Archive for category General
(Un)Suited
Posted by Michael Dean Clark in General on August 30, 2010
Michael Dean Clark
A week ago, I wore a suit to work. And a tie. And a vest.
This is not cause for alarm, except for some of my new students who felt compelled ask why I’d done it. Backing up a bit, there are three cultural assumptions at work here.
First: Writers don’t look like “writers” unless their outfit was picked up off the bedroom floor, shaken out, and put on quickly enough that one of the buttons in the shirt is in the wrong hole (if the shirt has all of its buttons to begin with).
Second: People who just completed a Ph.D. don’t have enough money to own a suit that makes them look like they could be a teller at the local Bank of America branch.
Third: Being that my new university sits right on the Pacific Ocean, I should apparently deliver my lectures in shorts, sandals, and with a liberal use of the term “dude.”
The intersection of all these ideas is exactly why I wear the suit. Call it a fashionable object lesson.
The more I write and the more I work with other writers, the more convinced I am that the greatest obstacle standing in the way of originality is not our practice of making cultural assumptions and then extending those assumptions into stereotypes. Rather, the problem lies in our inability to identify those assumptive forces within ourselves. In writing, this is deadly.
I know, this isn’t rocket science. Then again, the rocket scientists I’ve known more often than not suffer from the same blindness.
We can’t see within ourselves the systems that guide our opinions and actions when we decide what is and is not acceptable, desirable, and worth pursuing. And when we can’t see them, we can’t challenge them.
In critical theory, folks like Foucault would point to our blind spot for the control of systems outside of us as the culprits for this blindness. We are enmeshed in overlapping, intertwined mechanisms that create the internal latticework of opinions and attitudes that “guide” us.
I tend to see humans as more autonomous than that, but I’m not as smart as Michel was. And yet, I’m pretty sure his ability to theorize about those systems (and my subsequent assumption that they are there) means I can’t lay back and blame everything outside of me for my internal blind spots.
If I’m going to be a writer, I must identify and own the places where I lack sight. Not only that, I need to wallow in them and then make them public. This is the mirror artists hold up to culture. And a mirror is only effective if it reflects clearly (unless you want to avoid your blemishes, in which case I’d suggest taking stock in why you are so afraid of yourself).
So sometimes I wear a suit. That way, when people’s stereotypes are challenged, I can talk about it with them. Hopefully those conversations will lead me and others to a more refined understanding of the forces at work within us and a broader vocabulary with which to talk about them.
Michael Dean Clark is a writer, teacher, and former Southern California ex-patriot in the Midwest. Currently, he is at work on…nothing. His new job as a professor of writing at Point Loma Nazarene University has left no time for stories of his own. He hopes that is not the case for much longer, otherwise people may begin to question his qualifications for said new job.
Leaving Life to the Man Upstairs
Posted by LeannFischel in Faith, Life on August 21, 2010
Leann Fischel
The scent of a Hallmark store gives me the same feeling as when I inadvertently remember how my kindergarten teacher smelled. It was a heartwarming scent, though an odd memory, but more than recognizable for reasons understood only in my brain. The ladies at the front greeted me as I entered an almost empty store. They asked if I needed help. I should have said, “Yes.” The maze of greeting cards tested my will. In all the stores I have been to for Hallmark, I’ve never had such difficulty finding what I wanted; after all, she will be 81 years young August 31st and I have to find the perfect card. I found rows of “sympathy” and “thank you” cards, of “get well soon” and “congratulations cards”, and the all-too-exciting milestone cards. Round and round I went through the aisles till I found “her birthday.”
I’m one of those people who is less than satisfied with looking at only five or six cards and picking one. Oh no. I must have opened thirty cards, and the second one I read, that’s the one I chose. I have to make sure I’ve picked the very best I can. I have to make sure it says everything I want it to say without being more than eight lines; I don’t give books inside cards. As I wandered through these cards, I considered that this may be the last one I give her; this may be the last August that she sees. But I quickly push that thought away. She has been a devoutly religious woman since as long as I can remember. God has been good to her, she would say. God has blessed her with long life and the chance to see her grand babies.
Many of my friends have never met their grandparents, or were not old enough to remember them. The lady at the register told me how lucky I was that I had the chance to spend time with my grandmother, that most people never get that chance. I considered the concept, the idea of not having that chance, but had no way to fathom it. All four of my grandparents are still alive. All of them are almost eighty, if not already. My grandparents would all tell you it is God who has gifted them with long life and a chance to see their grandbabies. What about chance? The chance that they still live to this day, that they have been alive through more than fifteen presidents, through the Depression, World and Gulf Wars, through the times of housewives and flappers, less than a decade after women gained the right to vote, through a time when inequality of races and sex was a perfectly accepted concept? But leave long life to chance? Never.
Leann Fischel is about to become a 2010 graduate of Sam Houston State University where she spent the last three years falling in love with writing. She has read the classics by Twain, Shakespeare, Dostoevskyand many others and yes, the Harry Potter AND Twilight series. She hopes a job will find her in San Antonio in the next six months so she can be a workin’ woman.
Relief News Tuesday 8.17.2010
Posted by Ian David Philpot in General, Relief News on August 17, 2010
New Staff Member
Leann Fischel
It is our pleasure to introduce another staff member that has been added to the Relief team: Leann Fischel! Leann is our brand-speanking-new intern (a position I once filled–and look where it got me!). She will be assisting with submission reading and writing for our blog.
Here is Leann’s bio:
Leann is about to become a 2010 graduate of Sam Houston State University where she spent the last three years falling in love with writing. She has read the classics by Twain, Shakespeare, Dostoevskyand many others and yes, the Harry Potter AND Twilight series. She hopes a job will find her in San Antonio in the next six months so she can be a workin’ woman.
If you would be so kind, leave a comment welcoming her to our staff!
Help Wanted!
Right now, Relief is in a period of growth. While we like to think we’ve got enough hardworking people, we actually need more. And our sister publication, The Midnight Diner, could use some more team members too.
Starting next Thursday, we will be launching a “Help Wanted” tab at the top of the page advertising between three and five positions that we need to fill to keep up with our expansion. The positions are part time (10-25 hours a week) and will require a resumé to be submitted with the application.
If you have any questions, leave a comment after the one you’ve already left welcoming Leann.
The Midnight Diner 3–Available for Presale
Posted by Michelle Pendergrass in General on August 5, 2010
Presales are starting now–authors will be announced on Monday.
Here’s the cover for a teaser!
Thank you, Gina Hernandez, for illustrating this gorgeous cover and also for designing The Midnight Diner’s new logo!
Photo Haiku Wednesday 8.04.10
Posted by Michelle Pendergrass in General on August 4, 2010
Photo courtesy of Michelle Pendergrass.
Directions:
1. Write a haiku inspired by the photo and post it in the comments.
For extra chances to win:
2. Follow @reliefjournal on Twitter
3. Follow @Quo Vadis on Twitter
4. Twitter @reliefjournal with your haiku and #PHW (Photo Haiku Wednesday)
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The good people over at Quo Vadis have generously donated some prizes!!
The weekly winner will receive a Quo Vadis Habana Journal and a bottle of J. Herbin ink!!
Every week Relief will choose a random winner! So play along and tell your friends. See the information below for extra chances to win.
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Winner will be announced via Twitter Thursday afternoons.
We can only ship to U.S. addresses right now.
You may only win once every three months, but you may play along every week for Twitter Super Bonus Points.
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Would you like to have your photo featured on Photo Haiku Wednesday?
Email your photos to Michelle: photohaiku@reliefjournal.com
You’ll get a photo credit link here on the main blog and you’ll also be entered in the drawing for the Quo Vadis Habana journal and bottle of J. Herbin ink the week your photo appears on the blog!
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The Midnight Diner: Volume 3
Through the Veil
