Last night after writing my post and wandering around like a cat on a hot tin roof, switching various media on and off, I ended up listening to Jonathan Schafer's New Sounds on NPR and lying on the carpet doing yoga and crying, so scared about moving and changing my whole life. But I was able to comfort the small child who was crying and say - it's OK you're allowed to be frightened. It's OK. That is a miracle, because when I was little being scared was not OK, and this is the sign of my growing adulthood that I can now comfort that scared child and not be ashamed of my fear and sadness.
I then ended up reading letters and writing of Jani's from when she was dying of cancer and writing stuff from and with that in the Dick and Jani book. This felt right. Was hard and good to do.
Then today, I continued the process of sending out CVs and cover letters to various universities, and much to my pleasant surprise, received a response from one place and will have an interview this week. If it happens, I will say where, but it is quite close to where I will be living, so that makes it even seem more fortuitous, plus the schedule works with mine as teaching doesn't begin until October 3.
So, miracles abound. I signed my sublease today, so I have an address and a place to live as of October 1 in New York City - my precious and beloved island.
I then had dinner with my wonderful friend Nicole, we ate Tibetan food and talked and talked and talked and sat near Union Square behind the incredibly misguided Andy Warhol sculpture (of him in cheesy shiny substance of some nature...I didn't even like Warhol and I think it's horrible). Why on earth be ironic about the king of irony? How sad is that?
OK, but we sat there anyway and had a good talk about many things personal and political and everything in between. She is one of the bravest and smartest people I know and I love her dearly.
I'm going to keep this short as I may want to write my book later and don't want to burn out here...
So, be well and thanks to those of you who have given me confidence and to That/Her/Him which is looking after me, that is much larger than me. And thanks to Matthew M. today for calling my move a bold one and applauding the voice that said 'jump and I will catch you.' Soon after that, I got the contact for the job just as I was getting worried I was making a terrible mistake.
And all of you friends of Bill and Lois out there, you are phenomenal and have carried me through this in ways big and small and I know you will continue to do so.
Gratitude for all and good night.
Welcome to my blog..
"We struggle with dream figures and our blows fall on living faces." Maurice Merleau-Ponty
I am now transitioning into being married again with a new surname (Barclay-Morton). John is transitioning from Canada to NYC and as of June 2014 has a green card. So transition continues, but now from sad to happy, from loss to love...from a sense of alienation to a sense of being at home in the world.
As of September 2013 I started teaching writing as an adjunct professor at Fordham University, which I have discovered I love with an almost irrational passion. While was blessed for the opportunity, after four years of being an adjunct, the lack of pay combined with heavy work load stopped working, so have transferred this teaching passion to private workshops in NYC and working with writers one on one, which I adore. I will die a happy person if I never have to grade an assignment ever again. As of 2018, I also started leading writing retreats to my beloved Orkney Islands. If you ever want two weeks that will restore your soul and give you time and space to write, get in touch. I am leading two retreats this year in July and September.
I worked full time on the book thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign in May 2014 and completed it at two residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Wisdom House in summer 2015. I have done some revisions and am shopping it around to agents and publishers now, along with a new book recently completed.
I now work full-time as a freelance writer, writing workshop leader, coach, editor and writing retreat leader. Contact me if you are interested in any of these services.
Not sure when transition ends, if it ever does. As the saying goes, the only difference between a sad ending and a happy ending is where you stop rolling the film.
For professional information, publications, etc., go to my linked in profile and website for Barclay Morton Editorial & Design. My Twitter account is @wilhelminapitfa. You can find me on Facebook under my full name Julia Lee Barclay-Morton. More about my grandmothers' book: The Amazing True Imaginary Autobiography of Dick & Jani
In 2017, I launched a website Our Grandmothers, Our Selves, which has stories about many people's grandmothers. Please check it out. You can also contact me through that site.
In May, I directed my newest play, On the edge of/a cure, and have finally updated my publications list, which now includes an award-winning chapbook of my short-story White shoe lady, which you can find on the sidebar. I also have become a certified yoga instructor in the Kripalu lineage. What a year!
And FINALLY, I have created a website, which I hope you will visit, The Unadapted Ones. I will keep this blog site up, since it is a record of over 8 years of my life, but will eventually be blogging more at the website, so if you want to know what I am up to with my writing, teaching, retreats and so on, the site is the place to check (and to subscribe for updates). After eight years I realized, no, I'm never turning into One Thing. So The Unadapted Ones embraces the multiplicity that comprises whomever I am, which seems to always be shifting. That may in fact be reality for everyone, but will speak for myself here. So, do visit there and thanks for coming here, too. Glad to meet you on the journey...
When someone is ironic about the king of irony, what's the next step ? Someone else being ironic about the person who was being ironic about the king of irony ?
ReplyDeletetake care
panther