & Elizabeth I</a>, Tracy Borman masterfully corrects the historical
record and highlights both women’s roles in the English Reformation.” What do
you think of that assessment? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I'm delighted with it! One thing that really struck me
when researching the book was just how pivotal an influence Anne was on the
reformation - and on her daughter's religious outlook. She deserves to be
remembered more for that than for her relationship with Henry VIII.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfUjUeoCyYqARozwA6Gx2e8Cck57cz_e7lDpJDslavWwkneeNclxP22LkZgM8JweAVWkkCzdMjLmCKyZlu7wuiMY46dltdWj1t4FtpxiNv2s3jO1U1bCEOnRP6A7AC_coJFDLRFNdlyqu6KvaMQqWjAbw6n5yi9BVRlNm1WF4g98f6WTun5zr3STuX3tT/s1500/911WSVsrpAL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfUjUeoCyYqARozwA6Gx2e8Cck57cz_e7lDpJDslavWwkneeNclxP22LkZgM8JweAVWkkCzdMjLmCKyZlu7wuiMY46dltdWj1t4FtpxiNv2s3jO1U1bCEOnRP6A7AC_coJFDLRFNdlyqu6KvaMQqWjAbw6n5yi9BVRlNm1WF4g98f6WTun5zr3STuX3tT/s320/911WSVsrpAL._SL1500_.jpg" width="205" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What would you say are some of the most common
perceptions and misconceptions about Anne and Elizabeth? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: First and foremost that they didn't really have a
relationship because Elizabeth was less than three when her mother was
executed, so could have had only the vaguest memories of her. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The latter might be true, but that's not to say they didn't
have a relationship. Anne's influence over her daughter was the most profound
of Elizabeth's life, shaping her into the woman - and queen - that she became.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything
that especially surprised you? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: So many things. I knew that Elizabeth proved her loyalty
to Anne by filling her court with Boleyn relatives when she became queen, but
that was just one of many ways that she honoured her late mother. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What I found particularly fascinating was trawling the
inventories of Elizabeth's possessions and finding out just how many related to
her mother. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The most poignant of all has to be the “Chequers ring” - a
locket ring made for Elizabeth in the 1570s which concealed two tiny portraits:
one of herself and one of Anne. It was one of her most treasured possessions
and she kept it with her until the day she died.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: The subject is under wraps for now, but suffice to say
it's nonfiction and involves a well-known Tudor character! It will be out in
the States in Fall 2025.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: My podcast, <i>Six Tudor Queens</i>, is out now: <a href="https://www.hrp.org.uk/listen-to-podcasts-by-historic-royal-palaces/#gs.58tntw" target="_blank">https://www.hrp.org.uk/listen-to-podcasts-by-historic-royal-palaces/#gs.58tntw</a> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb. <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2022/02/q-with-tracy-borman.html">Here's</a> a previous Q&A with Tracy Borman.</b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-85207369679774306562024-03-18T14:06:00.001-04:002024-03-18T14:06:32.294-04:00Q&A with Zak Mucha<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xov0hbUv-A-NWdPv9-NdQfia1gk3qMkhtNOcKVwtXMBNhvbofWX5-yVXWlZcK0HzEgEqrYsj46mwxndfOpWwJdUIQ_e6uXpRRlM4afKw-jhFfBqxllsPV2ya_xf_J5eFYudxXNFQEbBaD91N2nyh3737r2zAE8SCbku7CHpG8FgsaMUOW8z2RqBFnxCD/s630/Zak%20Mucha%20-%20CR%20Joe%20Mazza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xov0hbUv-A-NWdPv9-NdQfia1gk3qMkhtNOcKVwtXMBNhvbofWX5-yVXWlZcK0HzEgEqrYsj46mwxndfOpWwJdUIQ_e6uXpRRlM4afKw-jhFfBqxllsPV2ya_xf_J5eFYudxXNFQEbBaD91N2nyh3737r2zAE8SCbku7CHpG8FgsaMUOW8z2RqBFnxCD/s320/Zak%20Mucha%20-%20CR%20Joe%20Mazza.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Joe Mazza</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b><a href="https://www.zakmucha.com/about">Zak Mucha</a> is the author of the new memoir <i><a href="https://www.zakmucha.com/books">Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis, and Street-Corner Social Work</a></i>. His other books include <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Abuse-self-defense-Zak-Mucha/dp/1540835189/ref=sxts_entity_rec_bsx_s_def_r00_t_aufl?content-id=amzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a%3Aamzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&crid=WGSDLAAMK8MO&cv_ct_cx=zak+mucha&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ta-bygiGYUw7nbbczYrgFfuUcCQ6-TXDCuh5Aw75vm7GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.791HqN8Nitd_ZegZy8LSPq1WOISezAoNad1qd3CpoNc&dib_tag=se&keywords=zak+mucha&pd_rd_i=1540835189&pd_rd_r=011b20f9-782e-4805-be5c-f76601007289&pd_rd_w=AyRBH&pd_rd_wg=gDXmR&pf_rd_p=a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&pf_rd_r=TT25CPRXCB7MKB9KF5T1&qid=1710775897&s=books&sprefix=zak+mucha%2Cstripbooks%2C63&sr=1-3-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0">Emotional Abuse: A Manual for Self-Defense</a></i>. He is a psychoanalyst and president of the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>Swimming to the
Horizon<i>?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: When I took over this team, which was basically
wrap-around mental health services for a client population that no other
programs could or would work with, there was no training, supervision, or
instruction manual, and I had very little experience. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We were working with people suffering from severe and
chronic psychosis, drug addictions, homelessness, multiple incarcerations,
hospitalizations, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity adjudications, and all the
socioeconomic factors that go with lives of trauma and poverty. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A lot of it was really difficult and heartbreaking,
sometimes violent, but there was real joy in doing this work. I hope that comes
across in the book.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it
signify for you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: The title came from something I said to a
hyper-diligent, almost pathological, worker who was going above and beyond all
job expectations but paying a heavy price personally. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">She was in my office, emotionally dysregulated
(crying) because there was too much to do, and she’d never get it all done. I
told her that was correct. We’re not going to cure or prevent psychosis,
homelessness, and drug addiction. There was always going to be more to do, and
we were swimming to the horizon.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In Zen Buddhism, there’s the four great vows and the
first vow is to “save all sentient beings.” Well, we have to count ourselves in
that crowd. Sometimes we have to save others from our own lousy behavior,
sometimes we have to save ourselves from our own behavior. Then we can take
care of others… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zen Buddhists like these
jokes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There’s also some Zen in the Hank Williams’ title,
“I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive.” Just the idea of “swimming to the
horizon” – we never get there, but we have to try.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Q: The writer Trey Bundy said of the book, “</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Swimming
to the Horizon</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> is a brave, compassionate, often hilarious book about the
true cost of helping others, and all that we get in return.” What do you think
of that description?</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: I’m proud to say I’ve known Trey Bundy for a long
time and before he was a journalist, he was working with children dumped in
residential programs. I was really proud that he understood this book and this
work and found the humor and love in it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I often think of a line I heard recently from the
psychoanalyst Marilyn Charles who said, and I’m paraphrasing, “The hardest part
of this work is being able to tolerate our inability to alleviate our patients’
suffering… We go through it with them, we carry that grief, and we have to
carry hope, especially when they can’t find it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ciZ9n2NQhtoBsqBI1k0JIsOBY6PxrPuEAWVEpVBXYW9LrUPlk0TcbpC3f6CoOsxkkPSMC_w30lFvTWlbLwMrFlOI2EAnEUO5Tr_OvAUK9QD8BvBHATlBjoT5XlD5PB0VbADc8_LQzM0e2JxNU4QjTzfJMjtrfMxOQeLsit-rB5uRKK98mAzThM_ET5jg/s2700/Swimming%20to%20the%20Horizon%20Cover%20final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ciZ9n2NQhtoBsqBI1k0JIsOBY6PxrPuEAWVEpVBXYW9LrUPlk0TcbpC3f6CoOsxkkPSMC_w30lFvTWlbLwMrFlOI2EAnEUO5Tr_OvAUK9QD8BvBHATlBjoT5XlD5PB0VbADc8_LQzM0e2JxNU4QjTzfJMjtrfMxOQeLsit-rB5uRKK98mAzThM_ET5jg/s320/Swimming%20to%20the%20Horizon%20Cover%20final.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I also think of Emmanuel Levinas and all his writings
about our irreducible responsibilities to the other – to not kill, to not look
away from suffering. This was a man who lost his entire family in the Holocaust
and learned his mentor was a Brown Shirt, but he acknowledges, we have to
acknowledge, compassion hurts. It literally means “to feel with.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book,
and what do you hope readers take away from it?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: Writing this book made me want to go back to
poetry, for one. I like writing poetry more, but writing this, seeing this part
of my own history condensed, allowed me to see how much I had actually done and
how, at times, I was as driven as the clinician I told we were never going to
reach the end of our work. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I was probably doing way too much in those years, but I
learned a lot. I don’t think I could go back to doing that work, now.
Interventions were physical and exhausting, and sometimes violent. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But I didn’t want the book to be a distanced text of
case presentations and theory. I wanted it to read like a crime novel, not a
“who-done-it” where the detective comes in as an outsider, solves everything
and goes back to their life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Instead, this was to be more like a crime noir where
the protagonist or narrator is in it, it’s a part of their life. They are
culpable, part of the crime, in many ways. His or her hands aren’t clean,
either. We are a part of this system – our policies, our politics allow people
to live in this criminal level of poverty and neglect. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I’m hoping young clinicians or students considering
the field of social work or psychology will take the book, maybe not as a “how
to” but as an example of “what it is.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There’s not a lot of training for this kind of work,
maybe none at all. And it’s always the greenest, least trained, least resourced
clinicians who get placed with the most difficult caseloads. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">One major problem in the mental health system is that
the more experience a clinician has, the further they get from direct service
and become a part of administration. New staff coming in get burned out, and there’s
this perpetual rotation where the clients and patients suffer. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: Just poems right now. As I write this, I’m heading
to this artist-in-residency at a castle in France. I guess it belonged to
Diderot’s in-laws, which shows if you’re going to be an essayist, you should
probably marry money… My wife is an artist, too, working on her stuff. Neither
one of us married money, so this feels very decadent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I started writing poems while I was in my analysis,
which is part of the training to become a psychoanalyst. I was always writing,
but I wasn’t brave enough to try poetry. Poems got accepted here and there and
I kept going with it. Last year a book of poems, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ambulatorium-Zak-Mucha/dp/0996855459/ref=sxts_entity_rec_bsx_s_def_r00_t_aufl?content-id=amzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a%3Aamzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&crid=WGSDLAAMK8MO&cv_ct_cx=zak+mucha&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ta-bygiGYUw7nbbczYrgFfuUcCQ6-TXDCuh5Aw75vm7GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.791HqN8Nitd_ZegZy8LSPq1WOISezAoNad1qd3CpoNc&dib_tag=se&keywords=zak+mucha&pd_rd_i=0996855459&pd_rd_r=bd806276-4133-4597-a395-9095323326b1&pd_rd_w=JxCPq&pd_rd_wg=bvwzM&pf_rd_p=a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&pf_rd_r=3R1V94AEAWW86DZ3ZWNC&qid=1710785128&s=books&sprefix=zak+mucha%2Cstripbooks%2C63&sr=1-2-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0">The Ambulatorium</a></i>, was
published by Alice Vachss’ press. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The Ambulatorium was the name of the first
psychoanalytic clinic for the working-class in Vienna. Of course, the Nazis
burned it down, because that’s what they do… Psychoanalysis started out as a
radical endeavor and it’s a practice that has to keep changing for the 21st
century.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: This is a continuation of the previous answer –
right now I’m the president of the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and the
entire field is, hopefully, taking part in some amazing work that was done with
examining racism and structural racism. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think there’s a way to connect these things – really
deep and meaningful psychoanalytic training for people doing the most difficult
work there is in the field. I think it would make a huge difference for both
patients and clinicians. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">At least that’s my hope for the future, that this
structural class and racial bias does not continue to allow those suffering the
most to get the least help.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;
panose-1:2 11 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:536871559 3 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
line-height:200%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Aptos;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Aptos;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Aptos;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Aptos;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Aptos;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Aptos;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoPapDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
line-height:200%;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-15959896492660504522024-03-18T11:22:00.003-04:002024-03-18T11:22:45.353-04:00Q&A with Tiana Smith<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCepSxtrVLqdIVDZz4rTH8VAsJoKfLsCaLgUt4ZDLFqSxADNZoYo6k0_8ckCDY4iLX_QqmLmaIVfXIdyHxkMSIiRdagiPmbCVeBPa_sfm08jeahBbFyTD_6cGFD8YGuJV_GQrN-xH0aRz8MpZXqGCdyj6CuXJZ2J3pVgeEx0xwfRHu1nxW12bTpb6kDEX/s450/Tiana%20Smith%20CR%20Pepperfox%20Photos%202017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="332" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCepSxtrVLqdIVDZz4rTH8VAsJoKfLsCaLgUt4ZDLFqSxADNZoYo6k0_8ckCDY4iLX_QqmLmaIVfXIdyHxkMSIiRdagiPmbCVeBPa_sfm08jeahBbFyTD_6cGFD8YGuJV_GQrN-xH0aRz8MpZXqGCdyj6CuXJZ2J3pVgeEx0xwfRHu1nxW12bTpb6kDEX/s320/Tiana%20Smith%20CR%20Pepperfox%20Photos%202017.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Pepperfox Photos</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b><a href="https://tianasmith.com/about/">Tiana Smith</a> is the author of the new novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spy-I-Tiana-Smith/dp/0593550307/ref=sr_1_2?crid=21X7EOYU7JQKA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.terj7J_b0K0_PzgKUCduGng8_g_SLBdpKJ4gVysPWc-mRNLoZZogOsVmPqhADcGTMFuLvA_f4xhOHvF1-CqBKWExjAPOxHpkiLU6z3wxriXlnAVjTSgM7Ts7DTFB6BydhgQ08Hk40DomAHzrE_QyD_QLAqmW4LGgqNWtdzEbeYR6eWFYTjWVqHSbrR1bwdD6rKhhDk3M7gvoPiE5Phx7DSOQbT5Go0SAsFrFuyCSESI.yH_A3Vc3TPFRoAraWqeglOy9bSKfvRk02twwLCHV1tE&dib_tag=se&keywords=tiana+smith&qid=1710775120&sprefix=tiana+smith%2Caps%2C75&sr=8-2">The Spy and I</a></i>. Her other books include the young adult novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Match-Me-If-You-Can/dp/1250168716/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=cmQ2E&content-id=amzn1.sym.cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_p=cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_r=138-9947220-5750055&pd_rd_wg=cYkqU&pd_rd_r=164d68b4-cafd-4f56-b027-d118a7cacf44&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk">Match Me If You Can</a></i>. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>The Spy
and I<i>, and how did you create your character Dove?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: I’ve always loved spy
stories—whether in movies or literature. I already have a few young adult
novels out and my agent asked me how I felt about writing for the adult market.
I came back to him with, “yes, but how about with spies?” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Thankfully he was on board with my
idea because we sold <i>The Spy and I</i> not shortly after that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think at the time I was watching a
lot of the TV show <i>Chuck</i> and was really inspired by writing a character who was
computer-smart and a bit introverted, but still an asset in their own way. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A lot of those characters in popular
media are men, and I wanted to show readers that women can be just as
technologically savvy. I still wanted to keep her out of her element within the
spy world, however, because it’s always fun to see how a character reacts when
they’re unprepared and in over their heads.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: The </i>Library Journal<i> review of the
book said, “This mistaken-identity spy romance is fast-paced, mixing twists and
turns with humor and not a small amount of chemistry.” What do you think of
that description, and what did you see as the right balance between the spying,
the romance, and the humor?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: It was definitely tricky to
balance the spy action, romance, and comedy. Primarily, I think readers are
connecting to it most as a suspense novel with comedic romantic elements, and
that makes me happy. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3RnjxKvylInPrKm1E2l8ZPmCSiNGocu_umcYTx5QW1ND6jM-qsnhFwquyJ7ITAL5qpRRIozTic4xn9iwwmfJQnBaMJatFM8knKWAXp_t2hXXm8WWYzJcbNEYpls8SN7WvD60pDO-E5QSq8PAWadgZiQkm1h8QRjtwrgulBPPEZxRxb4AtbG4fl-t-i_0/s4800/9780593550304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4800" data-original-width="3113" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3RnjxKvylInPrKm1E2l8ZPmCSiNGocu_umcYTx5QW1ND6jM-qsnhFwquyJ7ITAL5qpRRIozTic4xn9iwwmfJQnBaMJatFM8knKWAXp_t2hXXm8WWYzJcbNEYpls8SN7WvD60pDO-E5QSq8PAWadgZiQkm1h8QRjtwrgulBPPEZxRxb4AtbG4fl-t-i_0/s320/9780593550304.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">If you think of most of the spy
movies you’ve seen, like <i>Knight and Day</i> or <i>Argylle</i>, I think they follow a
similar vein. The spy story is what moves the plot forward, and the romance is
there as a supporting element. Of course, I love romance, and I love comedy, so
I’ll always put those things in when I can. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: Did you need to do any research to
write the book, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised
you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: I had to do so much research! It’s
surprising how much information there is online about the CIA though. Or even
specific tutorials on how to hack things (since my main character is a hacker).
All the hacking scenes in my novel follow online tutorials, which is scary if
you stop to think about it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The CIA has many official sites that
provide information on the infrastructure or common things that people get
wrong. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">One of the things that surprised me
is that people who work for the CIA aren’t called agents—they’re called
officers. As I say in the book, the FBI has agents, the CIA has officers.
Anyone who says otherwise has been watching too much TV. </span><span style="font-family: "Apple Color Emoji"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Apple Color Emoji";">😉</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: What do you hope readers take away
from the story?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: I hope people just have a good
time reading it. It’s meant to be an escape that takes you away from this world
for a bit. Something lighthearted and fun. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: I’m working on book two of the <i>My
Spy</i> series, <i>Mr. Nice Spy</i>. Both books can be read as stand-alones, so you don’t
have to read T<i>he Spy and I </i>first in order to understand what’s going on. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Mr. Nice Spy</i> follows a different set
of characters that happen to be in the same world. It comes out in November of
this year. I’m excited for everyone to read it!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A: Nope! Thanks for having me!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;
panose-1:2 11 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:536871559 3 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
text-indent:.5in;
line-height:200%;
mso-pagination:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Aptos;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
mso-fareast-font-family:Aptos;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-68796121680769880962024-03-18T11:11:00.003-04:002024-03-18T11:11:48.011-04:00Q&A with Jen Kostman<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvk1_qFZ6iTLfIAjqjPqQIyjGIZYgGDqYSY5E9Pe3VUX9MXw6HiB-kK1XFBVD8CwxwZfTC1fEPB17Xo-0F7hUbynapb89zckQw5bfVqA-D-0NqDCzooI72-GBdPBot3g0EdYHsT7bA24cl8p1gmpdSlspFHliCZ5TZlS9MWaWiIZ-aM0L1sNrekejq7g0v/s2022/Jen's25th+(Self+Portrait).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1655" data-original-width="2022" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvk1_qFZ6iTLfIAjqjPqQIyjGIZYgGDqYSY5E9Pe3VUX9MXw6HiB-kK1XFBVD8CwxwZfTC1fEPB17Xo-0F7hUbynapb89zckQw5bfVqA-D-0NqDCzooI72-GBdPBot3g0EdYHsT7bA24cl8p1gmpdSlspFHliCZ5TZlS9MWaWiIZ-aM0L1sNrekejq7g0v/s320/Jen's25th+(Self+Portrait).jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.jenkostman.com/about-avenue">Jen Kostman</a> is the author and illustrator of the children's picture book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/KVELLephant-Search-Bubbes-Yiddish-Treasure/dp/B0B9GVFXX7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1HNJL9IJ1QU2L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ivDnE3Y8RYilgZ7lTF8QXfT023anBi4pJfuFpIl92ow.u5gMWVew3k17kGx-U_mBhTsbE0XCI14-GsZmunmvSG0&dib_tag=se&keywords=jen+kostman&qid=1710774405&sprefix=jen+kostman%2Caps%2C56&sr=8-1">Ella Kvellephant and the Search for Bubbe's Yiddish Treasure</a></i>. Also a preschool teacher, she is based in New York City. </b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to create </i>Ella Kvellephant<i>, and how did
you create your character Ella and her grandmother?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: The concept of <i>Ella Kvellephant</i> came from a few unrelated
places. First of all, I came up with the name “Kvellephant” while trying to
create a nickname for a character in a Pokémon game (I'm a big fan of the
franchise and many nods to Pokémon can be found hiding throughout the book). </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After coming up with the name “Kvellephant,” I decided I had
to create a Yiddish-speaking elephant character with the name. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From there I played around with different ideas for what a
book about this character might look like, but ultimately, I kept thinking of
my Grandma Temie, who always comes to mind when I'm thinking about my family
traditions and heritage. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eventually I decided that the book would be inspired by my
relationship with my grandmother and how it ties into my Jewish identity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Did you work on the text first or the illustrations
first--or both simultaneously?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I'm definitely more of an illustrator than a
writer, so the visuals came to life before the text. But I'd say a lot of
times the characters I design have a story to go along with them. I love
creating stories and characters. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was a fun challenge to write the text for the story,
though; I really did enjoy it. I also really appreciated the patience and
support I received from my publisher, Lili from Kalaniot Books. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSb0_cVbbk9CUHWgV0wZLv31XM7Tr7TMHkfpsXxno_MyF893KWnEAuGCIfVoqDhyphenhyphenYNL32yoLOhRJKbCNkiIfFVLTiXr1Gf4k1Zf0oY0_7MI2prP4UAi1AliMxp02BPrawFQSimcCrH7StXmTCbLcrCu1JLLdBi7mu50ZvTVogD1Odb6ZtHMuB0NJ08kiX/s1138/cover+reveal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="881" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSb0_cVbbk9CUHWgV0wZLv31XM7Tr7TMHkfpsXxno_MyF893KWnEAuGCIfVoqDhyphenhyphenYNL32yoLOhRJKbCNkiIfFVLTiXr1Gf4k1Zf0oY0_7MI2prP4UAi1AliMxp02BPrawFQSimcCrH7StXmTCbLcrCu1JLLdBi7mu50ZvTVogD1Odb6ZtHMuB0NJ08kiX/s320/cover+reveal.jpg" width="248" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Can you say more about why you decided to focus on Yiddish in the book?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: When I come up with a character, typically their story is
sort of just woven into their design and in the case of <i>Ella Kvellephant</i>, the
character's name came first (along with a few early character designs) and then
the story followed. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While I'm not completely denying the fact that this book was
created from a play on words, I will say that I had been toying around with
concepts for Jewish books for years as I felt passionately about creating a
modern character in a Jewish picture book that children could feel connected
to.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The </i>Foreword<i> review of the book says, “Through the
charming lens of purple and pink elephants frolicking on the beach and
strolling the boardwalk with other animal families, the book relays a powerful,
age-appropriate message about legacy, history, and reclamation.” What do you
think of that description, and what do you hope kids take away from the story?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I'm very flattered by that description of the book! And I
think it perfectly encapsulates what I was going for, being that the story
isn't “preachy” but rather a whimsical and colorful world that just so happens
to be playing out the story of the Kvellephant family. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As for the part of the description that mentions
age-appropriateness, I really appreciate that in particular. I'm a preschool
teacher by day and I believe that young kids can be taught about many
grown-up concepts as long as it's done in an age-appropriate manner. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For example, right now my preschool class has chicken eggs
and I had let my class know that some of the eggs may not hatch as that's just
how nature goes sometimes. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whether I'm in the classroom or creating a book, I strive to
be respectful of the kids I'm working with/writing for by discussing topics
that I feel are important but doing so in an age-appropriate way. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As for what I hope kids take away from the story, there are
two main things: First off, I want Jewish children who have a
Bubbe-type family member of their own to feel a sense of familiarity and
appreciate their Jewish identity. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In addition, I want non-Jewish children to gain an
understanding of some of these classic Yiddish words and get an
easily digestible taste of Jewish culture done in a way that anyone from
any background can relate to and appreciate. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: What am I working on now? Oy! I wish it was another book!
I'm currently working full time as a teacher and am in graduate school working
towards getting my master’s in early childhood education. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I'm sort of holding off on big projects until I finish up my
program, but if someone offered me an awesome illustration gig, I wouldn't turn
it down! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I do have an idea for a sort of “sister” book to <i>Ella
Kvellephant</i> that I'd love to work on; however, I don't plan on really delving
into it until after I'm done with graduate school. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will say though that the theme of the book is a bit more
sentimental than <i>Ella Kvellephant</i>, but again, I believe that if handled in an
age-appropriate way, many kids would be able to relate to the story and would
appreciate it, so I really would love to pursue the project more seriously once
I have a bit more time on my hands. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Nothing else I can think of other than I'm really
appreciative of the opportunity to have been featured on your blog. Thank you
so much for having me, Deborah! </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-57701402309499971592024-03-18T11:05:00.002-04:002024-03-18T11:05:03.234-04:00March 18<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJIR445G64g1PgIkEOADBj6vgsYzh2VeKurrJxjhbF4UbHrA9GmBQ0Nefs9dkUph01D0gOor1xwlKToRYCm21av3Pu5QF7xy3Cl8G15XePU4j637cajRyimglJ2ev0ukoz_nlPpy17n3slzqRoBaql50MIls_OiPrMFFW1xj0RUwQSPcsSA3bM8WvHgTcC/s659/John_Updike,_author_at_PEN_Congress,_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJIR445G64g1PgIkEOADBj6vgsYzh2VeKurrJxjhbF4UbHrA9GmBQ0Nefs9dkUph01D0gOor1xwlKToRYCm21av3Pu5QF7xy3Cl8G15XePU4j637cajRyimglJ2ev0ukoz_nlPpy17n3slzqRoBaql50MIls_OiPrMFFW1xj0RUwQSPcsSA3bM8WvHgTcC/s320/John_Updike,_author_at_PEN_Congress,_cropped.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY<br />March 18, 1932: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Updike">John Updike born.</a></span></span><br /></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-88035418699201282612024-03-17T06:04:00.001-04:002024-03-17T06:04:00.135-04:00Q&A with Benjamin Herold<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4PglrPcyIUzfZXpN4ngKXIUfzTsSTMhewOEVGU3y8qSVziIaG-tknNLmhj8nGt8npbisKH94WcFKVFHlsR2zD0foG0Tl_BDVIl0xwDENnJFy8xKfmUXo2fUo4EqYrIEHwkZMJiKDft9UaZGPL9NucE1bEY6SAvyffxsVkP_E4QrqYWP19sZhxN51ogPN/s832/Screenshot%202024-03-16%20at%2021-56-51%20Bio%20%E2%80%94%20BENJAMIN%20HEROLD.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="832" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4PglrPcyIUzfZXpN4ngKXIUfzTsSTMhewOEVGU3y8qSVziIaG-tknNLmhj8nGt8npbisKH94WcFKVFHlsR2zD0foG0Tl_BDVIl0xwDENnJFy8xKfmUXo2fUo4EqYrIEHwkZMJiKDft9UaZGPL9NucE1bEY6SAvyffxsVkP_E4QrqYWP19sZhxN51ogPN/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-16%20at%2021-56-51%20Bio%20%E2%80%94%20BENJAMIN%20HEROLD.png" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.benjaminherold.com/bio">Benjamin Herold</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disillusioned-Families-Unraveling-Americas-Suburbs/dp/0593298187/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ZGG0M0355E4U&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.t0wRpLxmgLbSG2qmkisUKBlgRqLJ_6-K8FN8BdE0ML5esQ31HOWk5hneav0-YkuCEveCCcPE6PRoSNOIfCQxAV7HFtl8HHOFZ46mqxybDKOtBKegbLl5wvR7P-BxNiSddxNS4KG58hwG0zKepQDnHtK2G-55KGUeANe1Ei9ddw8VFshCN7Nkrz5iDIIeZ3TNkDPreiS7cvxHsFDe_hCxzXKsl-_0e3EvUrDS8S7PfXk.AvwPaCoEYJt9qBGE5KL0elrD0QGzBta97oudpzf6Qhw&dib_tag=se&keywords=benjamin+herold&qid=1710640562&sprefix=benjamin+herold%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-1">Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America's Suburbs</a></i>. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including <i>Education Week</i>. He lives in Philadelphia. <br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>Disillusioned<i>, and how did you
choose the families you focus on in the book?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I grew up in a Pittsburgh suburb called Penn Hills. The
community and its public schools worked great for my white family, helping
launch me into a comfortable middle-class life and a career in journalism. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But two decades after I left Penn Hills, a series of
devastating headlines began pouring out of my hometown. Seemingly out of
nowhere, the same school district that had once served my white family so well
had run up a $172 million debt. Teachers were furloughed, budgets slashed,
programs eliminated. Property taxes skyrocketed, and home values stagnated. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And underlying all the bad news was a seismic demographic
shift; the Penn Hills public schools, 72 percent white when I graduated in
1994, were now 63 percent Black. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That meant thousands of families of color had come to
suburbia in search of the same generous social contract I received, only to
discover they'd been left holding the bag for all the opportunities families
like mine had already extracted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So the book really started with me wanting to understand
what happened to my hometown, and whether it was unique. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And what I found was that huge swaths of
American suburbia are caught up in a cycle of racialized development and
decline that functions like a Ponzi scheme. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The first couple generations of residents in a new suburban
community, usually white and upwardly mobile, get a tremendous deal. But we get
it by accepting huge government subsidies for development and by pushing the
true costs of maintenance, repair, and renewal off on to future residents,
often Black and Brown. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpkn1weuZnSMiUwI4bf5TNa46cJMw71QzKFJveDs7GTeyYr88eqVgDrmxuOLMsF42U7Qq1g-Q_PrRc5wraQvTVrL428jnaitdrws4Y7foKzAq4noqhGbMJaXLv3LHt6OlExv7gH3fRk1lafOMlfe2IpotCVww-XkXIbElLG4EKNebEoj0f1_hwAbezRh5U/s1500/81iMH49y5zL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="987" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpkn1weuZnSMiUwI4bf5TNa46cJMw71QzKFJveDs7GTeyYr88eqVgDrmxuOLMsF42U7Qq1g-Q_PrRc5wraQvTVrL428jnaitdrws4Y7foKzAq4noqhGbMJaXLv3LHt6OlExv7gH3fRk1lafOMlfe2IpotCVww-XkXIbElLG4EKNebEoj0f1_hwAbezRh5U/s320/81iMH49y5zL._SL1500_.jpg" width="211" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The five communities featured in the book (outside Atlanta,
Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh) trace this arc from beginning to
end. I met the families featured in each community through an advocacy group, a
network of activist parents, a realtor, the staff at a local elementary school,
and by knocking on doors on the street where I grew up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How was the book's title chosen, and what does it signify
for you?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: We as Americans have invested so many of our hopes,
dreams, and visions for the future in suburbia and its schools. The suburbs are
still where we go to give our kids a better life, which is an incredibly
powerful thing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But what I found reporting <i>Disillusioned </i>was that many,
many, many suburban parents feel like those hopes and dreams are crumbling
under their feet. Especially suburban parents of color, many of whom viewed
their arrival in suburbia as a culmination of a generations-long fights to gain
access to suburbia and all it had to offer. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I believe that understanding the ensuing disappointment,
anger, and disillusionment is crucial to understanding what's happening in
America more broadly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And <i>Disillusioned</i> also has a secondary meaning. Because I
grew up white in suburbia and my family is very much a part of the destructive
cycle I describe, I had to shed a lot of my own illusions about suburbia and my
family's experience in order to recognize and appreciate what was happening all
around me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The writer Imani Perry said of the book, “Not only is
</i>Disillusioned <i>engaging—riveting, really—it strikes at the very heart of the
geography and emotional economy of race in the United States.” What do you
think of that description?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Well, first, I'm honored to be mentioned in the same
sentence as Imani Perry. I especially appreciate her comments because she has
thought so deeply and written so beautifully about what makes America
America. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I love that she focused on the emotional aspect of the
dynamics I described above; millions of families have come to suburbia hoping
for the kind of emotional security that comes with knowing your children are
safe, loved, and taken care of. And what that doesn't pan out, it's
crushing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you see looking ahead for the American suburbs?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: The demographic changes already sweeping through suburbia
are only going to accelerate, and we are reaching the limits of our ability to
keep running away from our problems by building new communities further and
further into the countryside. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As a result, I think the conflicts we already see erupting
at suburban school board meetings around the country are likely to intensify. I
really do believe we're still at the very beginning of a larger unraveling
that's going to shape much of American life over the next few decades.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Can't give away too much yet, but working on a couple
follow-up book projects that use public schools as a portal into all the issues
we care (and worry) about most. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: If you're interested in <i>Disillusioned</i>, you may also
appreciate the work of scholars and advocates such as John Diamond, Sonya
Douglass, Decoteau Irby, Kenneth T. Jackson, L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Chuck
Marohn, and Andrew Wiese.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style> <br /></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-55934058893249655952024-03-17T06:03:00.001-04:002024-03-17T06:03:00.149-04:00Q&A with Scott Martelle<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifr1wK45TGYwFR3bL3hZdPVS1NejznymX1uaUiN6Qokj7jrFlqOD3UVOYMnqRI93_PctDBBeL-azV1apMIT6B4lbBTbNk7k6phc4maSrUXUI_Y_OwGX0ibVlQQ8MteXAe8ZKscdWeFBncwu5EzIgUaKfiSB6MlQBkIBWv5lN5C-wjrII_Ys9jS-rJ0FBH-/s640/jpu67C51.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifr1wK45TGYwFR3bL3hZdPVS1NejznymX1uaUiN6Qokj7jrFlqOD3UVOYMnqRI93_PctDBBeL-azV1apMIT6B4lbBTbNk7k6phc4maSrUXUI_Y_OwGX0ibVlQQ8MteXAe8ZKscdWeFBncwu5EzIgUaKfiSB6MlQBkIBWv5lN5C-wjrII_Ys9jS-rJ0FBH-/s320/jpu67C51.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Margaret Mercier-Martelle</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.scottmartelle.com/">Scott Martelle</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/1932-FDR-Hoover-Dawn-America/dp/0806541865/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BXXEN801W9C3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mUyKvzaH3Je1SOlrqGDBy12g6SUDzU11_-lUOOzerOfwzAciuMiDe9m5Lh8PKIkn3v_I1GkcKo0YfKcFQWqNfTQVgJoGcFpTwZdrJJ2aRw4Q0Z8q5wteQqSLUzhnWlfPWJSEXjuFvki-_IBOk0CvDfSgdBLHdnkGv4sD2oUxQ9YHK4obMduf6nAPxAsl-78nsootsGgwgbiTUV4RmttuooT3ROfjqBPqhBGhhOoLl7Q.W4jU66GtjkQC5EDdpBcV7PE8BHNGH9-76hfnrGmfJMI&dib_tag=se&keywords=scott+martelle&qid=1710640085&sprefix=scott+martell%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1">1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America</a></i>. A longtime journalist, his other books include <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Madman-Assassin-Strange-Boston-Corbett-ebook/dp/B00U58R3I4?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sCGoQbZTGF0iK8l_Iq04LQcGPr5aomd3gaITIW7Kvs55W-3OmB_xte-446dt5mnF-wFV8II47Za1uNIjiHMNxTvQQkBB8rlyiCqvVzyC6uk._KMw5f4wchXBDZ8i0JXCdOrngFOZAzKTPCz495MgUw0&dib_tag=AUTHOR">The Madman and the Assassin</a></i>. He lives in Rochester, New York.</b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>1932<i>? Why did you decide to
focus on that year and that election?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I’ve long had an interest in the Great Depression and
American history in the first half of the 20th century. And, of course,
politics. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Both the Depression and the 1932 election -- FDR’s first run
for the White House -- have already been the subjects of countless books, so I
thought it would be interesting to try to write a book not about those things,
but around them. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I settled on overlapping simultaneous narratives of events
from that critical year to try to capture what it was like for average
Americans to live through it, using the 1932 presidential campaign as the main
through line.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn
that especially surprised you?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: The research posed some interesting hurdles. COVID struck
as I was working up a proposal for my agent, Jane Dystel, and the closure of
libraries and archives made it impossible for the kind on hands-on research I
like to do. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, I did as much as I could online and in email exchanges
with various institutions to gather what I could before things loosened up and
I was able to make in-person visits to the Hoover and Roosevelt presidential
libraries, among other places. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I borrowed some devices from John Dos
Passos’ <i>USA</i> trilogy and was able to piece together the newsreel
segments (quick details of news events that didn’t warrant a fuller narrative
presence) from online databases, and similarly was able to cull diaries entries
that had been digitalized at different archives and libraries. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqLKIM8qZAphRXLhPVkCIK2Lzi0P849kdA12cOcJKWDtMPg-_pmMGZLtyVwk6E_5UUyv1ZWv9ZTbMOUl_UtcFfNwzVoGX5dirS4lLWJ6PG5vaectgrHed1b9tKumX_2OmYQN0mKsIembP0XcQP0ekPS9T7412v6ET7a7_EVnuwjlfK0zWOUB_9nSwJCg86/s1500/81d-3VgLvWL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="995" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqLKIM8qZAphRXLhPVkCIK2Lzi0P849kdA12cOcJKWDtMPg-_pmMGZLtyVwk6E_5UUyv1ZWv9ZTbMOUl_UtcFfNwzVoGX5dirS4lLWJ6PG5vaectgrHed1b9tKumX_2OmYQN0mKsIembP0XcQP0ekPS9T7412v6ET7a7_EVnuwjlfK0zWOUB_9nSwJCg86/s320/81d-3VgLvWL._SL1500_.jpg" width="212" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The biggest surprise to me from the research was how much
the campaign to repeal Prohibition influenced the politics of that year. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The</i> Washington Independent Review of Books<i> review said,
“Martelle does a masterful job in </i>1932<i> of telling the story of the
Hoover/Roosevelt face-off, fleshing out events with timelines, the personal
diaries of ordinary citizens, and copious details about farms, industry, and
generalized anger to illustrate just how split and destitute America was at the
time.” What do you think of that description?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Aw, shucks? In all seriousness, it was a very warming
review to read. It’s nice when a critic succinctly captures the gist of what an
author is setting out to do, and appreciates it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How would you describe the similarities and differences
between the election of 1932 and this year's presidential election?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: It really is an apples-and-oranges thing. In 1932 we had
an incumbent who was incapable of addressing the economic crisis that befell
him, challenged by a rival who was selling himself and a vision for a more
robust federal response to the Great Depression. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This time around, we have a capable incumbent and, while
these are challenging times, conditions are nothing like the Great Depression.
And, of course, we already know what the opposition candidate is capable of. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One key similarity is in the popular divide. I was taken
while working on the Prohibition portion of the book with how similar those
battle lines were to the fight over abortion rights today. It’s like the
descendants of both sides in the Prohibition fight are squared off over
abortion. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Still pawing the earth for a new subject. I’ve come up
with a few ideas but for various reasons nothing has gelled into a book-length
project. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After I finished the manuscript for <i>1932</i> my wife and I moved
from Southern California back to her hometown of Rochester, New York, and that,
as you might imagine, was quite time-consuming. But we’re settled in and I’m
optimistic I’ll stumble across the right subject sooner rather than later.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: That the future stability of the nation could well hang
in the balance of the November elections. But, well, we all know that
already. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb. <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/q-with-scott-martelle.html">Here's</a> a previous Q&A with Scott Martelle. </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-33598493673875979562024-03-17T06:02:00.000-04:002024-03-17T06:02:00.130-04:00Q&A with Adam Lazarus<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiMYKWg7IPyA-HlQEOe3v48sJtH4YXDdeZKzEDiENhBGdVikHW6ufCRd5WsFDTuTXRUngZ969puJ1Dqb7AUGC5lQT9VkEkuW411gtulxweWNzgdh-3bBKsVcU2WVBfM6a3kPTtRxwHLL0zvyfS7kiWSAsl2jAUEZKq2R5bnkwtV6dobngxmcP_dW1nhGhy/s4419/JgUYu142.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4419" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiMYKWg7IPyA-HlQEOe3v48sJtH4YXDdeZKzEDiENhBGdVikHW6ufCRd5WsFDTuTXRUngZ969puJ1Dqb7AUGC5lQT9VkEkuW411gtulxweWNzgdh-3bBKsVcU2WVBfM6a3kPTtRxwHLL0zvyfS7kiWSAsl2jAUEZKq2R5bnkwtV6dobngxmcP_dW1nhGhy/s320/JgUYu142.jpeg" width="217" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by HeadShots Photography</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.adamlazarusbooks.com/">Adam Lazarus</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.adamlazarusbooks.com/the-wingmen">The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams</a></i>. His other books include <i><a href="https://www.adamlazarusbooks.com/best-of-rivals">Best of Rivals</a></i>. He lives in Atlanta. </b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>The Wingmen<i>?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Anyone who looks at some of my previous book titles will
probably assume that I am a huge “sports guy.” And they’d be correct.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sports have always been a massive part of my life and as
early as I can remember I was a baseball history fanatic. I read trivia books,
kid’s books, even some full-length biographies on baseball players, probably
beginning at the age of 5. And every summer my family visited the Baseball Hall
of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, even though I am not from New England and am not a
Boston Red Sox fan, I learned about Ted Williams before I learned about George
Washington, Thomas Edison, or Elvis Pressley. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Similarly, I am from Ohio and you don’t grow up in Ohio
without knowing who John Glenn is. From the time I was born until about the
time I graduated high school he was my state’s senator. And because I had seen
the film <i>The Right Stuff</i> several times, I knew about his vital role in space
exploration. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But despite all I had read and heard about both Ted Williams
and John Glenn, I never once read or heard that they served together, side by
side in the air, during a war. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I discovered this fact a few years ago and once I explored
the story a bit more, and learned that their friendship spanned five decades, I
knew there was a book to be written. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How would you describe the dynamic between John Glenn and
Ted Williams?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I interviewed John Glenn’s son, David, for this book and
he said something in passing about his understanding of his father’s friendship
with Ted Williams, something akin to “Dad just thought he was a real
character.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ironically enough, a few months later I received a few dozen
letters from John Glenn’s archives at The Ohio State University which included
a 1953 letter he had written home to his family during the Korean War. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In it, Glenn wrote about a mission he and Ted Williams
served together and part of his description of Williams was, “What a
character!” In a lot of ways, I think this sums up their relationship. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ted Williams and John Glenn were polar opposites in probably
every way imaginable. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ted Williams was married and divorced three times. He had
difficult, troubled relationships with all three of his children. He was a
staunch conservative Republican, good friends with Richard Nixon. He was either
an atheist or an agnostic. He was tall and handsome with wavy dark hair and
used a booming voice to spit out curse words seemingly as often as it spit out
verbs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John Glenn was pretty much the opposite of everything I just
said. He was married to the same woman for 73 years, a woman he knew since they
were toddlers playing together in the same playpen. He adored his children, who
adored him right back. He was a Democrat—maybe not the most liberal
Democrat—but still a Democrat. He was a devout Presbyterian. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And he was short with very early-thinning red hair and was
almost always understated and softspoken, rarely ever uttering a negative or
curse word about anyone. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To the celebrity ballplayer who quarreled with fans and
reporters, the “Clean Marine” was unlike most people he encountered. And
vice-versa. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the early parts of their relationship, I think each man
was something of a novelty to the other. But once they began serving together
in combat, especially during some remarkably dangerous or harrowing missions,
they formed a bond. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And in the years that followed, despite all their
differences, they genuinely liked one another. They also shared much more in
common than either probably realized. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That was one of my goals with this book, to showcase their
subtle, perhaps overlooked similarities, and how that may well have been a
reason that the two men “clicked.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUchkPNCFcn4w2hUoEELNEO9GwNlSgZFNvukpJwLX-0ep0CPYySBBiEZ5QSenuXW3kuSGjX_sSe2DY5NRYtAtfTp3l4ZLITiJYzuKH63YYkC_6T5aoj7LBwqKUZbmv-QvgP5Vz8TDwJnGQKWHhpETO7QCsN0H7pysdnlNxbSA-hW_FLy7ZJ5QuPFLOC0w/s2704/Ztx2gDnV.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2704" data-original-width="1840" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUchkPNCFcn4w2hUoEELNEO9GwNlSgZFNvukpJwLX-0ep0CPYySBBiEZ5QSenuXW3kuSGjX_sSe2DY5NRYtAtfTp3l4ZLITiJYzuKH63YYkC_6T5aoj7LBwqKUZbmv-QvgP5Vz8TDwJnGQKWHhpETO7QCsN0H7pysdnlNxbSA-hW_FLy7ZJ5QuPFLOC0w/s320/Ztx2gDnV.jpeg" width="218" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The writer <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2016/09/larry-tye-is-author-of-new-biography.html">Larry Tye</a> said of the book, “I thought I knew
the story of the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams, on the baseball diamond and
battlefields. Just like I thought I knew all there was about Old Magnet Tail,
John Glenn. Wrong on both counts. But thankfully Adam Lazarus saved my tail
with his splendid narrative on these two American icons and their extraordinary
friendship.” What do you think of that description, and how did you research
the book?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Larry’s description pretty much sums up why this book
“works” in my opinion. Most people know who Ted Williams and John Glenn were.
Now the reasons they know who they were run the gambit. But they are pretty
much household names. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet this book tells about an important part of their lives,
a part unknown to most people who of remember Ted Williams and John Glenn. I
didn’t know about it before I started writing this book and I knew a great deal
about both men previously. So shedding new light on the lives of these iconic
figures is often appealing to readers. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As for the research I conducted, there were the usual
channels: other biographies, magazine profiles, newspaper articles. But, as I
find with most nonfiction books, interviews were the most essential. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was extremely fortunate to interview both of John Glenn’s
children and Ted Williams sole-surviving child as well as three pilots who flew
combat missions with Williams and Glenn in 1953 during the Korean War. Those
were so special, to talk with the men—all in their late 90s—who served with the
two centerpieces of this book. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But probably the best piece of research that I conducted
came from collecting (either copies or the originals) hundreds of letters
written home by pilots to their families during the Korean War. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most were letters written by pilots who served with Glenn
and Williams in their same, small Marine Corps fighter squadron. But about 50
were letters written by Glenn home to his wife and kids, and Williams home to
his mistress back in the United States. These were invaluable to telling the
story about their service together. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you see as each man's legacy today?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I’ll start with Glenn because I think his legacy is much
simpler to define: John Glenn is one of the finest public servants this country
has ever produced. I try not to lionize or romanticize figures in my books. I
consider myself a journalist and I have to maintain some level of objectivity. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I don’t think it is at all breaking my objectivity vow
to say that John Glenn was an American hero. The man flew 157 combat missions
during two wars, served an essential role in the advancement of military
aviation during his two stints as a Navy test pilot, carried out the NASA
mission that put America back into contention during the “Space Race” with the
Soviets, and was a four-term United States senator. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The note that I would add to the last part is that, while he
was a loyal Democrat, I think one of the things that often cost him in his
political career was that he seemingly always put “country” over “party.” He
wanted Americans to excel, not one specific faction of Americans. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, I don’t want to suggest that John Glenn was some sort
of saint or perfect person. He had his flaws, and I think <i>The Wingmen</i> points
that out. But, at least to me, he defined self-sacrifice for a greater cause.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When his friend, President John F. Kennedy, the man who
guided him towards politics, uttered his famous line “ask not what your country
can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” I think he was urging
people to be more like John Glenn. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ted Williams’ legacy is not nearly as easy to peg and for
two reasons. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, Williams was without question the most complex
individual that I’ve ever written about at length. He was a patriot and war
hero who tried to wiggle his way out of serving in two wars. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He was a rude, ill-tempered jerk who (allegedly) did not
treat his three wives very kindly, yet also cared deeply for both his closest
friends and perfect strangers. He was a selfish recluse who spent more than
half his life raising millions of dollars for and raising the spirits of
thousands of sick or dying cancer patients. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One pilot who served with Williams in Korea essentially said
that he was a coward who was the biggest “a-hole who ever lived.” Yet John
Glenn, who served in the same squadron, found him to be a brave and thoughtful
friend. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Often during the course of my book tour readers have shared
with me examples of how nice Williams was to them during chance meetings, while
history remembers him as nasty and dismissive to fans and the general public. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many of those same people who I meet on the book tour ask me
point-blank, “Was Williams as big a jerk as people say?” My own assessment of
Williams is that one’s impression of him was shaped by the randomness of what
day they met him: if he was in a good mood, you probably had a great
experience, if not, then you probably think he lived up to his sour reputation.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I don’t think this just applied to strangers who had a
one-off encounter. He was moody and impatient and absolutely intolerant of
carelessness. If you crossed him or mis-stepped, he would let you know: he had
no filter and no interest in niceties. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I personally don’t think someone who went out of his way
to advocate for Negro League players in his Baseball Hall of Fame speech in
1966 or someone who spent thousands of hours visiting sick children in
hospitals (while insisting no reporters or photographers discover that he would
be there) could be “the biggest a-hole who ever lived.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The white elephant in this answer has to do with the final
“legacy” of Ted Williams: his frozen head. Many of your readers probably know
about the controversy following his death, in which his body was frozen, sent
to cryogenics storage, then ultimately his head was cut off (the body
discarded) and, presumably, remains in storage today. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And for the record, I had no intention of covering this part
of Ted Williams’ life/death in my book <i>The Wingmen</i>, because I didn’t think it
had anything to do with John Glenn, other than for purposes of further
contrasting the two men: Glenn had a solemn, even optimistic memorial and
burial at Arlington National Cemetery upon his death, while Williams’ death was
truly sad and macabre due to the national controversy and scandal that followed
public reports of the freezing of his body and eventual dismembering of his
head. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But during the course of my research, I discovered that the
ugly events that took place in the days, weeks, and months following Williams’
death were connected in a way to his friendship with John Glenn. If you pick up
the book, you’ll see how. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I am working on a new idea for a book, one that is not
set in stone or even completely fleshed out. I would rather keep that under
wraps for now, but what I will say is that I think <i>The Wingmen</i> reveals a
certain niche that my books have come to represent, and I don’t mean sports. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each of my books are about iconic figures who a large
percentage of Americans know. Here it is Ted Williams and John Glenn. But other
books I’ve written feature names like Arnold Palmer, Bill Parcells, Joe
Montana, and Joe Gibbs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most people know these names. But my books shine a very
bright, focused light on a particular chapter in their action-packed lives,
just like <i>The Wingmen</i> does for Glenn and Williams. I think this magnified look
at a particular portion of a “superstar’s” life, is something that readers can
really grab onto. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My “elevator pitch” to readers might as well be “you know of
the main character, you know the top few lines on their résumé, now let me tell
you something you probably don’t know about their legacy.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Go to <a href="http://AdamLazarusBooks.com" target="_blank">AdamLazarusBooks.com</a> to check out more and if you purchase
any of my books feel free to reach out to me there. I’d be happy to send a
signed and personalized bookplate for your copy. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-27874781631140345812024-03-17T06:01:00.000-04:002024-03-17T06:01:00.159-04:00Q&A with Liz Long<p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pt6lTE3I7RzdziQLoTnZSv1aL4jY8gl_jVnhP_J1LJnpNcUNYdtM882BmHuFfhFW4l0pkN3RPK_RuCMfthyphenhyphen4zGvTbHX5Bhw8eGIx4SEP5RHxJQVXABvOHHa5TNMAO8yjW84knm6aEgyEs4gPDZ44BhyphenhypheniBuKkP0JnzZbAAeskvR6i2MmvsCPhBfUwfi83/s1280/Liz%20Long-8-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="853" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pt6lTE3I7RzdziQLoTnZSv1aL4jY8gl_jVnhP_J1LJnpNcUNYdtM882BmHuFfhFW4l0pkN3RPK_RuCMfthyphenhyphen4zGvTbHX5Bhw8eGIx4SEP5RHxJQVXABvOHHa5TNMAO8yjW84knm6aEgyEs4gPDZ44BhyphenhypheniBuKkP0JnzZbAAeskvR6i2MmvsCPhBfUwfi83/s320/Liz%20Long-8-5.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><a href="https://lizlongwrites.com/about-liz-long/">Liz Long</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Navigating-Shitstorms-Find-Your-Rough/dp/B0C1MF1D36/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2MOOFS01AZ5R8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.R41ORpodZrI6kfzKsylGDirSo79PXdwwIgnuOfNBBmM8iMx237KFHS9oQYBwnpEmJJosOkXqtkPEp3hKn4Qf5tVp3rF1AwlEcfDYT_UnbcnCFgiUsFLxG36SNGAme_2A7VUJnfRwisDCUF9J278l95BYB2S2quqJeSYBfRX6YgH4tg5OHrVMW1o8v6LbHt8WVc7IIDYJ4FviqO5hryhMN3W26xkh6jb6RgMY2WIj41E.8b5wHswfz9U3zqZZaRpOGNdLO2KzxZU01DMo-QV7d8M&dib_tag=se&keywords=liz+long&qid=1710638769&sprefix=liz+lon%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1">Navigating Shitstorms: How to Find Your True Path When Life Gets Tough</a></i>. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What inspired you to write </i>Navigating Shitstorms<i>?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Writing a book was never on my radar. When I returned home after my time at an
in-patient treatment center, where I’d checked myself in for depression, I
spent several months integrating myself back into the world and began to
consider carefully what I wanted to do with my life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">It
was a long and complicated expedition for me to find my voice, and at the same
time, I felt a big pull to share my story. <i>Navigating Shitstorms</i> was born from
my desire to help other humans find the peace, love, freedom, and joy that we
all yearn for. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">I
also wanted to honor the role that my aunt, Lynda White, played in my life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
How would you describe the concept of Victimtown, which you write about in the
book?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Victimtown’s unique landscape was created to illustrate our inner dialogue and
prompt a new awareness for floundering people. Every human shows up in
Victimtown at one time or another. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Victimtown
is where we go when we’re not quite ready to face the pain. It’s an
equal-opportunity place for all humans. This includes perpetrators too, because
the people who’ve caused us pain are in at least as much pain themselves. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Each
of the places in Victimtown has a voice that we hear in our head. Their mission
is to control us and keep us afraid. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">For
example, The Boss at the Control Factory says, “When you get them to change,
then you’ll be happy,” and, “You can save them from making a big mistake.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uZQJ5QJwk4fYM342BL4d-86jZDy9fnpgmkAaMByx4ecXE0HVePE5qHnGbSceSJfm1tEU3vKO-zgmj_Y755Mz5WFlCsGxLegqyNyu2kAIOkFJo6ZXcAC5t6Q44cOzorPTOgYcmaIafoiTxvejfF_BGH_K4P7A20C3Yh77wZv1WbnfxSvbL39xDmwAkXYI/s1280/FrontCover_Final_high%20res.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="853" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uZQJ5QJwk4fYM342BL4d-86jZDy9fnpgmkAaMByx4ecXE0HVePE5qHnGbSceSJfm1tEU3vKO-zgmj_Y755Mz5WFlCsGxLegqyNyu2kAIOkFJo6ZXcAC5t6Q44cOzorPTOgYcmaIafoiTxvejfF_BGH_K4P7A20C3Yh77wZv1WbnfxSvbL39xDmwAkXYI/s320/FrontCover_Final_high%20res.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
Maître D would show me to the private back room of the Guilt & Shame
Café. He’d say, “You are completely inadequate,” as he set a bottle of wine on
the table for me. I deserved to be there. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Other
places include the Denial Trails, the Ego Arena, the Anger Gas Station, the
Resentment Parking Lot, the Sorrow Swampland and Epiphany Hospital.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
How was the book's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
The title was conceived during a brain-storming session over coffee with my
friend, Tina Petrelli.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">I’ve
had incredibly positive feedback as people really seem to resonate with it. I
see it in their eyes first and then they smile and then they laugh. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">For
me, it signifies real life and real people. ‘Cause the thing is, we can never
stop shit from happening, so we’d all be well served to figure out healthy ways
to navigate the shitstorms.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers
take away from it?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
We all have a voice in our head that talks back to the shitty voice. I refer to
it as our heart voice. We were all born with one. My hope is that the book will
guide readers to tap into their own heart voice and to guide them on their
journey to love themselves without limits or conditions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">I
also hope readers will recognize that the path to Freedomville is found through
living with Intrinsic Courage. Intrinsic courage is our ability to view every
past experience, every current situation, and every person involved, with
compassion and love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
public response from the book continues to be enormously heartwarming and
reassuring. Hearing the personal impact stories of how <i>Navigating Shitstorms</i>
has helped people fills me up and strengthens my own heart voice every single
day. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
A companion Guidebook will launch soon to support my readers as they reflect
about their own lives, utilize the concepts in <i>Navigating Shitstorms</i>, and find
their own paths to Freedomville.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">I’ve
also recently launched a </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYaLcgvXyM_5_Wd8BxSSbew"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">YouTube Channel </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">and I’m recording
more fun and unscripted episodes. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
Anything else we should know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Readers can connect with me at </span><a href="http://www.lizlongwrites.com"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">www.LizLongWrites.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">. Follow me on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/victimtownvsfreedomville"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> and Instagram.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-26663507984215105982024-03-17T06:00:00.001-04:002024-03-17T06:00:00.132-04:00March 17<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuWYmik_rtjl0om2aSGQK3HFzjUvvZfsMllGLT5mox-0H4eR-pCKk8K9F9IrRN66IWCNvWhnSkUmQTu3yoygjz9mstIPYhyR3QOcLKYm_uSYBohH_parlcdiQW69ZkzqwtzBIHu1t9LPhFPNqwKXF4H-TaNLm4UUfIJmxHbxSGmESn8LWGUJvqW6bKNLu/s471/Penelope_Lively%203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuWYmik_rtjl0om2aSGQK3HFzjUvvZfsMllGLT5mox-0H4eR-pCKk8K9F9IrRN66IWCNvWhnSkUmQTu3yoygjz9mstIPYhyR3QOcLKYm_uSYBohH_parlcdiQW69ZkzqwtzBIHu1t9LPhFPNqwKXF4H-TaNLm4UUfIJmxHbxSGmESn8LWGUJvqW6bKNLu/s320/Penelope_Lively%203.JPG" width="299" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">March 17, 1933: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Penelope-Lively">Penelope Lively born.</a></span></span><br /></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-53228122702753603592024-03-16T06:20:00.003-04:002024-03-16T06:20:58.376-04:00Q&A with Stuart A. Reid<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDms3jvbpx1G3st3F-gw3yMLG38tpqcyDZUfX7F7LE37X20bUh4f1vzqtOvzyzsObG6Rtvq5mhO_u4TYFPoLIczKsVq4NGVQFFbJjS0Ta-YXm3b-jH_0ogPcHshmah-tX0zLSpFpY6cjiSGoBMs-77N7uEMiLAXpb0LqVLhL7Em3kaAqNdclgW-B4a8_J/s2500/230530-Stuart-Reid-Park-30-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="2500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDms3jvbpx1G3st3F-gw3yMLG38tpqcyDZUfX7F7LE37X20bUh4f1vzqtOvzyzsObG6Rtvq5mhO_u4TYFPoLIczKsVq4NGVQFFbJjS0Ta-YXm3b-jH_0ogPcHshmah-tX0zLSpFpY6cjiSGoBMs-77N7uEMiLAXpb0LqVLhL7Em3kaAqNdclgW-B4a8_J/s320/230530-Stuart-Reid-Park-30-Edit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Mark Jaworski</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.stuartareid.com/">Stuart A. Reid</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616779/the-lumumba-plot-by-stuart-a-reid/">The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination</a></i>. He is an executive editor of <i>Foreign Affairs</i>, and he lives in New Jersey. </b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>The Lumumba Plot<i>?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: It all began in 2014, when I had the chance to travel to
the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a magazine article I was working on. I
was immediately taken with the place and started reading up on its history. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The more I read, the more I realized there was a great
untold story here about the country’s traumatic birth. The Congo crisis was
front-page news in the West in 1960 and 1961, only to be largely forgotten
afterwards. And the United States played a massive role in it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The writer Adam Hochschild said of the book, “This is the
book we’ve needed for years: a thorough, judicious, eloquent account of one of
the twentieth century’s pivotal moments. Patrice Lumumba’s murder was a tragedy
not just for his young and troubled country but also for the way it stimulated
Washington’s illusion that America could rearrange the world to its liking.”
What do you think of that assessment?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I am flattered by Adam’s assessment of my book—his <i>King
Leopold’s Ghost</i> is a must-read—and think he’s right on about the significance
of Lumumba’s murder. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB2EkBr5AolVeEHd0XP4m9OmHNRIb4ELpASy1Vju_JgoPw4Lid9YplB3Gd5wR0fJrOc0o8j-ioowDJhcFaTlx-7ryb6hHdWsf-ojV_dmBRix8148LWf5aFQOyeYdYvKoB84JnZaehnlxWAFQp0h0lSio8b8AHZAOcnmgZ7TaQtO-DGgNmW4rPgQGh3Mbp/s2775/TheLumumbaPlot_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB2EkBr5AolVeEHd0XP4m9OmHNRIb4ELpASy1Vju_JgoPw4Lid9YplB3Gd5wR0fJrOc0o8j-ioowDJhcFaTlx-7ryb6hHdWsf-ojV_dmBRix8148LWf5aFQOyeYdYvKoB84JnZaehnlxWAFQp0h0lSio8b8AHZAOcnmgZ7TaQtO-DGgNmW4rPgQGh3Mbp/s320/TheLumumbaPlot_cover.jpg" width="216" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you see as Patrice Lumumba’s legacy today, and
what would you say are some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions
about him?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Lumumba is rightly seen as a nationalist hero who carried
the aspirations of his people and led his country to independence. He was
intelligent and charismatic. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One fundamental misconception, especially at the time, was
that he was Soviet-friendly or communist-curious. Not only was it inaccurate to
describe Lumumba that way; it was in fact more accurate to call him
pro-American. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He entrusted his country’s economic future to an American
entrepreneur, signing a $2 billion contract handing over all the Congo’s
mineral and hydroelectric resources. At one point, Lumumba even called on
American troops to intervene in the Congo—hardly the words of a man beholden to
Moscow! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The modern-day version of this myth is that Lumumba was a
committed leftist. He was fiercely anticolonial, to be sure, but his domestic
program was rather centrist. He explicitly rejected the nationalization of
private industry, for example.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How would you compare the dynamic between the U.S. and
USSR during the Congo crisis to the relationship today between the U.S. and
Russia?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Obviously there is a great deal of talk today about a
“new cold war.” All analogies are imperfect, and there are many differences
between the United States’ rivalry with the Soviet Union yesterday and its
rivalry with Russia (and China) today. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But there are also many similarities—the mutual mistrust,
the authoritarianism of the other side, and the supposed interest in what is
now called “the developing world” and what was then called “the Third World.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Today, as before, there is a risk that the United States
imagines its rival to be more omnipresent and omnipotent than it really is. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I’m still basking in the glow of having published a book
that took me years to write—though I’m very much open to ideas for another
book.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Here, if I may, I would like to mention the
groundbreaking book on the same topic, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Congo-Cables-Africa-Eisenhower-Kennedy/dp/0025606204/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2UUEAI4R4WAE5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qj4MkKtZrov3seYQDTQEcyV8vZvl_3WDM_LP00CSRS3l5QT-VfPAGba2dXKkTxnzLQ1AW_cxQXYvZ6wLtkdy-ZiVn6s0R0tHP5klRWKVt7c.2VcPE-N_4mIKAEBx05OE7N_3F6Dsc4SeFvA6svr4xwE&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+congo+cables&qid=1710584436&s=books&sprefix=the+congo+cables%2Cstripbooks%2C68&sr=1-1">The Congo Cables</a></i>, which was written by
your mother, Madeleine Kalb. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">More than 40 years later, it holds up remarkably well and
was a valuable source for me. Many of the key documents from this episode were
declassified at her behest. I’m sure scholars will still be citing it 40 years
from now.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-91172899066076365722024-03-16T06:10:00.003-04:002024-03-16T06:10:48.388-04:00Q&A with Matthew Bowman<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioc4bikd7hvVO8H12nLjVeXk_sRgJ7YM_l3cfLY_At2IIGYYjRAhaSThvgJcJ62VzbCCeFdbhQhIpreOqKS-Us9tyDqaJNEzzo1gIlFUr-0MK_yZZi952-YfQ2mxxu1uK_Ds5orUoQzkqjVBTjSRV66DjuxrJkmHEUTt0dSq3QoZCk7EruLYL_r7nxlPhF/s1024/Matt10bw1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioc4bikd7hvVO8H12nLjVeXk_sRgJ7YM_l3cfLY_At2IIGYYjRAhaSThvgJcJ62VzbCCeFdbhQhIpreOqKS-Us9tyDqaJNEzzo1gIlFUr-0MK_yZZi952-YfQ2mxxu1uK_Ds5orUoQzkqjVBTjSRV66DjuxrJkmHEUTt0dSq3QoZCk7EruLYL_r7nxlPhF/s320/Matt10bw1.jpg" width="213" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="http://www.matthewbowman.net/">Matthew Bowman</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Abduction-Betty-Barney-Hill-Encounters/dp/0300251386/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LPPQ615GTKM8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.S5CmDR-mVzLh0zFClnNEsab2KQzLmMUPCqD4sD2oo0GQoU_YdLW-5zC92K2y13JNyxweTXZrTpo-ZqKnK1hAnoWg0YJ3Todvam485CQD2SvKQLBbC5AkJK6MXX1lMZC6NcESQYlOHGhWY66t06WssYcD-vwZsUExeuJ3ElmQfd3-lUr3CRKMeudmpZyQ9k4o_YmPyRy5Qk2hnYsr3dA2P_4UKIjCpS8f-vkLLvOi5DM.gwYaGjRzdFXzg7OxT7D75EileyiL_DsccrAnjyuFacc&dib_tag=se&keywords=matthew+bowman&qid=1710583518&sprefix=matthew+bowman%2Caps%2C75&sr=8-1">The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America</a></i>. His other books include <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mormon-People-Making-American-Faith/dp/0679644903/ref=sr_1_5?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kqnjpD9bTzW2hBvUp9qpV1-ovH4aVQxMm8RdcnE3HQxsLdOIZwkvH-VBDTyol5YqSeRst9-Y50pa6kT3-nVXVNUYH7INEuEdV0b4xgKgkpvci7pX_RM2Ih-Bro-Cuzlq2u56MFlfZ_d_kBCzZn_31W8ztUniPfuqJcxqp6l0wk82rtGkhuKcNhs8VD88eiQOz31-cKHuuQOoO22EQgxC5TKmrp0IckJmbyZiHOxhdDQ.GPfgRQ_7CfgMMGKdzBUU-vG24N0LfxTnzJ5zp3Ec04U&dib_tag=se&qid=1710583716&refinements=p_27%3AMatthew+Bowman&s=books&sr=1-5&text=Matthew+Bowman">The Mormon People</a></i>. He is associate professor of religion and history and Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University. </b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>The Abduction of Betty and
Barney Hill<i>?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I am a scholar of contemporary American religion, and I'm
particularly interested in how religion in the United States in the last
hundred or so years has evolved in response to what we might call
"modernity" - the emergence of a modern culture of science, the rise
of commercialized mass culture, the distrust of institutions endemic since the
1960s, and so on. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of these things led me to UFOs, which seemed to me to
encapsulate all of these developments, as well as the ambiguity inherent in the
category of "religion" in the United States. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are UFOs scientific or supernatural? Aliens from
another planet flying machines to earth, or the manifestations of
interdimensional creatures that function on another realm of reality? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are dismissals of the phenomena from established authorities
in academia and politics a sign of conspiracy, or is there really nothing to
the host of strange sightings reported every year? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The UFO seemed to me to sit at the center of really
important questions about the modern world, rather than a fringe aberration.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The </i>Publishers Weekly<i> review of the book called it “a
potent deconstruction of mid-20th-century American politics and culture.” What
do you think of that description?</i><br />
<br />
A: I hope it's right! As I've said, I think we can learn a lot about
issues front and center in modern society, politics, and culture from studying
seemingly fringe topics like UFOs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Readers will meet alien abductees and UFO researchers in
this story, but they might be surprised to note that events and figures we'd
think would have nothing to do with UFO culture in the United States, like
James Earl Jones and the Watergate scandal, are surprisingly wound into the Hills'
own lives. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12OTgVNvbtxy1f5Qeu7GyDF3GgJpT5gDr7RHDKJKaKK3LuEdutSGJD0Z8svUgTiOkbGg6rlQJXg16qmLdax9Wj1_L7VvjSGxX_m3hMu4wkU3yE7Y3DDrcMSas0_gREiiAm4iaHEWJTGelrL6PQjcJNcEftGWdfs7CArk4Zr651p0Irg-ayiRcrDdGfczY/s1000/51RQ6-Hqd8L._SL1000_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="662" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12OTgVNvbtxy1f5Qeu7GyDF3GgJpT5gDr7RHDKJKaKK3LuEdutSGJD0Z8svUgTiOkbGg6rlQJXg16qmLdax9Wj1_L7VvjSGxX_m3hMu4wkU3yE7Y3DDrcMSas0_gREiiAm4iaHEWJTGelrL6PQjcJNcEftGWdfs7CArk4Zr651p0Irg-ayiRcrDdGfczY/s320/51RQ6-Hqd8L._SL1000_.jpg" width="212" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn
that especially surprised you?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I knew I wanted to write about UFOs, but I'd not picked
the Hills in particular until I learned that their niece, Kathleen Marden, has
quite recently donated a large collection of the Hills's papers to the
University of New Hampshire. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Betty and Barney Hill were an interracial couple living in
New Hampshire in 1961 when they encountered a strange light in the sky - a
light which, after undergoing hypnosis, they came to believe was a spacecraft
piloted by aliens who seized them and subjected them to medical testing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is the first modern alien abduction story in American
history, and it's famous for that reason. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Other historians have written about the Hills, but nearly
all rely on the 1966 book The Interrupted Journey, by the journalist John
Fuller. Fuller's book is based almost entirely on interviews with the Hills,
and I was surprised to learn how error-riddled that book is. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fuller occasionally misattributes or alters quotations, for
instance, in ways that shape how we understand the Hills's story. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was able to compare Fuller's book to the interview
transcripts (which no other scholars have looked at), and identified many of
these problems.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What role do you think race played in the public reaction
to the Hills' story?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: This gets to my answer above. Fuller tried to minimize
the impact of race on the Hills's story. This was in part politic on his
part - he was writing at the height of the Black freedom movement in the United
States and wanted to avoid the politics of race. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But my research demonstrates how central race was both to
how the Hills themselves understood their experience and in how the public
interpreted it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Barney was, of course, Black, and both Hills were involved
in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They were
activists, and feared that the story might harm their work. As it turned out,
it did.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<i>Q: What are you working on now?</i><br />
<br />
A: Two projects. First, there has been little scholarly work on how UFOs have
been understood by traditional religious denominations. I'm working on a study
of UFOs in the history of Mormonism. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Second, I'm working on a not-biography of Stephen R. Covey,
the famous business management author and self-help writer. I call it a
not-biography because I'm as interested in the world around Covey, the ideas he
absorbed and synthesized, as on simply telling the story of his life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: <i>The UFO Incident</i>, the film James Earl Jones produced and
starred in about the Hill incident, is free to watch on YouTube.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-33424181730711417822024-03-16T06:00:00.000-04:002024-03-16T06:00:04.945-04:00Q&A with Julie Chavez<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzm7d7BFh_t_BNay4XFd0npuhZfNSkxeENTj2PHFioCtTVIu2qfrpqZbf3CIGFxm3c9FRR6mWh_NPsqRjKgP1TSGyedpTkda-ldG8C_SU2jaMxrnTCCjcD_oJESiMkoAuGIjziANtzkn7IBuLoW0Xak-d4W7oElyT7NLvUbCMQAmvQu63UOFJXoUdWLUJ/s644/Screenshot%202024-03-16%20at%2005-55-55%20About%20%E2%80%94%20Julie%20Writes%20Words.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="549" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzm7d7BFh_t_BNay4XFd0npuhZfNSkxeENTj2PHFioCtTVIu2qfrpqZbf3CIGFxm3c9FRR6mWh_NPsqRjKgP1TSGyedpTkda-ldG8C_SU2jaMxrnTCCjcD_oJESiMkoAuGIjziANtzkn7IBuLoW0Xak-d4W7oElyT7NLvUbCMQAmvQu63UOFJXoUdWLUJ/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-16%20at%2005-55-55%20About%20%E2%80%94%20Julie%20Writes%20Words.png" width="273" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Racelle Campanelli</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><a href="https://www.juliewriteswords.com/about">Julie Chavez</a> is the author of the new memoir <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Everyone-But-Myself-Julie-Chavez/dp/1958506052/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18M17LDJ5J4UG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-6oFInYRB9cgBV_T_xGa85dLHSmOsdtraWQb-uUnBRZTACy67ClW70B0IfIsINnzimPjQx9p25byz_bceeMDPHcCND6RQgoV_IQ8ZVKSOJIjQ-agztZ7bOirQ9E1RtHr_uqIxcZ1L6qJx0fpEQMis3fbjEGBKJ-KTcrUmCy4u8oKLy3eRxFCP79Tw64Fwd45gWCFy1KfbKKgAvN-R1q_Oo5hMd_no8lmFqgzCOWI2tA.LzoaWl19IKTOdbazNB81vxNYFXqn6fHChmK9nkjXPrA&dib_tag=se&keywords=julie+chavez&qid=1710582910&sprefix=julie+chavez%2Caps%2C70&sr=8-1">Everyone But Myself</a></i>. She is an elementary school librarian, and she lives in Northern California. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What inspired you to write </i>Everyone But Myself<i>?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
I wrote this memoir because I believed that my story could be of service to
others, and that perhaps it could help them understand themselves or a loved
one a bit better. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Seasons
of anxiety and depression are incredibly isolating, and my hope was that this
book could be a friend to its readers by helping them feel less alone. Putting
words to our internal experiences can be good medicine. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
How was the book's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
This book’s title was elusive for a long time! In the end, we went back to my
original elevator pitch: This memoir is the story of my way through a season of
severe anxiety and depression after I spent too long caring for everyone but
myself. I am so grateful we found our way. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
title is about the consequences of putting your needs last—though sometimes
necessary, it’s not a sustainable way to live. It’s a reminder to me that my
own name has a place on the list of people I love and care for. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
The writer Keely Flynn said of the book, “Chavez’s book gently—and
sometimes not-so gently—suggests that finding the words to ask for mental
health help isn’t the hardest part, that it’s actually acknowledging the
roadblocks we’ve been taught to just push through.” What do you think of that
description?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUddZzkSD-XUqutJlKBl7R7vHnaUBKXJ_ODjLzyKvt0qeJZyScyTVjEMP4Q3ryGpJdQ_wmzfxoIbY1HHuL0I_QVvd81cuWIqh61HsERvDPg21cJB_qS4q73ncuc748_I3tl9eO-B-BVW8F77UtnTLxpf1jBVVDxzjd0yc-NLfrVSZlSXQwWUWI10gZvdaB/s1360/611zjj0j7XL._SL1360_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUddZzkSD-XUqutJlKBl7R7vHnaUBKXJ_ODjLzyKvt0qeJZyScyTVjEMP4Q3ryGpJdQ_wmzfxoIbY1HHuL0I_QVvd81cuWIqh61HsERvDPg21cJB_qS4q73ncuc748_I3tl9eO-B-BVW8F77UtnTLxpf1jBVVDxzjd0yc-NLfrVSZlSXQwWUWI10gZvdaB/s320/611zjj0j7XL._SL1360_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
I love this description, because caring for our mental health is a layered
exercise. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">I
was in crisis in the spring of 2018, and I had to access help to ease the
acute, debilitating anxiety I experienced (for me, this came in the form of
medication and therapy). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">But
we build our lives—and sometimes slide into our crises—through small habits. If
one of my regular habits is to push through and fail to address what’s not
working for me in my life, then I’ll forever be coming up against the same
problems, finding myself depleted and desperate. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">We
have to admit we need help with our mental health, but we also have to look at
the internalized messages that do us a disservice. Our culture doesn’t provide
a lot of support in learning how to look for balance, and we tend to
deprioritize our own emotional nourishment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What impact did it have on you to write this memoir, and what do you hope
readers take away from it?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Writing this memoir was a gift. It represents the redemption of a terrible
time, and to be able to write about those sad days is evidence of how far I’ve
come. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">To
have it published was a dream realized—I’m a lifelong reader, a book-lover, a
haunter of bookstores. To see <i>Everyone But Myself</i> on the shelves has been
surreal and beautiful. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gregory
Maguire once told me in an interview that we read not only to find comfort in
the moment, but to store up comfort for the difficult times that will
inevitably arrive in the future. It’s my great hope that this book can be a
comfort to its readers in whatever place they find themselves. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
I’m working on a novel, and I’m having a great time making up stories. It’s a
completely new exercise, but I’m loving being back to writing. I’m very hopeful
that the word salad currently on my laptop can one day become a second book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
Anything else we should know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Not that I can think of, which means that a month from now, I’ll wake up at 2am
thinking of 16 things I should’ve written here. Sigh.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-1351714708179203942024-03-16T05:50:00.000-04:002024-03-16T05:50:03.399-04:00Q&A with Betsy Aldredge<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs-mZkIkRzRawQLfm16oGfBFS2xa132AOKtE_09QFSD1d47PH0IpwcV-XixD2An9ZM7Um98XQ2Jfol62xfm03lgjjXiaD8qDotomUvgiDq2iwQXyEhByZqZ3Fv0xBXl6b6YqWiWmmsDu52uKtMCScMsXTTc12WrYt9Gw1zg3yCaT5-RFJhnjG_EJ7fnggX/s473/Untitled%20design%20-%202023-04-25T180917.612_1682464216406.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs-mZkIkRzRawQLfm16oGfBFS2xa132AOKtE_09QFSD1d47PH0IpwcV-XixD2An9ZM7Um98XQ2Jfol62xfm03lgjjXiaD8qDotomUvgiDq2iwQXyEhByZqZ3Fv0xBXl6b6YqWiWmmsDu52uKtMCScMsXTTc12WrYt9Gw1zg3yCaT5-RFJhnjG_EJ7fnggX/s320/Untitled%20design%20-%202023-04-25T180917.612_1682464216406.png" width="237" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.betsyaldredge.com/about">Betsy Aldredge</a> is the author of the new young adult novel <i><a href="https://www.betsyaldredge.com/book/eight-dates-and-nights">Eight Dates and Nights</a></i>. She is also the co-author of the YA novel <i><a href="https://www.betsyaldredge.com/book/sasquatch-love-and-other-imaginary-things">Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things</a></i>. She lives in Connecticut.</b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>Eight Dates and Nights<i>, and
how did you create your characters Hannah and Noah?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: As a long-time lover of holiday movies and holiday books,
I’ve always enjoyed romance stories that take place during the winter holidays.
However, every year I wish there were more Hanukkah romances! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I created Hannah and Noah by leaning on some of my favorite
romance tropes like “fish out of water” and “grumpy sunshine,” but focused
their yearning on some more specific Jewish themes related to family, diaspora,
and preserving lost history of a once vibrant community. I would say it’s like
a typical holiday romance set to a bittersweet tune. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The novel is set in a small town in Texas--why did you
choose this location, and how important is setting in your writing? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I spent many a holiday in small-town Texas with my
husband’s family. I was often the only Jew for miles and miles which was a very
different experience than where I grew up in the Northeast where Jewish
life was all around me. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One year we were driving around and came to an old, empty
synagogue. That inspired me to find out what happened to the Jewish community
that used to worship and live there. It was the seed of the story, so I would
say in this case the setting is integral to the plot. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYAh4jkAhKLLgYjR8EntP3CvD3WRTtv8quqHJ_uIn-aH1NkY3f4YZJ5zdvr1eCBmYI6Y5s8uiy2cfMrC6ZR_nLrmXpkA6QkGmc4dIB9Y9F91PK-rNT395IgHL3te8bj5iZ1RkU6J-oDhE6fONi8v4ZT6ByIFyZ33iKWCF_Z-MeRLnJE4KMWsOZ5uHZIIoM/s700/Eight%20Dates%20and%20Nights_1682022677635.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="467" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYAh4jkAhKLLgYjR8EntP3CvD3WRTtv8quqHJ_uIn-aH1NkY3f4YZJ5zdvr1eCBmYI6Y5s8uiy2cfMrC6ZR_nLrmXpkA6QkGmc4dIB9Y9F91PK-rNT395IgHL3te8bj5iZ1RkU6J-oDhE6fONi8v4ZT6ByIFyZ33iKWCF_Z-MeRLnJE4KMWsOZ5uHZIIoM/s320/Eight%20Dates%20and%20Nights_1682022677635.jpeg" width="213" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started
writing it, or did you make many changes along the way? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: As it’s a holiday romance it had to have a happy ending!
I did know there would be a Hanukkah party and a happy reunion. Some of the
other details were surprises, even to me, as I wrote and rewrote the story.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I think one of the main things I want readers to take
with them is that you can always find a community wherever you are. As the
character of Noah Blum says, “Blum where you are planted!” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I have a couple of manuscripts I’m working one. One is
another YA romance….</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: There are so many wonderful Jewish books about the
Holocaust and modern day anti-Semitism. However, I set out to write a book full
of Jewish joy because I think it’s important to show that as well. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m really grateful to all the readers, librarians,
teachers, booksellers, bloggers, and bookstagrammers who have said that it
resonated with them or taught them a little about Hanukkah and Jewish food. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve even heard that the book has made some people crave
pickles and latkes. In other words, my work here is done!</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb. <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2017/11/q.html">Here's</a> a previous Q&A with Betsy Aldredge. </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-91292051028395461232024-03-16T05:40:00.001-04:002024-03-16T05:40:06.652-04:00March 16<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtNDMasZojDld2OsCSfXJ57XmHMCbcUOKHNiF8JawR_JYbbQElVtWhUpCfzAT9kFsx0Z45oYBdCBvTVClRdxNBbfuz3LhT9VST8V9SqBjDxs-Q4c8KoBKE0103edNaOTMoomp7wxuGIxrFlNszWxxBlyyxcGvkXoIyno1w3kLBUdEhcrS6rIeaXKJxXVI/s538/440px-James_Madison(cropped)(c).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtNDMasZojDld2OsCSfXJ57XmHMCbcUOKHNiF8JawR_JYbbQElVtWhUpCfzAT9kFsx0Z45oYBdCBvTVClRdxNBbfuz3LhT9VST8V9SqBjDxs-Q4c8KoBKE0103edNaOTMoomp7wxuGIxrFlNszWxxBlyyxcGvkXoIyno1w3kLBUdEhcrS6rIeaXKJxXVI/s320/440px-James_Madison(cropped)(c).jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY<br />March 16, 1751: <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/james-madison">James Madison born.</a></span></span><br /></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-12388559365064611022024-03-15T06:23:00.005-04:002024-03-15T06:25:30.775-04:00Q&A with Aggie Blum Thompson<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhURrxmCmrPzT045KcjLpWr5y1VNcLw9q4zzFrOUmhr2uR4ht4IaDG5mfbQvojm54x-AItK13ALFqjD7f-AVNzBfer4JUp4v5shrWfWTFSaQ3mprnZFnLTO2Hhojd3K6XHGC-2M9AepT2ewhUf_QuBZEcAIEop7BnAEh3E5Kv7ozMudMoN6FVkeJSdOuL3L/s687/Screen-Shot-2020-08-02-at-5.49.59-PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="687" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhURrxmCmrPzT045KcjLpWr5y1VNcLw9q4zzFrOUmhr2uR4ht4IaDG5mfbQvojm54x-AItK13ALFqjD7f-AVNzBfer4JUp4v5shrWfWTFSaQ3mprnZFnLTO2Hhojd3K6XHGC-2M9AepT2ewhUf_QuBZEcAIEop7BnAEh3E5Kv7ozMudMoN6FVkeJSdOuL3L/s320/Screen-Shot-2020-08-02-at-5.49.59-PM.png" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b><a href="https://aggieblumthompson.com/about/">Aggie Blum Thompson</a> is the author of the new novel <i><a href="https://aggieblumthompson.com/such-a-lovely-family/">Such a Lovely Family</a></i>. Her other novels include <i><a href="https://aggieblumthompson.com/all-the-dirty-secrets/">All the Dirty Secrets</a></i>. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><i>Q:
What inspired you to write </i>Such a Lovely Family<i>, and how did you create the
Calhouns?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">A:
My first two books are psychological thrillers with some heavy and dark
elements, and I wanted to write something a little lighter this time around. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">I
have two teens and they don’t agree on much, but they both loved the movie
<i>Knives Out</i>, as did I. I decided I wanted to write a D.C. based mystery/thriller
that had that same vibe — a large cast of suspects, rich people behaving badly,
and while not technically a locked-room, at least a focused setting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">Ginny
Calhoun, the matriarch who struggles to control her grown children, came to me
first. I love the idea of a woman who never had a career, but was still
ambitious, exerting her power in the domestic sphere. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">I
knew I wanted the family to appear accomplished and happy but really be held
together by secrets and lies. In fact, their success is tightly correlated with
the level of deception they live with.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><i>Q:
Why did you decide to set the novel during the cherry blossom season in D.C.?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">A:
Like many DMV residents, every year my family looks forward to checking out the
explosion of cherry blossoms. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">Our
preferred spot is in Kenwood, a neighborhood in Chevy Chase not too far from
where I live. Everything about it is magical and perfect, from the branches
laden with pale pink blossoms to the grand houses and their immaculate lawns.
There’s even a picturesque creek that runs down the middle of the main street. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">So
naturally, as a thriller writer, I thought to myself— this would be a good
setting for a murder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhOjs3mMi0SdJ_2PQs_MIYvyDFqJl-AsUnU7GkrIHTO1I89YhtxqNdrAGMFsNRnRQTA-K90yOVOERLdR4s_NuiE_WIX0uxhBF8r__ycJcT18s8TDoW1jwvIcOhdwLLyrQgMzaad2i0wNvUY9Ef9RGu1OS2bYmRzlDkIrUuY3YzlowZs-G2KQaw5LDU_0t/s897/pb-SuchALovelyFamily.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="812" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhOjs3mMi0SdJ_2PQs_MIYvyDFqJl-AsUnU7GkrIHTO1I89YhtxqNdrAGMFsNRnRQTA-K90yOVOERLdR4s_NuiE_WIX0uxhBF8r__ycJcT18s8TDoW1jwvIcOhdwLLyrQgMzaad2i0wNvUY9Ef9RGu1OS2bYmRzlDkIrUuY3YzlowZs-G2KQaw5LDU_0t/s320/pb-SuchALovelyFamily.png" width="290" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><i>Q:
The writer <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2017/04/q-with-kathleen-barber.html">Kathleen Barber</a> said of the novel, “By peeling back the polished
surface of the Washington, DC, elite, Aggie Blum Thompson has crafted a
masterful domestic suspense teeming with secrets stacked upon secrets.” What do
you think of that description?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">A:
Oooh, I love it! I think it captures exactly what I was going for. The first
line of chapter one in the book is “Trying to be this perfect hurts.” And
that’s the story of the Calhouns. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">They
are trying so hard to appear perfect, and are so focused on how other perceive
them, that they are oblivious to the pain it causes themselves and others. Or
maybe they are not oblivious but view it as the price that must be paid to
maintain their image.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><i>Q:
What do you hope readers take away from the story?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">A:
I hope to give readers a few hours of pure, unadulterated fun. Nothing makes me
happier than when readers tell me they were compelled to keep turning the
pages. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">There
is a lot of darkness and stress in the world today, and we are more aware of it
then ever thanks to social media and relentless coverage. If I can provide
readers with a temporary escape, I am thrilled. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">I
think anyone who loves to solve puzzles and enjoys traditional whodunnits will
get a kick out of this book.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><i>Q:
What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">A:
I’ve just turned in my fourth novel, <i>You Deserve to Know</i>, which takes place in
Bethesda, and I am currently brainstorming for book number five.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">Q:
Anything else we should know?</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;">A:
Come say “hi” on Instagram or Facebook. I love to hear from readers!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb. <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2022/07/q-with-aggie-blum-thompson.html">Here's</a> a previous Q&A with Aggie Blum Thompson. <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-91285518291941720472024-03-15T06:10:00.006-04:002024-03-15T06:10:51.691-04:00Q&A with Ellen Birkett Morris<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglvY9WYzgyzkxDpv93u-MGJXtEATYSzh87vbtoyB6YXlHUQVQcdlce3IoNX-buc8S2ySq_9znod1C1DJaS4BfjXw0Tb3JF-HIrDflq44MO6FWJ3X0A_mudsBI9e5yRinCcLuLcmtWsq4O6JX8hD46OCwSWvX4YfdSEFi8sjXGa_USGxsyJIjlrbDpySxbw/s3384/230715-Ellen-Birkett-Morris--Bookshelf-photo-1-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2968" data-original-width="3384" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglvY9WYzgyzkxDpv93u-MGJXtEATYSzh87vbtoyB6YXlHUQVQcdlce3IoNX-buc8S2ySq_9znod1C1DJaS4BfjXw0Tb3JF-HIrDflq44MO6FWJ3X0A_mudsBI9e5yRinCcLuLcmtWsq4O6JX8hD46OCwSWvX4YfdSEFi8sjXGa_USGxsyJIjlrbDpySxbw/s320/230715-Ellen-Birkett-Morris--Bookshelf-photo-1-.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b><a href="https://www.ellenbirkettmorris.com/">Ellen Birkett Morris</a> is the author of the new novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beware-Grass-Ellen-Birkett-Morris/dp/B0CP356D3Y/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QVRX8KLELJE1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BxwoKvKFRZKhrjjoPAER3KhStd65peDUmSH_kCpZfaw.mSnneZ9R3EVjXH2VvfZZUADLZYfhRidyAMEF8cBsv20&dib_tag=se&keywords=ellen+birkett+morris&qid=1710497287&s=books&sprefix=ellen+birkett+morris%2Cstripbooks%2C64&sr=1-1">Beware the Tall Grass</a></i>. Her other work includes the story collection <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Girls-Ellen-Birkett-Morris/dp/1952816017/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=n6oZv&content-id=amzn1.sym.cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_p=cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_r=138-9947220-5750055&pd_rd_wg=sWq1Z&pd_rd_r=008f5c63-98ad-4a1d-9f6e-c7b6b07f3899&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk">Lost Girls</a></i>. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>Beware the Tall Grass<i>,
and how did you create your cast of characters?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A: I was in the car on a road trip with my husband in
2014, when we heard a story about children haunted by past life memories on
National Public Radio. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The story focused on a research program at University
of Virginia and the work of neuroscientists who explored the phenomena of young
children with past life memories. They tried to verify the children’s claims by
checking them against news reports from the times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The story fascinated me, and I thought instantly of a
mother who wished to give her son a perfect childhood and wasn’t able to
because his mind was filled with memories of past trauma. I know women who saw
parenthood as a chance to give their children the childhood they had wished
they had. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was born prematurely in 1965 with a mild case of
cerebral palsy, and I always wondered about my mother’s hopes for me as she
contemplated the challenges I might face. So the character of Eve Sloan was
born from these musings. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I wrote the story of a family whose differing
reactions to their young son Charlie’s memories of being in Vietnam was putting
tension on the marriage. A workshop instructor suggested the idea would make a
good novel. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The best way I knew how to expand the story was to
alternate chapters with Thomas Boone, a young man caught up in the drama of
mid-‘60s America who is sent to Vietnam. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I populated Eve’s world with her best friend and a
friend who is a fellow mother. Thomas’s world is populated with family,
childhood friends, a girlfriend, and his fellow soldiers. I made sure that the
side characters exerted pressure on the narrative in various ways to increase
dramatic tension and raise the stakes in the novel. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN92gMi7uU9NkdJ1IWyqEQcds4ptjrz23rnEQetoKtO62K0aO57hIlkK_13Q2a7VmB5CWF_4lEiAtqMxIzcnKPj_sPRlAgDhVo5lOacvjt5c-3tr8oZCzYLJuXtLv2JstQ7NaNed7NL_g9ljMoRhXy9YyDQfToEfIur54oLseOY5zrORornISmBooRIpbN/s1500/71Iyn0j1KeL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="968" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN92gMi7uU9NkdJ1IWyqEQcds4ptjrz23rnEQetoKtO62K0aO57hIlkK_13Q2a7VmB5CWF_4lEiAtqMxIzcnKPj_sPRlAgDhVo5lOacvjt5c-3tr8oZCzYLJuXtLv2JstQ7NaNed7NL_g9ljMoRhXy9YyDQfToEfIur54oLseOY5zrORornISmBooRIpbN/s320/71Iyn0j1KeL._SL1500_.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Q: The novel is told in two time periods--did you
write the story in the order in which it appears, or focus on one time period
before turning to the other?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A: I wrote the story in the order in which it appears,
taking care to build echoes between the chapters, similarities in the mood or
repeated motifs. Writing it that way allowed me to follow my stream of
consciousness and use associations that sprang naturally to my imagination. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Initially, these sections were very short until I was
able to relax and build the chapters up a bit. As a former journalist, my
tendency is to always write short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Q: The writer Lan Samantha Chang said of the book, “Through
surprising and suspenseful turns, </i>Beware the Tall Grass<i> explores the evocative
mysteries of time and memory.” What do you think of that description?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A: I am glad that she felt the novel achieved those
goals. My job as the writer was to offer up the truest depiction I could of how
these characters would react in a given situation. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Charlie’s unexplained memories and Thomas’s service in
Vietnam offered a suspenseful backdrop to explore larger questions of memory,
identity and time. We all ponder these questions of existence and to be able to
explore them on the page was challenging and gratifying, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Q: How was the novel's title chosen, and what does it
signify for you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A: “Beware the tall grass, nothing good ever happens
there” is a line that comes up early in the book to signify the unexpected
things that can change the course of a life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the novel, tall grass has the same menace as the
dark forest does in fairy tales. It can hold unknown horrors. Things happen
there that change things forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A: I am revising a novel about a young female
astronomer enmeshed in a celestial discovery, a love triangle, her mother’s
illness and protests against the use of sacred sites for scientific discovery.
The vibe is <i>Contact</i> meets <i>The Big Bang Theory</i>. I hope to find an agent for that
book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A: This book holds a lot of me in it, and was the
culmination of years of effort. I hope it finds its readers and they enjoy the
story.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb. <a href="https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/q-with-ellen-birkett-morris.html">Here's</a> a previous Q&A with Ellen Birkett Morris. <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:8.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}.MsoPapDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-bottom:8.0pt;
line-height:107%;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-86968613741244294292024-03-15T05:51:00.001-04:002024-03-15T05:51:15.582-04:00Q&A with Maddie Norris<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ccvbtgdXU45cCefsUOOzxBx1WBv5gobgnahEw3K2bnQlr3Tq7cCHc0YKt4sW0u942sM_v7t2D_KxTEdfTuiS69IxuYq7lokE1xTGzj-Wp7b-IS5s2pYjY2dXRfylk5ZxskFNu77lDnqtMFTWWg8Fuu7ng_z4xurOgqF952k9OpYB-35Y41ve-F7-9Z7t/s1230/Norris_author%20photo%20credit%20Derick%20Decario%20Ladale%20Whitson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1230" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ccvbtgdXU45cCefsUOOzxBx1WBv5gobgnahEw3K2bnQlr3Tq7cCHc0YKt4sW0u942sM_v7t2D_KxTEdfTuiS69IxuYq7lokE1xTGzj-Wp7b-IS5s2pYjY2dXRfylk5ZxskFNu77lDnqtMFTWWg8Fuu7ng_z4xurOgqF952k9OpYB-35Y41ve-F7-9Z7t/s320/Norris_author%20photo%20credit%20Derick%20Decario%20Ladale%20Whitson.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Derick Decario Ladale Whitson</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><a href="https://maddienorris.com/home/">Maddie Norris</a> is the author of the new book <i><a href="https://maddienorris.com/">The Wet Wound: An Elegy in Essays</a></i>. She is the Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and she lives in Durham, North Carolina. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
How was your book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
I am notoriously bad at titles, but thankfully I had help. Ander Monson
suggested <i>The Wet Wound</i> after reading the manuscript, and I supplemented with
the subtitle <i>An Elegy in Essays</i>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
wet wound is the central metaphor that runs through the book. My dad was a
doctor, and after his death, I went through his medical lectures and slides,
and I learned that the best way to care for wounds, contrary to popular belief,
is to keep them open and wet. I mean this literally and metaphorically.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
subtitle is also important and prepares readers for what type of book they’ll
encounter. It’s an elegy mourning my dad, but it’s not a memoir, unlike many
other grief books. I wanted readers to know they would be getting a linked
collection of essays that examine grief, not just my life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
As you said, the essays in your book were inspired by your father’s death--can
you talk about your relationship with him?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
I had what Tolstoy might call a fairly boring relationship with my dad. We were
happy. We loved and cared and supported each other. We watched soccer games and
baked brownies and listened to Talking Heads. He helped me with my math
homework and I helped him set up his voicemail and our family ate dinner
together every school night. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">I
still love my dad, of course I do, but I now love him through grief. My grief
connects me to him. It’s what I have left.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhUDSN_-6V_ezw3m-5uaJGn1q5-OdCv8qCT4YnGGI9C4okQBpSoESQxFpa0qKHHuJx-zIjjGbMT0ca1GHsQwNfKvniJNF7ysqRXtJuVe-9YKGFX8cd9dRkjW7LXYUwIqvVQMmk6U0YLdCtbbtrfpzyPYNXZ8WsAi-VCJubielmlHqFawe7HbBl2ARRqbY/s4140/Wet%20Wound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4140" data-original-width="2679" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhUDSN_-6V_ezw3m-5uaJGn1q5-OdCv8qCT4YnGGI9C4okQBpSoESQxFpa0qKHHuJx-zIjjGbMT0ca1GHsQwNfKvniJNF7ysqRXtJuVe-9YKGFX8cd9dRkjW7LXYUwIqvVQMmk6U0YLdCtbbtrfpzyPYNXZ8WsAi-VCJubielmlHqFawe7HbBl2ARRqbY/s320/Wet%20Wound.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Q:
Over how long a period did you write the essays in the book?</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
In many ways this book started the year my dad died. I began writing about it
almost immediately because that’s how I make sense of the world. A year later,
I went to college on a writing scholarship and wrote while there. Those essays
got me to grad school, where I wrote the bulk of the book as it is today. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">My
thinking progressed and deepened over those initial years, and that time was
essential to my writing, but the specific words that now inhabit the book didn’t
materialize until I was in grad school. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
The writer Ander Monson called the book “One of the most intense and
revolutionary books I’ve read in the way it approaches grief.” What do you
think of that description?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Ander is one of the most inventive and boundary-pushing writers of our time, so
it’s an honor to have him read the book so carefully and deeply and see its
value. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">It’s
not an easy book; it asks readers to look directly into the wound, and that’s
painful. But that looking is essential to what I’m saying, which is that
through this wound, we find love. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
What are you working on now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
I wanted to challenge myself to work on a more outward looking project since
this one was so internal, so I’m working on a collection of essays that asks:
if women are objectified, why not turn ourselves into weapons against that
which objectifies us? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">Each
essay takes a word that could be a noun or verb (i.e. sleep, scream) and
considers how to use them to subvert the hierarchical structures that bind us
into nouns so that we might find agency in verbs. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">It
tackles large ideas, but by viewing them through specific nouns/verbs, the
theoretical becomes not just accessible but material, and thus, alterable. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q:
Anything else we should know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;">A:
Shortly after my dad died, I read Joan Didion’s <i>Year of Magical Thinking</i>.
People told me it was “intense” and “hard,” but it only ever made me feel held.
I hope my book does that for others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-54375537247442237572024-03-15T05:29:00.000-04:002024-03-15T05:29:09.413-04:00Q&A wit L.C. Rosen<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8J4uaGHcERMGj0I2bi_P7kg1hMmlrqY-nWx7vnvyGXy2n_BNzXGAJ0DBtgKcQl-Hmb2SPBdi_Ikx-5N5q62mdab8Pz9iPgkUhtZ-jJGzCj6biYokIKZBae_Zk3ozG6zp1Z-myNyWDmroOW97p9cQ16dh8kTkg7TlYESOxlzNKVv-1mFXYbnUnwyJi0vk/s2250/IMG_3550-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2250" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8J4uaGHcERMGj0I2bi_P7kg1hMmlrqY-nWx7vnvyGXy2n_BNzXGAJ0DBtgKcQl-Hmb2SPBdi_Ikx-5N5q62mdab8Pz9iPgkUhtZ-jJGzCj6biYokIKZBae_Zk3ozG6zp1Z-myNyWDmroOW97p9cQ16dh8kTkg7TlYESOxlzNKVv-1mFXYbnUnwyJi0vk/s320/IMG_3550-2.jpg" width="213" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.levacrosen.com/about">L.C. Rosen</a> is the author of the new young adult novel <i><a href="https://www.levacrosen.com/emmett">Emmett</a></i>, a retelling of Jane Austen's classic <i>Emma</i>. Rosen's other books include the YA novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Hearts-other-parts-Rosen/dp/0316480517/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2XRZ6H1MP0DYH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YSGr3hMjChX7dN135XnrH8qD9lZQOmtgvR-Blsc30KHISx2kkGaUSygKQJoeN7XTZnJAygPaJckVn0b3S8Ge3SMw7qxvTcTDRmRdMAGo85fts8BxcMvo7Za9NWKpUcVc1Oz6rN1G1FYwosxDYrViHxo-tiSuKww5JwsyMJ8ZN2Y7_ZuxU3DCJFU3r6e-Qc4mjRDB6QJidlJqMrJLSropIe1tdPcLHicqk3unZZx8RjQ.fZz-vUfqQaDHbVmW4_o9lUGApbFI1047Fh9k9IOknng&dib_tag=se&keywords=l.c.+rosen&qid=1710494607&sprefix=l.c.+rosen%2Caps%2C74&sr=8-4">Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)</a></i>. He lives in New York City. </b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write a modern YA retelling of Jane
Austen's </i>Emma<i>?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: It was an idea I had had for a while, partially because I
love <i>Emma</i>, but partially also because of Austen's famous quote about Emma -
"I'm going to write a character no one will like but me" (that's a
paraphrase). </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I love writing characters that people find
"unlikeable" especially young queer men because so many people feel
entitled to tell young queer men the right way to be a queer man, and most
of those people aren't queer men themselves. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So writing about messy gays being messy gays and not caring
what others think is always such liberating work. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What did you see as the right balance between the
original and your own take on these characters?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I think modernizing everyone was enough to give me a lot
of distance. So what's a modern teen version of that annoying older woman who
won't shut up about how great her niece is? Maybe a girl who won't shut up
about how great her best friend is. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I tried to keep the core of all the characters, but change
the particulars. Emmett is the only one I think I took more liberties with,
because he was the narrator and I really wanted to explore some of the themes I
saw in <i>Emma</i> that weren't as central, like loss and trauma. And of course all
the queering made things different too. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I'm not sure what the right balance is, I imagine that
will vary wildly reader to reader, but to me, it's right where I want it to
be. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErPqDua0TpgwvQ5yaX65mNY67KJhXwM_ZSaWJBkNt-K2qiglvnmgWLsAzO8hpmYfcpp-uaSuYHPkiglSGGMPZGmkbKAoPsUlgk6wjdzjQqLV_y4COoAJEg1wRmGDnyKP9zvirJz3L1lUYASuaw6ogVSWZHCOGSAwof3y5oYvilhda_Q2XZmT3buZdkU78/s1650/Emmet_FinalCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1650" data-original-width="1100" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErPqDua0TpgwvQ5yaX65mNY67KJhXwM_ZSaWJBkNt-K2qiglvnmgWLsAzO8hpmYfcpp-uaSuYHPkiglSGGMPZGmkbKAoPsUlgk6wjdzjQqLV_y4COoAJEg1wRmGDnyKP9zvirJz3L1lUYASuaw6ogVSWZHCOGSAwof3y5oYvilhda_Q2XZmT3buZdkU78/s320/Emmet_FinalCover.jpg" width="213" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The </i>Booklist <i>review of </i>Emmett <i>said, “This contemporary
update of Jane Austen’s </i>Emma<i> is a smoothly written, highly readable—no, make
that irresistible romance that is wise in the ways of love, especially for
queer kids like Emmett.” What do you think of that description?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I love this review so much. It's hilarious and I highly
encourage people to read the whole thing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I'm very flattered by it, of course, it's starred, it's
glowing, but beyond that, it's written with a lot more personality than you
usually see in reviews - it almost feels like it's being written *at* someone
who didn't like the book. I sort of hope it was, in fact? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I knew going in that people might HATE this book, and I'm
fine with that - same way Austen expected no one to like Emma, I didn't expect
anyone to like Emmett. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So this review, which to me is not only someone who loved
the book, but implies someone else hated it, is delicious. Everything I wanted,
presented hilariously and in an unexpected place. I love it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I think a lot of the book is about how with queer people
your closest friends and one-night stands and significant others often all come
from the same pool - hookups become best friends become boyfriends become exes
become best friends again. It's messy! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But trying to control that mess can result in not letting in
a lot of joy. So as it says at the end of the book - learn to love the
mess. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: This year, I have the third of my adult historical
mystery series out, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Pages-Evander-Mills-3/dp/1250322448/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39FPMF2V9Y67N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LBWnEhqb3y-57xSfFh4Fns4AGjSbvaRCc9rN2i3fGc8.f5TlbMtIdZ5hIt0ppMxg2vwI7MhNQF9Mp6yS58N1FzQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=lev+rosen+rough+pages&qid=1710494875&sprefix=lev+rosen+rough+pages%2Caps%2C55&sr=8-1">Rough Pages</a></i>, which follows PI Andy Mills investigating a
missing bookseller who was also running a queer book service - mailing out gay
books, which in the ‘50s, was criminal. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And next year, I have the fourth in that series out, as well
as the sequel to my YA queer archeological adventure, <i>King's Legacy</i>, and an
as-of-yet untitled YA romcom about goths competing in a Halloween decorating
competition. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Just that I hope you all have a wonderful day. You can
find more about me on my website - LevACRosen.com or on
instagram @LevACRosen. Thanks so much for having me!</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style> <br /></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-31089010417966130862024-03-15T05:16:00.002-04:002024-03-15T05:16:25.750-04:00Q&A with Elise Matich<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_3yi6FWbF_Bifheh88FRobmAvM-reoLMkZSIfqCcjyZ9TcZRgrmEWZBYcddNEQCKcHfQaicvFOAMlB64ZcPMB3TedBJj1O6IemJAaPU_rIMyoCzu98X5WRqkfaPlUVVPDTutfJnQxYI9p6syGvKvVrZ1JDlv6SExUOfnD7fq8WG8HbSMiB4SCoOQXBqx-/s2560/ae7375e9-35a6-4617-8f9e-a8ba33b60e9e_rw_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_3yi6FWbF_Bifheh88FRobmAvM-reoLMkZSIfqCcjyZ9TcZRgrmEWZBYcddNEQCKcHfQaicvFOAMlB64ZcPMB3TedBJj1O6IemJAaPU_rIMyoCzu98X5WRqkfaPlUVVPDTutfJnQxYI9p6syGvKvVrZ1JDlv6SExUOfnD7fq8WG8HbSMiB4SCoOQXBqx-/s320/ae7375e9-35a6-4617-8f9e-a8ba33b60e9e_rw_1920.jpg" width="240" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://elisematich.com/about-me-1">Elise Matich</a> is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sew-Sister-Untold-Wright-Seamstresses/dp/0884489825/ref=sr_1_1?crid=7H0P2JCOGAAC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.E2pcunzOwxygqj1uR8K0MQ.WfagoRmfx_lfKu5DtyaEyIVau-ZoH8H-dFDNq4w-rgI&dib_tag=se&keywords=elise+matich&qid=1710493863&sprefix=elise+matich%2Caps%2C68&sr=8-1">Sew Sister: The Untold Story of Jean Wright and NASA's Seamstresses</a></i>. Also an educator, she lives in Alexandria, Virginia. </b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to create </i>Sew Sister<i> and why did you
focus on Jean Wright’s story? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I met Jean Wright on a family trip to the Kennedy
Space Center. At the time, Jean was a docent at the Atlantis
exhibit, where she discussed her work as a seamstress for the space
shuttle program. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had no idea that the shuttles were covered in fabric, and
was so captivated by her story that I contacted her afterwards to ask if she
would be willing to let me tell it in picture book form. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn
that especially surprised you?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Interviews with Jean comprised the bulk of
my research. One of my favorite surprises from our conversations was
the revelation that some of the shuttle blankets were created using an
antique Singer sewing machine from 1914, which was originally used for making
saddles! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCs3y2wf8sZ2xI378yIw0QNVHz-q8hQvtN6oRbbE-j4vmJA_jsiI68zNPH5kMoV8fI8ckwrHJprYWIH16XZiBgYoJD9hp-uxhvir_8zpAymbxhfW12LLhILBCM8chFXCzg_WxmxX3dx-dI1_4c5nOc7_TiWIWK40UkG4Lr3tfuX3PcEMgsCtgOuAhm8-sB/s1200/715M1-hUW3L._SL1200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1200" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCs3y2wf8sZ2xI378yIw0QNVHz-q8hQvtN6oRbbE-j4vmJA_jsiI68zNPH5kMoV8fI8ckwrHJprYWIH16XZiBgYoJD9hp-uxhvir_8zpAymbxhfW12LLhILBCM8chFXCzg_WxmxX3dx-dI1_4c5nOc7_TiWIWK40UkG4Lr3tfuX3PcEMgsCtgOuAhm8-sB/s320/715M1-hUW3L._SL1200_.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Did you focus first on the text or on the
illustrations--or both simultaneously?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i> </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I focused on the text first. I was not sure initially
that I would illustrate the book, but decided to give it a try once the text
was finished. I was pleased with the results, so decided to go the
author-illustrator route.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I hope that kids reading <i>Sew Sister</i> will be inspired
to look at their own abilities and interests in a new way. Instead of
concentrating on distant goals, I would encourage kids to be open to unexpected
opportunities. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just as Jean was able to combine her seemingly unrelated
talent for sewing with her passion for space, I hope that kids will embrace
their gifts and seize unlooked for chances to nurture and employ them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: My current project is a book on evolution and prehistoric
life. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: That's it!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-16395315274725517332024-03-15T05:08:00.006-04:002024-03-15T05:08:48.570-04:00March 15<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0bv-dsS902Gz6sDNTFHI8MMHuIaORh60lQd73QuQG5LiwlXVopo1P-0HPxwcT7fZ8oVrRZcN-iBrEu_b1I8K25JISg8qPFh9BhNL7oaQ5pKUzgpvrvL1lprbshCtVH88G_BQ5yyoPQHRLd4vo2XKeWmX0-iCacwcIV0Rgr7KolzQLsEo4isgXcKnimXY/s550/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg_e2016_portrait.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0bv-dsS902Gz6sDNTFHI8MMHuIaORh60lQd73QuQG5LiwlXVopo1P-0HPxwcT7fZ8oVrRZcN-iBrEu_b1I8K25JISg8qPFh9BhNL7oaQ5pKUzgpvrvL1lprbshCtVH88G_BQ5yyoPQHRLd4vo2XKeWmX0-iCacwcIV0Rgr7KolzQLsEo4isgXcKnimXY/s320/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg_e2016_portrait.jpg.webp" width="256" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY<br />March 15, 1933: <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographyginsburg.aspx">Ruth Bader Ginsburg born.</a></span></span><br /></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-30022851472656645942024-03-14T09:05:00.000-04:002024-03-14T09:05:31.299-04:00Q&A with Katie Gee Salisbury<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2GSYpxG1TLxIF-J6XvYwWlruKmHZym4MbgPP9kVDs-RQqxKXlrJsN2Yg-Ep3LuWDL9DWuu4hCVxPQczIaNbwmm0TlNUnoFCS39P_z_titAE5aPmZ8xEDqsKBAyR8UrY3QVpT62Mz2Hsilz79UrNBq2UuA5-wLn2mf5K0v1Jtf8KsF-OCd-AB5aDJ0NIr/s1665/KGS+author+photo_credit+Jmar+Teran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1665" data-original-width="1517" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2GSYpxG1TLxIF-J6XvYwWlruKmHZym4MbgPP9kVDs-RQqxKXlrJsN2Yg-Ep3LuWDL9DWuu4hCVxPQczIaNbwmm0TlNUnoFCS39P_z_titAE5aPmZ8xEDqsKBAyR8UrY3QVpT62Mz2Hsilz79UrNBq2UuA5-wLn2mf5K0v1Jtf8KsF-OCd-AB5aDJ0NIr/s320/KGS+author+photo_credit+Jmar+Teran.jpg" width="292" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Jmar Teran</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.katiegeesalisbury.com/about">Katie Gee Salisbury</a> is the author of the new biography <i><a href="https://www.notyourchinadoll.com/">Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong</a></i>. Salisbury also writes the newsletter <i><a href="https://halfcastewoman.substack.com/">Half-Caste Woman</a></i>, and she lives in Brooklyn.</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write a biography of actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961)?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Growing up as a mixed race Asian kid in the suburbs of
Los Angeles in the 1990s, I could count on one hand the Asian American role
models I looked up to: Michelle Kwan, B. D. Wong, and Margaret Cho. As a
community, Asian Americans were barely visible in mainstream media. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So when I stumbled upon a photograph of Anna May Wong during
a college internship at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, I was
totally flabbergasted that someone like her had been a movie star in the 1920s
and ‘30s. That was the most amazing thing to me, and yet no one was talking
about her anymore. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Her historical importance seemed obvious to me, so it became
kind of my personal mission to help revive Wong’s memory and shine a light on
all that she accomplished in her career. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also, selfishly, wanted to immerse myself in her world and
live vicariously through her glamorous life. Writing an entire book on someone
may seem like a roundabout way of doing that! But I truly enjoyed the years I
spent excavating her life and researching the social and political context of
her time. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify
for you?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I came up with the title when I was working on the book
proposal. It was a riff on <i>I’m Not Your Negro</i>, the title of Raoul Peck’s
documentary on James Baldwin, which is also something Baldwin once said in an
interview. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most biographies are named after their subject, but I wanted
to have a title that did more than state the obvious. I wanted it to capture
people’s imaginations and provoke their curiosity. Alexis Coe’s biography of
George Washington, <i>You Never Forget Your First</i>, does that and served as a
model. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To me, Not Your China Doll is a way of turning the typical
discourse about Asian women on its head, i.e., the idea that we are submissive,
helpless, overtly feminine, objects of desire—China dolls. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anna May Wong often had to play the China doll on-screen,
although that changed over time as she took over the reins of her career and
wielded more influence in the industry. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Telling people what you’re not is a way of asserting not
only your identity, but also your agency as an individual. So the statement
“not your China doll” is a defiant one that shifts power back into Wong’s
hands. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I want people to realize she’s not a helpless Madame
Butterfly in her own story, that she’s not a tragic figure as so many others
have made her out to be.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course, I can’t take credit for the phrase itself because
it’s been out there in the ether, living in our subconscious for a while now. I
wasn’t surprised to see that during the pandemic in response to the rise in
anti-Asian hate, “not your China doll” often appeared on posters and became a
rallying cry of sorts for Asian American women.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: How did you research Anna May Wong's life, and did you
learn anything that especially surprised you?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: To research the book, I tried to look at as many
materials as possible, both in online databases and in-person archives. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That includes everything from newspaper clippings, movie
magazines, interviews, personal correspondence, oral histories, film production
files at the Academy library, memoirs and biographies of other Hollywood
personalities, etc. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also traveled to London to watch some of Wong’s rare
European films at the British Film Institute. When there were people who knew
Wong or relatives who were still alive, I conducted interviews to collect any
recollections or stories that had been passed down. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxggQnK4L4bjBfhXr0CSll5gol6TUsf-TsNTt1R01fMhhMsfTHvWUImKiwbfAJZsOyYrFOYoutVLEFtRHq0XovWBjUQ46pAycxxcmS4FO3UUZBoYzkTXlLMvJ1r0A0tFa_OJUP_GwvWgHyhkvoC8BCzL8MKjEWGbOjiaIi5MAwW3OJ1ve79yQgYQgcxXGN/s1500/71xcJlVFuuL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="994" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxggQnK4L4bjBfhXr0CSll5gol6TUsf-TsNTt1R01fMhhMsfTHvWUImKiwbfAJZsOyYrFOYoutVLEFtRHq0XovWBjUQ46pAycxxcmS4FO3UUZBoYzkTXlLMvJ1r0A0tFa_OJUP_GwvWgHyhkvoC8BCzL8MKjEWGbOjiaIi5MAwW3OJ1ve79yQgYQgcxXGN/s320/71xcJlVFuuL._SL1500_.jpg" width="212" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anna Wong, for example, Anna May Wong’s niece, was helpful
in acting as a sounding board whenever I had questions or wanted to run
something by her. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One thing that surprised me is that I ultimately came to
different conclusions about incidents in Wong’s life that had been previously
cited by other biographers. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is partly due to how I interpreted the primary source
material—you realize in the act of writing a biography that seemingly
“objective” authors can come to dramatically different understandings of the
same material. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In some cases, I was able to dig deeper, either as a result
of insights I had or due to the fact that many more materials are digitized now
and easily searchable. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For instance, on the question of whether Anna May Wong and
Marlene Dietrich had a romantic affair, I found enough circumstantial evidence
to disprove that theory. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I was able to get in touch with Dietrich’s daughter,
Maria Riva, who had been on set for Shanghai Express with her mother and Wong.
Though Riva was well aware of her mother’s dabblings with men and women, she
balked at the idea that she and Wong were anything more than friends. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: The author Phil Yu said of the book, “Katie Gee
Salisbury’s vivid biography of the first Asian American movie star is not only
a fun, transporting trip to a golden age, but also a contemporary consideration
of why Anna May Wong still matters.” What do you think of that assessment, and
how would you describe Wong's legacy today?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i> </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: It was such an honor to receive those words of praise
from Phil. I’ve admired his work over at <a href="https://blog.angryasianman.com/">Angry Asian Man</a> for a long time. It
was also validating to have him acknowledge how relevant Anna May Wong’s story
is today. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It may seem like Asian American representation has seen a
massive increase in the last few years since <i>Crazy Rich Asians</i> opened the
floodgates, and it has, but that doesn’t mean we should stop questioning why it
took us so long to get here. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because those same forces that kept Wong from playing
leading roles in Hollywood are still at play in the industry today. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That said, it has been incredible to watch Wong’s legacy be
embraced by the public again over the last few years. She’s now on U.S.
quarters, has a Barbie doll, and is the subject of an upcoming biopic. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People tell me my book is coming out at just the right time,
which is funny, because when I started this project, almost no one I talked to
knew who she was. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I’m happy all the same to be a part of this wave of
publicity that is finally giving Wong her due. Hopefully through my book people
will also get to know who she really was.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I’m mulling over a few ideas for my next book, but
nothing concrete yet. There are a couple Hollywood stories I’m interested in.
I’d also like to write about mixed race identity at some point. So we’ll see
where things lead.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: If people are interested in learning more about Anna May
Wong (outside of reading the book), I write a free Substack called <a href="https://halfcastewoman.substack.com/">Half-Caste Woman</a>. I also post
glamor shots of Wong and updates about the book to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/annamaywongbook">@annamaywongbook</a>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I’ve got a bunch of events coming up in New York, Los
Angeles, and San Francisco, including a book talk with Ed Park at <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/katie-gee-salisbury-ed-park-not-your-china-doll-tickets-776612858967">The
Strand</a> on March 14. For more details, visit: <a href="https://www.notyourchinadoll.com/events">https://www.notyourchinadoll.com/events</a> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-4829913179577200272024-03-14T08:53:00.000-04:002024-03-14T08:53:07.425-04:00Q&A with Sarah Beth Durst<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcq2uMkkaCGmEsYrB_qFtF1OlHxOQTOb8-ItjLBsxF0y8Qhlx0RC2V4Cif2A0sO0owCelNdzVGzd-ed9WkHIJb2xBEq4Au9El1DxUyNw-Lq3bEkZkVuKLfRNgXAkhNGgd7jhvNan7RLZYNWx_-sRnaDmcoM63qB5tS_dnK7oipEqRyjkULYH9dRA6KQrSx/s1340/DURST_AuthorPhoto_HighRes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1340" data-original-width="1016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcq2uMkkaCGmEsYrB_qFtF1OlHxOQTOb8-ItjLBsxF0y8Qhlx0RC2V4Cif2A0sO0owCelNdzVGzd-ed9WkHIJb2xBEq4Au9El1DxUyNw-Lq3bEkZkVuKLfRNgXAkhNGgd7jhvNan7RLZYNWx_-sRnaDmcoM63qB5tS_dnK7oipEqRyjkULYH9dRA6KQrSx/s320/DURST_AuthorPhoto_HighRes.jpg" width="243" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><a href="http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/bio.htm">Sarah Beth Durst</a> is the author of the new novel <i><a href="http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/Lies.htm">The Lies Among Us</a></i>. Her many other books include the young adult novel <i><a href="http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/LakeHouse.htm">The Lake House</a></i>. She lives in Stony Brook, New York. <br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: What inspired you to write
</i>The Lies Among Us<i>, and how did you create your character Hannah?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: Every time I have a stray
idea, I jot it down. No matter how large or small, it goes into the file. I
have learned that if I don't write ideas down, they melt away like stray flakes
of snow on a not-cold-enough day, but if I write them down, they might instead
become sparks that spread into a fire. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">The idea that became <i>The Lies
Among Us</i> was a simple three-word sentence: "She doesn't exist."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Hannah grew from there. I
started asking myself: What would a life like that be like? No one can see her
or hear her or feel her. She's never had a true conversation. She's never
touched another person. And then I asked myself the most important question:
Why?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Nonfiction approaches truth
by exploring the question "What?" -- what happened, where, when, by
who, to whom. But fiction aims to uncover truth by delving as deeply as
possible into the question "Why?"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">So that's how I created
Hannah, by asking why and following the answers wherever they led.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: The writer Ruth Emmie Lang
said of the book, “</i>The Lies Among Us<i> is an engrossing and wildly inventive
story that takes a magic wand to the lies we tell ourselves and each other and
imagines a world in which the line between truth and fiction is a curtain that
could be pulled back at any moment.” What do you think of that description?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I love that
description!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did dance between reality
and the surreal to tell this story -- I believe that's where all the best
truths can be found, in the intersection between fact and imagination.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmzFvJcIDWEBVME8FdDZdo5WrvGcTWh3zKXS1q6rKCqoXBNxgYnSgqONhJ2NBOCczNQNOz0ZQC_8PKvAmfU0Vum8KNidukq3GXLOgiOeltoMPJVcC_dxh0SwNNRRJGuZNaumsCHUtnlqA0Y5ezFJDHY6RRy4pRdg2_uXJnmI3k7SraxBVymrVjyk8CjYNA/s1500/910PBDJ8wUL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="971" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmzFvJcIDWEBVME8FdDZdo5WrvGcTWh3zKXS1q6rKCqoXBNxgYnSgqONhJ2NBOCczNQNOz0ZQC_8PKvAmfU0Vum8KNidukq3GXLOgiOeltoMPJVcC_dxh0SwNNRRJGuZNaumsCHUtnlqA0Y5ezFJDHY6RRy4pRdg2_uXJnmI3k7SraxBVymrVjyk8CjYNA/s320/910PBDJ8wUL._SL1500_.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">The theme at the heart of <i>The
Lies Among Us</i> is the corrosive nature of lies -- what they do to a person, to a
family, to a society. The novel was inspired by the lies that have invaded our
lives, especially in politics and online.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I chose to tackle the topic
through the lens of a single family, specifically through the eyes of Hannah
(who doesn't exist) and her sister Leah (who does). In doing so, it ended up
becoming a novel about mothers and daughters, just as much as it is a story
about lies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: Did you know how the novel
would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the
way?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I knew loosely how I
wanted it to end, especially the feel that I wanted it to have. But yes, so
many changes along the way! In the beginning, it was only Hannah's story, but
then I layered in more and more of Leah's point of view. Now, I can't imagine
the book without both.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I think when you're writing a
book, it's important to be open to allowing your story to evolve. You discover
your story through the act of writing it, not by planning it all out in
advance. What's that quote about no plan surviving the first battle? Very
often, that's how it works.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: You've written for
different age groups--do you have a preference?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I write for adults, teens,
and kids, and I love them all! Each of them has their own joys and their own
challenges. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">With writing for kids, you're
often writing about firsts -- first friendship, first adventure, first
disappointment, first brush with wonder or danger or fear -- and there's a
sense of responsibility that comes with that. You can't assume a child reader has
experienced your kind of story before. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">With writing for adults, the
joy and challenge is, in a way, the opposite. Adult readers come with a full
array of expectations for plot, character, theme, etc., and you have the choice
to either fulfill or subvert them. You're able to explore a whole other world
of stories because you can build on all that prior reader experience. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">And with teens, there's the
unique challenge of writing to an audience that is simultaneously jaded and
inexperienced but ready to feel it all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: What are you working on
now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk155617376"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: Right
now, I am working on my next book-club-fiction novel, <i>The Willow and the
Warbler</i>, coming from Lake Union in 2025. It's about a woman who cannot stay who
comes to a town she cannot leave. I'm so excited about it!</span></a></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk155617376;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: Anything else we should
know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: Hmm... Well, I like
chocolate, raspberries, and cheese. I don't like skunks or Frisbees. My cat
Gwen is my writing partner. She sits on or near me while I write my books, and
sometimes she naps on the caps lock key. And in my spare time, I like to play the
piano, though I'm really not very good at it at all. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">But if you want to know more
about me and my books, there's a ton of info on my website: </span><a href="http://www.sarahbethdurst.com"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">http://www.sarahbethdurst.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> And if you'd like to follow me on social media, I'm
@sarahbethdurst on pretty much everything. Hope to see you there!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
mso-themecolor:hyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-59812032379533109432024-03-14T08:42:00.001-04:002024-03-14T08:42:16.027-04:00Q&A with Dara Levan<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ShX-RILDbd-l9NbmZZXzn7899JFkfcQ2RlCdbEgyoB_dXIKCS8qKpggtMG670DnPV6rqSkcIbgDtVi4JLsXCwYlqvoBM-0uCLdpo2N3R4EovXp3aa4liDU7DoMl19so4Xd-z8X8teXF8zl-TnSQi18IXyu4NBCMGZ5DEe36rIHDp_OkKzpXW5fLm30n9/s784/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%2008-36-16%20About%20Dara%20Levan%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Fiction%20Author%20%E2%80%94%20DARA%20LEVAN.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="548" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ShX-RILDbd-l9NbmZZXzn7899JFkfcQ2RlCdbEgyoB_dXIKCS8qKpggtMG670DnPV6rqSkcIbgDtVi4JLsXCwYlqvoBM-0uCLdpo2N3R4EovXp3aa4liDU7DoMl19so4Xd-z8X8teXF8zl-TnSQi18IXyu4NBCMGZ5DEe36rIHDp_OkKzpXW5fLm30n9/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%2008-36-16%20About%20Dara%20Levan%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Fiction%20Author%20%E2%80%94%20DARA%20LEVAN.png" width="224" /></a></div><br /><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b><a href="https://www.daralevan.com/meet-dara">Dara Levan</a> is the author of the new novel <i><a href="https://www.daralevan.com/debut-novel-it-could-be-worse-2023">It Could Be Worse</a></i>. She hosts the podcast <i><a href="https://www.daralevan.com/podcast-every-soul-has-a-story">Every Soul Has a Story</a></i>, and she lives in South Florida.<br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: What inspired you to write
</i>It Could Be Worse<i>, and how did you create your character Allegra?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>ve
always been interested in developing a protagonist whose perpetual optimism
can become blind loyalty, despite her professional (and ironic) background
as a therapist. All is not always what it seems. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">As a former speech-language
pathologist, I<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>m
passionate about creating characters who have communication challenges.
Allegra stutters but only with a family member.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">The musical theme and
structure—it<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s written in the cadence of a
waltz--mirrors the experience of healing. We often take one step forward and
two steps back. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">My eight summers at
Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan sparked the idea for the heartwarming
flashbacks at a music camp, and it's where Allegra meets her lifelong best
friend, Ruby. Interestingly, they both become therapists as adults.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: How was the book's title
chosen, and what does it signify for you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: Oh I love this question!
The title has multiple, layered meanings. Allegra is an eternal optimist.
She<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s heard the phrase, <span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span>it
could be worse,” for much of her life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">As she awakens to what
is and what may never be, Allegra begins to realize how invalidating
this statement can be. What seems to be a supportive phrase can also
suppress a person from living his or her truth. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">As Allegra<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
story unfolds, the title becomes even more significant. I don<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>t want to give too much away. After all, in any
situation, it could be worse!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQou9WFrZGyFel3y_0u7KeYJaJfYUWhErmqea_8BWxJfuJdU2qVK3V0nabhGOxbtQuYGlCZ-N0Vj7KPYIS3T9x_Y1XUv2oz815PZeyRfhe_9KjMgjOGKPTtI6aZ32MJepeDRFcVS1J48PmMw0R6Bn_W7bDz9h6crCIBdw6Gr3lp8BQjEjeXu9JjWGSQuq/s1500/71GrXU1yRKL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQou9WFrZGyFel3y_0u7KeYJaJfYUWhErmqea_8BWxJfuJdU2qVK3V0nabhGOxbtQuYGlCZ-N0Vj7KPYIS3T9x_Y1XUv2oz815PZeyRfhe_9KjMgjOGKPTtI6aZ32MJepeDRFcVS1J48PmMw0R6Bn_W7bDz9h6crCIBdw6Gr3lp8BQjEjeXu9JjWGSQuq/s320/71GrXU1yRKL._SL1500_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: The writer Andra Watkins called
the book a “must read for anyone seeking to understand the impact of
parent-to-child narcissistic abuse." What do you think of that assessment?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I am grateful this theme
resonated with Andra. In addition to educating readers, I hope people also find
<i>It Could Be Worse</i> empowering and healing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">As Allegra awakens, she
learns to advocate for herself and let go of false narratives that no
longer serve her.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: How did you research the
book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I interviewed several
therapists who specialize in treating Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I
also read books and numerous articles on the topic. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>ve
known people over the years who have been gaslit, invalidated, and
affected by other forms of narcissistic abuse. I knew I wanted to explore
this in my novel. I<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>m already receiving
feedback from readers that they<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>re deeply connecting
with Allegra<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: What are you working on
now?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: The idea for my next book
incubated while I wrote <i>It Could Be Worse </i>back in 2021. As I mentioned, my
protagonist Allegra stutters, and my next book will also
include characters with speech/language difficulties. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>ve
realized how little, if any, representation I have seen of this in
fiction; my next novel will explore a neurological disorder, its impact on
the caregiver, and like <i>It Could Be Worse</i>, it is ultimately a life
affirming story about unconditional love. I feel stories universally connect,
educate, and heal us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><i>Q: Anything else we should
know?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">A: I believe that radiance
emerges from our breaking points. Through stories, both written and
verbal, we feel less alone as our lives unfold. I<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>m
also grateful for the guests around the globe who share their journeys on my
podcast, <i>Every Soul Has a Story</i>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb <br /></b></span></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-134238209 -371195905 63 0 4129279 0;}@font-face
{font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-134238209 -371195905 63 0 4129279 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
border:none;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:10.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
border:none;
mso-font-kerning:0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}.MsoPapDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304110093631308242.post-21916410547784016582024-03-14T08:31:00.000-04:002024-03-14T08:31:05.433-04:00Q&A with Beth Bacon<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCKbenT60jx-LgnhD3GN7Sf4WMEuAUThv3NknGiFOpkayb3gEgMs9-7foBAwhbKnPh2uG8RoP7Eq17oEsvY0DJfT_KK5GnylRiUV-S2OUD0XjZPaNNTRS4XCoUeDnkA7uwOm9dRTTZMg8BG1FaOdTzIVZRGwsfNKpgThlgcpAEodlY5UlbrsffYVnOjxFW/s680/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%2008-23-59%20About%20Beth%20Bacon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="680" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCKbenT60jx-LgnhD3GN7Sf4WMEuAUThv3NknGiFOpkayb3gEgMs9-7foBAwhbKnPh2uG8RoP7Eq17oEsvY0DJfT_KK5GnylRiUV-S2OUD0XjZPaNNTRS4XCoUeDnkA7uwOm9dRTTZMg8BG1FaOdTzIVZRGwsfNKpgThlgcpAEodlY5UlbrsffYVnOjxFW/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%2008-23-59%20About%20Beth%20Bacon.png" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://bethbaconauthor.com/about/">Beth Bacon</a> is the author of the new children's picture book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grandmother-Effect-Beth-Bacon-MFA/dp/1592113834/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FJTUQ4G80ZS3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Kz_agOYQ_aI1qWuSd23v_PEhWg4YH6c9VsAWNaw0nrj3egOsGfJ-xGAWoPcc5JAARxlbDUTB4afUKf8wFaZFQRh4O2pxnvz66_B_iHsO_-XZH4FASrJl9dvSjgLUTvQMOKdObFdcQgTBmx9m1TQYYtm4bHL9KiMIQlMTHM9Zp4qCDBnGHcA9SVsd6D1G7XiNBObqNM5fRIF08OC88P7nGBpxlPnclwrY6Kz12XBtlc4.5IFsX2E5oqkoKBxm1RtVnk6wSgQV5iXYJQKpb19pVPQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=beth+bacon&qid=1710418982&sprefix=beth+bacon%2Caps%2C66&sr=8-1">The Grandmother Effect</a></i>. Her other books include <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alphabuddies-G-First-Beth-Bacon/dp/006305597X/ref=sr_1_4?crid=Y11HCID0INE1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Kz_agOYQ_aI1qWuSd23v_PEhWg4YH6c9VsAWNaw0nrjcqB9rD0M9O0V9hm0xFVJ7_RPd7HKnuJfouFr7tS6IKxh4O2pxnvz66_B_iHsO_-XZH4FASrJl9dvSjgLUTvQMDVXrOllBstGogTQFzfQM0txnfj_buIiW4HBAcVCklI8AuqJcO6R695NUoGtzEQnLmtnNaoMuagsEhJKZIoonFKeq5tkHsUuxalrR2STfwvU.BQsJI1SYfsTgaLOm62RKpCHzyjmFiKNyypIko-cRyaQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=beth+bacon&qid=1710419176&s=books&sprefix=beth+bacon%2Cstripbooks%2C69&sr=1-4">Alphabuddies: G Is First!</a></i>. She lives in the St. Louis area.</b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What inspired you to write </i>The Grandmother Effect<i>?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: As an author, I love to read the reviews and emails from
my readers. My genre is picture books, so most of the reviewers are grown-ups
who read to youngsters. (Though I sometimes get kid-written notes and videos
which are treasures!) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I noticed that a lot of the people who take the time to
write to me are grandmothers. They often mention that in their notes and
reviews. Grandmothers spend a lot of time and energy with their grandkids! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It got me thinking that I’d like to write a book to
celebrate the relationships between grandmothers and grandkids. It really
is a special bond. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Around the time I was mulling over this idea, I learned
about a scientific hypothesis called the Grandmother Effect. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This hypothesis is academic and theoretical, but in simple
terms, it states that over the course of human evolution, grandmothers have
been influential in the development of our species. Grandmothers aren't just
special to us personally -- they are valuable to the development of the whole
human race! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I reached out to Kristen Hawkes, an anthropologist at
University of Utah. Her scientific work is instrumental in the exploration of
this hypothesis. Kristen and her teammates were very responsive in answering my
questions and encouraging me to create a picture book that includes this
complex issue. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl-DZw7kFo1_lB7iSOWH5AXj7JeLFJJK1CX1NH0LLebiXPjH2tWditDMEd3DZx-2S5iYYlaHG3jvjkWCTutEEmVN-8-Cg_1ZLb2JmhPCLiwTOLr9qbxAvPOO3lemVL8XfegknDS3t7bITTtAaSSkkI0yj2NiSlW4_0fjZ_VeIJg1gpKrUg-SKQ3ZDddi38/s1500/8176ca58DbL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl-DZw7kFo1_lB7iSOWH5AXj7JeLFJJK1CX1NH0LLebiXPjH2tWditDMEd3DZx-2S5iYYlaHG3jvjkWCTutEEmVN-8-Cg_1ZLb2JmhPCLiwTOLr9qbxAvPOO3lemVL8XfegknDS3t7bITTtAaSSkkI0yj2NiSlW4_0fjZ_VeIJg1gpKrUg-SKQ3ZDddi38/s320/8176ca58DbL._SL1500_.jpg" width="256" /></a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you think Kat Bourek’s illustrations add to the
book?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Kat’s illustration style is so charming and engaging! I
love her design sense and color palette. There’s a sort of “folk art” quality
to her work that adds a friendly, approachable, vintage effect that balances
well with the scientific ideas that the book touches on. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kat and I worked on this project together. As a team, we
presented it to the publisher. That is not the traditional process. Usually an
author sends a publisher a written manuscript without any illustrations. So in
this case, the illustrations don’t just add to the book… they are inextricably
connected to the text.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This story relies on both the pictures and words. For
example, in one spread the text contains the line: “an afternoon with your
grandmother might be full of ups and downs.” That line takes on a richer, more
enjoyable meaning when you see Kat’s illustration of a grandmother and grandson
on a roller coaster. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As Kat and I worked together over the course of a year, I
had the opportunity to adjust the story to the images not just in terms of the
scenes on the page, but also in terms of the tone and lyricism. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Actually, the draft that I thought was “final” had a tone
that was relatively dry and unemotional. It seemed fine when the words were by
themselves. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But once I put those original words together on the same
page with the pictures, I decided to revise the text. The new text – the
current text – has a slightly more sentimental mood and warm tone. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another note: Kat and I both live in the St. Louis area. In
some of her images, Kat included touches of St. Louis architecture and other
local details that mean a lot to us personally. And I appreciate the range of
people and lifestyles that she depicted. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What do you hope kids (and adults!) take away from </i>The
Grandmother Effect<i>?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: I wanted to honor the special experiences that
grandmothers create when they spend time with their grandchildren. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My hope is that grandmothers and grandkids will feel a
little boost of satisfaction and content—for doing little, everyday things like
baking cookies, or doing laundry, or walking in the rain … or reading books
together. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0XyWe9StLaL9z-fN562yWcCRCdrsHi-BH1VXoOX52kI3A0QutFZCRc1UOpiSIbZXocShbTttXSEWD-pzT1E5auK5-HRtbpXZuEi5Fk-9MlzSBbMVY0glkYpixGnjNfIKDTp25Dj_7Oos0e9t3YrL3B9iPexIIpyQAgP3APWW4vJSuIf5mD12yvB82E9K/s1404/BethBaconAuthor-GrandmotherEffect-RainSq.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1404" data-original-width="1380" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0XyWe9StLaL9z-fN562yWcCRCdrsHi-BH1VXoOX52kI3A0QutFZCRc1UOpiSIbZXocShbTttXSEWD-pzT1E5auK5-HRtbpXZuEi5Fk-9MlzSBbMVY0glkYpixGnjNfIKDTp25Dj_7Oos0e9t3YrL3B9iPexIIpyQAgP3APWW4vJSuIf5mD12yvB82E9K/s320/BethBaconAuthor-GrandmotherEffect-RainSq.jpeg" width="315" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kat dedicated this book to her two grandmothers. I dedicated
it to my mom (who we call Gaga and is an amazing, dedicated grandmother) and
her 10 grandkids, who as a group, we call “the grands.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: What are you working on now?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Right now I am working on a picture book about stargazing
in the dark skies of Maine. I spent a month in Maine and met some wonderful
people who are involved in Dark Sky Maine (<a href="https://darkskymaine.com/" target="_blank">https://darkskymaine.com/</a>). We decided to create a picture
book together. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The project is just in the early stages but I hope to return
to your blog soon to talk about that story. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Q: Anything else we should know?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A: Above, I mentioned that this story was inspired by the
reviews and letters written by grandmothers who have read my other books. I
would love readers to understand how much it means to authors to hear from our
readers! Keep writing your emails and reviews. This feedback is so very
important and authors value your input.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>--Interview with Deborah Kalb </b><br /></p><p><style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:16.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Deborah Kalbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361546823368350856noreply@blogger.com0