Comments for

Comment on about the afghan women’s project by sbreen

sbreen — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:20:23 +0000

Thank you KT. I’d love to read your poem. Take care, Susan

Comment on about the afghan women’s project by KT

KT — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:43:27 +0000

Thank you Susan. This was such a joy to read. I wrote a poem years ago about a woman in a war zone who ends up staring across a road at women on the “enemy” side and realizing that they are the same as she, under the skin so to speak. We are different, but we are the same. We enrich each other’s lives just by being who we are. I hope that one day, we’ll have a world where difference can be celebrated instead of denigrated. I look forward to reading the essays. What a gift.

Comment on about book clubs in new jersey by julia

julia — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:50:03 +0000

i would like to join a book club in the union county area can someone help Me

Comment on about anderbo by KT

KT — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:26:07 +0000

Hi Susan,

Congratulations! And good blog.

Comment on about anderbo by Wendy Cebula

Wendy Cebula — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:05:56 +0000

Wow, Susan! That’s great news. Congratulations!!

Comment on about anderbo by wendy

wendy — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:22:22 +0000

Congratulations. “Triplet” is a wonderful story. Does its inclusion in the anthology mean Dave Eggers frequents anderbo.com?
Rofihe gives good advice and proof of his wisdom and editorial skill is evident on his site. How fantastic to be given access to such great work, presented so well, for free.

Comment on about violence by joy

joy — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:29:46 +0000

my mouth has always gotten me in trouble and by association my writing. Whatever comes out of my mouth has already been written by me usually.

Comment on about violence by Trisha Harner

Trisha Harner — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:42:10 +0000

Susan,

Yes, oh yes, I have experienced the pain of being exposed. More than once, the last time shut me down for years before I wrote again. Once my mother, that is how she found out I was not a virgin anymore, I thought my sister told her. Another time my roommate. She read my journals and told people what I wrote about them. It sucked. That may be why I gained 20 pounds then, or it could have been the vodka collins. Both were a way to protect myself and ease the pain I felt. That was back in my 20’s. Now I am 43 years old.
I started a writing class last fall. It is held at a senior citizen establishment. At the time I signed up, I was unaware it was a class full of actual seniors, I thought they were just offering up there nice day rooms for a writing class. When I entered the room, 6 old faces turned and looked at me. I stayed though, and read my stories to them all fall and winter long. It was the best, safest environment to expose myself to. I no longer am afraid to reveal, by the end of the class I started to be able to read my stories without shaking and turning red, and getting hot.
I even had some put on the programs website for the rest of the city to read. I am unblocked and will never ever let someone shut me down again. I even leave my journals semi unprotected, hiding them seems to make them more enticing.

Keep on writing,

Trisha

Comment on about my dog by Susan Graham

Susan Graham — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:34:50 +0000

Susan, I just had to share this story with you. My good friend was in a hurry one morning to get to work. She scooped up her pills from the kitchen counter and took them. After a few minutes, she realized that she had also taken her dog’s heartworm pill. Even funnier is the fact that she is an art therapist in a psych hospital. She called her vet from the hospital to ask about side affects. Her co-workers remembered that story for a long time.

Comment on about violence by KT

KT — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:15:15 +0000

Hi Susan,

What a great topic for a blog. You know this, I’m sure, but Glimmer Train does an article on or with a writer who has experienced some kind of serious price for his/her writing, such as being jailed. It’s a good reminder that words are powerful indeed.

I got into trouble once when I was a sophomore in high school. I wrote what I thought was a nice essay about my favorite English teacher and why she was my favorite.

I meant it to be a “hey, I appreciate what a good job you’re doing” kind of thing, but as she pointed out to me one day after class, other English teachers that I had also deserved recognition. I felt like I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. Still do a little, even now.

But, the experience taught me an important lesson, which is to think carefully about who could be hurt or angered by what I write, and whether risking that hurt or anger is justified. In the case of my essay, I should have thought more carefully about the topic (duh, seems so obvious now). In other cases, such as writing about racism in a particular segment of society, I’d say, “No pain, no gain”.