Sitting here eating matzoh for breakfast, with tonight’s big seder still ahead. Because this is a Jewish holiday, I am passing over the opportunity to blog at length, and instead sending you to some other links.
First, you might remember that we interviewed filmmaker Mary Katzke recently about her “About Face” documentary, to be screened on April 27 at 5:30 at Bear Tooth. Even more recently, the film was selected for an upcoming premiere at “Hot Docs,” a major Canada film festival.
Last weekend, the Daily News ran Debra McKinney’s touching feature story about the film’s subject, Gwen — the Alaska woman who was scarred as a baby when her mentally ill mother placed her into an Eagle River bonfire. It’s an excellent piece of journalism. But its power becomes even more clear when you check out the many, many comments left online at the Daily News — including some comments left by people who still remember the original news stories from two decades ago or who actually saw baby Gwen at the hospital or elsewhere in Anchorage.
Readers weighed in with encouragement for Gwen, thanks to Mary, and continued interest in the personal saga. We all want to know how things turn out, how people heal and forgive (or don’t), what it all means in the big picture (spirituality was invoked often in the online comments). As a member of this community, it makes me happy to see any kind of film or book project bring people together. As a writer, I am inspired to know that people just plain love stories. Technology may change, the economy will rise or fall, but we are narrative-oriented creatures with endless cravings for good beginnings, middles, and endings. We want to share, inspire, touch, question, understand. Amen to that.
Oh. That wasn’t very short, was it? Matzoh all gone and I’m still typing.
Finally — if you are not attending a seder tonight (or preparing for Easter, or howling at the moon and invoking the sun to continue melting our ash-spotted snow), you might want to attend “Effigies: Poems of the Inupiaq North” with poets dg nanouk okpik and Cathy Tagnak Rexford. Brew by Moose’s Tooth, art also on display. Tonight, April 9th, 7:30 PM International Gallery of Contemporary Art 427 D Street.
I am sorry not to attend. We’ve had a bounty of poetry readings and other literary events in Anchorage this month, and I hope this one is a smashing success to all involved.
I, too, loved the article and look forward to the film. There’s a raw honesty about the story that makes it truly compelling for all of us with mother-daughter issues (which includes most of us with mothers and/or daughters, I suppose). And Effigies – what a great project. Thanks for the reminder.