Thursday, December 30, 2010

A confluence of blogs

First thing you should know about me is that I'm a Gemini (birthday's in May, start thinking about gifts now) so I have two very distinct sides to my personality. Each of them is represented by my blogs: my author blog which is this one if you couldn't tell and my dancer blog, which is www.fitballet.blogspot.com, where I talk about dance and training and post videos to help beginners.

Never have the two blogs met until now. This morning, I was reading a review of a dance movie called "A Beautiful Tragedy" on the blog, Dance Advantage. The movie is about an anorexic dancer in Russia named Oksana. The reviewer wrote about the documentary's unflinching look at ballet in Russia, where dance is taken very seriously. The dance world is notoriously stringent about weight and size yet it's accepted as a given while anorexia in the modeling world is condemned.Which brings me to this sad article from CNN.com about the death of model Isabella Caro. She was on an anti-anorexia billboard in France and even wrote a memoir called, "The Little Girl Who Did Not Want to Get Fat" about her battle with the disease from a young age.

Then, back in my writer world, I got a Google alert about an ALL ABOUT VEE mention. Here it's part of an article titled, "YA Fatphobia" in the upcoming issue of The Horn Book, which is a literary resource for teachers and librarians across the country. My novel is very positively mentioned and included among a handful of YA novels that portray plus-size characters in a positive and healthy way (thank you, writer and reviewer Kathryn Nolfi!).

And one more article from CNN.com, an interview with actress Ginnifer Goodwin ("Big Love"). She's beautiful, isn't she? She has gorgeous skin and a great career and yet, she seems to have an unhealthy attitude toward food and dieting. I know this interview is supposed to show how healthy she is but honestly, she's in the same world as my character, Veronica May. Except where my gal accepts her weight and lives beautifully, Ms. Goodwin seems to see weight as a constant battle in her life, not so very different from Ms. Caro or the Russian ballerina, Oksana. And yet, she's being portrayed as someone with a balanced life. Sorry, Ms. Goodwin, but you're just as anxious and obsessed about weight as every other actress in Hollywood.

All of these articles in one morning! And this was on top of reading the sobering statistic that 2 out of every 3 Americans is overweight or obese. No wonder! We have the worst attitudes toward food and disease and we label people and food "good" or "bad." None of these people need to make weight-loss resolutions: they need to make acceptance resolutions.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Random Thoughts on a Christmas Morning


As I sip coffee from my special Christmas cup and contemplate the Christmas movies to listen to while I bake cookies this morning, I'm reminded of several things, a primary one which is I need to have breakfast *before* I cook or else I will nibble all the dough.

1. Sometimes the best holidays are the smallest ones. This recession-bordering-on-depression has taught us big lessons about living more frugally and Christmas should be no exception. I've been guilty of extravagance in the past - once when I got my very first real job out of college and the second time when I got my big job at the network - but what came of it? Sure it was fun to be able to buy whatever I wanted for people but they didn't love me or the day any more than when I was more discreet with my purchases.

2. Sometimes the best traditions are the ones you didn't grow up with. I loved putting up stockings with my parents and brother when I was a kid. I loved midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. I loved watching "It's a Wonderful Life" a million times. But in LA, we've had to create our own traditions. We watch our own versions of Christmas movies ("Die Hard," "Home Alone," Christmas Vacation," plus the usual suspects, "A Christmas Story" and "Miracle on 34th Street"). We have sushi for Christmas Eve dinner (when we're a tad more flush). And at the end of the day, we'll walk around the empty city in search of a Starbucks or Coffee Bean that's open.

3. Sometimes it's okay to do nothing on Christmas Day. There is so much pressure to do/go/buy, to visit friends and family, to attend parties and special events, to give, to receive, to be in the Christmas spirit when, in fact, you may need to do the complete opposite. A little hibernation, a little coffee-and-reading, can be the best thing to recharge your batteries and get you in the mood for the start of a new year. Who says you can't celebrate your friends and family next week instead?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone~

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The latest autograph seeker is...

For the writers, musicians, artists, actors and all others who have received the odd autograph requests, here is one more. Just got it today.

KOLEKCJONER AUTOGRAFÓW, AUTOGRAMM SAMMLER,

COLLECTION AUTOGRAPH, COLLEZIONISTA AUTOGRAFO,
COLLECTION AUTOGRAPHE

Knurów, 12 December 2010 r.

DEAR MS. C. LEIGH PURTILL !!!

My name is Marek Wegorzewski and I am 27 Years old.

I live in Knurów in Poland.

I am interested with the books very much.
I like read Your books.
I congratulations You many successes in life.

Since 1992 I am collecting photos with autographs from very
important people all over the world. My collection is an
enormous, about 12000 autographs. In my collection I have photos
with autographs famous actors, singers, painters, drivers, football
players, athletes, politicians, journalists and many persons.

It is possible to send me a photo with Your autograph or
autograph Ms. C. Leigh Purtill.

Thank You for You help and I am sorry for my broken
English!

Yours faithfully !


Marek Wegorzewski
ul. Ulanow 11c/11
44 194 Knurow
Polska / Poland
Europa


Personally, I like the exclamation marks after my name.