Hey all,
I was in the middle of reading Jesmimi's interesting post below, particularly struck by the aside,(Perhaps that was too much information for you--sorry.), when my mother's instant message popped up and blocked Jesmimi's text. Well, before that instant message popped up, I was thinking, Why the apology? Don't we love hearing the heretofore unspoken, private memories of our friends, acquaintances and total strangers? As readers we relish experiencing them, understanding them or, conversely, being left baffled by them. As writers, ditto. There should be more of that. More of the personal—our confidential moments willingly made public.
If you think this is leading to me posting nude photos of myself taken by bathroom mirror reflection, please rest assured. It’s not.
Instead, I thought I’d post the chat I had with my mother just now, give you a taste of the material I haven’t yet let fully into my writing (for those of you from the workshops). I just don’t know how to neatly get all the mess in, or neatly take the pieces out and pin them under the microscope like some foreign bacteria when, really, in this example, she’s no germ: she’s my sister. And tied up in my sister are all these conflicts that eventually branch out to me, intertwine with my conflicts, and suddenly I’m dissecting myself again instead of making up shit about a girl who is deservedly diagnosed with an incurable case of DUMB ASS by her very own mother.
mowdy1948: hey
joelbmowdy: hello
mowdy1948: what are you doing up so late?
mowdy1948: my mic is still not working...been buusy doing other stuff
joelbmowdy: I had to make lesson plans for my classes that start on monday
joelbmowdy: been working on it all day
joelbmowdy: and grading I was putting off
mowdy1948: your sister Brittany is a dumb ass
joelbmowdy: uh huh
joelbmowdy: what now
mowdy1948: long story short
mowdy1948: she left her friend dominique watching thte kids on Wed. night...i was a t work til 11 and came home to find her here...said Britt would be home by 12:30
joelbmowdy: ok--well, so far this is better than I thought. I thoughtyou were going to tell me she's pregnant again
mowdy1948: Dom comes in my room and wakes me up at 1 and says Britt had car trouble...she went in to NYC with Bradley...some ass hole from around here..young ..no teeth drives a Mercedes Suv
mowdy1948: she was going to go get her dad...call britt back and go and help them
joelbmowdy: mmhm
mowdy1948: Dom couldn't get in touch with her so figures that they were ok and went home
mowdy1948: Britt never arrived home..I had to go to work...no one to watch kids..kept Brianne (youngest sister) home..Britt's cell phone wasn't working but I had Bradley's#
mowdy1948: kept caling...no answer til arond 11:30
mowdy1948: got a man on the phone ..asked for her..he said she wasn't with him...he was Brad's uncle...had picked up his phone from the vehicle cause they had been arrested and he was on his way to court to bail them out
mowdy1948: Brooke (another sister) informed me that she heared they were going into NYC to get fake ID
joelbmowdy: oh that's smart.
mowdy1948: anyway..still no call from her..he would all me when he heard anything
mowdy1948: wait gets better
mowdy1948: so Shannon (another sister) goes online around midnight ...finds out where she is being held...calls and finds out it is for possession with intent to sell
mowdy1948: she didn't go before a judge til fri at 10:30 AM
mowdy1948: her charges were dropped, but bradley is on his way to rikers.
mowdy1948: here is her version...see if you can find the holes
joelbmowdy: This is terrible
mowdy1948: they were in the city and got a flat and couldn't find a tire store and yada blah blah blah
mowdy1948: they finally got it fixed and were just sitting in the car minding their own business when a bunch of plain clothes police rushed the car with guns drawn
mowdy1948: they were initially arrested because a guy in the back seat had an open bottle of beer.
mowdy1948: when the car was searched the police found a bottle of about 100 pain pills with Bradley's name on the rx bottle but they charged them anyway..oh and they confiscated the $6000.00 that he just happened to have on him because he had just sold his other car
joelbmowdy: this story you're telling has an interesting contrast to the profile picture of you smiling in mid dance step.
mowdy1948: Brittany said he takes these pills for back pain ( she thinks) and there were a lot because it is supposed to last 6 weeks
mowdy1948: i wasn't dancing...just sitting at my desk being tired....oh can you find the holes?
joelbmowdy: In his mouth? Wasn't the last boyfriend on pain killers, too?
joelbmowdy: You look like you're dancing.
mowdy1948: let me give the holes to you and see if you concur...oh by the way Bradley drives an expensive car "because he owns a pool company with his uncle"...did I mention he has few teeth?
joelbmowdy: Finiding the holes isn't the problem. I'm looking for the solid ground. Why all the guys on pain killers?
mowdy1948: I guess dating Brittany is a painful experience
mowdy1948: ok here goes..mastic beach+ ...young .+.drives expensive car = drug dealer....yuh think?
joelbmowdy: Bradley's been investing in the wrong kind of grill.
mowdy1948: uh...if you own an expensive car...do you not have roadside assistance or perhaps a spare tire?
mowdy1948: didn't have time to put his stash of cash away?
joelbmowdy: Maybe he was going to the dentist.
mowdy1948: It is illegal to dispense more than a month supply of controlled substance
mowdy1948: and if he was indeed taking that much in a month should he be driving?
joelbmowdy: The L.I.E. is a stressful stretch of road.
joelbmowdy: How are her kids?
mowdy1948: anyway..gotta go ...Brianne is vomiting and crying...we got a new puppy too. tell you more later
mowdy1948: her kids are great...they didn't even miss her.
joelbmowdy: Tell Brianne I hope she feels better.
joelbmowdy: soon.
mowdy1948: I had to take off from work to watch them...oh and I found 8 western union receipts...she has been sending the other asshole (other gut on pain killers) money in jail so he can call her
mowdy1948: bye for now.....love you!!
joelbmowdy: Love you, too.
joelbmowdy: bye
mowdy1948: she is a DUMB ASS
joelbmowdy: She'll learn, or she won't. It's out of your hands. Try not to let it kill you.
For all the wealth of material, it might be better to just leave the family unexamined, keep searching out the scraps I can get from friends, the anecdotes from acquaintances, the sideways looks at strangers on the bus, and let the family sneek in in dribbles as they always eventually do, making the work, somehow, though they are rendered unrecognizable, faintly about them anyway.
4 comments:
hey (masticated) joel! it's damn near 2 AM, and i'm up and sleepless again, and i just wanted to let you know that your post made me giggle. it also made my head ache--in a good way. i guess i still am the only wierdo out here who thinks a prototype of her was included in a book written before she knew how to walk. ugh.
Hello writerly peoples and a very happy new year to all of you,
Jesmimi, I'm not in any book I've read so far, but the mother (Ammu) in The God of Small Things is my mother, just EXACTLY. I might have told some people this before -- if so, I apologise for repeating myself. But really, she is JUST EXACTLY my mother -- biographical details, specific quotes, physical descriptions, etc. etc. The description of Ammu's wedding to the children's father (right down to the clothes), and the effect said wedding has on her for the rest of her life? That was, like, stolen from my mother's mouth. Which is why it's impossible for me to think about that novel with anything approaching objectivity. When I first read it I couldn't crawl out from under my blanket for days afterwards. I got past that phase but I still can't quite see the book as a novel.
Post when you get a signal!
hey kids
i'm in vermont, in the hallway of a building that is meant to be *completely* quiet (they are quite serious about this), but the woman in the studio next to me is speaking very, very loudly on her cell phone about the delicious food we've eaten here today. i can understand her enthusiasm but her volume is really making me understand why the people here are sad that a cell phone tower (works for some people, some of the time--works fine for this loud chatty lady i guess) came to town this past year for the first time ever. the first night here one of the founders gave a bit of a speech about trying to use this time to turn inward--to stay off your cell phone and off the internet even if you do have a signal. and here i am posting to the blog for the first time in months. but i did take this speech to heart, and the reason i am in the hall instead of my little studio (my own little studio! very lovely, i better not squander it) is because it's too far from the wireless hub and i can't get a signal in there. this is very much for the best. i realize this has nothing to do with the thread here, but i just wanted to ramble and say thanks to those of you who have been posting, from r. kelly to moby duck to masticated's mom, this blog has been bringing me many smiles lately, and i'm so happy it's been rekindled. keep it coming. oxoo
ps
sorry about the 'post when you get a signal!' note--that was a reminder to me to move further down the hall, closer to the little hub, and post my comment once i'd finished typing it. yes, i also need notes for myself like, 'drink water' and 'sleep.'
i felt it needed clarification so you didn't feel you were being called to arms--when you saw the robotdinosaurwithhumanheart emblem blazing over the city, you would run to your computers and fight evil by posting to our fine blog. if only there were such a signal.
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