I have not written here in a bit because have been working hard between finishing up teaching and prepping for an upcoming interview, the good news being I have been short-listed for a position.
However, this has meant working non-stop and when not working at home, needing to go out and take a walk, talk to a friend or go to a meeting or my last classes.
What I am pleased about is that I am managing to take care of myself during this and what started as a chore (the pro formas I needed to write to be considered for the short-list and now the preparation for presentations) has become quite interesting and kind of exciting. I'm not sure how or why my perspective changed on this so radically, though I have some guesses.
The result is: the need to discuss my work in various ways has led me to see it as a way more coherent whole than I suspected, and I am finding ways of bringing in the disparate pieces of writing of mine and others, along with performances, etc. and see the various strands weaving an interesting tapestry of sorts.
When I say 'coherent whole' I want to be careful because I don't mean some Unified Theory of Everything, because I don't even believe in that kind of totalization...but there are identifiable threads, what my fave philosophy double-act Deleuze & Guattari would call assemblages...to distinguish from mere fragments (random) or molar aggregate (unitary)...assemblages relational, ways of combining and recombining. That sort of thing. Rhizomatic (i.e. weed-like) being another way they talked about this kind of thing...but I don't have the energy to define that right now - if you're way interested, tell me and I'll point you thata way...
Yes, I'm re-reading a bunch of philosophy right now in preparation for this interview, in fact I began that reading the day before I found out I had the interview, which is not surprising.
I feel I'm on the edge of something right now - a kind of articulation through practice and words (together and separate) - searching for some words that feel like they are literally on the tip of my tongue, but slipping around...eluding me but dancing close enough to taunt me with their presence, even if I can only see them in shadow.
So, like, wish me luck...More later as I know it...or don't...as the case may becoming...
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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fingers crossed on your behalf, sticking friendly pins in good dolls, sending positive vibes, what have I left out? Oh, yeah, the super-duper tinfoil chapeau thought-transferrence procedure -- zzzzzzzzp. There ya go!
ReplyDeleteMaybe someday you´ll have doubt about Cuba…. I´m cuban…Always I have much doubts, about to the light velocity many times by hour, many hour by day…many times by months I´m witness of the absence of the truths…If some day you want to know something truthful about Cuba you can write me although I´m not as good for make friends as for say the truth what nobody say, nor the writers in favor nor the writers against…The humanity history have more abyss number than the galaxy number in the universe…
ReplyDeleteFranklyn Mc Murray, 27 years old,from Cuba, neithe I´m good with the sax in the band where I work…
franklynmc@correodecuba.cu
Thanks for comments. Franklyn, I'm not sure what your comment refers to in blog post? I don't think I've written anything about Cuba....but good wishes to you anyway. Emm - I'm in UK now about to go up to interview in the North....will keep you posted.
ReplyDeletej