About me...
Okay, I started this website in, like, 97 and then kind of abandoned it. I was into writing poetry then, but stopped after about a year in college. I think to write good poetry you need to have the ever-popular bout of angst, and I was just too gosh darn happy :-P (yeah...too happy...right...). Or maybe I was exposed to so many incredible writers that I felt that I was not worthy...(visions of me bowing before Shakespeare come to mind...). Right now, I don't really know what I want to do with this site. I still have my old (sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good) poetry up right now. I guess it's just a kinda this-is-who-I-am-deal-with-it sort of site.
I graduated from college (Framingham State--Go Rams!) with a BA in English (that means I can use big words and be real pretentious while I pratter on about post-structualism...really, it's on my diploma that I can do that)in May of 2002. I started teaching Language Arts (grammar, spelling, writing, reading, and all other fun stuff) to 7th and 8th graders at a Catholic school in August of 2002. It is, um, interesting. Not exactly the age I was trained for (I wanted high school), but it's a job :-). I'm also going for my master's in Education at UMASS-Lowell. I hope to graduate next year, but who knows. In the meantime, I will be looking for a new job before I have an irreversible burnout from my current job.
What else? Oh yeah, I live at home with my parents in Massachusetts (yes, I'm a dork--no, not because I live in Massachusetts...or, actually, maybe that's why :-P), and I have two cats and a dog. I tend to be sarcastic (or, is it ironic?--the nice airbrushed version of the word sarcastic) in case you haven't noticed that yet...
Like many women my age (24), I am looking for Mr. Right, but it just ain't working for me...So, you know, if you're single, living in Massachusetts, and halfway decent, shoot me an email (abluecat79@aol.com). Oh yeah, if you want to see what I look like before you email, there's a pic here (ain't I cute?). My digital camera is kinda crappy, so it's not the best quality pic.
Anyway (I tend to say that a lot too because I ramble), here are a few of my favorite things...
favorite novelist: Blah. You know, as a former English major I really should have a good answer to this, but there are so many (here is where I get to flaunt all that I've read). For old stuff (pre-1910 or so), I like Emily Bronte (Victorian, but not really) and Dostoevsky. I took a Russian Literature class (because it was required), and I was surprised that I actually enjoyed some of the stuff (Gogol is nuts, Chekov is intense, actually a lot of Russian writers are intense, must be all of the cold weather). For modern stuff, I used to like John Grisham, but I don't enjoy him as much anymore (maybe it's that English major elitism). His last couple of novels have just seemed kinda weak. I got turned onto a few modern authors in college--Margaret Atwood, Kate Atkinson (though her second novel is not as good as her first), Graham Greene, and probably a few others that I can't think of right now. I also like Frank McCourt because of his skill with dialogue. Oh yeah, and also J. D. Salinger. I was kinda ambivalent on _Catcher in the Rye_ in high school, but I had to teach it last spring, and I enjoyed it. I think it's one of those right time, right place books.
favorite poet: Dylan Thomas is up there because he's so intense. Again, same deal though...no real favorite poet. I like Wordsworth's optimism & delight in nature...Blake's schizophrenic writing style is interesting...
favorite playwright: Shakespeare. The man. Sure, he pilaged plots like a Viking going through a village (oooh, a simile) and basically had only a few general plots, but...man...
I still have this idea to set "Much Ado About Nothing" in 1940s, post WW2 New York. It could work...
favorite screenwriter: I'm not so sure who my favorite screenwriter is. I liked what Elaine May did with Primary Colors...and, of course, I like Emma Thompson's adaptation of Sense & Sensibility, but seeing as both of these were adaptations & not original work, I guess they wouldn't really "count". I thought Scott Frank's Dead Again was interesting with its multi-layered plots and the way it plays with point of view.
favorite songwriter: Carly Simon because she always knows how to say exactly the right thing the right way. Definitely have to add Sarah McLachlan and Eddie Vedder to this list for the same reason. Also, Kurt Cobain gets props for having lyrics that seemingly make no sense on first glance, but then they kinda do...plus, his sarcasm works for me.
Anyway...I guess that's all for now.
