 Red Room Writer Profile
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Jessica Barksdale Inclan's Blog
November 7, 2009
- This early morning, I woke up thinking of something that happened 33 years ago, something that could have changed my life in the way that Elizabeth Smart's life and Jaycee Dugard's lives were changed. Even at the time, I knew it, and even now, it wakes me up from a sound sleep.At about 10 pm one evening in Orinda, one of my good friends and I set off from a friend's party. It had been a girl ...
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November 6, 2009
- Fiasco. Gamut. Proust. Intrinsically. These are words that my native-speaking English reading and writing students could not pronounce yesterday as we read aloud from screenplays. There were more words, and there were also words that my non-native speakers missed (the best was when one student said "shits" instead of "sits," changing the entire scene with that one ...
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November 5, 2009
- Deep into the armpit of this unusual and physically demanding semester, a former student wrote to ask if I could submit letters of recommendations to what looks to be about ten or so colleges and universities. If you haven't applied recently to a college or university, you will find that there are often online sites to do so and if there are not, there are additional forms to fill out and send ...
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November 4, 2009
- In the small town I grew up in, we had no bookstore for years and years, the library my solace on long Saturdays as I waited for my mother to get off work in her capacity as library assistant. And even when she was not working, I would stroll up the long path and find a chair, sitting for hours, pouring over and reading books and magazines.Later, Orinda Books finally opened, but it was at a time ...
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November 3, 2009
- I used to write a great deal of poetry, but all that inspiration, that spark that comes to me has of recent years been funneled into fiction. The start of a poem was like a whip crack of inspiration, and then I had to try to find the words to follow it up. I'd chase an idea around and around, hoping to do that first glimmer justice, most often not. But I loved writing poems. I also like ...
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November 2, 2009
- The last time I had a sabbatical, I not only wrote a textbook but I also figured out that I wanted to leave my marriage. Because I had the wherewithal at that time to take 70 percent of my salary for a year, I took a year off. It was a long, long year, full of wretchedness and a lot of time. And, yes, the summer following my sabbatical, I moved out.As you might imagine, I'm a little nervous ...
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November 1, 2009
- Last night, we sat up on our driveway at a little table with a big bowl of candy and a pumpkin that kept trying to roll away and head back downtown. We moved into a very strong neighborhood watch type neighborhood, one that organizes neighborhood events, Halloween being one of them. this neighborhood is also home to about 20 young families, all with very small children, many under two, most ...
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October 31, 2009
- Once, a few years ago, I was sitting in my office at my college, minding my own business, reading a few papers. It was warm, sultry, a light wind whisking through campus. My door and window were open, and I felt of a purpose, a plan, content and busy and comfortable. Outside my office, a couple of students sat waiting for one of my colleagues, and they were arguing about some piece of ...
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October 30, 2009
- Not getting a daily newspaper has proved to be okay in a few ways. The most important, I think, is that I don't know there terrors of the day before, at least, not all at once. the terrors will seep in, throughout the day as I click on various internet sites and then go out into the world and talk to people."Did you hear about the health care bill?" someone will ask."Why ...
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October 29, 2009
- Cardboard is attacking me, coming at me from everywhere. I moved into a stack of cardboard and then created a bigger stack. More things come to the house, covered in cardboard. I go out to open up things, break down the cardboard, and find that my contractor has filled the recycle bin with cardboard. I order three things from the same place, and each comes in its separate and too large ...
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October 28, 2009
- From February 4th to February 7th, 2010, I will be teaching Writing the First Novel at UCLA Extension. This class is part of the Writer's Studio, and besides my class, there are a number of other fabulous classes running these four days. But, of course, since this is my blog and promo moment, I have to say that my class is the most fabulous of all.I am publicizing this event now for a couple ...
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October 27, 2009
- So my youngest son is a history major, and I've learned about all number of small wars I'd never heard about and large wars in times long gone. While reading his papers, I've been in Korea, China, Europe, and as of yesterday, French Algeria. I haven't paid much attention to Algeria, ever, except in how it relates to culture references such as Casablanca. I have nothing against Algeria, I'm ...
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October 26, 2009
- Yesterday I went to a meeting with fellow writers, and we talked about plot. Plot gets a bad shake in the literary tradition, as language and character are deemed much more interesting, much more "arty." But without plot, characters fall to the ground. Sure, they can climb a long way without that scaffolding, but after a while, they teeter and plunge, the plot rail gone. I ...
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October 25, 2009
- I just finished reading Dorothy Hearst's novel Promise of the Wolves, and her writing and tale (tail!) reminded me of the reason I loved listening to books when my mother read them, the reason I love reading still, and it's the basic answer to stories--I am in a world with a story and I want to know how it ends. In fact, with Dorothy's story, I wanted to know how it ended enough to read the ...
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October 24, 2009
- My feelings about being ill come from my mother. She's just not having any of it. After major surgery once and after her doctor didn't release her at exactly 11 am the following day, she made me take out her IV (gross) and she went AWOL from the hospital. By the time we got home, the hospital had called my house as I was the contact person. As you might imagine, they were a trifle angry, ...
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