“Writing is both mask and unveiling.”-E.B. White
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Author Archives: maedez
[News] Spring Fling Podcast
Now that we are on the edge of Spring, I expect every day to be as wonderful as yesterday was: balmy and lovely and energizing. When I kicked open the door at work at 12:40 and skipped out onto the sidewalk (yes, this really happened), it almost felt as if I was playing hooky from my pesky work-a-day obligations. Instead, I simply transitioned from one self to another, from something practical to something vital and necessary.
I spent a couple of happy, creative and stimulating hours in the company of a dozen talented women (and my husband!), as we recorded a Spring-themed podcast for Women Writing for (a) Change. Regular readers of this blog will recognize my piece as one that originally posted here, ‘Intermezzo: The Sky is Flaunting Itself‘. The podcast will be available later this month. It is a must-hear for anyone eager to push away the cobwebs of the dying dark season. You will be inspired by words of regeneration, beauty and clarity. I will update you with the particulars as they become available.
Voices from the Grave # 9: Edith Sitwell Reading ‘Still Falls the Rain’
‘Still Falls the Rain’ by Edith Sitwell
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss-
A Year in Books/Day 63: Quotable Women
- Title: Quotable Women A Celebration
- Editor: Molly Jay
- Year Published: 2004 (Running Press)
- Year Purchased: 2011
- Source: A Christmas gift from my baby brother.
- About: Quotes by legendary kick ass women are interspersed with vibrant artwork by female artists.
- Motivation: I’m also a legend-when it comes to collecting quotes. I have been keeping quote books since I was a teenager. I’m a bit obsessive that way, actually. I find inspiration in strong, creative, intelligent women. My brother knows me well, it seems.
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 89: “I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.”-Emily Bronte
- Happiness Scale: 10
[News] Growing Pains
You may have noticed that we’ve recently been sticking to just the basics-Project 366, Voices from the Grave, etc. There’s nothing to fear, really! We are working on some snazzy, more comprehensive additions to the blog. You’ll start seeing new things as early as next week. We have grand plans for the month of March and the dawning of Spring. We cannot wait to share them with you. We know your time is precious; thank you for letting us share our small press passion with you. 
A Year in Books/Day 62: A Treasury of Royal Scandals
- Title: A Treasury of Royal Scandals The Shocking True Stories of History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors
- Author: Michael Farquhar
- Year Published: 2001 (Penguin Books)
- Year Purchased: 2001
- Source: A gift from a friend.
- About: A light, humorous and historically accurate compilation of tasty, titillating royal scandals from around the world.
- Motivation: I’m a total history nerd. I usually read heavier fair but love to pepper the tougher stuff with easier non-fiction delights. This definitely fits that bill well.
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 211: “Claudius, in fact, had a tough time commanding respect from anyone before he came to the throne. When he fell asleep after dinner, as was his tendency, the gathered guests would pelt him with dates and olive pits. He later tried to explain away his stupidity, saying it was merely an act that served him well during the reign of his vicious nephew. Few were convinced, however, including the author of a contemporary book called ‘A Fool’s Rise to Power’.”
- Happiness Scale: 9
A Year in Books/Day 61: English Romantic Poetry
- Title: English Romantic Poetry An Anthology
- Editor: Stanley Appelbaum
- Year Published: 1996 (Dover Thrift Editions)
- Year Purchased: 1999/2000
- Source: A gift from a friend.
- About: When you hear the term “English Romantic Poets”, who initially comes to mind? If you say anyone other than William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley or John Keats….then you are lying. This anthology contains scores of poems by the aforementioned wordsmiths.
- Motivation: My friend was cleaning out her shelves and I emerged precisely a dozen volumes richer. While this period of poetry is not my favourite, I do have a soft spot for Coleridge and find much to admire of everyone on the list.
- Times Read: A few
- Random Excerpt/Page x: “For many, Shelley remains the perfect Romantic: for his quest after truth and justice, for his unparalleled learning (Greco-Roman and otherwise) and breadth of scope (poems on love, politics, history and philosophy), for the dazzling variety and novelty of his meters and stanzas, for the exquisiteness of his diction and delicacy of his thought.”
- Happiness Scale: 7
Image via Wikipedia
A Year in Books/Day 60: The First Elizabeth
- Title: The First Elizabeth
- Author: Carolly Erickson
- Year Published: 1983 (St. Martin’s Griffin)
- Year Purchased: 1990’s
- Source: Antique Barn at The Ohio State Fair, Columbus, Ohio
- About: My favourite historical personage and all around kick-ass woman receives an above-average biographical treatment here.
- Motivation: See above. Also, I love my fellow redheads.
- Times Read: 2
- Random Excerpt/Page 187: “There were more festivities in the coming days. The queen went to Woolwich to launch a fine new ship for her navy, christened the ‘Elizabeth’, and returned to Greenwich to watch more military games-among them a “great casting of fire, and shooting of guns, till twelve at night.” The recent peace, these exercises proclaimed, had not dimmed England’s warlike spirit; let other nation’s take warning.”
- Happiness Scale: 10
Image via Wikipedia
A Year in Books/Day 59: Jailbird
- Title: Jailbird
- Author: Kurt Vonnegut
- Year Published: 1979 (Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence)
- Year Found: 2009
- Source: It was on the giveaway table in our apartment building.
- About: It’s Vonnegut, and it’s awesome. Walter F. Starbuck is a classic character and this novel makes for a wonderful albeit quick (as is the Vonnegut way) read. Of course, it is always better to read Vonnegut than to try to explain his work. So, you should go do that now.
- Motivation: I love Vonnegut-the-writer and adore Vonnegut-the-person. He made it look easy and it is never easy. The book was also free. The back cover photo of the writer, taken by his wife Jill Krementz, is one of my favorites.
- Times Read: 2
- Random Excerpt/Page 127: “About the young man and his radio. I decided that he had bought the thing as a prosthetic device, as an artificial enthusiasm for the planet. He paid as little attention to it as I paid to my false front tooth. I have since seen several young men like that in groups-with their radios tuned to different stations, with their radios engaged in a spirited conversation. The young men themselves, perhaps having been told nothing but “shut up” all their lives, had nothing to say.”
- Happiness Scale: 9
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“Poets are damned but they are not blind, they see with the eyes of the angels.”-William Carlos Williams
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