The Honey Bee Latte
I’m doing a reading at my favorite coffee shop in Jackson Heights called Espresso 77. I have one of their mugs and a t-shirt at home. If they were a football team I’d be a fan. If they were a rugby team I’d play for them. As it is I’ll just have to settle for being a frequent customer.
Afzal and Julie are the owners and they are both wonderful people who’ve helped build community in our neighborhood through good coffee, food, and cool atmosphere. My wife and son and I hang out there a few times each week – and have done so since they opened up three years ago. I walk by it every day going to and from work.
I did an interview with the Queens Tribune on the bench outside the front door last summer. My son showed some of his artwork there thanks to Afzal (who is an artist also) and now I’ll get a chance to do a reading of Open Wounds.
If you’re in town and want to come by, it’s a small shop with Gimme coffee from Brooklyn (which is awesome if you like coffee) and well-trained baristas that make just about perfect cappuccinos and lattes every time. I’ll be drinking their seasonal Honey Bee Latte and reading/talking about Cid and Lefty and the Open Wounds gang for an hour. Most of the time I drink tea but once a day, late in the afternoon, when my energy is low and I’m on my way home from work…
There’s nothing quite like doing something this personal in your favorite neighborhood hangout.
Sunday Evening from 7pm-8pm.
Espresso 77.
Idea Films and 9 Year Old Sons
Here it is.
The video you’ve been waiting for.
It has nothing to do with my writing (except for the image of the library where my book was for all of 24 hours before it was confiscated and tossed in the garbage along with all the others).
It has everything to do with my son and how he views what happened at Occupy Wall Street. It’s his camera work. I only helped a little with the editing. He chose the music.
His production company is called Idea Films.
I’m on his payroll but only working for the exposure right now.
Hey. You never know.
Enjoy.
Occupy Wallstreet, A Fillm by Max Lunievicz
Listening to Fran Drescher
Occupy Wall Street Pre-Police Raid
I’ve been doing family things this last week and I’m completely behind on my posts. I went to Boston what was already almost two weeks ago to read at the Cambridge Public Library (a story or two there but I’ll get to that later this week) and visit some bookstores and fencing salles. Then of course there was Thanksgiving. And my son finished his video of occupy wall street (to come later this week also).
And I’ve been reading, in the planning phase for my next book. I just finished Six Weeks, by John Lewis-Stemple and I reread A Storm in Flanders by Winston Groom (the man who wrote Forest Gump). I’m writing little pieces in Scrivener, creating the world bit by bit. A very different process for me than Open Wounds. But then, things change, writing process, life, many things. I’m in that kind of mood.
So I was listening to a lot of car radio, NPR to be exact. I love the talk shows when I drive. I heard Fran Drescher being interviewed last week and couldn’t help myself from frantically scribbling down what she said because I thought it so appropriate to writers.
“Turning pain into purpose is extremely healing.”
Now I should give this context. She was talking about her Cancer Schmancer movement. I heard it speak to me as a writer. Andrew Smith’s blog addressed this not too long ago and I thought what he said and the comments posted from that day to be very deeply felt and true. I think that so many of us write because it is healing and there is pain to heal. But does that mean you need to have had a crappy life filled with sorrow in order to find the right notes in your work? I don’t think so, but then on the other hand if you want to write deep work it helps to have been there. I think it depends on what you want to write. I remember some Frank Sinatra bio (hey… I like Fran Sinatra’s voice – he’s got a great voice – so cut me some slack) I saw on TV a long long time ago. I don’t remember the name of the film or the stars but I do remember one scene in the movie early on when he’s just starting to sing. He’s told by a nightclub owner that he has a great voice but that it has no feeling to it. The man says, go on out and live some and then come back when you can understand what the words mean. It made an impression on me.
As someone who has lived long enough to have had my share of loss (the longer you life the more you experience – that’s just the way it works) and probably a few extra thrown in just to make my life more interesting, I can say I didn’t write the hard stuff well, until life had happened. My understanding of my character’s pain deepened and my ability to write about it got better.
This has been my process.
Would I choose an easier one if I could?
You bet.
Guest Blogging Today!
Check out my guest post on fellow WestSide Books author Selene Castrovilla’s blog. A few words about tea…
Eviction Bloomberg Style – OWS
Tent City
We took my son to Zuccotti Park last week.
He shot some video (is in the process of editing as I write this) and I took some pictures. My wife tried to explain the whole thing to him. A couple of young men in the park handing out literature did too. Mostly I wanted him to understand that there are some things you can feel strongly about – so strongly that you take action to try to change them. One percent of the population controls the majority of our nation’s resources. So it has been for a long long time. Our politicians are afraid to address it. It is a powerful system based on money and the power that comes from it.
Last night at 1AM Bloomberg sent in a host of police officers with helmets, plastic visors, and riot gear to evict the protesters. He didn’t allow news coverage. He did it in the dead of night. There’s something wrong with that. I told my son what happened and he’s not sure what to make of it. He’s nine. He likes to think these things through. “It’s a good thing we got this video then,” he said. Yup. When my son finishes his video I’ll post it if he allows me to.
What does this have to do with Open Wounds? I dropped off a copy of my book for their library last week when we visited the site. The news says that over 5000 books were dumped when they were evicted last night – Open Wounds was one of them.
What does this eviction have to do with writing?
Nothing… and everything.
Occupy Wall Street
Lunievicz 