FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 26, 2008

Writers Guild Members Overwhelmingly Ratify New Contract

Worms

We went worm-hunting, we did, me and you, we did.
Thing is, when a man is to go fishing, he needs the worms.
And so, my great God, I dug ‘em as though my last three lives
Depended on a damn-good basketfull right now.

I dug, and scraped, and so did you.
Until we found a few, curling and lost. Disoriented worms,

(This just in from John Bowman of the WGA Negotiating Committee.)

Fellow Guild Members:

(News Release from the Writers Guild of America)

Hundreds of Screen Actors Guild Members Join Picket Lines Outside Universal Studios

on Day Nine of WGA Strike

(This just in from the WGA... I've heard similar sentiment from friends and family all over the nation. The temperature I'm reading -- the whole country is fed up with corporate conglomerates caring only about the bottom line, and not about the welfare of their workers.)

(The following is from WGA Member Tom Schulman.)

Fellow Members,

Just had to break free of the festivities here and wish you all a
wonderful Christmas holiday season!
So far I have gained three pounds.
And none of this from Drive-Thru hamburger joints.
No, this is real food. Real fun.

photo taken on the wise advice of Victor :-)

It's been a brutally busy January.

Look what I stole from Moose:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? Gift Bags

2. Real tree or artificial? I think my parents had a real one for my first Christmas, but ever since we have had artificial. When I got married, I inherited one sad looking tree from my cousin, Kathy. Two years ago, the day after Christmas we bought a new artificial tree, dirty cheap from K-Mart.

3. When do you put up your tree? Thanksgiving weekend

4. When do you take down your tree? The weekend of Epiphany

Hey, folks. Long time no blog. But I just had to add something to the WGA official response to this lovely piece of... disinformation.

As per AMPTP President J. Nicholas Counter III today:

"The WGA is using fear and intimidation to control its membership. Asking members to inform on each other and creating a blacklist of those who question the tactics of the WGA leadership is as unacceptable today as it was when the WGA opposed these tactics in the 1950s."

Shakespeare is just too big to be limited to one day, so here is another of his sonnets. I like this one because of the way he plays with his own name and all its varied meanings:

Sonnet 135

Book Number 46: The Red Tent, tells the story of Jacob and his family through the eyes of his obscurely known daughter Dinah. The bible only says that Dinah was rapped and her brothers avenged the rape by tricking and killing her rapist and all of his family. The Red Tent tells the story though through the young girls point of view. The main point I got out of the story is that this was a story about celebrating women and mothers. We each have a story to tell and we deserve our moment to be heard. All over the world there are red tent events where women gather together and tell their birth stories as well as other activities. Its goal is to educate and empower women and girls. To learn more about it, click here. As for the book I enjoyed the fictional female perspective of the story.

(Nick Counter and the AMPTP (The Media Moguls) paid for an expensive ad in yesterday's "Variety" -- for those of you who don't work in the industry, "Variety" is an entertainment business magazine that is in the pocket of the Media Moguls.

For further information on "Variety's" biased reporting, check out Nikke Finke's post.

Since we don't have tons and tons of money like the Media Moguls do, we'll have to respond here - on the Internet - which they don't entirely own and control ( but they sure would like to).

Woohoo it is Friday, which means that after today my big work project will be completed and I can finally rest again. Writing major grants is always a major stressor. I usually want to pull my hair out by the roots at some point in the process. It doesn’t help when I have people needing things from me at the same time I am trying to complete a grant. This weekend I need to finish Bel Canto and start on the Color Purple. I had planned to finish Bel Canto on the plane Tuesday night but there was screaming babies and toddlers on my plane that made it difficult to concentrate.

In the News:

Baby Update: Week 24 (6 months pregnant)

The Essential George Johnston / selected by Robyn Sarah
Erin, ON : Porcupine's Quill, c2007.

This is the first volume of a new series by Porcupine's Quill, called "Essential Poets" in which, they say, an attempt will be made "to offer the best possible introduction to preeminent figures in Canadian poetry."

Baby Update: Week 21 (20 weeks, 3 days)

Or in my case pass the Mac and Cheese. My food aversions are slowly but surely lessening as my appetite begins to regain its vigor. This last week I have noticed that the food cravings are starting to kick in. This weekend all I wanted to eat was cucumber sauce (gyro). Last night I had a whole box of Mac and Cheese all by myself. I am also getting nosebleeds, which are freaking annoying. On the plus side, baby’s movements are so strong that they can be felt by everyone else, which Dan is excited about. My weight gain is about 7 lbs.

Title and Author of the book: The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth (Sears Parenting Library) (Paperback)by William Sears (Author), Martha Sears (Author)
Reading Goal For the Year: 39/52

Title and Author of the book: Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy
Reading Goal For the Year: 40/52
Rating for Book: 3.5 stars out of 5

To My Princess

I’ve heard he rides quite well, and in the sun
his armor gleaming
Would blind you if it wasn’t for the fact
that you were dreaming.
You’ve pictured him a thousand times
and when he calls, you’re ready.
(He seldom thinks of you and when he does
you’re one of many).

Now I’m not one for armor, and my horse
is prone to shyness…
Yet every thought of you contains the words
“Your Royal Highness.”
Let someone else daydream in vain
for Kings they’ve never seen.

Wow! I’ve had the most relaxing weekend
Ever. While winter has been frosting the
Windows and filling the driveway, my
Friend and I have been lazing about
In the hot-tub talking, reminiscing
About so many things. Listening
To a lot of terrific music. Also
Just generally catching up
With each other. Eating
And laughing 2 much.
At one point, I even
Wrote a poem, &

Thank you for your overwhelming support in our email campaign earlier this week – councilmembers collectively received thousands of emails, and our work had a very real impact.

Now they know that people are engaged and paying attention, and we need to let them know our involvement is serious and ongoing. Although the special motion does not compel the AMPTP to come to the table, it becomes part of a “paper trail” that shows the AMPTP’s behavior, which will matter as we go up the political food chain (Congressional hearings, anyone?)

We're making a difference, and we need your help to keep it going.

The First Time

What would you say to my
I love you?
For the first time.
We once wondered.

Tell me to take it back?
Rewind the tape? Or
Say it again? Louder?
As I recall, there was indeed
An echo, but never louder.
Not once did you hear it
Louder, than the first time.

The rest of this week I will be busy trying to complete the latest grant. Fun stuff I assure you : )

Baby this week: 17th week (16 weeks 5 days)

Ouija

So I turned to a road atlas, in lieu of your
Vanilla limbs. My finger along interstates
Ran and I said, These are her veins.
In blue, lakes and rivers showed their wet
Spots and again, my fingers, searching,
Sought.

Where is a park, where we can hide away?
I’m not familiar, I complained, and just then
I felt, Ouija-like, an assistance.
Here. Follow me, and
I followed, sleep-walking but never more
Awake. Here, further a bit.

You and I were in Green River.
I said I am a stranger here.

Cranberry Lake

An August sun baked our canoe
Where we had beached it, in the sand.
And, taking your small hand
Toward shade, I led you.

Or was it you, me,
Who followed, who led,
When gaily laughing, you said
This bunch here are portabellini?

This bunch of what? said I
Dumb as three brooms.
These here, see the mushrooms
‘Neath the tree where they lie?

How do you know this?
When I stopped you were shaken -
Thinking me angry, mistaken

human

i looked up.
they had made their webs
in the rafters,
these two silent architects.
so i knocked them into a foil pan
where they lightly clattered.
exoskeletons, spinning
and disoriented.
so i sprayed aerosol on them
in great amounts, until
swimming to the center of the pan
they found each other,
grappled,
and broke their own necks.
i heard it.
two faint snaps.
i did not look up

Apostrophe

Life’s one.
Remember how long we were confused about it?
Do you? I recall asking
Your opinion of the Fall.
You argued for myth, and I stuck to
Fact. So much, I damn near convinced myself.
The serpent was not even a snake, you said.
And I asked how you knew this.
I was there, you said.