Because I was in NYC for 9/11 and remember the stupid shit that was said and done by people from outside of our city on that day and for years to come (up to the present(, here are some things I hope for Boston tonight and for the next weeks and months to come:
Mostly, above all, that whatever happened at the Marathon finish line today is first and foremost seen as a human event where human beings were actually hurt and not as a political symbol to be used by anyone anywhere ever.
That there is not an instant theme song and name for the event that gets played over and over again on every goddamn network.
That images of carnage are not replayed every five minutes while reporters, lying, say they wish they did not have to show these images, when of course as everyone knows "if it bleeds, it leads." Please spare Boston the disingenuous shows of mock sympathy. And please spare your children and everyone else PTSD.
Please, no one outside of Boston write poetry about this and send it to your friends in Boston. Just don't do that.
Please, don't use this as a metaphor for some personal problem or existential angst in your own life. It isn't. It's an actual event that happened in real life to real people. It is not - I repeat - not a metaphor or a symbol for you or anyone else.
That you in Boston are allowed to grieve or do whatever you need to do the way you need to do it.
That whatever happened and whoever is found to be responsible, that this is not used as an excuse to execute hundreds or many thousands of other people.
That you can heal.
I am so so so sorry this happened to you. No one deserves this. No one. Anywhere. Ever.
Love and blessings,
a New Yorker
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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