(no subject)

[bironic]

Yesterday, my boss came up to my cubicle with a graying, kipa-clad man in tow and said, "This is Mr. N, our building manager. His mother was in Auschwitz. I was telling him about your trip. You should talk." And left. Turns out the guy's mother lost eight siblings and her parents in the war, survived until liberation with one brother and that was it. She helped commit sabotage during a stint in a munitions factory at one point and was one of Mengele's "patients" because she had blue eyes, and she died while Mr. N. was young—but not so young that he hadn't learned her story from her. (That seemed unusual; you hear a lot about how survivors didn't talk to the first generation, and it's been the second generation who open dialogues about their experiences in the camps.) He talked about how his mother wanted him to know everything, and how he'd gotten stuck in Hungary (where his family was from; and how strange was that, to meet someone born to one of the hundreds of thousands of Jews famously shipped in to the freshly constructed Birkenau camp) as a Refusenik after the war when the Russians moved in, and how he came from the generation who never knew what it was like to have grandparents, so he's borrowing from what he knows of other people's now that he's a grandparent himself.

I'll say one thing about the March of the Living trip: It's certainly done its job in starting conversations.

.

Tomorrow I'll be turning 26 on the 26th (is there a name for that kind of birthday?). I wanted to write a story for the occasion, but I only managed a few hundred words of House-Wilson in what was basically a free day today. Nothing's biting. I'm considering being introspective and possibly angsty about where my desire to write fiction has gone and how it relates to things like performing for a community and getting bogged down in plot and characterization when it comes to sex stories instead of writing what I want without self-consciousness, but I think that belongs in a spiral notebook and not here.

On the plus side, there will be good food and Star Trek DVDs this weekend.

Comments

[zulu.livejournal.com]

But I want to know your introspective thoughts on performing in the community! I have those thoughts too, but they're less about my fic and a lot more about how I can't post personal-journalish things because too many people are reading; I am, or more to the point, my journal is, always-already about how an audience will perceive what I choose to share.

[recrudescence.livejournal.com]

Way to put you on the spot, hm? Even though I've read Holocaust memoirs, I can't imagine how I would react if I was hearing it all straight from the source.

Happy early birthday, though--anything you're in the mood for, fic-wise?

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

I turned 21 on the 21st, so I guess you could call it a lucky double birthday? ^_^

[perspi.livejournal.com]

It's your golden birthday!! Happy birthday!!! *glee* (Incidentally, mine's the fifth of the month. I was seven before I found out what golden birthdays are, and I was terribly disappointed to have 'missed' mine.)

And also, oh how fascinating. But a dilemma, yes.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday! It's been the 26th here for 6 hours now - my, but you're aging fast... :-)

[purridot.livejournal.com]

Just got your postcard today! Thank you so much! It was very cool that it would come the day after you talked about Masada -- I had been musing over those images all evening, thinking of how peaceful the modern guest house looked, like an oasis in the desert(and wondering where its water supply came from), and thinking of the Romans there (and wishing their applied their determination elsewhere).

[euclase.livejournal.com]

This gave me chills. About the man's mother and her experiences? And just the fact that he talked to you. Really amazing.

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

It sounds like your March of the Living trip is still going. That's an incredible story from what must have been an awkward beginning. I'm so glad you're getting the chance to hear it.

--

It's the 26th here now - happy birthday! And I'd be interested in the 'performing for the community' notes as well. Considering at least half my dreams feature LJ, and last night I had a lovely one where my story got heartily recced on an influential journal, I'm thinking I may have issues... ;)

Good food and Star Trek. Sounds perfect! Have a lovely day :) (present to follow...)

[bell]

my desire to write fiction has gone and how it relates to things like performing for a community and getting bogged down in plot and characterization when it comes to sex stories instead of writing what I want without self-consciousness

Wish there were a way around that. >__> I'd suggest you switch off the part of your brain where you think "OTHERS [THAT COMMUNITY] WILL READ THIS," but, I've suspected you've tried that already. The way I get around that, sometimes, is by hand-writing first-- then I can get out what's in my head and do the perfectionning thing later.

For your birthday, I too offer a drabble. Though after seeing your reaction to recrudescence, I'm not sure you'd be able to come with more prompts/requests. ^_~

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a story! Though I hate when people do that thing where they're like: here's a person! Discuss!

Happy birthday, btw!!!

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday, sweetheart! Since it's now the 26th and all.

And, I got your postcard! Thank you so much! :-D

I too would be interested in your thoughts on performing for a community. Because that's the best description I've ever seen re fanfic writing for yourself vs for others.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

Wow, it must have been a strange experience to have a face-to-face discussion with someone so close to the devastating effects of the Holocaust. I'm not sure I could have handled the situation.

[ignazwisdom.livejournal.com]

Hey, happy birthday! :)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

*checks calendar* I think I made it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! \O/

(Oh, and just beginning to catch up now on my new!PC!, gorgeous 'last of the trip photos' *g*)