“I have always wanted to be free. I don’t know why. Nor do I know what it means, to be free. If you were to pull all my nails out, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. But although I can’t put it in words, I do know what it is. I have always desired it. I still desire it. That’s all I desire. At first I was a prisoner of other people. So I left them. Then I was the prisoner of myself. That was worse. So I left myself.” Samuel Beckett. Elutheria
The dung beetle is my spirit guide. Right now, life feels like a lot of shit to deal with...personal, political and global. I saw a documentary in which this heroic little bug was featured. Her determination to keep pushing a burden of dung bigger than her body, lured ever forward, not by knowledge, but by overwhelming instinct to follow the path of the sun, the moon and the direction of the Milky Way is an enticing mystery. Instead of feeling like Sisyphus, uselessly rolling a hard stone up the hill having it roll back down, I thought this little bug carrying the stinky, wet, fertile stuff was an inspiration to keep going.
Novel
Sybella Rising
A girl hears sound waves that no other humans hear. A duel between a slip of a girl and the forces of the universe. I wrote this book in the third person, 350 pages, then re-wrote it in the first person, 200 pages, and now...oh hell, I have so much more work to do. I may die before this one gets re-edited. "The best way to work is to not quite know what you are doing." Tibor Kalman.
A favorite quote that to me simply means, go for it from the unconscious and play. |
Collections and Stories"Is it my fault my daughter never believed in the world? We made navigating it too easy for her, cleaned it up, gave it pretty fences and gardens, kept out the polio germ, paid for college. We kept her from the grimy business of living, that life is killing—chickens or cows to eat, mortal enemies like Hitler, rats in the barn."
(From the story, Trio) Seventy Is the New Sixty Nine
a Memoir inspired by living so long... "The world is essentially toxic, isn’t it, and wonderful and marvelous to behold in all of its creation... much too beautiful and poisonous to last forever." (I meant it to be a funny book, but it isn't.) |
Playwrighting
Lone Wolf Rhapsody- Linda Baker Evans
I have an identity problem, and am never happy with my name. Marlea was an invention for the Screen Actors Guild. I used my real name for the play I wrote that was seen at the Los Angeles Theater Center where it won: LA Weekly Award 1998: Original Music of the Year. Linda Baker Evans and John Ballinger I wrote the melodies and lyrics, John Ballinger arranged them, wrote a ballad for it, played for it, and performed as the character, Ned. He is wonderful. Inappropriately Yours
The adventures of Gus and Mona Lee Coming soon, |
PROJECT MONTGOMERY
My documentary about Dr. John Wilson Montgomery, a veterinarian, who takes on the prejudices of Little Dixie.
My documentary about Dr. John Wilson Montgomery, a veterinarian, who takes on the prejudices of Little Dixie.
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For more information on the IDA sponsored documentary, click DOCUMENTARY button.
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