For Wine Lovers!

There is a wine bar in Lansing Michigan that I think everyone should try! http://www.p2winebar.com/
It is owned by an old friend of mine and while I have yet to go there myself, it's on my to do list for Christmas break! It looks like they have really good food and is a "snob free zone" (which is good cause I not almost nothing about wine!)
If you're in the Lansing area, check it out! Let's support our small businesses!

I wonder where the writer did go?

Either way I can't find them! For my project I had this really cool idea that I was going to write handwritten Thank You notes to all of these authors, but a lot of them don't exactly list their home addresses. Which is understandable, I mean I am not posting my home address out there in the world either. SO, I guess I will have to resort to writing Thank e-mails. Which I guess is good, I mean I am saving money on stamps and saving a tree right? But still, there is something that is very magical about getting mail in your mailbox, or perhaps I am too sentimental for this world.
Well I have decided that the first person I am going to write to is Jack Ridl. I saw him at Schuler's Books for a poetry reading and enjoyed every second of it. His poetry is wonderful and he shows great humility in his writing. I did a review of his book of poetry Broken Symmetry, which I recommend to everyone. Ridl takes something as simple as a pencil, and writes a poem of remembrance for this often forgotten utensil. He also did a poem about Ireland which I was most tickled to read as the departure for the wonderful green country draws nearer and nearer with every second of my days. While the subject of his poems may be something simple, they are profound in their message or in their slight humor that sneaks its way in. Ridl was a Professor at Hope College in Holland Michigan and still resides in the beautiful mitten state along Lake Michigan.

To Whom Shall I write to first?

Or is it who? Just because I am an English major does not mean that I am always confident that I am properly using the correct form of who vs. whom. In fact I am extremely self-conscious about attempting any sort of grammar whatsoever. It really is quite the conundrum. I insist on taking a grammar class before I graduate, just so I can be somewhat confident. For once in my life I would like to put a comma in a sentence, a semicolon in the next, knowing that it is completely logical.
Anyway...
I have gone about my room and have written down  a few names of people whose writing I have enjoyed. These are not all the authors that currently reside in my room, but they are the ones that have made the most impact in my life. Some are no longer with us, but that will not stop me from writing to them

Stacy Malkan
Sue Kidd Monk
C.S. Lewis--Died 1963
Jane Goodall
Wangari Maathai--Died 2011
Robin Hemely
Barbara Kingsolver
Jon Hassler--Died 2008
Shel Silverstein--Died 1999
Louisa May Alcott--Died 1888
Sherman Alexie
Ken Follett
William Shakespeare--Died 1616
Bill Bryson
Leif Enger
Sarah Dessen
Philip K. Dick--Died 1982
Octavia E. Butler--Died 2006
Orson Scott Card
Margaret Atwood
Paul Auster
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Michael Cunningham
E.M. Forster--Died 1970
Khaled Hosseini
Zora Neal Hurston--Died 1960
Harper Lee
Ursula K. LeGuin
Andrea Levy
Michelle Magorian
Ann Rinaldi
J.K. Rowling
Jerry Spinelli
Kurt Vonnegut--Died 2007
Louise Riley (?)
Ernest Hemingway--Died 1961
Edgar Allen Poe--Died 1849
Ray Bradbury--Died 2012 
David Small
Jack Ridl

This list will most definitely get longer with time. This is not everyone that I have read, but it's a start. The order has nothing to do with my opinions of the authors, this is merely the order that I found them in my room. Now, will the authors actually read my Thank You notes? I have no idea, almost all of them just have the address of their agent listed, so I guess it really depends on the agent.
There is also the questionable Louise Riley who I cannot find any information about. The book that I read by her was Train for Tiger Lily, which is a kid's book that was given to my mom. I remember I read it after I took a train to New Mexico to visit some cousins of mine and I loved it (I was 8).
My approach for these Thank You notes is to first address the Authors that are still living. Then  I will move on to honor the deceased bards of human emotion. I still don't know which one to write to first, so that will remain a mystery until tomorrow.

Staring Contest

I have a really bad habit of staring people right in the eye until they look away. It is probably really creepy to them, this girl that won't drop her gaze, I always insist that other people drop theirs first. Why? Perhaps it is a power thing. Demonstrating dominance, not wanting to submit to someone else, like a game of chicken, who can look away first? I am actually really surprised that I haven't experienced any negativity from this habit. You would think at some point somebody would yell "What are you looking at?" and potentially want to beat the crap out of me. But no such thing has happened, everyone looks away. I win! You just lost the staring contest! I also do it when I am thinking of something to write about. In a momentary brain fart I look off to mu right side trying to think of something to write, which often leads to my staring at the person working on their computer to my right. The poor people often look startled when they see me and it takes me quite a while to realize that they think I am staring at them. oops. It is a really fun power trip though. Try it sometime. Just don't stop staring, don't drop your gaze, people get freaked out by that kind of confidence. 

Becoming a Literary Citizen

I have always been an avid reader of fiction and I always thought that was enough. However, recently I read a blog post from The Bird Sisters, and it is an article by Cathy Day who teaches at Ball State University. She calls the readers to become part of a "literary community" and then gives steps on how to achieve that status. There is about six steps altogether but the one that I really liked was the first one: "Writer 'charming letters' to writer's" and I loved this step because I thought of doing this before. At first I figured that the writer's would think I was some really weird stalker, and just throw my letters away rather than reading them. I am actually going to do it now! I am in the process of compiling a list of writer's whose writing I have really enjoyed so I can send them Thank You notes. I would rather send them by snail mail, because not enough people get fun mail anymore. Besides its easy to skim an e-mail, delete it, and not give it a second thought. A physical letter however, is pretty hard to ignore, and if somebody went through all that trouble to send you something it must be important right? I am very sad though, that a lot of my favorites authors are now deceased. Ray Bradbury died this past summer which I was most grieved to hear about, so when I come to the issue of one of my author's not being with us anymore, I will simply do a blog post about them. After all just because they're dead doesn't mean that I can't appreciate them. I will just do it electronically. Maybe all the signals that get shot up will hit an angel and pass along my appreciation post to the author (who knows? Stranger things have happened).   Here a link to the blog,
http://thebirdsisters.blogspot.com/2011/03/literary-citizenship-by-cathy-day.html
however, if there is some difficulty reaching that website, if you just google "Cathy Day Literary Citizenship" then you will find the post. I really hope that all my friends who have a passion for reading will take a look at it. It is inspiring to read it. Had it not been so close to the end of the school year, I would have dropped everything and started doing all of her recommended steps immediately. But, alas, time is not on my side right now so I shall simply begin with Thank You notes.  

Why Do I Blog?

Besides the fact that it was a class assignment, I believe I blog for the sheer reason that perhaps there are people out there who are a little weird like me. And that comforts me.
Most of my blogs are also just ramblings of my day to day life, not particularly interesting, and I think the thing that I am trying to do is find my niche writing. Whenever I talk to any published writers I always ask them how did they become such good writers and they always say "practice." So really this blog is practice, or merely a void to get ride of anything crazy that is blocking my inspiration for writing. Perhaps these blog posts are steps, practices in writing. Is the writing good every day? Heck no! I will tell you that already, but the reason I keep blogging is not only for a good grade (which it is) but to train my writing muscle. 

When I grow up I want to be a rich and famous actress.

Well actually not really. When I was a kid I did love to entertain people, and still do. This morning I was buzzed off to the ER for fainting at work, but that didn't keep me from cracking a few jokes.
"How am I feeling? That seems kind of relative since I am in the Emergency Room. My face hurts but psychologically speaking I would say I am still pretty with it." (The doctor really liked that one).
And every time somebody tells me that I should become an actress I can't help but think why?
Sure I love to get a laugh and am very often the center of attention, but would I really want to deal with all the crap that actresses would have to deal with? I look at children actors/actresses and how some of them just seem to have their lives fall apart at the age of twenty. Do I really want that? Not really. With all the history of drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, messy divorces, I think I would rather just accept my average Joe life. There is such a freedom in not being famous. So perhaps little 7 year old me did want to be on TV and in movies but adult me is just fine with being able to go to the grocery store without my picture being taken talking about the products that I use. Besides, who cares anyway?