Jessica Barksdale Inclan's Blog
RSS
Jun.30.2011
Chex Mix
The first time I got off the plane in Miami, I thought the air was a joke. I was eleven and could not believe there was air this thick, hot, and humid anywhere. Pulling in deep breaths, I wondered when it would stop, when the air would return to the thin, crisp California July air, full...
Continue Reading »
Jun.22.2011
So please try to imagine this: there I am, about thirteen or fourteen, the year 1974 or 75. I've been living most of my life in a very small, slightly conversative suburban town. Despite its proximity to Berkeley, we've nothing to show for the 60's but some ugly fashion statements that are now...
Continue Reading »
Jun.20.2011
Lately, I’ve been trying to develop a Ground Hog's Day approach to parenting. Meaning, I wonder what it would be like to go all the way back to the beginning of parenting, and, knowing what I know now, giving it another shot. Like Bill Murray's character in Ground Hog Day, would I see the same...
Continue Reading »
3 comments
Jun.14.2011
A word to the wise: If you're plagued by panic attacks or other psychological woes, you might want to make sure your treatment doesn't involve time-outs by your therapist. Silly me. I didn't think to ask.
Twenty years ago, I sought help from someone in the San Francisco area affiliated with a...
Continue Reading »
Jun.08.2011
Dear Readers--
I just thought I'd bring you up to speed with my writing life. The big issue these days for me is writing for free. You know, wring out of me all my juicy goodness--put my plays on the Globe's stage--and for what? A mere tuppence. It's enough to drive a bard underground. But hey...
Continue Reading »
2 comments
Jun.03.2011
One day after a close inspection of my face, I was stumped. I could not tell if the tiny hair-like wrinkles on my upper lip were wrinkles or if the wrinkles were actually black hairs. I finally got out the magnifying mirror, and lo and behold, the answer was both: Wrinkles and hairs.
What's...
Continue Reading »
2 comments
May.26.2011
If you ask me, kids come out the exact way they are. From that very second of birth--and likely before--they are their little selves, this bundle of personality that just is. We learn to curb our wildness and mitigate our tempers, but we find out what parts work best and what don't because the...
Continue Reading »
May.25.2011
War is big, huge, a whole earth story, but war is also something close, home, ours, even if we don't want it. But for my family, World War 2 wasn't just a myth but a story we held close because it changed our family, made it something that it is now. Without it, I wouldn't be here--with it, given...
Continue Reading »
May.18.2011
Good leadership is hard to see. In fact, the best leaders don't really leave a trail. Things just keep working and then start working better. Suddenly, you realize that the thing you are in is sailing down the river unimpeded. The levees don't break. The bridges don't collapse. The floods don...
Continue Reading »
1 comment
May.12.2011
This will sound very boorish and reveal the wastrel in me but I don't like to read science fiction--I like to watch it. I know I'm supposed to love The Left Hand of Darkness and all of Isaac Asimov, but I can't say that I do unless I lie (which I have). I want to be in the know about all things...
Continue Reading »
May.10.2011
Today has been the day of writing a whole bunch in text squares on different sites and having said square go "blip" and disappear. It's been a pisser. Here, a few seconds ago, I had a whole blog. And then it was gone.
In a way, though, that reminds me about my first wedding and...
Continue Reading »
2 comments
May.04.2011
I started my writing career as a poet, so I was writing for free--or for copies--when I started getting published. Getting published and gaining a readership were the rewards. Having my words read at all was the prize. Money? I hadn't even begun to contemplate it. Moving into short fiction was...
Continue Reading »
4 comments
Apr.27.2011
I find NO joy telling you all that I once was completely ginormous, but I was. It's a very long, complicated story, one I don't relish writing or talking about much because even now, fat feels like a character flaw. Yes, I did get that heavy. Yes, that was me. But now that I have over six years...
Continue Reading »
Apr.21.2011
Death you can count on. With taxes, there's some wiggle room.
But I've always been too afraid to find out how much. Every April 15th, I've paid what I owe the government or received back some of what I've already paid. I accept nothing illegal under the table, though I deduct what I can deduct...
Continue Reading »
Apr.13.2011
Most folks I know--middle class, well educated--start trying to be parents from the moment of conception. The mother has to handle much of this parenting as it's all about what she eats and thinks and does. It's about her environment, her clothing, her blood pressure. A mother has to start...
Continue Reading »
2 comments
About Jessica
Jessica Barksdale Inclán's debut novel Her Daughter's Eyes, published in 2001, was the premier novel published under New American Library's new imprint Accent. Her Daughter's Eyes was a final nominee for the YALSA Award for the best books of 2001 and best...
Connections
Causes Jessica Inclan Supports
Women for Women International Goodwill Industries Lindsey Wildlife Museum Freecycle.org
Jessica is a fan of
