I Danced With Don King and Yes, His Hair Defies Gravity
June 4, 2010
Dear Friends,
The Old Creative Frenzy Excuse
Easy there, you’ll get to Don King soon. He’s farther down in the newsletter. But first, please forgive me for not having written since the beginning of the year. I’ve been in one of those creative frenzies. That’s what happens to me. I get interested in a project and don’t come up for air. In this case, I have a new book coming out in July called Testing For Kindergarten. It teaches parents how to get their very young kids ready for any test they might have to take for private school admissions, gifted and talented qualification or public school ability group placement. Even though the book is non-fiction and about a pretty serious subject, it has lots of humor and is very autobiographical. I reveal no sex secrets (HELLO! Not with “Kindergarten” in the title!), but there are a lot of personal revelations about the struggles my own children had in school and the pain they suffered as a result. And you know what they say – a mother can only be as happy as her saddest child.
I loved writing this book. It’s for parents who want to help their kids get into an excellent kindergarten and to succeed once they start school. It’s full of information I’ve known and wanted to share with parents for years. I spent the last few months editing draft after draft of that book, getting it just right. Then I decided to create a board game for parents who wanted to practice IQ-type questions with their kids, but in a fun way (you know, “a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down”). I’m calling it IQ Fun Park!
After creating that, I realized I had to develop a separate website to go with the whole shebang so that led to www.testingforkindergarten.com. If you have time, please check out the website. I’d seriously love to get your feedback. It’s not too late to change anything and I’m just getting started with it. You even get to see me on video confessing how I became so obsessed with all this testing stuff (Mom says it’s riveting, but you be the judge). You can’t really tell, but I was wearing false eyelashes for the video shoot (Schuyler’s idea). That night, as I ripped them off, most of my regular eyelashes came off with them. FYI, it takes a very long time for eyelashes to grow back.
Pretty Please Would You Join My List?
Do you know what I love (and hate) but LOVE MORE? I love throwing myself into a project where I have no idea what I’m doing. The first time I wrote a book, I didn’t have a clue. The experience was heaven! When I created this game, it felt much the same way. I’m like this mad scientist inventor, totally focused on the task at hand. What will the board look like? How do I find an artist to execute my vision? What should the rules be? Which IQ tests should it prepare kids for? How do I make it fun for children to play? Do you need to patent a game? How do I produce it? Should I make an on-line version? How many kids do I have to play it with before I know it’s ready? I’m still figuring a lot of this stuff out, but I get totally pumped up when I’m engaged in something new and exciting. Do you get that way?
The Downside of Creativity
I will say this, the downside of falling down a creative rabbit hole (for me, at least) is that I get exhausted. Then everyone around me gets exhausted watching me, even my pets. And then I get fat. Yes, at the end of a busy work day, I’m so tired that I tell myself I need to eat for strength. It’s not true, but I’m very convincing. Then, nine months later, I look like I’m about to give birth. It has happened with every book I’ve written. Sadly, that’s where I find myself now. Oh well. Next project. Lose weight.
As we get older, even at the risk of getting fat, I think it keeps you young to follow your interests wherever they lead and push through the fear that comes with being in unfamiliar territory. I’ve always had a passion for working with young children, helping them develop the readiness skills they need to succeed in school and beyond that, I’m a zealot when it comes to supporting kids with learning issues. Now I’m actually doing something about it. It’s a scary and exciting place to be. Maybe your passion is building schools for girls in third world countries, helping women start businesses, saving the environment, or doing something less magnanimous and more self-pleasing like Bedazzling tennis shoes for fun and profit. Whatever it is, I say, “go for it!” I may start a new website called “Scared Shitless but Chasing My Dream Anyway.” Would you sign up for that one?
The Latest From Turnberry Ocean Colony
I had this interesting (slightly surreal) experience recently that made me think about being at the end of my life and how I would feel about having chased my dreams. You might recall that I live in a fancy building in Miami Beach with many older, retired folks. It was a Saturday night. Mark was in San Diego. [Digression: Did I mention that Mark has a job in California now. I'll be moving there when Sam graduates next year.] Anyway, the restaurant in my building was advertising dinner and a show with a Broadway singer, so I decided to go. It turned out that she sang songs FROM Broadway, hadn’t actually appeared there, although she had appeared on many cruise ships. A woman in the building heard about the event and decided to hold an impromptu birthday party for her husband who was very sick with cancer.
I got all decked out and met my friend at the restaurant. Half the party was regular people in the building who wanted to have a relaxing dinner and enjoy the show. The other half was the birthday party. Now, the birthday party half of the room was much fancier. They got special appetizers and cool centerpieces with boxing gloves that we weren’t allowed to have. It was rumored that there was an electronic fence that zapped the regular people trying to get over to the fancy party side, so I didn’t even try. To everyone’s delight, the birthday boy (man) made it to the event. We’ll call him “Sid” because we were never introduced (me being on the wrong side of the party tracks and all). People were worried Sid wouldn’t be well enough, but he was. Sid was an ex-boxer and they surprised him by having Don King at the party. Yes, Don was there, hair and all. I kept thinking to myself, who is that tall man with the hair that sticks straight up? Someone confirmed that it was Don King. The reason I didn’t recognize him is because he was better looking than I remember him being which made me suspect he’d had work done. Yes, even Don King has an ego.
Here’s where it got surreal. The party people all started to get up and give moving tributes to Sid. Ignoring the fact that half the folks in the room didn’t know him (and were miffed about being excluded from the better appetizers), guests began to grab the mike from the band and talk about what a great guy Sid was. A woman in her 80′s who looked like she was in her 40′s (not close up, just from afar) gave a heartbreaking speech and then did the splits while wearing her fancy designer dress. I don’t know why she did the splits. It had nothing to do with her emotional testimonial. Maybe she was lording her good health over Sid (meanie!). Luckily, Don King brought us back to earth with a touching tribute to the guest of honor and his colorful boxing history.
Sid’s son took the stage to speak about his father, but was so moved that he mostly cried. Now, I’m going to admit something horrible. I was irritated that I had to listen to this grown man cry. Then I felt bad and selfish about feeling irritated. All I wanted was to have a fun evening out with a friend and instead, I found myself embroiled in another family’s end-of-life drama that reminded me way too much of losing my own father. I thought about demanding a refund and leaving before the cruise lady sang, but didn’t because the dining room staff would think I was heartless. Then I thought, “Indeed, I must truly be a heartless witch.” Actually, that’s a stretch. I didn’t think the words “indeed” or “truly.”
Finally Sid got up to speak. “Welcome to my funeral,” he said. That was when I realized how lucky Sid was to have gotten this preview of what everyone would be saying at his actual funeral. Most of us miss out on that. He talked about what a full life he’d had, how much he loved his family, enjoyed his work, how lucky he’d been to have pursued boxing, which was his passion. The speech went on, but it was eloquent and I was grateful to have witnessed it.
Clearly, this was a man with no regrets. As sick as he was, he beamed all night long (and not from radiation treatments!*). Later, they turned off the electric fence separating the exclusive party and the regular schlubs, allowing us to mingle. Everyone was dancing (me included, and with Don King!), and Sid was right there boogying – kind of slowly, but boogying nonetheless – with a great big smile on his face. Sid was a man who lived hard, loved fully and got a famous guy to come to his “going away” party. Cheers to Sid or whoever you really are! We should all be so lucky.
*Lest you think I’m heartless, I was just practicing. I recently agreed to contribute to a proposed humorous anthology about death and dying called (working title) Exit Laughing, to be edited by my friend Victoria Zacheim. Some really outstanding authors have signed on including Jane Smiley, Malachy McCourt, Joshua Braff and more. Can one laugh in the face of death? That’s a tough one, but I guess we’ll soon find out.
Friends Of Mine Who Are Doing Cool Things
And now, on a lighter note (as they say on The Today Show when they switch from a report about a murdered child to how to choose the right bra for every figure), here’s my favorite feature – telling you all the cool things my friends are doing. If you’re doing something cool, please tell me and I’ll try to get it in next time.
Tracey Jackson
Tracey is a comedy writer (The Guru, Lucky Ducks, Confessions of a Shopaholic) who wrote the first draft of the movie The Ivy Chronicles (no, I still don’t know if that will ever get made). But anyway, she has a hysterically funny book coming out in January about aging. She also writes a wonderful blog that I actually open and read every day. It is always interesting and thought-provoking. So, I invite you to check it out and subscribe if you love it as much as I do. The blog can be found at www.TraceyJacksononline.com.
Jennifer Deare and Sharon Wood
Jennifer is one of my very awesome friends. I first met her at a Carole Hyatt workshop called, Getting to Next. Jennifer (that’s her on the left) and Sharon (who I don’t have a picture of, but she’s very pretty) are creating video games focused on teenage girls and young women. You can get their first title, Women Lead The World at the iTunes store for $2.99 under the ‘Karizmac’ brand. It offers hundreds of decisions by famous women against which players can compare their own opinions. I played it myself and compared favorably in my opinions versus those of famous women. Yay me! It was really fun. To learn more, visit www.stonecreekentertainment.com.
Dr. Christiane Northrup
I met and fell in love with Dr. Northrup through a course we both took at Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts. She is an amazing doctor, so brilliant, warm, funny and wise. There she is on Oprah! Am I jealous? You betcha! Christiane has just released a new edition of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. When she released her first edition of the book in 1994, it was based on her years of experience as an OG/GYN physician. She had seen up close and personal everything that could go wrong with the female body. Now, with her new edition, she has focused on creating an “owner’s manual” to teach women everything that can go RIGHT with the female body. It’s full of new, updated, life-saving information that everyone should have access to. Go to Amazon.com to pick up your copy today!
Joanne Tombrakos
Another blog I read religiously is written by my friend, Joanne, yet one more friend from Mama Gena’s. Yes, I made many wonderful friends through The School of Womanly Arts (I mention it so much you’d think I’m getting a commission, but I swear I’m not). Like me, Joanne is a corporate refugee, having gotten her pink slip about two years ago. Her blog is called One Woman’s Eye and in it, she observes life after corporate America. She writes about reinvention in a way that I find totally inspiring. Joanne believes that the pink slip can open the door to what you really want to do. It certainly did that for me. She has written two wonderful books and I can’t wait to see which one gets published first.
Haya Leah Molnar
I’m so excited to announce that my friend Eva Okada, who writes under the name Haya Leah Molner (much more literary, don’t you think?) has just published her first book, Under a Red Sky. I remember sitting at a cafe in NYC with Eva years ago and both of us talked of our desire to write a book. I got mine out first, but Eva wasn’t far behind. In this young adult novel, Eva recreates stories of living in post-war Romania in a crowded flat with three generations of relatives. It is a fascinating story of growing up behind the iron curtain in the 1950′s. Eva is a fabulous writer who began her career writing advertising copy. Publishing this book is a dream come true for her. Pick up your copy today at Amazon.com.
I have many other wonderful friends who are doing the coolest things ever, but I’m afraid I’m going to overwhelm you so we will continue this discussion later. Until next time, have a great summer!
xoox Karen