New Workshop Based Upon New Book

My new book, When Digital Isn't Real, evolved out of the various workshops I've conducted over the years, including several with Story Circle Network. All writers need to establish the reliability of their information. But in order to keep readers interested and present credible content, they also must enhance their work by providing a high level of verisimilitude.

This is the outside. Now go take a look at the inside!

You're probably thinking that anything and everything you could possibly need for your craft is online, right? True, so much is available online and in digital format but (and it's a very big but) what about all that incredibly rich, unique, and "never-to-make-its way into the digital world" material? What about all the often overlooked sources for information and facts such as one-on-one interviews, visits to geographic locations, rummaging through scrapbooks, recipe collections, and snooping around in closets and in family photo albums?

Well, you get where I'm going with all this! My new book deals with precisely these points and more. And my forthcoming workshop will show attendees exactly how to decide what information and details they need, where to look in the real, non-digital world, and what unconventional sources are available.

if you can't join me in Austin,  you can still buy a copy of When Digital Isn't Real. It's available in both print and as a Kindle.

Berlin - Surprises Abound

Photo via flickr- ERmes Vatali

There’s a tiny, little known museum in Berlin, Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt. During World War II and before, it had been a brush factory. Its owner, Otto Weidt, became increasingly interested in creating a safe work environment for visually impaired, blind and deaf workers. It was a workshop in which they were given the opportunity to be productive and remain economically independent. The reason for his interest: Otto Weidt gradually was losing his own eye sight. Visiting this unusual, out of the way spot was one of the highlights of the week for all the surprises it held.

     After the climb up a narrow, creaky flight of wooden steps, I opened the door to the museum’s small entry. It had been pouring rain through out the morning and our group was drenched. The desk clerk greeted us pleasantly in German, asking us to leave  our wet coats and umbrellas in the entry to prevent water damage to the exhibits. The soft spoken man was the security guard / maintenance staff / sales clerk / resident historian and basically filled every position imaginable at this museum.

     He had an amazing smile, pleasant disposition, but had spoken to us in German. “He’s amazing!” I whispered to our tour leader. “I’d so love to take his photo. Do you think he’d mind?”

     “Mind? Are you kidding?" our group leader replied. "He’d absolutely love it, just ask him. His English is perfect and actually he competes in the International Beard and Mustache Competition. You know, he once won third place and is super proud of this!”
     
     This museum is a must-visit tribute to a German citizen, a non-Jewish hero. While reading about the museum, I learned that its administered by the German Resistance Memorial Centre Foundation - an organization developed as a result of a student project.   Otto Weidt’s story is told through the use of archival photos and in transcripts from interviews conducted with some of those he had saved. The mustache man enriched an already enriching experience. 

     During World War II, the visually impaired brush and broom manufacturer, Otto Weidt,  employed quite a number of Jews in the small factory still located at Rosenthaler 39. As the Nazi party rose to power, Weidt worked tirelessly to protect his blind and deaf employees from deportation to concentration camps. He bribed the Gestapo, falsified documents, and ultimately hid a family behind a backless cupboard in his shop’s workroom.

     Hesitantly, I approached his desk. Apologetically I spoke up. “Sir, excuse me but would you mind if I took a photo of you? My friends in the USA would find your mustache amazing. I know I sure do!”

     “It would be my honor." He said in perfect, accent free English. "This is a good place for me to work. Here, in a brush factory, right? And even more funny, I’m Jewish! Fortunately, I’m not yet blind. I must say though that some people are certain I’m deaf!”

     The encounter was a bigger surprise than I was prepared for that day. And thanks to the man with the award-winning mustache, I learned much more about Mr. Weidt’s brushes, the empoyees he saved and about “mustache man” himself. His own parents had fled Berlin, went to Israel (then Palestine) and remained there. The Israeli- born competitive mustache grower returned to live in Berlin after completing college.  

     

Seeing Things Anew

Grim reminder of my own parents' experiences listed here - 3 out of these twelve.
Far too many others not even listed: Auschwitz, Ravensbruck & Dachau.
   

     Sometimes a break from blogging is a good thing. My break has been so long, I almost forgot how to post new content - not the writing part but the actual mechanics! Somewhat scary. Could this be a case of "use it or lose it?"

     The past three months have been insanely hectic. August was devoted to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico where I presented and conducted one-on-one consults for the AROHO Conference. I returned to Chicago in September and a two week trip to Berlin with University of Chicago's Graham School, and a visit to Santa Cruz, CA.

     There was the frenzy of writing and submitting my proposal to present at the Story Circle Network National Conference in Austin, TX., publication of my new book, When Digital Isn't Real followed by a total overhaul of the same just one week after it was released. Oh, I forgot to mention the Kindle Edition as well.

     These are some of the topics about which I'll be posting during the coming weeks. And there are also other activities; writing a few guest posts, providing my "two cents" of feedback on some fellow writers' books, my activities as a member of University of Chicago's Visiting Committee to the Graduate Division of the Social Sciences, and working on my forthcoming short story collection.

     So what about all those photos I'm eager to post and write about?  Some are more emotionally packed than others, but first things first. I've posted a photo of one of the intense moments for me but coming to grips with all this proved to be a positive and valuable experience.

Please check back this week for new content!

I am a Berliner!

Hi I'm in Berlin right now on an trip with University of Chicago Graham School. 

Tell you all about it when I get back.

Out on the bookshelves now: Marlene's new Reference Guide, When Digital Isn't Real

Much Needed Resource For Writers—A Reference Guide!

Do you think all the information you need can be found online? Think again! Not all the facts you need to ensure accuracy in your writing is online. And even information that's made its way online may not be all that accurate. The magnitude of online information, accessed at lightening fast speed, has eroded our beliefs in the importance of hard-copy references. Worse, too many writers are losing their research skills. In order to conduct non-digital research, writers need the skills to identify data sources but moreover, knowing how and where to find them, then deciding which ones to use, is both critical and daunting. Every writer who cares about the accuracy of his or her written work needs this book!

 

Where's Mangia Monday been?

 "Mangia Monday" on this blog - a series of yummy recipes and tips for getting the most out of your food dollars and having the least to waste. 

ANOTHER DAY GOURMET!

Have a Look!  Here's where you'll now find all the recipes, essays, and great tips for getting the most out of your food. Check in with this blog for updates and news about all my writing, publications, workshops and presentations but from now on all the food related fun will be "in residence" at Another Day Gourmet. Thanks and happy cooking!

Witnessing Diversity, Embracing Community

This past Saturday, I attended both a bat- and bar-mitzvah in Washington, D.C., the only reason for my trip to the district. But while in our nation's capital, I decided to take advantage of a few unscheduled hours in which to conduct historical research at the USHMM - The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Friday afternoon I devoted 3 hours to my research.

But, on Saturday, sitting in the synagogue's sanctuary, the significance of the two events - my Holocaust research and the bat mitzvah's unique celebratory character thoroughly overwhelmed me.

The young lady having her bat mitzvah is our close friends' daughter -- I'll refer to her  as Julia Jia Li Davis. The young man becoming a "bar mitzvah," Jordan David Martínez-Goldberg, shared the Dias and planning of the service with Julia.

She is Chinese. He is bi-racial Jewish-Dominican, and according to one aunt, also has some Peruvian origins. The service was simultaneously amazing, encouraging, and beautiful. But beyond its diversity -- and vastly more important, was the sense of community and hope it evoked that so thoroughly overwhelmed us all. 

I scanned the sanctuary.  It was impossible not to notice that almost everyone there was teary-eyed and intensely moved. It wasn't simply the ethnic, racial, national, and cultural diversity that gave us pause but rather the tremendous significance of the scene and of our good fortune to be a part of it. The point was lost on no one! 

It was also the epitome of our American ethos. It's one of the greatest and most enduring of America's values. 

More than a century ago, the United States of America was referred to as the  "great melting-pot," a term derived from a play by Israel Zangwill. First performed in 1908, the story depicts difficulties encountered by a Russian-Jewish immigrant family named the Quixanos. 

The protagonist and hero, David Quixano, survived a pogrom that killed both his mother and sister -- an over-whelming horror he constantly struggles to put behind him.

David creates an "American Symphony" -- his goal is to envision a society free from ethnic divisions and hatred rather than to remember his tragic past.

David proclaims, "America is God's crucible, the great melting-pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming... Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians." He is overcome with emotion by his vision and shouts, "Into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American!"

Given the play's historical context, Zangwill's main character's proclamation is truer and more evident in contemporary America than it was when he wrote it in 1908. Today, America is in a constant state of social and demographic flux, adapting and embracing its diversity followed by yet more growth, change and diversity.

The continuous changing "face" of America benefits us all, helping us evolve into a vastly more compassionate and humane society.

This special bat mitzvah followed my afternoon at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's 5th floor where I scanned miles of footage in the Steven Spielberg Film Archives -- footage that documented Nazi era atrocities.

Regardless of what we think we know about events that occurred during those very dark Holocaust years, seeing raw film footage taken from news reels of the time is a brutally sobering experience. 

 I'm still trying to comprehend the amazing contrast between what I saw  documenting the inhumane violence inflicted upon millions of human beings simply because of their cultural, religious, and racial differences and the wonderful encouraging sense of community that permeated the entire bat mitzvah weekend I was so fortunate to be a part of!

Little Blue Book

I pulled my passport out of the special leather case in which it's protected. We were on a flight headed to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and it was about a half hour before touchdown. Flight-attendants hurriedly began distributing Mexican tourist visa forms to be completed and handed to waiting Mexican Passport Control officers inside the airport.

But just before I opened my passport - navy blue, white letters, U.S.A., I held it in my hand a moment longer than any of my fellow passengers did theirs; turned it over to look at some security stickers from past adventures. I read the information in the first few pages before the photo page, before finding my passport number, and before I completed the form.

It's been an incredibly tense time in the national media, tense for all Americans in the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombings. Everyone has stayed glued to their televisions, ears tuned to news reports.  I was following minute-by-minute updates about the hunt for the bombers -- News about their national origins, their acquiring the privilege to enter and remain in the USA.

I opened my pen, ready to copy my passport information into the form issued to United Airline passengers -  I examined its cover. I held it in my hand a bit longer, taking a few extra moments to think about the privilege of having an American passport.

Mine was not obtained as the result of the coincidence of my place of birth. It was not because of  the good fortune to have been born in the USA. Instead, my passport was obtained as the result of a 14 year wait to gain my immigration visa from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services. It's the result of an additional five-year wait to gain the privilege to take the USA citizenship exam and only after that, was I fortunate enough to travel on an American passport.

I remember making the trip downtown to the Federal Building in Chicago on the appointed day, stomach all in knots, after weeks of diligent preparation for my interview and exam. After one full hour, I emerged from the cubicle extremely lightheaded.

"Please take a seat in the main room along with your fellow Americans." said the blond haired INS officer, the one who had given me my exam. She moved to the front of the room, stepped up to the podium flanked by the Stars and Stripes on one side, and the State of Illinois flag on the other.

"Congratulations, you are now American citizens! Welcome to the United States of America!"

And as I looked around the room, barely a dry eye was to be found among eyes of many shapes, colors, and lands - so many of which had seen unspeakable hardships and sorrows.  Many of the families, just like my own, had been in transit for many generations.

It all came back to me during this past week of national tragedy. I've been holding my passport very close, marveling at my own good fortune to be an American and so saddened that there are those for whom the same is not true.

Regrets Undone - Long Story Short Ezine

An essay of mine called Regrets Undone, about (finally) completing my Ph.D., has been featured on Long Story Short, An Ezine for Writers.  

The one cocktail party question I’ve dreaded so much that I move across the room, away from the hors d'oeuvre platter just to avoid facing it. “So, what exactly is it that you do?” It’s a question that packs enough ammunition to transform me into mumbling scatterbrain. “Excuse me, I see someone I really need to say hello to.” Is an escape-clause I’ve developed when I even sniff that someone on the verge of asking it. And how is it that grownups, a group of which I’m a member, think nothing of asking such a personal question of a total stranger in the most casual of tones?

 Read the rest Here!

I just learned I've Been Selected As A Finalist In A Writing Competition

Thanks to my AROHO friends on Facebook, specifically Lisa Rizzo and Barbara Rockman, I just learned that I'm a finalist in A Room of Her Own Foundation's ORLANDO PRIZE in the  non-fiction category for my story entitled,The Pretending Suitcase Game. Sometimes I'm so clueless! 

AROHO is dedicated to furthering the vision of Virginia Woolf and bridging the gap between a woman’s economic reality and her artistic creation. We bridge this gap by offering generous financial support to women of diverse artistic expression—the written arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting), as well as the visual arts (painting, sculpture, and photography). We further Woolf’s vision by providing moral support and professional guidance to independent creative women who are committed to their art.
You can Read the Rules of the Contest here.