Mario Lopez. Bold and Beautiful.

On a lighter note...
One of my vices: Bold and The Beautiful. Yeah, the soap.

One of my old vices: Saved By The Bell. Yeah, Saved By The Bell.

Not because of the SBTB storytelling, necessarily. Though there are some classic episodes on eating disorders and pills. Anyway... I thought Mario Lopez was just the icing on the cake, the lettuce on the tostada, the cream in the coffee... okay. You got it.

Now, he'll be joining the cast of the daytime drama, The Bold and The Beautiful, in March. He'll play a doctor, Dr. Cristian Ramirez. His on-screen brother... Lorenzo Lamas, who's been on the show for about two years now.

If you're a soap fan, you know folks are loyal to their channel: you're a Channel 2, 4, or 7 soap person. I grew up on the Channel 2 soaps, thanks to my grandma -- Young and Restless, World Turns, Guiding Light... now I'm strictly Y&R and B&B.

Anyway,,, that's my vice. And some lighter news for a Fat Tuesday :-)
fs

Octavia Butler Died This Weekend

Octavia Butler died this weekend.

She's the author of Kindred, the novel I'm currently reading and loving. I'd just recently discovered her work and looked forward to a reading she was going to do on March 17 at All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA. Would have been my first time meeting her and hearing her speak in person.

I'd recently written about the city of Pasadena selecting Kindred in the One City, One Story program. And a month ago I asked about your interest in Octavia Butler's work, several of you commented -- the most comments I'd gotten on one entry in a while. Indeed, Octavia Butler has a large fan base.

And tons of friends, including writer Steven Barnes, with his own special memories.

She will be missed for her contributions to the literary world and life in general... 1947 - 2006. Octavia Butler's official website.

Never Really Been Into Cartoons, But...

I kinda have a sneaky, funny, shouldn't-be-laughing affinity for the Drawn Together cartoon on Comedy Central.

I've only seen two or three episodes on television, since my schedule is kinda crazy and I'm not glued to the set lately.

Anyone seen it? Your thoughts?

Do any of you laugh at things you know you shouldn't laugh at? Or at things that aren't funny... but kinda make you chuckle anyway?
fs

Can Anyone Write About Anything?

(image from friend's recent trip to Morocco)
So besides the Starbuck's conversation about long distance dating last night, as listed in the entry below, the other thing my friends and I were discussing was this: cultural appropriation and the idea of anyone writing about people who are not like them in novels.

It's an age-old discussion in many writers circles... the idea of someone of one ethnic background authentically writing a novel about someone of another ethnicity... the idea of a man writing authentically about the experience of women in a novel... and so on, and so forth.

I get asked the question a lot while doing book events. Many of my characters reflect the ethnic and sexual orientation diversity of Los Angeles, primarily black and brown and gay and bi and straight, and people are curious about that writing process. They want to know if it's research, just being authentically interested in learning about people, interviewing people, etc...

Of course any writer CAN. But SHOULD they... is another discussion. I think if writers are genuinely interested in reflecting people in culturally appropriate and responsible ways, they can and should write about the diversity in our worlds. But sometimes, people don't take the culturally appropriate or responsible route in reflecting the diversity of our worlds... especially when it comes to reflecting people who are not "the majority," no matter the category, and rely on stereotypes... or what they've heard, rather than what they've actually learned.

And then again, what is authentic? appropriate? responsible? And do writers have a responsibility to reflect all the dimensions of people -- the good and the bad -- in creating realistic fiction and characters? And... how do you feel when you find out the writer of a novel is completely different, in terms of background and life experience, that the novel or book you're reading? I know it happens in non-fiction a lot. But what about fiction?
fs

A Question Out Of Nowhere

Long distance dating. How many of you tried it? Succeeded at it? Failed at it? Vowed never again to attempt it? Have no suitable partners in your hometown, so you have to resort to it? Love having your space and independence because of it? Face numerous temptations because of it?

There's a very popular saying in Spanish: "amor de lejos, amor de pendejos..." which translates to long distance love is stupid love. Overheard some women in the 'bucks coffee house in my hood using the phrase tonight. And of course I had to check in to see what my peeps think.

San Diego Day

Heading to San Diego today for a reading and book discussion at Cal State San Marcos. Should be a lot of fun and a beautiful day to drive down the Pacific Coast from L.A. Thank God not a lot of traffic expected, due to the holiday. No traffic is a treat over here.

Funny thing. I know a lot of you are living where it truly is cold and you get lots of snow. Well, sometimes in Southern California we get a little spoiled in terms of weather.

This morning, it's 45 degrees in L.A. I had my car heater on 72, seat warmers on, and some people on the streets had on their hats, gloves, and scarves. That's a funny sight... given the perspective of how the weather is in other parts of the U.S. I don't know what it is about us in SoCali, but our bodies are very sensitive to what we consider cold weather.

Anyway... still reading Kindred by Octavia Butler... almost done. Highly recommended. Looking forward to the new one by Pearl Cleage which comes out in about a week, Baby Brother's Blues.

Highlight from the weekend. Meeting Doris Robert, the grandma from Everybody Loves Raymond. She hosted a special cabaret night of the Gay Men's Chorus of L.A. Very nice woman with perfect comedic timing... I guess that's why she's won five Emmy Awards.

Anyway, off to San Diego. Have a great day!
fs

What's Up?

So I went to San Francisco a couple days ago for a reading/panel and it was great. Many thanks to Stewart, who organizes black-focused book events for the San Francisco Public Library system.

I shared the stage with Jewell Gomez, a Lambda Literary Award winner, who writes fiction with a feminist sci-fi twist, while tackling issues of ethnicity, gender, and class. She was great to share time with. It's always double the fun to have events with more than one writer.

So Jewell does a little science fiction, I did a little science fiction of my own. Let me tell you, I am love love LOVING Octavia Butler's Kindred. Great read! For all of you who told me so... you were right! And if you haven't picked it up, I'm telling you so. For reals...

In other news, I'm still awaiting the exact publication date of my next novel. My guess is summer 2007, and my hope is that it's a July release date... much like we had for Down For Whatever. I'll keep you posted. Like you, writers are in a constant state of waiting.

While I'm excited about writing, I also keep a day job. A very fun day job. And I am taking on more responsibilities that make me happy, nervous, excited, and secure that I can continue to support my writing and university life at the same time. Dual careers. One person. It's possible. I know many writers who have dual careers... they write and they do something else to support their writing. And the one's who step out and write only... I'm super excited for them. Every artist type, hopefully, will have that day when they decide: dual or single career.

Congrats to my writer friend who just got picked up by a literary agent! I'm super happy for you! No names yet.

So that's what's up. Have a great three day weekend!
fs

San Francisco Day

Off to San Francisco for the day for the following:

Beautiful Diversities:
A Black History Month Celebration
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
6:30 - 8 pm
SF Public Library, Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch
3555 16th St, south of Market


Join authors Jewell Gomez (Don't Explain) and Frederick Smith (Down For Whatever) as they read from their work and discuss representations of the black LGBT community in fiction.

Please call the library at 415.355.5616 for more information.