Corabel Shofner's Blog

Cover Reveal: Almost Paradise by Corabel Shofner
OCTOBER 17, 2016 BY ELIZABETH BIRD LEAVE A COMMENT

Folks ask me to reveal middle grade covers from time to time.  Sometimes I say yes.  Sometimes I say no.  If you ever happen to be interested in my doing so then the following elements should ideally be combined:

A nun
A smarmy man with a mustache (handlebar preferred but not required)
An unnerved woman staring at the smarmy man with the aforementioned mustache
A pig

Admittedly, it’s only once in a blue moon when I can find such a book jacket to premiere, but when I can . . .  magic!!

Aww. Just look at that.  All the pieces are in place.  And check out this description:

Twelve-year-old Ruby Clyde Henderson’s life turns upside down the day her mother’s boyfriend holds up a convenience store, and her mother is wrongly imprisoned for assisting with the crime. Ruby and her pet pig, Bunny, find their way to her estranged Aunt Eleanor’s home. Aunt Eleanor is a nun who lives on a peach orchard called Paradise, and had turned away from their family long ago. With a little patience, she and Ruby begin to get along―but Eleanor has secrets of her own, secrets that might mean more hard times for Ruby.

Ruby believes that she’s the only one who can find a way to help heal her loved ones, save her mother, and bring her family back together again. But being in a family means that everyone has to work together to support each other, and being home doesn’t always mean going back to where you came from. This is a big-hearted novel about trust, belonging, and the struggles and joys of loving one another.

Never heard of author Corabel Shofner?  She’s new!  She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English literature and was on Law Review at Vanderbilt University School of Law. Her shorter (adult) work has appeared or is forthcoming in Willow Review, Word Riot, Habersham Review, Hawai’i Review, Sou’wester, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, and Xavier Review. And yes indeed, Almost Paradise is her first novel.   The book will also be illustrated by Kristin Radwilowicz as well.

Look for it on shelves July 25, 2017.

Many thanks to Chelsea Apple for the reveal.

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FILED UNDER: UNCATEGORIZED TAGGED WITH: COVER REVEAL

About Elizabeth Bird

Elizabeth Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she’d love to tell you about but that she’s sure you’d find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

 

 

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PAPER WISHES

by Lois Sepahban

Middle Grade Historical

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

January 5, 2016

Middle Grade Historical

It is March of 1942. Ten-year-old Manami, and her entire family, are sent to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp in central California. She sneaks her dog onto the ferry, but when a soldier forces her to abandon the dog, the traumatized young girl stops speaking. At the camp, she can only make drawings, paper wishes sent by the wind, for her beloved dog to return. Eventually, it is up to Manami to hold her family together. And she can only do that by learning to speak again.

Paper Wishes is receiving excellent reviews: SLJ Kirkus PW

To preorder Paper Wishes: Amazon B&N Booksamillion Powells BAM IndieBound

Main Questions:

1. How did you come up with the idea for your novel?

I grew up in central California, not far from Manzanar. In my early

elementary school years, I had a friend whose grandparents had been internees

during World War II. His mom spoke to us at school once about her parents’

experiences. That planted a seed for me.

Over the years, whenever we would drive past the road leading to

Manzanar, or whenever it was mentioned during history class (usually just a blip of

a paragraph in the whole text book), that seed was watered. Books, interviews,

photographs of Manzanar all made me stop. Pay attention. Read, listen, look.

A few years ago, I read a photo book about children who lived at Manzanar.

Suddenly, the seed for the story sprouted and it was all I could think about. I knew

that I wanted the story to be told from the perspective of a little sister who

witnessed a love affair between her older brother and a someone who was not an

internee. For a couple of months, I played with ideas–in my mind and on paper. I

read an old newspaper article–in interview with a former internee at Manzanar. He

said that at some point, dogs started showing up at the camp. No one knew where

they were coming from. This gave me chills. It was a lightbulb moment. I knew

what my story was going to be.

The emotional arc of the story came easily, and once I figured out the plot, I

couldn’t stop writing. I finished the first draft in less than a month.

2. Are you part of a critique group? If so, how did working with your critique partners benefit

you?

I am one-sixth of Crumpled Paper, an online critique group that’s been going

strong for almost 10 years. The first few years we lost and gained members, but

for the last 6 years, we’ve been a solid team. There are few people I trust like my

critique partners–they have seen my raw, unedited, deeply personal stories. I

would definitely not be the writer I am today without their support, and, to be

honest, it’s difficult to imagine a writing life without them.

3. Describe your perfect day, when you are not writing.

I live on a small farm that borders a river. Beside the river, maple and walnut

trees form an alley–their branches reach across the trail to join overhead. It is

beautiful in every season–pink and green in spring, filled with birds and squirrels

in summer, golden and red in fall, and barren in winter.

On a perfect day, I get to walk that trail with my loves. I get to stop at the

river and sit on the dock watching for snapping turtles and fish. I get to live in that

moment, free from the pressures of deadlines or jobs. It is a sacred, soul nourishing

day.

4. Do you have issues that make it difficult to sit down and write?

Don’t we all? Kids, a husband, pets. They need my time, too. Add to that a

teaching job and maintaining a large property.

I’ve found that I’m most successful when I write in short, focused moments.

I use a modified version of the Pomodoro technique to meet daily writing goals.

For me, this translates to short, intensely-focused periods of writing–about 30

minutes. After a short break, I return to writing if I can. Otherwise, I handle

whatever situation has cropped up and then sit down to write again later when I

can give myself another 30 minutes. My daily goal is 5 Pomodoros, so about 2 1/2

hours of writing.

Lightning Round Questions:

Big brother, little sister, in the middle, or one and only? Big Sister (a.k.a.

Assistant Parent)

2. What were you reading when you were 12? The Scarlet Pimpernel. Percy

Blakeney was my first book boyfriend.

3. Pets? Hahaha. So many pets. I have 15 permanent residents including dogs, cats, chickens and a hermit crab. We also welcome random visitors.

4. Vegan or red-meat? Vegetarian. “Animals are friends, not food.”

5. With whom do you currently live? Spouse and two kids. They’re pretty great.

6. Who is your first reader of draft novel? Can I pick two? Stephanie Shaw and Lisa

Robinson are my go-to girls when I need a beta reader.

Lois Sepahban grew up in central California. She spent her childhood reading, climbing trees, and leading her brother and sister on hunts for buried treasures. In college she studied languages and books. She is married and has two children. She lives on a small farm in Kentucky where she has a barn that she fills with animals who need homes. She has two goats, two dogs, six cats, and lots of sweet and fluffy chickens.

author photo

Author Website Twitter Goodreads Other fan pages?

Corabel Shofner, born in Mississippi, currently lives in Nashville. She is delighted, at long last, to become a published novelist, something she’s been seeking since writing “The Monsters Under My Bed” in first grade. (It was non-fiction.)

THE BRAVE AND WISE RUBY CLYDE

Ruby Clyde (with her kidnapped piglet) struggles to free her mother from jail, but she must get the help of her estranged aunt — an ornery solitary nun in the Texas Hill Country.

Middle Grade, FSG, Jan 2017.

For more bio and stories visit:

Home

my photo

Original links if necessary.

I tried to create hyper-links to Lois’ social media. Below are originals, if needed.

http://www.loissepahban.com

https://twitter.com/LoisSepahban

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I tried to create hyper-links to book stores. Below are the originals if needed.

http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Wishes-Lo...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paper...

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Paper-...

http://www.powells.com/book/paper-wis...

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Paper-...

http://www.indiebound.org/book/978037...

Miscellaneous:

http://us.macmillan.com/paperwishes/l...

Cover Reveal: Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

Meet the Author: Lois Sepahban

2016 Debut Authors Share their Research Tips

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0...

http://www.slj.com/2015/11/reviews/bo...

 

The Middle of Somewhere by Sonja Yoerg

If this weren’t such a good book I would play Hollywood Agent and say THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE is Love Story meets Deliverance. There I said it anyway, couldn’t resist.

Once again Yoerg, who wrote HOUSE BROKEN, lays out a perfectly constructed tale which kept me turning the pages. It is a tentative, almost broken love story between Liz and Dante. It is a life story for both of them. THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE explores the consequences of secrets and lies and risks we take in seeking honest intimacy.

While reading HOUSE BROKEN I marveled at Yoerg’s ability to create clear individuals and also large families in an ever unfolding plot. In the THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE she takes it up a notch by creating compelling pasts for both Liz and Dante complete with families and betrayals, while she takes the two characters on a hike down the John Muir Trail.

Can we talk about the John Muir Trail? The John Muir Trail is the premier hiking trail on the West Coast. It stretches 215 miles from the Yosemite National Park, through the Ansel Adams Wilderness, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park and ends at Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States. I have often dreamed of making a through hike on the Appalachian Trail but such a hike is an enormous undertaking. Yoerg gets it all, spot on, dead right: The equipment details, scrapping for food, the boots and blisters, exhilaration and despair, hard earned vistas, and life threatening moments. (I might just thank Yoerg for saving me from recklessly setting out on the AT because after reading this book, I feel like I have done it.)

Yoerg has a special gift of using the vistas and the weather to reflect the inner world and conflict of the characters. In the hands of a lesser writer this technique could have been flat footed, but Yorge’s descriptions are so smooth and rich that you sense the character’s despair or transitional moment, without realizing that Yoerg has just handing you important feelings through storms, dead end trails, or tumbling rocks.

This book is great for seasoned outdoors people, arm chair hikers and even people who count walking to the car as a hike, because humanity is the trail we are on and Yoerg never veers far from the heart of her story.

Agent, Maria Carvainis

Editor, Claire Zion, NAL Accent/Penguin Group

336 pages

Released September, 2015

BACKROADS BOOKSTORES, literary ramblings from sea to shining sea.

Waynesville is the county seat of Haywood County, North Carolina located in a valley between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains. The population is nearing 10,000 and the elevation is between 2500 and 3000 feet above sea level, though the town is surrounded by mountains reaching to 6000 feet. Small town, outdoorsy life in Waynesville offers the best of both worlds, as the city of Asheville is only a skip away.

Table top design at Blue Ridge Books in Paynesville

I spend a good amount of time in Cashiers, North Carolina which sits proudly at the crossroads of U.S. Route 64 and North Carolina Highway 107. It is a world away from chaos. U.S Route 64 stretches from Whale Bone Junction, North Carolina to Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. I’ve found several Backroads Bookstores in communities along the western mountains section of Route 64: Hendersonville, Brevard, Highlands, and Franklin. And it is just a short detour to Tryon, Sylva and Waynesville, each sporting a vital bookshop.

Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, NC

Jo Gilley and Allison Lee, owners of Blue Ridge Books

Tucked into this perfectly charming, artistic and thriving town you might ramble into Blue Ridge Books, established in 2007. The current owners are Jo Gilley and Allison Lee. Jo was born in Germany and raised in Winston-Salem, she moved to Waynesville in 2007 to manage Blue Ridge Books. Allison is a South Carolina native who began working at Blue Ridge Books in 2010 shortly before she and Jo bought the store from Robert and Betsy Baggette. Both women continue their love of literature through the store and many community activities involving the local schools and libraries.

Cold Mountain, made famous by Charles Frazier’s book and movie by the same name, is about 15 miles south east of  Waynesville. The town was founded by Revolutionary War hero Colonel Robert Love who named the town after his commander, the explosive and fiery personality General “Mad” Anthony Wayne.

General “Mad” Anthony Wayne got a town named after him.

Expansion in progress at Blue Ridge Books.

 

Blue Ridge books carries a wide selection of national and regional books of fiction as well as non-fiction. They also carry magazines and newspapers, all of which you can enjoy in their cafe which serves coffee, tea, bagels, and pastries.

 

Blue Ridge Books

152 Main Street

Waynesville, NC 28786

blueridgebooks@ymail.com

http://www.blueridgebooksnc.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-R...

 

 

BACKROADS BOOKSTORES, literary ramblings from sea to shining sea.

Tyron is a lovely destination in Polk County, North Carolina at the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment and as they like to say, it is  “close enough to everything but not too close for comfort.” The year round population nears 2,000 and is located in the ‘thermal belt’ which is free of dew and frost with an enjoyable year-round climate. US Highway 176 — also known as “Trade Street” — runs through the middle of this tiny place which recently celebrated 125 years as the “Friendliest Town in the South.”

I spend a good amount of time in Cashiers, North Carolina which sits proudly at the crossroads of U.S. Route 64 and North Carolina Highway 107. It is a world away from chaos. U.S Route 64 stretches from Whale Bone Junction, North Carolina to Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. I’ve found several Backroads Bookstores in communities along the western mountains section of Route 64: Hendersonville, Brevard, Highlands, and Franklin. And it is just a short detour to Tryon, Sylva and Waynesville, each sporting a vital bookshop.

Penny Padgett, helpful and enthusiastic owner of The Book Shelf in Tryon, NC

Extraordinary Book Mobile rivals Alexander Calder

In the middle of this equestrian and artistic community, you might ramble into The Book Shelf, (right beside the coffee shop, A Better Deal, and Cowan’s Hardware,) which has been a fixture in town since 1952. In 2010 the store changed hands. The new owners are Penny Padgett and Bobby Silvers, with Stacey Stafford serving as store manager. The previous owner was Betsy Goree and notably, Penny announces proudly, the bookstore has always been owned by women.

The Bookshelf stages many events in the community which has known many notable residents including F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Gillette (the Sherlock Holmes actor), Kenneth Lackey (one of the original three stooges,) and favorite daughter, Nina Simone (the singer, composer, pianist and activist.) When asked if The Book Shelf has a shop Pet, Penny pointed to a stain glass cat in the window. She loves pets but doesn’t want to aggravate her customer’s allergies. Now that is service.

This shop pet won’t cause allergies

The Book Shelf offers national and regional bestsellers in fiction and non-fiction, as well and cards and gifts. You are  also invited  to have coffee and spend your afternoon with a book in their comfortable reading nook. And did I mention their senior citizen discount? They will also happily point you toward the used bookstore down the street. The Village Book Shoppe. The more the merrier. (Unfortunately it was closed when I rambled through, but the photo says enough to capture my heart.)

The Village Bookshop, down the road in Tryon.

The Book Shelf

94 N. Trade St.

Tryon NC 28782

828-859-9304

tryonbookshelf@gmail.com

BACKROADS BOOKSTORES, literary ramblings from sea to shining sea.

Hendersonville, North Carolina is known as the “City of Four Seasons” and if that isn’t personal enough for you, the mayor has recently proclaimed Hendersonville the “Friendliest City for Retirees in America.” The 16-block downtown area, with architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is arranged around the Historic Hendersonville County Courthouse. On a regular day, tourists and locals keep the shops and restaurants lively. Then there are parades: The North Carolina Apple Festival and Parade down Main Street draws up to 50,000 visitors. My personal favorite place in the vicinity is the nearby Kanuga Conference Center of the Episcopal Church.

Only 22 miles from Asheville, Hendersonville’s population is a little over 13,000 and the elevation is 2152 feet above sea level. Some notable residents have included Carl Sandburg, Kelly McGillis and the McCrary twins, known as the “world’s heaviest twins.”

I spend a good amount of time in Cashiers, North Carolina which sits proudly at the crossroads of U.S. Route 64 and North Carolina Highway 107. It is a world away from chaos. U.S Route 64 stretches from Whale Bone Junction, North Carolina to Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. I’ve found several Backroads Bookstores in communities along the western mountains section of Route 64: Hendersonville, Brevard, Highlands, and Franklin. And it is just a short detour to Tryon, Sylva and Waynesville, each sporting a vital bookshop.

Valerie Welbourne is pleased to tell you all about her books.

If you ramble into the Fountainhead Bookstore in the Ewbank and Ewbank building, you will most likely be greeted by Valerie Welbourne the enthusiastic owner and shop manager who organizes lectures and art exhibits, stays active with the local library, and is passionate about authors and readers.

Fountainhead? You might ask. Is this a reference to Ayn Rand? No. The logo for the Fountainhead is a “nod to Moby Dick” with the fountain from his head spraying the words books, books, books.

Valerie opened Fountainhead in 2010 trusting that the locals would support a print bookstore. She was right. Hendersonville residents, who love books and want to connect with other book lovers, keep her busy even in this digital world. The demand is such that she has recently expanded the bookstore to the upper floor where she keeps one room for several book club meetings and another room to display the history of the Ewbanks family, Ewbanks Building, and downtown Hendersonville. Valerie also hosts a semi-annual Bookapalooza which is basically a party for book lovers featuring authors and readers.

In addition to offering personal book recommendations, Valerie has playfully staged an Oprah table filled with relaxing spa products, and also an inspiration window where customers might post their wishes and thoughts.

Not only will Valerie guide you through her collection of books by national and regional authors, but she will happily point you toward neighboring restaurants, shops and places for your children to play. She is a proud member of the ABA and reports to the New York Times Bestsellers Department.

The Fountainhead Bookstore

408 North Main Street

Hendersonville, NC

828-697-1870

 

 

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http://www.chapter16.org/content/jesse’s-girl-miranda-kenneally-creates-another-strong-female-character-ya-readers

BACKROADS BOOKSTORES, literary ramblings from sea to shining sea.

The township of Franklin, NC is in Macon County entirely within the Nantahala National Forest. It is a popular stopping point for AT through hikers and is an official AT friendly destination. If you hike the trail near Franklin you will often find through hikers headed to Maine, all fresh from their stop in Franklin. Franklin is also known as the “Gem Capital of the World.” The population is about 3,800 and the elevation is 2119.

I spend a good amount of time in Cashiers, North Carolina which sits proudly at the crossroads of U.S. Route 64 and North Carolina Highway 107. It is a world away from chaos. U.S Route 64 stretches from Whale Bone Junction, North Carolina to Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. I’ve found several Backroads Bookstores in communities along the western mountains section of Route 64: Hendersonville, Brevard, Highlands, and Franklin. And it is just a short detour to Tryon, Sylva and Waynesville, each sporting a vital bookshop.

Books Unlimited in Historic Downtown Franklin

Suzanne Harouff owner of Books Unlimited.

Books Unlimited located in Historic Downtown was established in 1983. The current owner, Suzanne Harouff has owned the bookstore for almost 12 years. Before that she was manager for 13 years. She tells this story about buying the store:

Father Henry . . . came in a few weeks after I became the owner and asked if I had any surprises or things happen that I wasn’t expecting. I shook my head and said “No, Father Henry. After 13 years I think I’ve pretty much handled every situation. But you know what? Some mornings, I look in the mirror, slap my palm to my forehead, and say “What the hell was ya’ thinkin?!!”. He put his arm around my shoulders, leaned his head on mine, and said “You’re going to be just fine!!” He was right.

The staff includes book lovers who are always ready to recommend good reads. The four cats practically run the store: Junie, Bea and Nancy, Drew.  Suzanne stays active in community activities: Read Local Days featuring local authors, Find Waldo Day, and with the library which often hosts readings out by the fireplace.

Shop Cat Bea

Shop cat Nancy

Shop Cat Junie

And who says international authors don’t make it to the backroads bookstores? Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants, is scheduled to appear in person on Saturday June 20th, during the Taste of Scotland Festival to sign her new book At the Water’s Edge. And what better way to announce Sara Gruen’s event that to pass out gift bags of personalized M&M’s?

Sara is coming!

Very special M&Ms

The Scottish are loose in Franklin.

The Taste of Scotland Festival will be held this year June 18-21, 2015. “Always Father’s Day Weekend” Featuring: Scottish fun, food, fashion, music, dancers, games, clans, border collie demonstrations and crafters. Franklin has the only Scottish Tartan Museum in the United States.

 

Books Unlimited

60 Main Street

Franklin, NC 28734

823-369-7942

booksunlimited@smnet.net

www.booksunlimitednc.com

BACKROADS BOOKSTORES, literary ramblings from sea to shining sea.

The official population of Cashiers North Carolina in 2010 was 157, in 2014 it was listed at 79. I don’t believe it for a minute. I’ve seen more people than that at the farmers market. Another site lists the full time population at nearly 2000 which swells in the summer to 10,000 – 15,000 people. That seasonal flux is typical. Who wouldn’t want to come to the mountains to escape the summer heat? The confusion over exact population for full time residents probably rests in the fact that Cashiers is a ‘census designated place and unincorporated village.’  Nobody agrees about what should be included in ‘the place’ but everybody agrees that it is a wonderful place to be. The elevation atop the highest plateau in the Blue Ridge Mountains is 3,487 feet above sea level. The temperature is usually about 20 degrees cooler than anywhere else in the southeastern United States.

I spend a good amount of time in Cashiers which sits proudly at the crossroads of U.S. Route 64 and North Carolina Highway 107. It is a world away from chaos. U.S Route 64 stretches from Whale Bone Junction, North Carolina to Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. I’ve found several Backroads Bookstores in communities along the western mountains section of Route 64: Hendersonville, Brevard, Highlands, and Franklin. And it is just a short detour to Tryon, Sylva and Waynesville, each sporting a vital bookshop.

Tiny and Wonderful

Mary Palmer Dargan in Dovecote

Just across from the Cornucopia Restaurant you will ramble into the absolutely delightful Dovecote Porch and Garden Shop. This is the home base for landscape architects Hugh and Mary Palmer Dargan. Attached to their business is, far and away, the tiniest bookshop I rambled across in the mountains. Dovecote is an adventure that shouldn’t be missed. You might find just the garden book that you are looking for or one didn’t know you existed. Their selection is highly personal and top quality.

But you are certain to be swept up into the life of the Dargans who lead many garden talk salons where you may learn to make bitters or create fairy gardens. Even more, the Dargans might allow you to pick fresh greens from their garden or take you out back to show you the fresh bear tracks.

No shop pets? No problem. Mary Palmer dashed to the office to get a stuffed white squirrel, placed it on the bookshelf and declared it the shop pet. Why did she have such a thing? It should be noted that when Mary Palmer discovered her favorite squirrel “sparky” the victim of a car, she stopped traffic, gathered him up, and hurried the fluffy corpse off to the taxidermist to commemorate the little fellow. Only to find the next week, that the real Sparky was still alive and jumping in the back yard garden. The identity of the imposter remains a mystery.

The ‘Not Sparky’ Shop Pet

The Dargans are also the authors of Lifelong Landscape Design and Timeless Landscape Design: The Four-Part Master Plan.

Dovecote Porch and Garden

35 Flash Point Drive

Cashiers, NC 28717

828-743-0707

Forget making plans in the City, if you want free entertainment just open the door and see what happens. For example, years back, I was searching for morning coffee in Midtown and found instead, Ringo Starr playing at Bryant Park. Just recently Martin and I helped a grand older lady who had fallen on a Fifth Avenue bus, turns out she had been an extraordinary Mezzo Soprano at City Opera, who upon reaching her nineties had joined the Hemlock Society just in case she didn’t like what old age offered. And I will always remember, thirty years ago, walking through Times Square with my friend, Taylor Kitchings, who suddenly stopped and cried out, “if I saw any ONE of these people in Jackson, Mississippi, I’d talk about it for a month.”

So I decided, on this, my first day in Manhattan, to maybe, sort of,  do two simple things: 1) head down to the half priced TKTS booth in Times Square and see what shows they offered and 2) then walk to the Rose Reading Room at the 42nd Street Library and do a little writing.

I’m staying on West 147th Street in a building that was made famous last year for housing an ebola patient. (My entire family was here for a wedding at that time, and yet, despite the alarming headlines, we all lived.) That said, I absolutely love West Harlem. This is where MY West Side of the 1970’s went. All my mismatched stores picked up their skirts and skipped north about 80 blocks.

Start the morning in West Harlem.

Getting mobile in the city

So I set out in the neighborhood, chatting on the phone with an old friend – a clown I had performed with in Vermont – and we made plans to get together this week. A quick coffee shop stop, then down into the mouse hole I went to buy my unlimited metro card pass. I hopped on the downtown 1 and rumbled along, fully aware that above my head flew my old school, Columbia University, St. John the Divine, and my West Side neighborhood where I lived in a ramshackle walk-up on 89th and Riverside.

Across the rocking car, a softly inflated lady napped. She wore a baby doll dress, dangling sea shell earrings, and had the smallest feet I had ever seen on an adult. Her billowy legs gave no warning they would stop like that. It was like somebody had screwed little hotdogs on the end of her ankles.

I got off the train early at Columbus Circle so I could see the park and walk a few extra blocks before hitting Time Square. I didn’t expect to get any tickets because I had dawdled well past any matinee performances. But I was surprised that the entire TKTS booth was closed down for the Annual Tony Awards. I hadn’t really done any research for this trip. The Belmont Stakes got away from me (Triple Crown winner, thank you very much) and now the Tonys! Right there. Right then. I almost missed them.

Somebody was staging an event in the middle of Broadway. (It is hard to tell when something special is happening at Times Square because everything twirls and blinks anyway.) Hundreds of white chairs were set up for a live streaming of the Tony Awards. I walked around and around the barricaded area but nobody could tell me what was what. First come first served, they said. But while many were waiting, the line made a complete circle with no beginning and no end.

Lady Liberty stalks the tourists

Typical Times Square Moment.

 

First come first serve. but nobody knows.

Live Stream Tonys into Time Square.

 

I left, thinking I would come back later and watch the Tony’s, but I know better than that. Walking around in New York is like getting caught in a rip tide. You never swim backwards. Before leaving Times Square, I looked around for my old acting friend Brenda Allen. She now preaches the Gospel from a card table on 42nd. Brenda was a wonderful actress who fell in love with a Man of God named Smitty. Things didn’t work out between them but she continued in the spirit and for forty years has lived from donations to her basket and the grace of God, she says. Sadly, I didn’t see her. I didn’t see any sidewalk preachers, come to think of it. Is that one of the ways Giuliani cleaned up the city?

I had my heart set on writing in the grand Rose Reading Room at the 42nd Street Library. On the approach, Bryant Park was looking very European with it’s leafy dining tables but I stayed the course, knowing the library would be closing soon. I circled around the front to say hello to the iconic lions and bounded up the massive stairs, then inside and up to the third floor only to discover that the Rose Reading Room was CLOSED. Temporarily, they said! But they had closed down over a year ago, for a six month repair (it seems the plaster rosettes had begun to fall from the ceiling.) Further inspection revealed asbestos and there is no plan to reopen. My dream of spending a month writing in the Rose Reading Room withered. The alternative reading room across the hall was okay, only because it is in one of the greatest libraries in the world, but frankly it was an ugly step sister compared to Rose. . . even so, I settled into the stark and stingy step-room, applied for my library card,  did a little research and wrote one paragraph, actually the beginning of this post. Tra-la.

watching over the best library in the world.

Got my library card

 

It occurred to me that if the Tony’s were being ‘live streamed’ into Time Square around the corner, that meant that the Tony’s were  ‘live live’ just up the street at Radio City Music Hall, so I headed up 6th Avenue. (Tip for NY: don’t ever wear a hat on 6th Avenue in Midtown. It’s a wind tunnel, no joke.)

A lady sitting cross legged on the sidewalk keened, “Buy me a hamburger, will somebody please buy me a hamburger.” But I was swept along in the thickening crowd.

At the corner of Radio City, I turned and worked my way down the barricades and strange production sheds. People were saying What’s this? What’s happening? It’s the Tony’s. Who’s Tony? Policemen were begging people keep moving, keep moving please. They had created pens for the spectators, but nobody wanted to go in them. I threaded along wondering if there was a Red Carpet to be found. Finally an opening appeared and sure enough, Red Carpet, all over the street, all over the sidewalks, handlers dashing about with radios. The breathless excitement of celebrity.

Here’s the thing. I’ve watched award shows all my life and my primary thought was always: Who are those fools behind the barricades? Who would waste their time like that? Hanging over a barricade waving at celebrities. Shameless.

Well, now I know. Those shameless fools are me.

I wiggled into a tight spot right up against the barricade (inside one of the approved pens.) I wedged between a poor videographer who didn’t have the credentials to get inside and a tall woman whose long hair hung like a blanket between me and the celebrities. I began to excuse myself immediately, explaining to anyone who would listen that this was just a lark, who knew? I was taking a walk and would you just look at this. Only in New York.

It is important to note that I had recently been friended by Taye Diggs on Twitter. He asked me to be friends, get that. Even though he follows a half a million people, I felt very special and I longed for my new friend to spot me in the crowd and usher me inside where I belonged. But alas he did not answer my tweets; I was trapped on the wrong side of the barricade. And the difference between me and Taye Diggs became painfully apparent. Awkward even. And that awkwardness prompted the philosophical question: which is the right side of the Red Carpet barricade, the famous side or the real people side? I’m afraid, for me, it is both and neither.

While I pretended I was not star struck, which I clearly was, always have been, I realized that there are many different ways of being star struck. As the insiders began pulling up in their cars (more SUVs fewer limos) it was like we were watching fireworks. Ooooo, ahhhh from the crowd and then –– a disappointed groan when they didn’t recognize whoever stepped from the car. I HATE that. I love working actors, I love working actors everywhere, more than the stars really. Here’s a million Oooooos and Ahhhhhs from me to every new actor who is thrilled to be on Broadway, yet not as famous as a movie star.

Unlike Red Carpet events on television, from the barricade you can hardly see the people as they tumble out of their cars and vanish into the Red Carpet Swirl. All views are blocked by the cars, the guards, the production apparatus. Yet I lingered. Taking pictures of the backs of famous people.

Here’s what I heard in the crowd repeatedly. Who’s that? I don’t know. Who’s that? Nobody. Where’s JLo? She’s coming, she’s coming soon. Who’s that, you ask?  Duh, that was Tommy Tune, Joel Gray, Helen Mirren, Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen . . . on and on. More chatter behind me, I love her dress, her shoes, her hair, she’s so tall, I want her face. Really? You want her face? What are we talking about here?

I snapped an embarrassing number of photographs (for someone who was just ‘there on a lark’ as I kept repeating, but nobody was listening because I am a nobody, lark or not.) It was terribly exciting to be photographing the backs of celebrity heads, and degrading, and fun and I would still be there looking for my new friend Taye Diggs but . . .

Live Lived Tonys at Radio City Music Hall.

Who is it? Who is it? Nobody, somebody nobody knows. It’s not J Lo

Somebody called him a cute mudbug

Party crashers? The guards blocked this group.

The side of Tommy Tune

The back of Chita Rivera

The back of Helen Mirren

The backs of just everybody

I got a call from my real life friend, Simone, to come for dinner with friends on the West Side. So I put my iPhone away and squeezed down the barricade trying to break free but just as I stepped away —- wait for it — the face of Bernadette Peters floated right in front of me, like a helium balloon. The only good picture I might have taken, the woman my husband truly loves, and I missed it.

Bitterly disappointed, I scooted below Rockefeller Center to catch the uptown D and transfer to the 1, so pleased to find my way without a map. After an unusually long wait an empty train pulled up and stopped. A ghost train of sorts. I asked the conductor, who was hanging out the little window, where all his people went and why I couldn’t get on that train, I was late after all. He said  “This train is for Yankee Fans, Yankee Fans only, this is a special train.” Then he chugged away.

On the uptown D  I hung on the pole over a woman who could protect her private space with the arch of an eyebrow. She was sleek and reserved, crossed her long legs elegantly, reading her phone at arm’s distance. With the mere tilt of her head she forced a grown man to back away, far away. She hadn’t liked his shoulder bag swinging in her space.- I swear I didn’t knock the phone out of her hands on purpose. It wasn’t my fault. I let go of the pole, the train lurched, then I felt something odd against my hand as I moved toward the door. Glancing back, I saw the face, the angry face of a woman who seldom lets her face get away from her, but the door slid shut between us. I headed for the transfer train feeling clumsy but strangely not sorry. She was like the female version of man spreading holding her phone out like that on a crowded train.

Dinner on the West Side was at the home of dear friends of my dear friends, the Bloch-Wehbas. So it was six of us: Simone and John (John 1) and their son, Ben (who was choosing good company over writing his school paper) the hosts, Michael Fields and his husband John Dunn (John 2). As it turned out Michael grew up in Nashville so I had a security ‘topic’ if I needed it. John 2 does costumes and voila I had another ‘topic’ because I love production people, in general, and Alexandra Welker, in particular, who does costumes for the TV show Grimm. Then I learned that Michael had published a book last year! Books! We could talk publishing. Topics everywhere. All social anxiety dissipated. The food was delicious, Cassoulette, simple roasted carrots, and a complicated cabbage dish. (I really didn’t need thirds but since when had need dictated what I put in my mouth.) We lingered at the west-facing window spying on the neighbors serving Sunday Suppers on their roofs. We watched the sun set over the Hudson River and New Jersey.

Here’s what we talked about at dinner:

Michael and John’s wedding at ‘City Hall’, only the ceremony was actually down the street from City Hall, but they posed for wedding photographs in front of a large picture of City Hall.
Horror Movies, in particular The Omens 1, 2, and 3.
Their Czechoslovakian handyman named Mango, who quit handymaning to climb Mount Everest only to be trapped in the base camp avalanche. Everyone thought Mango had perished but he survived and stayed to lend his handyman skills to a local village.
Julia Child’s kitchen.
Michael’s book. The Thousand – Petaled Lotus  which is about growing up gay in a southern Baptist Church in Nashville. Oh fun.
Ben’s school paper on dichotomies.
How John 2 manages a car in the city, which he needs everyday to haul costumes around to the sets.
Alexandra Welker’s eerie bridal gown for the wicked La LLorona on Grimm.
Everybody’s country houses.
The Christmas decorations at the Parthenon in Nashville when Michael was young. That was when Nativities were still allowed on publicly owned properties.
And, why the hell I was in New York so long. Didn’t I have a home or something?

After dinner, during the two block walk between the uptown subway and the apartment I remembered what else I missed about the Old West Side. In the evening, everybody treats the stoop as another room in the house. They spill on to the sidewalk to sit and talk, often loudly. They drag out grills and televisions, play dominos, and dance. It’s all very charming, unless you are a tight ass, or in a bad mood.

I’ve just returned to my apartment and kicked off my shoes. My first day in the city was everything I wanted and nothing I expected. Outside below my window on the sidewalk, a man with a hodgepodge accent is shouting: America I love it.

And I’m wondering if the Tony’s are still on TV.

End the day. Dinner overlooking the Hudson River.