Monthly Archives: January 2012

Enter the Garden

January 30, 2012

A new world is expanding in my head on four different levels. I should know this feeling by now, but I still find it very odd because I don’t really understand how it works. You know those freeze-frame sequences of a flower blooming, each petal opening in bright, impossible color before your eyes? First-drafting this new novel feels like that, except I’m in an entire garden of those flowers and I’m blind-folded, finding them by touch.

First, it’s happening in a particular scene, when the voice of the… Continue reading →

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Be Brave. Experiment. Dance.

January 23, 2012

You know Degas? The French artist who painted all those dancers? His ballet dancers are so ubiquitous that I see them more as friendly, familiar wallpaper than as art, and yet when I saw one of his paintings recently, it kept pulling at me, and I wasn’t sure why. I started wondering about the way the main figure was placed so far to the right, leaving so much empty floor space of the dance studio behind her, and then it hit me that the dancer was poised to… Continue reading →

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Alien in Israel

January 16, 2012

For the past two days, I’ve taken the train from Rehovot into Tel Aviv to explore a bit on my own. I especially liked Jaffa, with its views of the Mediterranean Sea, its ancient port, and its hilltop garden. I arrived as the adhan was called from the minaret tower around noon, and sat by the clock tower eating a pear pastry. Unhindered by an official guide or an abundance of facts, I let myself cross to another time around every corner. It’s an odd feeling. You know, rationally,… Continue reading →

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Imaginary Friends

January 9, 2012

You know the way your dead grandmother can pop up in the car with you? You know just what she’ll say about slowing for the stop sign, and how she’ll cross herself when you pass St. Luke’s. Her chortly, spontaneous laughter will float right through you. It’s memory, but it’s also alive, fluid. It’s strong because it’s yours alone, in your own mind, especially if you practice bringing your grandmother forward.