tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post5142198097954257797..comments2024-03-28T13:07:54.572-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: Kathryn Craft and the Mystery of Self-knowledgeJungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-87004474957219415632014-03-27T18:30:49.556-04:002014-03-27T18:30:49.556-04:00Hi Lucy, the reason I can't type better is bec...Hi Lucy, the reason I can't type better is because I dropped the course in college because I spent all my time in the dance studio. The dancing years faded but I could have used typing every day of my life...<br /><br />I'm impressed by your mother's fortitude with all that puckered fabric the old tutus were made out of—that was dedication! Thanks for sharing.Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-33545122866471002892014-03-27T18:27:11.314-04:002014-03-27T18:27:11.314-04:00Wonderful discussion today--thanks to all of you R...Wonderful discussion today--thanks to all of you Reds, and to Kathryn for showing us the way! that's a must-read book...<br /><br />Like Hank, I took dancing for years because that's what girls did. Tap and ballet--I never amounted to much, but then I never practiced either. I think the vertical jump theory could explain it:). the best part was the costumes we wore in recital--I sure wish I'd saved them. My mother sewed them all by hand as we didn't have the extra $ to pay to have them done. 3 girls each with 2 costumes, that's a lot of time at the sewing machine!Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04660402177299546055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-26179598046151577952014-03-27T17:40:53.761-04:002014-03-27T17:40:53.761-04:00Wow Linda, you are one complex woman—I'm glad ...Wow Linda, you are one complex woman—I'm glad you get to choose. It's interesting to see the inner conflict some of those might create. It's quite a portrait of life and I'm glad to have read it.Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-83333479082122170812014-03-27T17:31:20.480-04:002014-03-27T17:31:20.480-04:00WHERE I COME FROM
I come from crocheted dishrags
...WHERE I COME FROM<br /><br />I come from crocheted dishrags<br />and hand-me-down clothes from cousins <br />on the “good” side of the family.<br />I come from canvas cotton sacks (200 pounds for an adult <br />“but you’re a big girl now, eleven, <br />you can pull enough cotton to fill that ol’ sack”),<br />from Lifesavers and Nehi Orange<br />and salty peanuts dropped into sweating-cold bottles of RC Cola<br />and traded among us kids for back rubs<br />when we couldn’t quite stand up straight after a day in the cotton rows.<br /><br />I come from the heady, dangerous ozone smell <br />of summer thunderstorm nights<br />when I walked alone across town <br />to buy my mother’s cigarettes.<br />I come from rain-soaked redbuds and lilacs and irises, <br />from mesquite and cottonwoods,<br />from beachfront bougainvillea and date palms.<br />I come from drive-in movies and drunk fathers and mothers<br />and singing in the church choir<br />and stone-headed stubbornness.<br />I come from Sequoiah and John Ross,<br />from “Cielito Lindo” sung everywhere<br />(I thought to me since it had my name in it),<br />from driving out in the dark to see the desert bloom after a rain, <br />from altruism and diabetes.<br /><br />I come from “get your nose out of that book”<br />and “if it’d been a snake, it’d bit me”<br />and Grandpa’s sermons in the pulpit on summer Sunday visits.<br />I’m from the Great Smokies and Tahlequah and Broken Arrow,<br />from Highland crofts and Dublin slums and England’s younger sons<br />from San Diego and Coronado and El Cajon,<br />I come from snobdodgers and frybread for breakfast <br />and from fried chicken I helped kill and clean for Sunday dinner.<br />I come from the month the money ran out, <br />even my illegal paycheck from the drugstore after school,<br />and the grocer wouldn’t give more credit, <br />when some angel left a bushel basket of turnips on our kitchen doorstep.<br /><br />I come from Aunt Joan and Uncle Glyn on their dirt-poor farm<br />who took us in on a moment’s notice, six kids deserted by both parents,<br />and raised us with our four cousins <br />in that house the size of my living room with never a cent or a thank-you.<br />I come from those nights on the mattress on that kitchen floor,<br />waking to take little ones to the outhouse in the dark,<br />from cooking for harvest hands and combine crews <br />while Aunt spent the day on the tractor with the men,<br />from her dark Indian spitfire and his tall, Indian peace.<br /><br />I come from all the photos of us kids in places all over the country<br />where Dad dragged us around like a tail behind him,<br />from all the photos of the five babies after me <br />and the photos of all of us with grandparents and cousins<br />and my school photos from San Diego, Kenosha, Arlington, <br />and so many others I don’t even remember,<br />stored only in my brain, except for the handful <br />Aunt Joan saved for me all those years until we found each other again<br />when Uncle Glyn was dying in his quiet way<br />and cousin Dickie’s abused son, raised by his grandparents,<br />bussed and hitchhiked back from the Navy to sleep <br />on the floor at the foot of Uncle’s bed like a faithful hound.<br /><br />I come from my grandmother’s Cherokee teaching stories and stubborn strength,<br />from that grandfather’s wild goose chases and big dreams and fine talk,<br />from my other grandmother’s domestic fussing and ambitious nurturing,<br />from that grandfather’s preaching and Bible values,<br />from my father’s hatred of his Indian half and tolerance toward everyone else,<br />from his bright, inquiring mind, his hope for humanity, and his drunken violence,<br />from my mother’s cold beauty and rewriting of the past, <br />from the short tragedy of her life, and the strength with which she bore it.<br />I come from a long line of male preachers and teachers, drinkers and dreamers,<br />from conjure women, curanderas, women with the Sight, <br />and women who survive and make do.<br />I come from fallen gentry and half-breed hill trash, from parsonages and trailer courts.<br />I contain all of these, <br />and I choose, <br />I say, <br />who I will be.<br />Linda Rodriguezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-84538003896816041762014-03-27T17:27:12.665-04:002014-03-27T17:27:12.665-04:00Kathryn, your book sounds fantastic! I'll have...Kathryn, your book sounds fantastic! I'll have to get a copy.<br /><br />Selves? Singer, writer, poet, fiber artist, mother, wife, survivor, Cherokee woman, Choctaw woman, Latina, Celt, sister, dreamer, organizer, feminist, teacher, victim, free spirit, activist, hippie, protector, academic, tomboy, earth mother, administrator, mystic, healer, gardener, cook, granddaughter. I've been and still am, somewhere inside, all of these things and more. I have a poem I wrote about it.Linda Rodriguezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-67992918307789348482014-03-27T17:00:38.208-04:002014-03-27T17:00:38.208-04:00Hi Donna B, thanks for stopping by! I love picturi...Hi Donna B, thanks for stopping by! I love picturing my book in your house. ;)<br /><br />One of my selves is an untiring misunderstander. I think that's why I'm a good freelance editor: if it can be misunderstood, I'll do it! For instance, are you an advocate for vocal health (my opera son would appreciate this) or a vocal advocate for health? <br /><br />I also thought that Major Chocolate (a man with a sweet mustache) and Caramel Fan (she's Chinese) would be nice character names in a kid's book. :) Either way, they combination of words have made me hungry. And I love go-getters—thanks for sharing some of your many selves here!Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-86112130939059953112014-03-27T16:53:12.734-04:002014-03-27T16:53:12.734-04:00Hi, Kathryn. It's nice to know I'm not the...Hi, Kathryn. It's nice to know I'm not the only one with so many contradictory selves living inside of me. Some of my inner selves include: mom-of-four, daughter to an aging (but still sweet) mom, loner, people-person, mentor, student, go-getter, couch potato, vocal health advocate, major chocolate and caramel fan, list-maker, and procrastinator. I could go on and on (one of my selves is a talk-a-holic), but I think you get the idea.<br /><br />I can't wait to start reading your book! It's downstairs next to my comfy recliner.Donna Brennanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834413457080381432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-22390272091211561492014-03-27T15:54:00.692-04:002014-03-27T15:54:00.692-04:00hmdt: The first time around I didn't take danc...hmdt: The first time around I didn't take dance to be a ballerina either. My mother enrolled me. It seemed important to her that her children be able to converse about the arts—you know, at cocktail parties with the other doctors and lawyers—but then all five of us mortified her by falling in love with music, dance, visual or literary arts and living lives based on those passions.<br /><br />I'll never forget the time she told me, "All you kids work for non-profits! What's the matter with profit?"<br /><br />Sometimes one of my selves asks the same question...Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-56128674692189961012014-03-27T15:48:42.772-04:002014-03-27T15:48:42.772-04:00Susan, did you read Silent Dancer when you were a ...Susan, did you read Silent Dancer when you were a child? I think Jill Krementz took the photos.<br /><br />Kathryn, thank you for sharing the mystery of self-knowledge. I love dancing. I took ballet classes for another reason. Not all of us aspire to become ballernias. As a child, my doctor was worried about my balance due to my hearing loss. So they suggested that I take ballet classes to help me with my balance.<br /><br />I would describe myself as daughter, reader, writer, hopeful and optimistic.<br /><br />~hmdtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-63363585394816526612014-03-27T15:43:21.169-04:002014-03-27T15:43:21.169-04:00Kathy Reel, that is very kind. There's that si...Kathy Reel, that is very kind. There's that side, but there's also the side where I ate a lot of spagetti-o's in tiny apartments, dated sociopathic men, and was a disappointment to my parents for not getting married and having kids...Susan Elia MacNealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00349842866995778987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-52383715252234318922014-03-27T14:48:55.838-04:002014-03-27T14:48:55.838-04:00Donna, wow, girl, that's one heap o' self ...Donna, wow, girl, that's one heap o' self awareness there! Awesome—the version of the versions—I'd like to say you sound more nuts than I am, but I think you've artfully shown what it is like to be an evolution in progress. Thank you so much for this comment.<br /><br />Authors: there are so many you's, and so many iterations of the same! Next time you have writer's block with one of them, call another forth!Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-35844233682981344382014-03-27T14:42:24.176-04:002014-03-27T14:42:24.176-04:00Beautiful post, Kathryn. And along with all those ...Beautiful post, Kathryn. And along with all those versions of me I bring to the table - comes along the versions of the versions along the way. <br />The daughter, self-absorbed, young and inexperienced with a blank life ahead to the older daughter, a caretaker, wiser and more compassionate.<br />The mother, new and anxious and all consuming to the mother more flexible, able to let go when needed - and also find her own separateness.<br />The artist, not fully formed, seeking a dream not outlined yet to the artist in full blossom embracing her talents.<br />The wife, newlywed and idealistic to the wife who knows pain and defeat and the forging on to stronger bonds.<br />The friend, nomadic and wild who runs away to the friend, stable and reliable who stays.<br />The loner, embracing sadness and depression to the loner, embracing aloneness and all its gifts to return to the world of people and embrace them too.<br />The survivor, who barely survives with defeat to the survivor who champions themselves on to a new stronger self ready for the next challenge, the next dream.DonnaGalantihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16936331145444649588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-62497024833775433562014-03-27T13:47:10.213-04:002014-03-27T13:47:10.213-04:00Susan what a fun idea for a Goodreads shelf! My co...Susan what a fun idea for a Goodreads shelf! My cover will be most proud to be displayed there, as well as in your TBR list!<br /><br />"Listmaker" doesn't surprise me, lol. This is a great list, and no wonder your thesis had to be so long, Susan, if all of your inner selves had to weigh in! Thanks so much for reading and commenting.Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-71859458774909284292014-03-27T13:21:55.003-04:002014-03-27T13:21:55.003-04:00Kathryn, I agree with others here that the cover o...Kathryn, I agree with others here that the cover of the book is amazing. I have a category on my Goodreads shelves for great covers, and this one will definitely be going there. Along with the clever cover, the title and description make The Art of Falling the newest addition to my TBR list. <br /><br />Kaye, you captured the magic of this blog in your statement about the wonderful surprises to be found here. And, I agree that my discovering Kathryn and her new book is a most delightful surprise.<br /><br />Susan, is there anything you haven't done? You just blow my mind with all your pre-author life careers, each so intriguing and requiring great talent. I am working my way toward blocking off a period of time to read your novels and catch up on what I know will be a favorite series. What an interesting life!<br /><br />Five characters. Wife, mother, grandmother, friend, reader, teacher, learner, traveler, dog lover, coffee addict, list maker, book reviewer. I should add boundary breaker, as I never could limit myself to a certain number of anything. My research paper for my Masters was 70 pages long instead of the required 30. Of course, you dear participants on this blog are familiar with my verbosity. Kathy Reelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004247271452356577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-7830370137760913052014-03-27T12:21:50.937-04:002014-03-27T12:21:50.937-04:00Deborah, thanks so much. The designer of that fab ...Deborah, thanks so much. The designer of that fab cover is Eileen Carey at Sourcebooks—they do such wonderful covers.<br /><br />I love the inner you's, especially the "Brit by imagination"! I also love that you embrace both your introvert and extrovert selves, as do I. Those who see these descriptive terms as mutually exclusive miss out on a deeper understanding of self, in my opinion.Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-15915123346839929422014-03-27T12:17:02.624-04:002014-03-27T12:17:02.624-04:00Hi Kathryn--So nice to have you here, and your boo...Hi Kathryn--So nice to have you here, and your book cover is fabulous! I'd pick it off the shelf knowing nothing about it. And a very intriguing premise, too.<br /><br />I love the idea that we are all made up of different people. I think most writers know this instinctively, but this is the first time I've heard it articulated so clearly. <br /><br />I am, just for starters; daughter, mother, wife, friend, writer, dreamer, reader, homebody, adventurous traveler, introverted, extroverted, Texan by birth, Brit by imagination--and I am, at least in some small part, all the characters I have ever written...Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-52804685229914660232014-03-27T11:54:27.388-04:002014-03-27T11:54:27.388-04:00HI Deb, thrilled to topple your TBR pile! :)
I l...HI Deb, thrilled to topple your TBR pile! :)<br /><br />I love your nursing home story. One of my first jobs was in a nursing home, and one of the residents was named Miss Koontz. Such a sad case—her eyes had been removed, her hands were clenched shut, incontinent, no teeth, didn't communicate. Couldn't walk. She never had visitors. All of her clothes had someone else's name crossed off on them. Most days I wondered why she was alive.<br /><br />Then one day, while I was feeding her, she started to murmur. I leaned in close and she started to tell me details about a BANK ROBBERY! And I though wow, who knows who is living in there?Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-89533080911696907542014-03-27T11:47:31.064-04:002014-03-27T11:47:31.064-04:00Sorry for the double posting. Blogger told me it d...Sorry for the double posting. Blogger told me it didn't go through the first time because of a Capcha error!Deb Romanonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-34869693786661882462014-03-27T11:46:43.698-04:002014-03-27T11:46:43.698-04:00Your book sounds like something I must read, for m...Your book sounds like something I must read, for many reasons. (A niece was a professional dancer for a number of years, until she decided to go back to school. She still occasionally dances professionally, on vacations, etc.) Her mom is always recommending dance books to me - which are on my TBR pile at the moment. Now, however, I think I must begin reading them, along with your own book!<br /><br />And I just like the concept that we are all different sorts of people. For many years, I visited people in a nearby nursing home,as part of a church program. A frail looking, stooped over man suffering from dementia, who didn't recognize his grandson, was a former professional golfer. A man who had to use a wheelchair was once very active in the civil rights movement. Yet the people who worked there or visited friends and relatives there knew them only as nursing home residents.Deb Romanonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-3562592443792606162014-03-27T11:46:22.248-04:002014-03-27T11:46:22.248-04:00Your book sounds like something I must read, for m...Your book sounds like something I must read, for many reasons. (A niece was a professional dancer for a number of years, until she decided to go back to school. She still occasionally dances professionally, on vacations, etc.) Her mom is always recommending dance books to me - which are on my TBR pile at the moment. Now, however, I think I must begin reading them, along with your own book!<br /><br />And I just like the concept that we are all different sorts of people. For many years, I visited people in a nearby nursing home,as part of a church program. A frail looking, stooped over man suffering from dementia, who didn't recognize his grandson, was a former professional golfer. A man who had to use a wheelchair was once very active in the civil rights movement. Yet the people who worked there or visited friends and relatives there knew them only as nursing home residents.Deb Romanonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-84227445785920989062014-03-27T11:26:23.641-04:002014-03-27T11:26:23.641-04:00Agreed Susan, although Morris was the most trying ...Agreed Susan, although Morris was the most trying interview I ever did in my 19 years as a dance critic. Like pulling teeth to get words from the man! He is well suited toward expressing himself through movement, lol.<br /><br />Many modern companies started embracing different body types through the years, including Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane. A favorite, used as inspiration in the book, was The Dance Exchange (out of D.C.) founded by Liz Lerman, which is intergenerational. Lovely, and so meaningful!Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-42433838810019418202014-03-27T11:21:53.691-04:002014-03-27T11:21:53.691-04:00Love the Mark Morris Dance Group because not only ...Love the Mark Morris Dance Group because not only is his choreography and musicality superb, he picks all those great dancers with the "wrong" body type for ballet — and they are wonderful! The company is so joyful and liberating to watch.Susan Elia MacNealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00349842866995778987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-81084174929263645852014-03-27T10:58:50.778-04:002014-03-27T10:58:50.778-04:00Hank, thanks so much for inviting me to be a guest...Hank, thanks so much for inviting me to be a guest on your blog—I enjoyed seeing you as well! The betrayal of the body you describe is at the heart of my novel. Science tells us that with the right combination of diet and exercise we should be able to control how our bodies behave yet Mother Nature has her own quirky opinions about that. <br /><br />Kids with the "wrong" body type want to dance, vivacious children receive tough diagnoses, women desperate to be mothers suffer miscarriages—it's not always in our control. But how we find the courage to go after what we want, with the resources we were given, is the best use of creativity I can think of.Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-55493841103070404342014-03-27T10:52:47.821-04:002014-03-27T10:52:47.821-04:00Kathryn, such a joy to meet you last weekend! And ...Kathryn, such a joy to meet you last weekend! And to<br />watch your fans hover around you.. I'll know you'll be back at Jungle Red to tell your next heart-breaking sotyr.<br /><br /><br />SO funny-- I wanted to be MAria Tallchief or Margot Fonteyn. I folk ballet, at age, seven or so? Until the teacher threw me out. She told my mother--"Your daughter is charming, but she'll need be a ballerina.'<br /><br />In my mind I was, though--even though my body would not obey.Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17420701704169428286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-69466828436448844712014-03-27T10:14:58.368-04:002014-03-27T10:14:58.368-04:00Susan—SAB! What an achievement for your young son,...Susan—SAB! What an achievement for your young son, and I have no doubt he's right about the basketball. Back when I was taking Tests & Measurements while pursuing my Health & Phys Ed masters, they said that the best single measure of overall physical ability is the vertical jump! At that time I taught dance to the Miami University (OH) football team. What a hoot!Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.com