Almost Two

September 24, 2006 on 1:46 pm | In Leda and Cleo | 1 Comment | Written by Jenn

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Despite what astronomers may claim (and lately they’ve seemed awfully fickle, anyway), it IS possible to obtain high-resolution images of the actual, geometric and gravitational center of the universe. It is not consistently possible, however, to get her to smile.

It helps if two men she loves take her to the Shore, show her how to use half a mossbunker to pull up a mess of crabs, make her crabcakes and don’t raise their eyebrows when she absolutely inhales them, go walking with her in the Great Swamp and Loantaka, and even take her to the Raptor Trust to see some pretty remarkable birds. And if one of these men has brought along Grandma, well, smiles come pretty easily. Witness:

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Leda is fearless, independent, kind (she has not met a stuffed animal, toy, or — today at Raybird’s — spoon that she wouldn’t wrap lovingly in a blanket, cuddle and coo to), hilarious (just ask Jamie, 27 months), clever (again, Grandma), articulate, and musical (Grandma from Pittsburgh says so). To this last point, she has discovered that the alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Baa Baa Black Sheep have identical chord structures and nearly indistinct melodies, and she therefore allows her singing to flow fluidly from one song to the others, correcting you if you fail to make the transition: “I singing Twinkle, Mommy!” She has had some great chemistry with her potty but she’s not yet ready to commit; my girl is playing hard to get, I think. She will grudgingly accept help but will mostly insist, “My do it!” Her favorite foods are fruit, couscous, gyoza, pancakes and French toast, cereal bars, and, as ever, cheese.

Her parents are making it up as they go along, and hoping she won’t notice.


Dealing with Rejection

September 6, 2006 on 7:09 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments | Written by Jenn

For about 10 years now I’ve been sending my short stories and novels out to various editors, agents, and other arbiters. Sometimes my self-addressed stamped envelopes come back with happy notes saying Yes, you’ll be featured in the Spring Two Years from Now Issue, and your payment will be two free(!) copies of said issue. But much, much, much more often I get Dear Author, Despite the evident merit of your work…no. I have passed through a hierarchy of rejections and have received some very, very, nice nos. My mother does not quite buy it when I tell her the rejections are getting better, but such is life. If their letters are to be believed, I have caused several literary agents to lose a LOT of sleep over whether to represent my novels. Sorry, agents.

All of this is to say that I am accustomed to being rejected. I have (mostly) learned not to take it personally, to take editors at their word when they remind me how subjective such things are, and to stop thinking about the terrible question: if you’re so good at this, and it’s such a good use of your energies, why isn’t your book on the shelves at my local Borders?

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Today, however, rejection came at me from an unexpected place. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission does not make it easy to love them. With the six-point system required to prove your identity and eligibility for a NJ driver’s license, with rules inconsistently applied by differing personnel, it can take several increasingly emotional trips to the DMV to finally become licensed. But the MVC and I made it through those tough times, and I thought they’d made us stronger. Instead, two years later, thanks to a small crack on the far passenger side of my windshield, I have been issued a bright red emblem of my failure, once again, to gain that coveted acceptance.

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Thankfully I’ve got two best pals with whom to spend a rainy day at the Crayola Factory, making personalized crowns and windsocks and other crayola-related projects. Otherwise, this could really get a person down.