So, another strange day at the ICU but the nurse, Murielle (from Montreal who used to live in LES of NYC in the 80s doing art and theater) came in to say that a friend of Tom's had called to say Happy Bloom-day? I realized she meant Happy Bloomsday, because Tom is part of a Ulysses reading group called the Sleepless Joyceans. As luck would have it, that was the same minute the WIFI worked in the hospital, so I quickly downloaded Ulysses and read it to Tom until my mouth was running dry.
He is sedated but there is much evidence that people who are unconscious due to drugs do hear and remember things, so it felt like the right thing to do. His brainwave stats went down, which is always gratifying, because it means he is under less stress.
It was somewhat bittersweet doing this, however, because the first year together my husband-soon-to-be-ex and I read each other Ulysses two pages at a time, which took precisely a year. That is one of my happier memories of our relationship and a few days ago was the year mark from when we decided to separate, so....it's all very strange.
However, in the moment of reading it, it felt quite good. ICUs are peaceful on the weekend, at least in a relatively small town like Brunswick.
The prognosis is for a slow, with an emphasis on slow, recovery...so I will probably be heading back to NYC soon to get stuff sorted, go to meetings and do my writing until the next phase becomes apparent and I'm needed up here again. I'm going to feel really guilty leaving, but it seems like a situation when pacing oneself is paramount...that is, if we're lucky.
So, more prayers if you believe in them to Brunswick, Maine...and/or read some Joyce to the air in honor of Tom...
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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