First things first as Gretchen Peters love-fest continues. Here's the link to her website with this new album Hello Cruel World on it. You can listen to it here. If you don't, you are a fool. Period. This woman is amazing.
She also had the class to retweet my post about her album and send a tweet saying she loved my blog, so of course she has gone from amazing to sheer genius (OK, but you know I loved her before she did that, so...). But seriously, the lyrics have actual real-live depth, the music is smart and includes the mandolin. How can you not love that? Plus, this woman has lived. some years. on this planet.
And for those of you who know my work, you will appreciate that her bio on Twitter is "I turn found objects into songs."
OK, so if I've done nothing else of value this month, I've introduced you who read this to her and again thanks to NPR for their show.
Now a rant: do not get sick in the US. If you have to get sick, it is far better to be in the UK. I am still sick, voice still not back, fever coming and going. So, not only do I have the anxiety (because I have no health insurance as a first year adjunct at CUNY) can I afford doctor? I have to go now, as this has gone on for days. But also, if I ask for my Legal sick day from work tomorrow, will they decide I'm a horrible person and not reappoint me. As an adjunct you are appointed term by term, so even if you work according to the contract, that may not be considered good enough. So, all this stress on top of an Endless flu/cold, which has probably been so prolonged due to dragging my ass through first part (cold) the week before last, so as not to have this concern.
OK, in UK: (a) GP (doctor) is free, as in Free. Then, if GP decides you are too sick to go to work, you get a note saying that and you don't have to go to work. End of story. Everyone knows it, everyone adheres to this. That's that. If you get sick for too long, you get disability, help paying housing costs, etc....
So, like, you see my point. So, after day 5 of this thing dragging on and all of the above, yes, folks, I am missing the UK and the social safety net that exists because of a fundamental idea of caring for people who are vulnerable. US works really well when you are healthy, young and making money - starts crumbling when you get sick, older and don't make a lot of money.
End rant.
Nice things today - people I ran into when out for a few minutes to buy some stuff all seemed quite friendly. Two friends braved House of Sickness to visit. My cat continues to save my sanity. And the Knicks (basketball team) are fun to watch now.
Speaking of which time to go watch them again....even though they are having difficulties tonight...
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...
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