2004-01-02 - 9:59 a.m.

Happy New Year! For the New Year we all were recovering from a nasty flu. Although I think everyone is finished with running temperatures, we are still feeling lethargic and it takes all the energy we have to do the necessities like cooking and cleaning. Not much energy left for anything else! The kids did all play in the treehouse yesterday which was fun. The big event of our New Years Eve was a good pot of coffee accompanying an Italian cake called "Tronco Di Natale" which Westley thinks translates into "Trunk of Joe".... Hmmm...Its a traditional Christmas treat. I surmise maybe trunk of Joe refers to Jesus? Son of Joseph... though not really biologically... hmmmm Westley couldn't really translate the Italian description of the etiology of the cake. The cake itself looked like a log of a tree, covered in dark chocolate (YUM!) and it tasted like Pannetone, which is more like a sweet bread with small amounts of candied fruit. The cake was filled with a lemon filling, which reminded me of the spead called lemon curd in England. It was wonderful. Not too sweet. For the New Year I was excited to find the latest on line journal of my friend who I wrote about that stopped her journal eons ago due to the anger of her boyfriend that discovered it. I was so happy to do a search for her and find that she not only has been on line for some time since.... but is hosting a journalers convention in DC this Spring!! YAH!!! Journalers of the world unite! I of course secretly WISH I could go!! That is likely not feasible as a. I'd have to mention to my hubby I happen to be an on line journaler..... hmmm... its the one true "private" space I feel I have. (Ironic though that is!) b. With 5 kids it's hard to get away-- even for work when needed! My husband did come across my Amazon.com reviews and wish list. After he dared to complain about the content of a book on marital relations on my wish list...I did remove it, but not after submitting my review of it. I found that to be a fair compromise of addressing his fear, and asserting my individuality. He of course was thinking it would be viewed as a reflection of him rather than being aboout ME (Ok- he's right in a way, as anyone who knows US , and even those that don't know us will obviously surmise a book on marriage is about BOTH people in the relationship....) I did understand his worry that to have such a book on my wish list could add fuel to the fire of those well wishers who tend to only see the negative in an exaggerated way. They could assume the worst if they go to my wish list and see self help marital books! (Having read the book already also made me more inclined to remove it! I surprisingly found it at the local library which is noticibly bare of other books on that particular topic) I figure after that, should he discover this journal some day.... it won't be so bad! I'll respong in the same way I did about amazon. I'll remind him this is about and for ME. And everyone is entitled to their individuality! I agree with my friend in her assessment of journaling. "I didn't think I needed permission" Besides which, Westley IS wonderful about respecting my privacy and sanctity of personal space. He doesn't read my work unless I specifically ASK him to. And I hae learned what type of pieces are best kept to myself and which I SHOULD share with him! I recently got a tremendouly funny and flattering rejection letter Westly was very supportive about! It was flattering as the editor went on a long full page rant about why although I "once again have sent an excellent poem.....its "advocacy," as it were is a far cry from the direction our publication has tried to take....." It was hysterical how emphatically the editor responded to my poem, and flattering in that my writing CLEARLY affected him!! Wow! Maybe it is good! And if he is right "These are very strong "mainstream" values, and they will be welcomed in any solid middle-of-the road publication" So I am just not radical enough for Norm Davis' Hazmat Review! But if Norm is right, I AM PUBLISHABLE! AND if HE is TRULY CORRECT, I am publishjable in MANY of the mainstream publications.... hmmm maybe I can make a living as a writer! There is hope yet! What was so tremendously funny about the rejection letter is that he clearly missed all the sarcasm in the piece I sent which extolls all the things a wife was trained to do that I read in a Home Economics manual for a NY high school course in the 1950s. I found the advice both tremendously dated and FUNNY when I came across that... and I wrote a facitious piece for a Buffalo friend who found social services knocking on her door.... I gave her all the advice of the 50s phamplet in how to court her social worker as if she were her 50s husband, as the real irony is that it WOULD WORK! It was such a dark piece in many ways, and in some way I thought humorous. The editor misses the sarcasm, the main point of which is that I think "Women's Liberation" is still largely a dream not yet actualized. So I just mailed it to the Nation. Maybe Norm considers them mainstream enough that they'll like it. My friend recommended "Bitch" magazine. So they'll be the next place I send it when it comes back. I think they'll get it. At the beginning of this year I re-read my goal of getting published from LAST year, and am diappointed to report I haven't YET succeeded! But at least I got one lengthy and amusing rejection amid the many impersonal post cards!

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