Patti Monaghen – LaDonnaWitmer

Galleria

Mood: Whatever
Drinking: Whenever

Vanity, vanity, I’ve got new galleries.

Earlier this year you might have noticed a few web site renovations…some shiny new flash (and poetry) on the home page, new photos, new book pages (to accomodate the upcoming Secrets), a few new poems hiding out here and there, and of course, a photo slot here in She Says, which I’ve had lots of fun with.

We kept a few other changes up our virtual sleeves because they weren’t quite ready yet, but we’re putting ’em all on the table now. The Galleries are full of fun new bits. There’s a whole new section for Bruce Willems’ photography, lots of new photos from Patti Monaghen’s 2006 shoot here in California, and my favorite — a cinepoem photo gallery!

Somebody usually has a camera on hand at the cinepoem shoots, and now you can see all the behind-the-scenes tomfoolery, as well as photos of my cinepoem team — Michelle, Misha, Kathy, Sarah, and all my other girls (and a few boys) who’ve pitched in along the way. (God knows there are enough photos of me around here. I’ve gotta give some space to some new faces!)

Speaking of narcissism, I have developed a habit (thanks alot, myspace!) for taking photos of myself in bathroom mirrors. The one above was taken in the bathroom at The Hotel Utah a few weeks ago. I find them highly amusing. Of course, to take this kind of self-portrait, you have to look very serious, or at least pretend that you’re taking this photo shoot seriously. No goofy mirror mugging. It’s all about the haughty downward pointed chin. You should try it! That’s what digital cameras are for — you don’t have to feel bad about wasting film. Just wasting time.

Enough of that nonsense…

I’m extremely happy to report that The Secrets of Falling is going to the printer NEXT WEEK. We are finishing up final files and it looks so beautiful. Kathy Azada is an amazing artist, and I can’t wait until you all get to see her work. Speaking of which, stay tuned for details about a book release party here in San Francisco in May, and (maybe, possibly, don’t get too excited yet) a book signing in Alabama later this year…

And the creative juices keep on flowing… We have two (2!) cinepoems scheduled to shoot in April, “Kiss & Fly” and “Abattoir”. Both will feature something new: boys. There will be guest starring spots from more than one of the men in my life, and I can’t wait to show ’em off to you!

So that’s it for now. But more is always on the way.

Oh, and P.S. — Happy Wedding, Sara & Israel! Wish I could be there, but J & J will give you hugs for me.

-Lo, who knows that the secret to being photogenic is to delete all the bad photos.

Berzerkeley

Mood: Ebullient
Drinking: Various liquids

A big announcement from the film festival front…my partner in cinepoems, Michelle, and I, have just been informed that our submission to the 2006 Berkeley Video & Film Festival is not only going to be screened at the festival next month, but has also won an award!

Shel and I are doing backflips right now. Or we would be doing backflips, if we were much younger and more flexible.

For those of you in the Bay Area, our cinepoem “Two-Faced” (a marriage of “Alter Ego” and “Pretty.Good.Girl.”) will be screened on Saturday evening, October 7th, at the Oaks Theatre, 1875 Solano Avenue, in Berkeley. I’m not sure about tickets yet…I’m workin’ on that.

I’m also not sure which award we’ve won yet…the awards will be presented on Friday, October 8th. At this point, I can’t decide what’s more exciting…the award or the screening. Both are unexpected.

Anyway, three cheers for us, and a gigantic THANK YOU to Misha Hutchings, Kathy Azada, Patti Monaghen, Amanda Henderson, Katie Motta, and Angela Primavera, all of whom helped out with the award-winning cinepoems, and also to Johanna Baldwin, agent extraordinaire, who has helped out with film fest entries and moral support!

-Lo, who once won a purple ribbon and shiny gewgaw at a 4-H Fair with a Grand Champion goat. Yes. Goat.

Pretty.Good.Girl.

Mood: Pretty Good
Drinking: Sugared Tea

She’ll be a pretty good girl, and you get to watch.

That’s right. There’s a new cinepoem in town, and she’s just waiting for you to start the staredown.

Pretty.Good.Girl. was shot at The Archbishop’s Mansion here in San Francisco last month, and not only is she the first cinepoem to be shot since my broken wrist episode back in February (if you look closely, you can see my super-stiff left appendage lurking about trying not to be obvious), but Pretty also features the in-front-of-the-camera debut of our favorite photographer, Patti Monaghen.

Patti’s photos have been featured in a cinepoem before (Slow Roast), and they’re also splashed all over this web site, but this is the first time that the lady actually lets herself be seen (although she doesn’t completely come out from behind the camera). Of course, she did a fabulous job, as you’ll soon see.

Isn’t all that tantalizing enough for you? Go see the Pretty.Good.Girl. She’s waiting on the Cinepoems page. Big thanks to my web guru, Chris, for being so persistent about getting her uploaded (no thanks to AT&T, the bitches!). PC people: There will eventually be a Windows version, you’ll just have to wait a teeny bit.

And coming up next?Alter Ego. Our tenth (!!) cinepoem is already in the can, as they say, but we’ve just started editing. She’ll be along shortly.

-Lo, who tells her stories to the Dark.

I can help the next in line.

Mood: Coma White
Drinking: Dry as a Bone

And that’s how it goes. Months of muteness. Complete creative silence. And then a one-two punch and your voice is back and louder than ever.

The ball was given a good shove and set off rolling the weekend before last when Patti the Photographer stepped off the plane from Chicago, cameras in hand. We launched a three-day marathon photo shoot with a cinepoem shoot sandwiched right there in the middle (in the Gypsy Baron room at the Archbishop’s Mansion).

Patti worked her ass off and got a lot of really, really great shots (thank you!!!), which have now been handed off to K so we can get Book Two moving, already.

And before we lost any steam or momentum or caffeine-fueled hyperactivity, we squeezed in one more cinepoem shoot this past weekend at The Hotel Utah Saloon here in SF. Thanks to all my gorgeous volunteers, you know who you are, and the rest of the world will, too, as soon as we roll credits.

I had lots of fun at both shoots–got to wear fancy dresses and wig out in a china doll bob of flamboyant red. It’s always liberating to play the vamp.

M and I start editing the first cinepoem (Pretty.Good.Girl.) next week, after Mem Day is behind us. And as soon as Pretty is in the can, we’ll start working on the Utah cinepoem (Alter Ego). I’m really excited about both of them, and I’ll introduce them to the Internet as soon as humanly possible.

Meanwhile, S has been location scouting up Mendocino way, so I think the crew and I will head up there this summer before M has to leave us for San Diego.

So. All is not silent on the western front. You watch. You wait. You’ll see.

-Lo, who loves her surgery scar.

I’d Give My Wrist a Little Twist

Mood: Mild with a chance of showers
Drinking: Black tea, with ice and sugar

You know how you go through life, oblivious to everything unless it means something to you? Like you never noticed how many sky blue Celicas there were in the world until you, yourself, owned a sky blue Celica. You never noticed how cute brown Boxer dogs were until you, yourself, knew a brown Boxer. You never noticed insert your own example here.

The same is true, I am discovering, of injuries. I never really noticed my fellow un-whole humans on the train or sidewalk or checkout line until I was sporting a broken wrist, a surgery scar, and a nifty fiberglass cast. Now I see the injured everywhere. The guy on the skateboard last night who had no legs. The man across the train with the crippled hand. The blind girl waiting at the bus stop. So many of us who are obviously, externally, “not right”.

I know I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m getting better. I have the potential and the power to be well. And I hope that getting well doesn’t mean losing this newfound sight. This more compassionate way of moving through the world. This realization of how much pain a person can carry around while the world walks on by, unaware.

My cast is long gone, and I gave away the wrist brace. I’m walking around with a naked wrist because it’s the best way to get better. I have a therapist who sees me twice a week to talk skulls (we both have collections) and massage my tired tendons and fit me with new “torture devices” that force my pinky finger to bend and my fist to clench and my wrist to leeeean just a little further each time. I’m learning new words like “pronation” and “supination” and I’ve found that 58 degrees of flexion is better, but not as good as 80.

My broken bones are healed, but my scars have memory, and they slow me down. I am so much better than I was a few weeks ago, and a few weeks from now I’ll bend even further. But it’s slow. It’s progress measured by small pressures and incremental degrees.

I can’t ride my motorcycle yet, but I can open a pickle jar. I can’t twist a doorknob, but I can button my own jeans again. I can’t hold my left hand out for change at the cash register, but I can hold Boy’s hand without wincing. Progress.

This whole unexpected interlude has been wonderfully and awfully strange. I’ve been amazed a thousand times over at the complexity of the body, at the domino effect of this injury. And though I’d never willingly choose to go through all this again, I’ve discovered things I never would have otherwise. No real surprise there–that’s how life always seems to work, yes?

And even though I feel like I lost a few months since February, even though I’m barely getting back to normal, I have high hopes and big plans of catching up.

So in the spirit of catching up, we’ve got two new cinepoems on the calendar. We’re shooting one this weekend and another the next, both in really cool new locations. And I’ve been buried in details for a photo shoot for Book #2, also this weekend. The talented and lovely Patti Monaghen is flying out from Chicago with her camera, just for me. The blank pages are filling up. Stay tuned…

-Lo, who always looks forward to the hot wax part of therapy.