Juliet Escoria's Blog, page 5
June 24, 2015
instagram:
Breakdowns on a Long Road Across America with...
instagram.com/p/3eSJQ-INLY/#stacykranitz
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Breakdowns on a Long Road Across America with @stacykranitz
To see more of Stacy’s photographs from the road, follow @stacykranitz on Instagram.
Stacy Kranitz (@stacykranitz) is an American photographer who was born in Kentucky, has a home in Los Angeles, and mostly lives on the road. She immerses herself in the lives of people that she forms enduring relationships with, blurring the lines between the professional and the personal, and the public and the private aspects of her own life. She explains her vision and her approach:
“At a very early age I was interested in documenting things. I kept elaborate journals with notes, photographs and documents glued inside. As I got older I wanted to make documentary films but it was a financial challenge and it seemed to take years to complete a project. I felt like I had to hide my work away from everyone until its completion and I did not like that. I started making photographs because they could be shared as individual images immediately and as part of a larger more involved project later. The photograph is more flexible in this way.
I’ve been living out of my car for years to make my work. I built a bed in the back. I will spend three or four months working on a project. I don’t sleep in my car all the time. I camp out and am often invited to stay in people’s homes. But the car functions as a safe and dependable space where I can stash equipment, food and clothing. I like to travel in the summer because the light is available until late in the evening. It is too hot to sit inside my car so I am forced to be outside engaging with strangers all the time and everyday.
I like to stay out as long as I can. I begin to slowly deteriorate the longer I am gone. Both the car and myself become physically more haggard as the weeks wear on. It sounds bad but this is the thing I want. I believe that I am not making really good work unless I am pushing myself into a very uncomfortable place. I don’t think I have gotten somewhere with the work unless I have pushed myself close to the brink of my own sanity. Breakdowns happen and then I pick up the pieces and continue on.
Right now I am working on a project about central Appalachia. This is the fifth year I have been working on it. I came to the region because I thought that if I went out and photographed each day, wandering amongst strangers and a strange land, I would be able to escape a darkness inside of myself. I wanted a personal connection to something. So I invented one through my experiences in a place I had not been before. I wanted to make something unknown familiar.
I make this work in an effort to question the world and myself. I make this work to push behind our desire to categorize people and their lives in terms of what is right and what is wrong. I make this work in an effort to embrace the murkiness in-between our notion of right and wrong. It is a process of constantly undoing everything I think I know. Building up an idea of a place and then tearing it apart.” –@stacykranitz
so much respect for stacy and her work
June 15, 2015
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
TOMORROW IS MY 6TH SOBER BIRTHDAY. THAT’S RIGHT, INTERNET. IT HAS BEEN 2190 DAYS SINCE I HAVE GOTTEN FUCKED UP.
I BET YOU’RE WONDERING HOW I’LL BE CELEBRATING. WELL, THANK YOU FOR ASKING! HERE ARE THE RULES FOR TOMORROW’S PARTY:
1. BAKE TWO PIES
2. CONSUME ENTIRE CONTENTS OF BOTH PIES
3. IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO CONSUME SOMETHING OTHER THAN A PIE, YOU MAY CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING FOOD OPTIONS: A) TACO BELL, B) WENDY’S, C) BURGER KING, D) KFC
4. WATCH AS MANY EPISODES OF THE WIRE AS YOU CAN
5. CONSUME AS MUCH CAFFEINE AS YOU WANT
6. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WORK. OR GO TO THE GYM. YOU CAN, HOWEVER, GO ON A LITTLE WALK IN THE FOREST AROUND DUSK, IF YOU DESIRE.
SO YEAH THAT’S ABOUT IT. FEEL FREE TO CELEBRATE WITH ME WHEREVER YOU ARE. GLUTTONY AND SLOTH KICK ASS! THE WIRE KICKS ASS! PIES KICK ASS! WOW I LOVE LIFE
HERE IS A PIC OF ME FROM LONG AGO, LOOKING HELLA GREAZY N GRIM:
IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT SIX YEARS OF SOBRIETY CAN DO FOR A WOMAN, JUST LOOK BELOW FOR THE AFTER PICTURE:
WOW! IT REALLY WORKS!
but in all seriousness, deciding to be sober is the best thing i could have done for myself. all the beautiful things in my life today either directly or indirectly came from me leaving the alcohol and drugzzzz behind. so fuck you, drugs! stay away from me!
June 8, 2015
June 2, 2015
BREAK:::BLAZE:::BURN -- 40 DAYS OF FEARLESS, OUT OF BOUNDS WRITING
Beginning June 6, I will be pairing up with with author, therapist, and astrologist Sherene Schostak for a 40 day digital creative writing workshop designed to break through your emotional and creative blocks.
——————–
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.― Maya Angelou
Through guided Jungian journaling and active imagination techniques, tarot-inspired writing prompts and meditations, we will tap into your limitless creative spark. Instead of cursing the Mercury Retrograde, we will work the magic of this – the messenger god in his very own sign!
This is a time to change our stories and thus change our lives. You don’t have to be an aspiring writer in the literary sense to benefit from this Project 40. We all have a story inside of us that needs to be told. We all have journals collecting dust. We all know the powerful worlds that even a minimal amount of writing can open up for us…and yet, why do we constantly put it off, neglect it or feel hopelessly blocked?
Use these 40 days and 40 nights to take those old ideas, manuscripts and other forgotten gems off the back burner and get writing! This P40 is designed to keep you inspired and on fire! Daily discipline can be sexy and inspiring when thrown into the alchemical alembic of incendiary creative fire. For 40 days and 40 nights we’ll keep each other inspired to make writing a living, breathing, passionate ritual!
If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.
― Toni Morrison
Do you talk yourself out of writing with thoughts like:
I have nothing original to say…
It’s already been done…
Writing is for academics or “writers”….
Who reads books anymore?
Who do I think I am?
What if my writing is boring, stupid or lame as hell?
You’re not alone! We are here to be your personal muses, cheerleaders, midwives, oracles.
I will share my uncensored experience as a professional writer in real time– what I’m working on, and how I’m making it work, despite lack of time, my own self-destructive tendencies, insecurities, and all the other things that cause writers to stop writing. I will include quotes, music, writing prompts, questions for journaling, ideas for rituals, and guidance from the tarot and crystals and whatever other omens show up on the path. Sherene will share her seventeen years as Jungian analyst to help you uncover some of your deepest writing/creative blocks by getting to the source of your fears, insecurities and complexes such as the inner “animus” critic that keep us from unleashing our true voice.
Option 1::: $330 (limited to first 10 who register)
40 Days of Guided Emails with Journaling Questions, Meditations and Rituals.
PLUS
60 Minute Private Jungian Session with Sherene:
This session will combine Sherene’s seventeen years of working with private clients to help obliterate creative blocks by harnessing the limitless powers of the unconscious. By delving deeply into the unique patterns in your natal horoscope, she can uncover particular parental complexes, family legacy/ancestral patterns, and other complexes, creative blocks and shadow material that keep you from your fullest potency of self-expression.
AND
60 minute Private Consultation with Juliet Escoria.
In a one-on-one SKYPE/FACETIME session, I will offer personal feedback on up to 10 pages of your writing. I will also give you personalized help and guidance on both your writing life and any issues you have related to addiction, self-destructive or obsessive traits and mental illness. For part of the session, I can also use a combination of tarot and other divination work.
40 Days of Guided Emails with Journaling Questions, Meditations and Rituals Only.
Juliet Escoria is the author of BLACK CLOUD, which was published by both Civil Coping Mechanisms and Emily Books, and named a best book of the year by Dazed, Flavorwire, Salon, The Fader, and more. Her writing appears or is forthcoming in places like The Believer, Vice, Guernica, Electric Literature, and Hobart. She has a BA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside & an MFA in Fiction Writing from Brooklyn College. She was born in Australia, raised in Southern California, and currently lives in West Virginia.
Sherene Vismaya, M.A. is a Jungian Analyst, astrologer, and metaphysician in private practice in NYC for the past seventeen years. She specializes in depression, shadow work, anxiety, creative blocks, eating disorders, and relationships. She is the co-author of Transpersonal Astrology: Explorations at the Frontier, Surviving Saturn’s Return: (McGrawHill) and The Fate of Your Date (Chronicle Books.) She holds a Master’s Degree from New York University in Clinical Psychology, a Masters in Developmental Psychology from Pace University and advanced graduate work in psychoanalytic studies from The New School and ISAP, Zurich. She is the resident astrologer for Elle Magazine: UK- Netherlands-Turkey. Her work integrates the subtle body/psyche with the physical body through different healing modalities including dream analysis, authentic movement, astrology and Polarity Therapy.
YOU RECEIVE:
*Daily personal emails that are created on that particular day itself (nothing is pre-baked or half-baked, as it would lose the essence of tapping into the powerful messages of that particular space and time–and thus lose the power of synchronicity so fundamental to the magic of Jungian therapy).
*A system designed to bust through any laziness, blocks, and other BS that keep you from going beyond the normal 10% of mediocre consciousness and self-awareness.
*Daily probing questions that make you stop and reflect in ways that create lasting transformation.
*A powerful collective of kindred souls seeking radical transformation and willing to do the hard work in order to uncover the limitless potential and authenticity buried in the unconscious.
*Accountability partners on a daily basis to keep you inspired and staying on top of your inner work.
*Stopping and expanding time instead of the feeling that another month just flew by without any noticeable change in your life.
*A sacred container built on seventeen years of research and private practice with a classically trained Jungian therapist and astrologer.
*40 Days of powerful tools you can use and re-use for the rest of your life that will totally transform your sexuality, your relationships and most importantly your Self.
*Daily astrological guidance and reflection on the collective unconscious influences as revealed by the current astrological weather.
TO PURCHASE // FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO HERE.(Note: There’s been some trouble accessing the site on a PC. If you can’t get the site to work, email shereneschostak[at]gmail[dot]com and she will be happy to send you an invoice.)
May 30, 2015
The Writer as Merchant
Many thanks to Jonny Diamond at The Lit Hub for publishing my essay “The Writer as Merchant,” which touches on things that I’ve been thinking about and observed as a debut novelist and host of Vermin on the Mount: intersection of art and commerce. I’m also indebted to Juliet Escoria and Chelsea Hodson who spoke with me about their own experiences for the piece. A sample:Today, when a storyteller completes a new narrative, she doesn’t head down to the town square or village pub and look for people to tell it to, she has other people do that for her. For many storytellers, this is a relief because selling is a skill like any other and some are good at it while others are not. Most would prefer to be engaged in telling stories not selling them. But this ambition became an expectation so that those who did sell their own stories were seen as a lesser class of storyteller, that “real” storytellers were above that.
To this I say, bullshit.
I know what you’re thinking: I’m not selling my book out of a sack on the subway, the boardwalk or Bev-Mo parking lot.
This isn’t about that. This essay is about art, independence and eliminating the middleman—or at least asking him to step aside and take a breather from time to time.
wearepioneerspress:
NEW IN THE PIONEERS PRESS CATALOG! Black...
NEW IN THE PIONEERS PRESS CATALOG!
Black Cloud by Juliet Escoria
Available here!
“An unassuming but quick and gritty collection of stories…Escoria doesn’t bog her writing down with a prescribed style or aloof voice or braggy attitude. It’s just someone telling their stories and not watering them down. She’s damn good.” – Kevin Sampsell, author of This is Between Us and A Common Pornography
German Black Cloud reviewed in German Rolling Stone :DIt...
German Black Cloud reviewed in German Rolling Stone :D
It received one-half star more than Anjelica Houston’s memoir. And that’s what it’s all about, right– comparing yourself to celebrities
May 18, 2015
I have two readings coming up this week in NYC. I am insanely...
I have two readings coming up this week in NYC. I am insanely excited for both.
May 14, 2015
some recent stuff:I interviewed Halle Butler for The Fanzine about her new novel, Jillian. The...
some recent stuff:
I interviewed Halle Butler for The Fanzine about her new novel, Jillian. The Chicago Tribune called it the “feel-bad book of the year” and they are right.
Jim Ruland wrote a piece for The Lit Hub about “The Writer as Merchant.” He talked to me and Chelsea Hodson about our experiences publishing our own work.
Nathan McNamara had some nice stuff to say about my sweet bb Scott McClanahan’s stories for Electric Literature. Scott also did this interview with 0s&1s.
The German edition of Black Cloud came out, and it was (briefly) a best-seller. Here is some German press. I get called “white trash” in one of them, which is super LOL to me.
Sean Doyle has been kicking ass, and deservedly so. Here is a mixtape he made for Electric Literature, and an interview he did for Gawker.
I wrote something about making my chapbook Witch Babies for The Shabby Doll House reader. It is a subscription-based monthly magazine and well worth $4.
I collected the reviews of genius Goodreads user Dottiebee123 for Dark Fucking Wizard.
Noah Cicero’s poetry collection Bipolar Cowboy is one of my favorite books of the year so far and everyone needs to buy it or you’re an idiot. I had my English 101 students read one of his poems, and even they loved it.
A Chilean edition of Black Cloud is coming out later this year.
May 9, 2015
MAY MIXTAPE by Sean H. Doyle
As I have said before, Juliet Escoria is an angel, and whenever she asks me to do something, I do it. She asked me to put together a playlist for THIS MUST BE THE PLACE for Electric Literature, so I did it. Check it out. Turn it up louder than FREEDOM ROCK.
