My First Contact With Madonna (cont.)

So what did I do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I stood there like a deer in headlights as the pre-school director rambled on and Madonna played on her Blackberry. Then it was over, and we started to file out – Madonna first of course. As my wife, daughter and I walked away from the school, I noticed Madonna and child and nanny getting into their black Escalade. Their driver was double parked in front, and he was holding open the back door for them. I caught one last glance of the pop star getting into the vehicle, and then they were whisked away. 

When we had walked a safe distance away from the school and the other parents, I whispered under my breath to my wife, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I think I am,” she said.

“You saw the blond woman in sunglasses who was with the little black girl?” I asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“I think that was Madonna.”

“Oh my God. That’s what I was thinking too!”

“That was definitely Madonna. It had to be her. She adopted a couple of African kids. Remember? It was all over the news.”

“Our daughter is in the same class with Madonna’s kid?”

“Looks like it,”

“Do you think anyone else noticed?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “She didn’t speak to anyone the whole time, and no one spoke to her. Why didn’t you go up to her and introduce yourself?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Why should I? She probably gets hassled all the time. She’s probably glad no one came up to her.”

“Yeah, it’s probably better we didn’t do anything.”

“We don’t want to embarrass ourselves or our daughter,” I said.

“We did the right thing. You really think that was her, huh?”

“Yup.”

My First Contact With Madonna

I remember the day I first learned that Madonna Louise Ciccone and I have something in common. It was my daughter’s first day of pre-school at Le Petit Paradis, her new French-English bilingual school in Manhattan. The year was 2009, and we (my wife and daughter and I) had just moved to New York City from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

My wife and I both accompanied our 3-year-old daughter on her first day of school to the tiny schoolroom on 3^rd Avenue between 92^nd and 93^rd Street after walking her over from our little 1-bedroom on 78^th Street at York Avenue. Previously, the retail space at which the school was situated might have been a Chinese takeout or a deli. It was that small. After the parents filed in with their kids, the place was packed, standing room only, and there we were all of us just staring at our shoes or primping our children. It was awkward for everyone I imagine, and then it just transcended awkward and became surreally uncomfortable.

After everyone had staked out a spot in the room, a final parent, a woman, entered the room with a little girl and another woman (who turned out to be a nanny/assistant). The woman/parent had fake blond hair and was wearing sunglasses that she never removed. The mother was a white woman. The child with her was a cute little black girl dressed in her school uniform.  The mother was dressed very unassumingly in black pants that were a little too long so that she had walked on the hems, which were now frayed by her steps. Her top was equally unremarkable, and I don’t even remember what it was now, maybe a sweatshirt. Nonetheless, I knew who this sloppy lady incognito was. I felt it somehow even before I could confirm it with the facts. It was none other than the American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, diva. It was fucking Madonna!

I felt my heart rate increase, not because I’m a big Madonna fan, but just because I was in the same tiny room with Madonna. She was now just a few feet away, and she was playing with her Blackberry as the director of the school started to talk about the upcoming year. The director might was as well have been speaking Chinese (which I do not speak). There was too much activity going on in my brain to focus on the official minutes of my daughter’s first day of school in New York City. Was this an opportunity I wondered? Was I to introduce myself? Did other people know it was Madonna? If they did, no one was letting on. Even my wife who was standing right next to me wasn’t letting on. Maybe I was delusional? The best thing to do was to keep cool and to not look over too much. Is looking over at someone every 20 seconds too much? Was I letting on that I knew? Were the others idiots or just not impressed? So many questions.

to be continued ...

5 Questions for Poet/Author/Commercial Fisher Billie J. Myers

I asked commercial poet/author/commercial fisher Billie J. Myers 5 questions. Here are his unedited answers:

1. What do you love most about your commercial fishing job in Alaska?

I love the entire rain-gear all the time. The ups and downs of the trips. Maybe I'm bipolar/..lol..Nature, if we are close enough to land to see anything other than water. I love the fact I know what I'm doing on deck and it is fast and furious.The commercial fishing job I have now is Herring Tendering on the F/V Maverick under Captain Larry Reiser. I love the fact it is just him and I on-board and I am the cook/deckhand so we're are eating good and everything is shipshape.

2. When do you do your writing?

I write all the time. I only fish 3 weeks out of the year.

3. Do you have a strategy or approach to your writing that remains the same each time your work on a project?

I write from the heart and whatever mood or twist of my mind I am in at that exact moment.Combined with a story-line to get a message across.

4. What do you hope people will come away with when they read your book(s)?

I hope people find some sort of uninhibited joy or just get a feeling that the poem was POWERFUL and I got an honorable message across.

5. Why Alaska?

I only fish in Alaska now. I am living in Washington and I truly hope people enjoy my book enough for me to have the means to finish my Novel that will be real-life-accounts from a wild, crazy life-style intertwined with three different Fishing Trips that were BEYOND FRIGHTENING.

5 Questions for Novelist Branka Cubrilo

I asked novelist Branka Cubrilo 5 questions. Below you will find her unedited answers.

1. Do you write for an audience or for yourself?

I have to say that I love my audience and people who follow my writings, books and my career, but I do write for myself. It started this way: I was always introspective and turned inward. But, I have to underline, if you are honest to yourself whilst writing for yourself it will appeal to a certain audience. Then regardless of the intention itself, for whom you are writing, it will find the way to readers with similar sensibility, interest or literary preferences. But, when I write I communicate with myself.

2. What talent or skill is most needed to be a great novelist?

That should be only logical: to be a great novelist one has to be great with words, with rhythm and the ability to engage people. I would say that being a novelist is a lifestyle, as a novelist leads a life of constant (re)writing, observing, keeping dialog alive and analyzing people they come in contact with (characters). My own life is a constant novel in the making, every person I meet I measure, evaluate and delegate as a potential character of the next novel or short story; every situation I encounter I look at from different angles as a curious director able to chose the flow of the story.

3. Can anyone be a successful novelist?

There is a difference between successful and good novelist. A good novelist is not necessarily a successful one too. Why? There is a lot on offer today, a lot of self-published work and lot of people rather go for something entertaining that doesn’t necessarily involve quality. The publishing industry isn’t the easiest one; a writer needs sound knowledge of the topic they are writing about, hence good research is needed, a talent, daily practice of their art and lots of discipline. If you put all those ingredients together, you still need a good portion of luck. Well-established writers follow their own pattern and associations, while new, aspiring writers, probably need some advice. It isn’t easy to give advice to anyone – as there are so many aspiring writers who consider writing to be an easy task, but it isn’t, really. Especially when it comes to something ‘deep and meaningful’, one has to be in tune with one’s own being, well read, well informed and equipped with all sorts of worldly experiences not to mention to possess great imagination.

4. Do you have a writing routine?

The most fruitful time for me is early morning as it is quiet here where I live; it is almost otherworldly in the early mornings, hence I take the advantage of that almost perfect atmosphere. I travel a lot too, therefore, I write a lot while abroad as I get inspired by different scenery, languages, cultures and customs. Sometimes my writing is structured and has routine but sometimes it is completely wild, as my inspiration doesn’t come on demand. Often, I get up in the middle of the night urged to ‘jot down just a few sentences’, then it carries on until late afternoon.

5. Will you ever return to your home in Rijeka, Croatia, to live permanently?

So far, this would be the most difficult question you asked. I have been living in Sydney for the past 25 years, my daughter was born here, I have interesting work here and some great friends. Sydney is a great city, so beautiful with mild winters and beautiful scenery. Rijeka is my hometown; my parents, brother and sister still live in Rijeka. I have a talent of keeping friendships alive, so in Rijeka I have at least 15 great friends; our friendship goes back to our youth, even childhood. It is so fantastic to visit (almost every year) and to be with those extraordinary people. I am, sort of, torn between, and am the happiest when I manage to live in Sydney throughout the year and travel back to Rijeka for a couple of months in the (European) summer. Rijeka is a beautiful costal city, the climate is perfect, food is perfect and my family and friends make me feel relaxed and happy. I wish I could extend that lifestyle of living both in Sydney and Rijeka as long as possible, but if my daughter wants to live in Sydney, that would be my destination too; if she wants to go to Europe, I’ll go too – as long as we are on the same continent.

http://www.brankacubriloauthor.co.uk/

http://www.amazon.com/Mosaic-Broken-Soul-Branka-Cubrilo/dp/1612320589/ref=tmm_pap_title_0