Good News for An Aspiring Writer!

The Good News:
Last week I found out I'm a top 10 finalist for the Las Olas Surf Safaris Essay Contest!  A month or so ago I posted my "250 word attempt" at meeting the website's complex prompt in a pithy amount of text, so the news was both surprising and encouraging.  


The Bad News:
From here on out the "winner" will be determined by votes - so I feel a bit like I'm a part of an "American Idol" contest for writers!  I would, however, love your support so if you get a chance visit my entry at: http://www.surflasolas.com/Surf_Scholarship_Finalists_2011.html#jessica -- and cast a vote! Thanks in advance for your support!  


In other news, I just completed my third week of the Denver Writing Project.  I am loving the opportunity to write, revise, reflect with others about writing and think about what matters most to me (in teaching and in writing) on a regular basis.  This coming week will be the final week of the project which ends on Friday, July 9th - a bittersweet finale to a great experience.  I am more motivated to write than I have been in  a long time and I hope I can sustain the momentum beyond the Project and into this school year.  


So...stay tuned for hopefully more consistent blog posts from the world of Muddy Paws & Missing Pages!

Denver Writing Project - Anthology Piece

Last night I finished my first piece for the 2011 Denver Writing Project's anthology.  I felt like a kindergartner who "publishes" their first piece and is met with "oohs" and "ahs," as well as prominent placement on the refrigerator door, cutesy magnets holding the work of art in place. 


The process of writing this piece was both painful and cathartic.  While reading my initial draft out loud I broke down at the end - a wave of emotion rushing over me that I didn't expect.  By the time I finished the piece and sent it through three revision group sessions and my own revision process, I was smiling...remembering the amazing woman my grandmother was and feeling blessed to know firsthand the meaning of unconditional love.  This is also one of my first stabs at poetry, a genre I feared and pushed aside as a writer prior to this project.  It has truly been a summer of learning...and here goes: 

She –
Lessons in Love and Polka Dancing
By: Jessica Cuthbertson

Some people have grandmothers who –
knit,
bake cookies,
speak softly,
smell of rose petals or stale toast,
wear sensible shoes and
like cats.

My grandmother hated cats.  Dirty mackas, she’d say.

She –
rolled potica dough thinner than a pastry chef,
shopped impulsively,
watched soap operas,
wore dusters and pantyhose by day,
cocktail attire and costume jewelry by night,
smelled of Chanel and Aquanet.

She –
with lips stained the color of cabernet,
a darkened beauty mark,
teased hair that refused to gray,
could dance all night.
Feet traveling effortlessly between jitterbug and polka –
strappy heels sweeping the ballroom.

She –
daughter of Yugoslavian immigrants,
one of 15 (12 boys, 3 girls),
product of the steel mill,
left the 7^th grade to raise siblings,
met a Croatian soldier
who substituted vows for honesty,
while she turned a blind eye to infidelity,
steel in her spine. 

She –
who after raising siblings as a child,
raised 3 daughters of her own,
worked retail, figuring percentages and discounts in her head,
cooked kielbasa and potatoes,
kept a pristine house.

She –
who cradles me – her first born grandchild,
her pride, her joy,
her self-proclaimed “favorite.”
She –
who meant what she said, said what she meant,
a brazen tongue,
showered only murmurings of love and adoration
in my ear.

She –
bigger than life,
would one day
mistake nutmeg for cinnamon,
ruining the potica she spent a lifetime perfecting.

She –
immortal in my eyes,
would one day
not recognize her own reflection in the mirror.
Vacant eyes who no longer knew me –
her firstborn grandchild, her pride, her joy,
her self-proclaimed, “favorite.”
Spirit of steel, slipping away... 

She –
taught me everything I know about
unconditional love,
the beauty of memory,
the importance of polka dancing.

She.

250 Words or Less...Really?

Tonight I entered my first "writing contest" as an adult writer.  I want to force myself to get my writing out there, in any small way, as a way to hold myself accountable for actually doing some writing (beyond this blog and the writing I have to do for work) on a regular basis.  Also, recently I've been getting random emails from friends, retailers, etc. about writing opportunities so I took these communication bursts as a sign that I'm supposed to start finding audiences and publishing opportunities.  


This particular contest is sponsored by Sherpani and Athleta (two retailers I love for luggage and athletic wear respectively) and the "winnings" are non-monetary - top prize is a "surf safari scholarship."  In some ways it feels safer right now to put my writing in front of anonymous low-stakes audiences (I don't have my heart set on a 'surfing safari' by any means :).  


But the contest prompt made me think about all of the contrived writing assignments I've seen/used in the classroom or on standardized tests.  While prompts in general seem inauthentic beyond college admissions essay prompts  - a real-world "hoop" students must jump through, as an aspiring writer my writing entry opportunities seem to be very prompt driven right now.  While I know my own writing was a feeble attempt at meeting the demands of the prompt, I can't wait to read the writer(s) who actually make the cut in this contest.  The task was: in 250 words OR LESS, describe a solution to a challenge we face.  Ten submissions will be selected by a panel based on the following criteria: What is the important challenge facing us?  Is the solution fresh, concise, innovative and inspiring?  How can we put your plan into action?


So, a problem, solution and plan to a major local, national or global issue in 250 words or less?!  Yeah, right!  I know writers can err on the verbose, but I think even the pithiest of journalists might be hard-pressed to meet all 3 components of that task in only a few paragraphs/less than a page!  Ah well, at least (word-wise) it was an easy initial task to tackle in my "operation get my writing out in the world" resolution :).  


Here's the feeble attempt - it was inspired by all of the reading I've been doing of Nicholas Kristof's NYT column and his co-authored book Half The Sky. I'm so passionate about the issue, but the solution is much, much more complex than 250 words or even 250 pages...

Women Who Listen: A Voice for the Voiceless
By: Jessica Cuthbertson

We live in a dynamic, interconnected society, with information a mouse click away.  How do we use this information to support others? 

The challenge: As Western women, we enjoy a wealth of freedoms and opportunities.  But internationally, we have a long way to go.  Unicef estimates that 1.8 million children enter the sex trade each year.  In places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and many others, women and children are voiceless – forced into silent submission.

The solution: A three-step process of awareness, networking, and mobilization, has the potential to make a huge difference. 

Plan of action: 1) Awareness - through using technology to promote and support change, we can educate Western women about the realities of modern slavery and sex trafficking in third world countries.  2) Networking - through awareness, women will listen, engage in the awareness process and work together as a network to share the information with others.  A Facebook page spurred an Egyptian revolution – think about what informed Western women can do!  3) Mobilization into action: a core group of passionate listeners, women who want to give a voice to the voiceless will mobilize into action; going beyond sharing what they’ve learned with others to write letters to policy makers, volunteer, and join forces with others who are working to end modern slavery and sex trafficking. 

The amount of information available to us is overwhelming.  The solution is in our ability as women to listen.  Will we be a voice for the voiceless? 

It's The End of the World As We Know It...And I Feel Fine

May 21, 2011...and the social networking sites, religious zealots, and anyone the least bit superstitious is preparing for the Rapture and the "end of the world."  I'm not buying into the hype, but both the serious and tongue-in-cheek predictions got me thinking - if today was the end of the world (as we know it), how would I spend my last day?  Perhaps more importantly, do I live my life like it is the last day - prioritizing what's most important?  Is this even possible, entrenched in a national culture that believes we work hard today and for most of our lives to hopefully, one day retire and "enjoy" life?  


So, just in case today really is it -- here are some of the perks as I see it:
* I totally get out of cleaning my house and all things domestic this weekend...after all, what's the point? I definitely don't want to last be seen with vacuum and dust rag in hand.
* It's 9:58 a.m. and I'm still in my super-soft bathrobe with a fresh cup of coffee, brewed lovingly by my Kewpie, in hand...with no sense of urgency to move out of my bathrobe until I care to...
* I have plans to spend the evening with 'loved ones' - dinner with dear friends (and sushi and sake) and a U2 concert where we'll be part of a sea of likely peaceful, tipsy, groovy humanity.  
* My bills are paid.
* No calorie counting necessary today :).
* After a week of bizarre thunderstorms, hail and even snow in mid/late May (you never know what trick Mother Nature is going to play on Colorado) the sun is shining today and it feels like a "typical" spring day in the well-hydrated Rocky Mountains.  
* When I'm done with this post, I'm going to call my mom and tell her I love her, part of a weekly ritual that is sometimes lost in the shuffle of busy schedules, but very much at the top of my to-do list today as I think about what's really important.


So, with faith and belief in a Higher Power on my side, I can honestly take a deep breath and concur with R.E.M. that if it is the end, I do indeed feel fine...in fact, in honor of U2's 360 Tour Denver debut tonight, I feel more than fine...it is indeed, a "Beautiful Day." 

On "Waiting for Superman"

In my fashionably late, one-step-behind-the-pop-culture-craze pattern, I finally watched "Waiting for Superman," the documentary that was simultaneously praised by some education reformers and charter school advocates and shunned by teacher's unions and public school teachers across the country.  I was expecting to be incensed, but instead I just felt empty as the final credits began to roll.  Really?  That's it?  These are the big education reform secrets we've all been waiting to hear?


The film proposes no solutions and provides a great deal of no-brainer statistics which it uses haphazardly to show the audience that gasp...yes, aspects of our public school system are at best, flawed, and at worst, broken...and double gasp, some charter schools are more successful (in terms of standardized testing scores, dropout rates, etc.) than their public school counterparts.  Well, actually, according to the film only 1 in 5 charters are more successful but still... The only solution offered up by the film to students and parents of color, families living in poverty or near "dropout factory" feeder schools, or to any urban or suburban family that wants "options" for their child's education - enter them in a charter school lottery and then cross your fingers.  Frankly, I'm more than a little bewildered by the entrepreneurial success of Bill Gates after seeing his thinking and creative problem-solving when it comes to education.  Please.


I started my career in a successful suburban charter school and was lucky enough to break into the profession (pre-NCLB) with no teaching license or student teaching experience.  I credit my first three years at this charter school for a number of things: my commitment to the profession (still working in the field 10 years later); the opportunity to flounder, experiment and eventually refine my practice; a group of colleagues I'm proud to call my friends to this day; capped class sizes that allowed me to get to know each of my students as individuals and thereby taught me what I consider to be the single most important tool a teacher has - rapport and "kidwatching" (knowing your learners inside and out); and the power of what's possible when parents partner with teachers inside and outside the classroom.  I will never forget where I came from, and as such, I will never paint charters (or any other schooling structure) in a black and white or good vs. bad paradigm.  Charters can be innovative, successful, nurturing places where students succeed.  So can public schools.  They can also fail miserably.  (You don't often hear about the "dark side" of KIPP, but trust me, there is one).  So can public schools.  Almost a decade after entering my first classroom as a teacher, I'm now fortunate to be a part of a large, diverse, suburban district and a member of a teacher's union.  I reap the benefits of district level professional learning, resources for a range of needs across departments, unified school improvement plans, curricular and pedagogical supports and salary and insurance benefits that small charters often can't offer. 


Having lived in both worlds I can agree with the filmmakers on two things - good teachers do matter/make a difference and poverty should not be synonymous with the the achievement gap.  But just like the parents and students who were waiting on the edge of their seats, nail biting, tears welling in the corners of their eyes as the lottery slots began to disappear and the odds of their number being called dwindled, I too was waiting.  Waiting for the film to show me more heroes - the teachers that can and do make a difference and how they do it, the principals (beyond Geoffrey Canada and the KIPP Founders) whose leadership defies all of the barriers put in place by bureaucracies and systems and lack of resources and struggling neighborhoods and on and on.  I was waiting for solutions to a problem far too complex to be tackled by a few case study examples of successful charter schools, an ambitious filmmaker, and special interests (i.e. Gates) with no real expertise in education.  I was waiting...for some answers and creative solutions.  The film revisited the problems we see in headlines everyday around the achievement gap, U.S. students lagging behind globally, and the struggles of a complex, multi-layered public schooling system.  What the film didn't do is offer any feasible alternative, admitting to audiences, just like so many well-intentioned reformers, that it bit off far more than it could chew in 102 minutes.  


So, if you want to be incensed, watch "Inside Job."  "Waiting for Superman," will simply leave you waiting...for more.    

Poor Blog...So Neglected!

Wow, I haven't posted since the Oscars in February!  It has been some kind of crazy spring for sure and my writing goals (and recently, my fiction reading) have definitely paid the price.  Happily, summer is on the horizon and with it - the Denver Writing Project which I'll start in June!  20 days of forced and uninterrupted writing.  I can almost feel the sunshine beating on the back of my neck as I hunch over a notebook or laptop in the UCD quad.  

In other news, in my personal life, I'm preparing to host Easter brunch this weekend and embarking on a new culinary endeavor - making my own ham with a pomegranate glaze (and no help from my friends at Honey Baked Ham!). The menu will also include a spring salad, mushroom risotto, and sugar snap and asparagus toss.  My mom is handling dessert (thank goodness) so if the main event or side dishes fail at least we'll have a cache of sweets to fall back on :).  

Random thoughts - I've recently had a hankering to expand our family...and add yet another four-legged "kid" to the brood.  There's a litter of bull terrier pups calling my name, but convincing said dog's "father" is another story - I figure when you've got 3, what's one more?  Scrapbooking in my dog scrapbook this past weekend didn't help matters...I can just see where one more would fit into the messy margins of our DINK-y life (great new phrase I learned from a friend - "double income/no kids" - who knew our marriage had an official trendy label?)  Speaking of words, heart recently made it into the dictionary as a verb - you know, as in, "I heart my husband.  I heart New York. I heart a good book."  I knew I should have claimed the use of that word sooner...I've been using heart as a verb since middle school!

Ah well, it's late (after 10 on a "school" night) and I'm starting to ramble...it's beginning to feel like this post is just a lame attempt to get something up that's not over a month old!

"Operation Oscar" - Complete!

Roll out the red carpet and get ready to toast Tinseltown - it's time again for the "Women's Super Bowl."  That's right - Oscar night.  With 10 films up for best picture, watching all of the nominees was no small task.  But yesterday, I finished "Operation Oscar" just in time to ogle the gowns (and James Franco :) during tonight's broadcast.  I don't profess to be a film critic; rather I'm just a person who likes film.  So, here's my two cents worth on this year's "Top 10," loosely in rank order according to my personal criteria of writing (I love snappy dialogue), acting, and overall likability, or the "entertainment factor."  

#10.  Black Swan - Portman should be commended for her dancing (which was convincing and indicative of a bonafide prima ballerina) but I wish she had spent as much time on her acting as she did on her ballet training.  This film comes in at number 10 for me, as one of the most over-hyped films of the year.  While certain scenes were artistically filmed and beautifully rendered, to understand and empathize with mental illness I'd rather watch A Beautiful Mind again (and again) than delve into the dark, and at times, hokey, depths of this movie's "Swan Lake."  Loved the dancing, could've done without the lesbian love scene (imagined or not), but I wonder if it would have gotten as much attention, especially from male moviegoers, without it?  Hmm....Portman will likely win for Best Actress tonight, even though she should win for "Best Dancer" in a movie (new category I just made up :) and leave the acting to the likes of Benning, Kidman, and even the 14-year-old Steinfeld of True Grit.  I do like that this movie offered SNL and other satirical shows the opportunity to create some hilarious spoofs - see Jim Carrey's interpretation of Black Swan.


#9.  The Kids Are Alright - This movie is enjoyable, with moments that make you laugh-out-loud, and moments twinged with poignancy and pain.  This movie is not good enough to be a best picture, but Benning is excellent (now there's some acting - take notes Portman) and Ruffalo is charming as always.  A great, fresh, dramedy, that depicts a less than conventional family that yet any family can relate to.


#8. Inception - this movie will keep you on the edge of your seat for sure.  It's original, it's eye candy filled with eerie effects, and it's intense.  It is not a best picture - but it is one of the best, suspenseful popcorn movies I've seen in a long time.  And I would rather be trapped in Leonardo  DiCaprio character's mind than Portman's any day :).


#7. Toy Story 3 - this movie is, in a word -- sweet -- without being saccharine.  I loved Toy Story and Toy Story 2), and 3 doesn't disappoint either.  For a trilogy of movies that began with a high standard, this is really, really hard to pull off (although it doesn't stop Hollywood from releasing lame sequels in droves).  In fact, I can't think of another trilogy of movies that can hold a candle to this one for consistent enjoyment, (and I'm including The Godfather trilogy, because we all know how disappointing #3 turned out to be...)  In some ways, these movies keep getting better.  Hats off to Pixar, for taking their time in develop the execution and evolution of Andy's beloved toys since their initial 1995 debut.  


#6. The Fighter - Christian Bale is tremendous, as is the entire ensemble, in this somewhat predictable, based on a true story, boxing drama.  It took me a little while to "settle in" to this film - the initial jerky camera shots and thick Boston accents take some adjustment.  Superb acting, and the handheld camera filming technique, make this film feel very real and immediate - as if you the viewer are a part of this loud, bizarre, tacky and dysfunctional family.


#5. The Social Network - very snappy writing, fresh, and for the most part, fun and fast-paced.  I didn't expect much of this film and it delivered so much more than I expected.  While I've read many stories questioning the authenticity and liberties the filmmakers took to portray this "based on a true" story, I do think the exaggerations and/or embellishments probably made for a more compelling movie.  The end of this movie is unsettling - as a Facebook user I felt like a pawn in some master-mind nerd's big plan...that being said, I'm still "status updating" and "friending" with a frenzy, over 7 months after the film's debut. 


#4 Winter's Bone - quiet, dark and bleak.  Not much seems to happen in this movie of a young Ozark girl's quest to find her delinquent, drug addict father to avoid losing her home and keeping her family together.  But the climax is stomach-turning and the characters in this film are heart-breaking, pathetic renderings of human nature at its lowest.  Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as the lead and the heroine of the story - she, like Steinfeld, show strength and, well, true grit....


#3 True Grit - freshest re-make ever made.  I could close my eyes and still enjoy this movie - the writing is that good.  Steinfeld shines as the young heroine, and single-handedly steals the show in my opinion (no disrespect to Bridges, Damon and Brolin).  The Coen brothers strike gold again.


#2 127 Hours - I wasn't prepared to "enjoy" this movie.  In fact, I thought it was going to feel like sitting for 127 hours, or in real time wasting 2 1/2 hours of my life that I would never get back.  But I did enjoy it, if you can use that word to describe watching a man saw off his arm with a blunt pocketknife.  While Franco is easy on the eyes, watching him for 94 minutes alone would not have been enough to save this film.  His acting, however, is convincing; I felt frantic, parched, desperate, and loopy right alongside him.  The filming is also creative - the use of screen strips to juxtapose the human rat race with the starkness of nature was eye-catching and compelling.


#1 The King's Speech - well-written, well-acted, and entertaining.  This film hits all three criteria for me.  Firth will likely win for Best Actor tonight, an honor that is overdue and rightfully his.  If Franco makes you feel trapped in a canyon, Firth makes you feel like you'd rather be trapped in a canyon than be a public figure forced to speak publicly with an uncooperative stammer.  Rush is delightful as Firth's speech coach, friend and mentor, and audiences leave feeling relieved and refreshed by this historic tale of a King and his speech.   


The top 10 in a nutshell....what's your pick?