New essay by Pam Houston–now up at Hunger Mountain. Here’s the first paragraph:
When I was four years old my father lost his job. We were living in Trenton, New Jersey at the time, where he had lived most of his life. With no college education, he had worked his way up to the position of controller at a Transamerica-owned manufacturing company called Delavalve. The company restructured itself and dismissed him. My parents decided to use his sudden unemployment as an opportunity to take a vacation, to drive whatever Buick convertible we had at the time from New Jersey to California. My parents loved the sun and the beach more than they loved anything except vodka martinis. They promised to take me to Disneyland. We stopped at Las Vegas on the way.
To read more of Corn Maze…
I enjoyed this throughly and love Houston’s writing advice to her students: write down all of the things out in the world that have arrested your attention lately, that have glimmered at you in some resonant way. Set them next to each other. See what happens.
Wonderful post, Cynthia.
That advice hooked me 5 1/2 years ago when I was in my first workshop with Pam in Provincetown. I love this essay. It says so much about writing–and about so many things : )
oh man! thanks for this link! I’m looking at her book ‘cowboys are my weakness’ right now. good to know I’m not the only one 🙂
: )