Homophobia in O-town

I don't usually write about homophobia or LBGTTQ related topics. Like on FB I try and keep things pretty light here, or centred on my interests which include: comics, painting, my talented friends, family, road trips and my pets.

But yeah, homophobia is out there and it reared its ugly head this week. I'm not sure if it is the weather, stressed-crazy people reacting to the US election, or solar flares. Or maybe just dumb-asses who are taking their frustration at not getting any hockey pumped into their living rooms by attacking gay women.

Two gay friends I know posted this week about being harassed for what they looked like by complete strangers. Both of my friends are women, and they were both attacked by other women; which I find sort of bizarre. Ok, I actually find the whole thing bizarre. I'm lucky; although I'm androgynous- looking, with very short hair and an extra 200 lbs to mask an easily identified gender shape, the worst that happens to me is that I get called 'Sir'. And that ain't so bad. It's something I've gotten used to since my early teens when I initially cut my hair.

So I've been lucky.
But some folks aren't lucky. Check the recent post in Wolfville NS about 'Acadia Fag' who was verbally abused by straight boys at a University sponsored music event.
And my friends in town. I can't believe that a complete stranger actually spat on my friend. And this asshole had a child with her!
Next, some elderly lady swore at another friend of mine and called her a 'freak'! Simply because of her tattoos and differently coloured har.

I can't image what drove these lunatics to yell at, spit and verbally harass my friends who are sweet, creative, cool people. What makes these attackers think it is 'ok' and acceptable to take their anger and fear out on a complete stranger and make them feel like shit?

This is NOT OK. This is an action motivated by hate and fear. Whatever they are experiencing in their lives that made them believe insulting an identified gay woman would make them feel better and more secure is irrelevant. If it had been some guy doing it to some girl, it would have been all over the papers. Or some white people insulting and spitting on black people. But for some reason, homophobia is still acceptable in some people's view.

Just like being overweight seems to be the final target for stand-up comedians to use as material, so attacking gay identified/ presenting people seems to still be ok. Not only is it patently not ok, it is something that continues to generate fear and has dark repercussions for those that experience the ridicule and harassment. Attacking someone physically is bad, but a verbal attack lingers, sometimes longer than the bruises.

Do you know if you attack someone verbally you can hurt them enough to make them go home and kill themselves? That's called bullying. Kids are being (hopefully) reprogrammed to nip bullying in the bud, but there is still a lot of work to be done. We don't accept bullying from kids or teens ('zero tolerance'). We sure as hell don't have to accept bullying from  adults. It is surreal that it happens at all, and it should be a criminal offence. (Keith Savage mentions bullying in one of his posts here).

Recently, a very close friend went through the final surgery required for his FTM transition. I learned a lot both from his experience and going with him to the clinic. I met and talked with Trans men and women and came away with a deeper understanding and respect for Trans people and what they have to endure, cope with and finally win through.

I wanted to let people know how he was doing and was really excited about everything he was experiencing; in a really positive way. I'm an optimist, I've been out for a long time, and I didn't realize there could be anything wrong or potentially dangerous about my news and posts.

Apparently transphobia is alive and well and terrifying. I talked with my friend and he cautioned me about spreading the news, as some people at his work and in his life aren't aware of his status as Trans. I was surprised because I tell everyone who'll ask that I'm queer. I had no idea that other people aren't the same way and that they experience hatred, fear, discrimination and verbal and physical abuse if they are out (or are outed). I was dismayed and promised to be more circumspect. But it really made me think. (**update--excellent post on American Trans Man about this)

We supposedly live in a progressive, socially aware country. Yet, my friend is personally aware that he could be fired, assaulted or killed because he is Trans. I would hope to think that we live in a country where hate crimes would be followed up by the police, but who knows. Is it one person's word against the other? Is it she said/ she said? Would it be some elderly lady pointing at a tattooed, green haired dyke, calling her 'freak'/ 'abomination' and some people on the judicial end of things nodding silent agreement?

How can we live in the capital of a country that supposedly is 'free' and still have a mom with her kid walk past one of the coolest people I know, who is a volunteer, animal lover, helps kids who are troubled, is a musician, and has endured physical problems all year, and still has to put up with being yelled at and SPAT ON?!

Maybe the anti-bullying programs shouldn't just be in the primary and secondary schools. Maybe the programs need to attend to the continued effrontery of cold-hearted bitches who are marching around Ottawa, insulting, spitting and abusing peaceful, gay women.

Or maybe I need to talk with these supposed pillars of 'straight'/ safe, society and let them know how it feels to be frightened, insulted and spat upon.

"Teach your children well."

Then reteach the ##^&@ adults.

--Suzanne.

PS-- One of the first anti-homophobic songs I ever heard was from Spirit of the West. It inspired an enormous art piece during my studies in Ottawa U's BFA programme. It hit me right in the gut and helped open my eyes.

Spirit of the West's "Take it from the Source"

I was sitting in basil's with a friend and coffee  

Thinking the world a fine place to be 

When the man on my right got up to leave 

And left a little piece of his mind with me 

He said, "faggots like you should be put in asylums" 

Now tell me, who takes the blame 

For his being scared, so unaware 

That he would fire his fear without an ounce of shame 

Whatever happened to love thy neighbour? 

Nothing more than a worn out cliché 

Are all men created equal or has this too become passé? 

You don't need to open your mouth for me to read your lips 

I can follow the language displayed on your finger tip 

They don't look before they leap 

They don't think before they speak 

They just sharpen their tongues on you and me 

Spit poison darts between perfect teeth 

You've got to take it from the source 

Look at where it's coming from 

You're got to take it from the source 

They're only wasted words on me 

I guess i just don't measure up 

Strayed from the straight and narrow road 

So you lock me up, throw away the key 

'cause i don't live by your dress code 

That's ok, i've heard it before 

You can open the wound i feel no pain 

I don't need an armour suit 

You're the one with the ball and chain 

-chorus-

 (c) 1988 (John Mann/ Geoffrey Kelly) SOTW 'Labour Day'

Cages

I was delighted to find Dave McKean's "Cages" at the Comic Book Shoppe. Troy Little had leant me the hardcover years ago, and I'd never had the chance to read it (yes, I did return the book!) I thoroughly enjoyed reading the work this time around: floored by exquisite story-telling and masterful paintings.

The Heart's Desire Valentine's Women's Dance happens every year at the NAC. Usually I don't attend, but this time I found myself with a date, which was serendipitous and fun! It was nice enjoying good company and freedom of movement--doing things that last year would've been impossible.

It was also fun catching up with Rob Anderson and Keith Savage over the weekend. Keith has a great food blog (if you are interested in learning how to make kick@$$ pizza, and other things check it out!) Robbie has a fantastic channel on Youtube with some fun editing work on it. He also owns Noise2Signal.

The t-shirt I'm sporting for Valentine's dim sum is Troy's great "Angora Napkin" t. Super fit, awesome design. Pick one up today!

Cheers,
Suzanne.

Joy and Sorrow

A long while ago, one of my dear friends, Fiona was traveling on the West Coast. I missed her lots and so, when this card arrived in the mail, I was blown away. It is from Khalil Gibran and it really meant a lot to me. It came from someone I loved, and it also came at a time when I was mourning the loss of my grandmother. The lines make sense to me, because they speak about balance.

Today was a day of balance as well. I woke up with my face pressed so hard into my pillow I'm amazed I wasn't suffocated. It was like I was trying to physically hang on to sleep for as long as I could. As long as I was in bed, asleep, the day (for me at least) couldn't progress. I wouldn't wake to another day of the reality of my father being gone staring me in the face. Inevitably I had to get up, but it was with a deep reluctance, and slowness; the way a kid will fight all the way against something, dragging their feet, even though there is no point and they will go to bed whether they want to or not.

Clay and I gathered some lunch items, some blank CD's, the old Rideau High School year book that Myra had lent me ages ago, and headed for Keith's place. Keith had agreed to try and transfer some old compilation mixed tapes I had made for my Dad for his birthday (June 3rd, 1990 and 2000). We stopped at Mac's first in Kanata and I topped up my phone (the day I needed it the most, not only were its batteries kacking out, it had like $1.50 left on it. Sigh!) I also picked up a couple of copies of the Citizen that had Dad's Obituary printed in it. Do you know what they ding you for an obit? Like $500! Geez! So, I am happy that they did a good job on it...

We drove up and along Eagleson, and I thought I could use some music. Just as we began merging on the 417, I clicked on CKCU (93.1) and Stan Rogers was singing "The Mary Ellen Carter". My God! I choked right up and sniffled and snurged as I drove. I was ok until the chorus, whereupon I just started sobbing again. Thankfully, the traffic had slowed a bit, so I could cry and kind've drive at the same time... After the song was done, the announcer said it had been a memorial set for someone else, which made it feel again, like it was destined to be heard by me.

"...And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken
And life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
--Stan Rogers (1949 - 1983)

For a beautiful piece on YouTube, click here.

By the time I found my parking spot in front of Keith's place on Kent St., I was ok, but still deeply moved by the song, and my spirit somehow felt lighter. It was like, there was a lift that had happened inside and I could see a bit of light and laughter as well.

Keith got started on the tape transfer (btw, I had no idea that something like that could take close to 8-9 hours, depending on how things went. Clay and I had lunch and Keith put on Steve Martin's "the Jerk", which I had never seen. It was wonderful, just being able to laugh together and feel some of my tension release. Keith continued his work, transfering the poor old audio tapes to digital, and checking in on us to make sure we were ok. I sent more notices via email, and also linked Dad's Obituary to my facebook page.

We settled in for a second movie, this one an old favourite of mine when I was a teen, and also I remember Dad getting a good laugh out of it as well: "Amazon Women on the Moon". I think I giggled pretty much through the whole thing. And of course, during some of the more rib-splitting scenes, laughed so hard I started coughing and sounded like I was coming apart.

Fi and Vicki arrived later with a veggie lasagna, timbits and a bottle of Baileys! We just hugged and it felt so good to see them. Fi had been in the car all day coming up from Newmarket, then barely got out to hop into another car to come in to town. It was so good having them there, just talking, reminiscing and laughing.

Eventually we broke it up, after supper. Keith finally finished his audio magic and I had 4 CD's with Dad's music on them for the visitation tomorrow. Fi and Vick headed back for the 1 1/2 hr drive to Portland, and after lots of hugs and heartfelt "thankyous", Clay and I also headed out. We set course for Stittsville though, not Kanata.

Mom and I still had to put together the giant photosheet for the funeral home's frame that they put up in the visitation room for people to look at. We'd gone through a lot of pictures the other day and Mom had gone through a few more, but wanted me to help with the layout. It didn't take too long.. I sorted them in chronological order and then tried to see how they would all fit together. I put in the pic from Myra's yearbook and it looked good. There were pics from Dad as a little boy in 1947, to his army days, his trip to England and Trinity College in Dublin, as well as showing him relaxing on Sanibel Island in Florida. A real collage, showing his life, serious, smiling, looking mischievious, bending over the Lada (which needed eternal repairs) and finally, a picture in the lower right corner of Dad's granddaughters: Bronwyn, Kiara and Rylen.

It looks good.
Night, rest and may sweet sleep bear you to gentle dreamings.
Suzanne.

Rolling up the sleeves and gettin' 'er done

This is it, man--this is the time, now is the moment.
Friday, October 17th at 8:00pm, DragonHead Studio will transform from its usual organized mess into a razor's edge of creative instensity. We have confirmed artists, we have grub, we have supplies! We're ready!

For your amusement and to get you excited about the upcoming Event, here are some pics from last year's challenge, where much great artwork was produced and new friendships solidified! Just think, this time next year, you could be looking a sweet collection of photos from the upcoming weekend. If you act quickly, your mug might even be profiled! Ya never know...


Speaking of mugs, here's yours truly at Kanata Centrum, picking up Westin Church from the shuttle pick-up point.

The table at the studio in progress, covered in artwork, drinks and supplies. Meaghan Quinn surveys her efforts.

Left to right, Keith Savage, Westin Church, Lynette O'Brien and Meaghan Quinn, sometime in the middle of the night (probably before 2 am or so, since Keith headed off to sleep in his tent around then). Lynette had dropped by to shower us with support around 10pm, but mistakenly went to the wrong house. No one was home! Finally she heard the sounds of cussing and Frank Sinatra and made her way to the corrrect locale of the "do".

Westin catches 40 winks in the company of the world's coolest cat, Arlo, star of many of my comics. Westin's allergy medication was labouring hard to keep him going. With minor setbacks, he was still able to complete the gut-splitting tale of "Harry Hotdog in the Land of Linguini".

Yours truly, showing off the fruits of labour sometime in the wee hours of the morning. You can see by the 1,000-mile stare that the coffee had finally proved useless and the sugar crash had long ago happened. Still, it was a fun excersize!

Keith Savage (OMBRELLA) and Westin Church at Kanata Centrum, heading home after the event. Look how happy they are to escape back home to get some shut-eye! Lucky people!

Now, wouldn't YOU like to see yourself in these pics? You can! There's still a couple of spaces left if you're into it. Just contact me, via email, phone or psychic transmission. Check out the group on Facebook (24 Hour Comic day at DragonHead Studio) for info.

Confirmed 24 Hour comic artists this year include:

Suzanne Marsden:
Hostess, owner of DragonHead Studio, animator, traditional comic artist, writer.
Robert (Guang) Yap:
Animator, traditional comic artist, storyboard artist
Meaghan Quinn:
Web comic artist "Eat the Roses"
Clayton Jacobs:
Traditional comic artist, animation, novelist
Christopher Rudderham:
Web comic artist, "Sailorsun"

Participants confirmed for the 12 hour comic challenge

Keith Savage:
RPG systems inventor, animator, filmmaker, novelist.
James Fletcher:
Teacher, sculptor, member of the National Capital Network of Sculptors, Ottawa.

Check links to their work--this is going to be a phenomenal 24 Hour Comic party!

Plus, you can look forward to seeing it assembled as a documentary by talented filmmaker Randy Kelly!

Cheers, and to those who can't make it-- perhaps next year? It seems like it is becoming an annular event ;-)
Suzanne.

Yes it's that time of the year

I have decided that 2007 is my year for CHALLENGES. In keeping with my self-imposed madness, I signed up for National Novel Writing Month. For more info on what that's all about, please feel free to follow the links.

This year, I challenged myself to complete a french course, which I managed to do. I took up the challenge of getting back into animation, thanks to Nick Cross, that came true as well. I challenged myself to leave my steady job and jump into the well of creativity, and all wise-words and fear be damned! That sorta worked out... I challenged the old self to get in the car and drive East on my lonesome. That was some fun. Probably would be more fun with company, but whatcha gonna do?

The fall's challenges have been in a very creative vein! Labour Day weekend was the 3-Day Novel Contest. Carol Little helped inspire me to enter that (you can check out an awesome article about her and the challenge online in PEI's Guardian!) I completed a 131 pg. novel called "Terra Del Meurta", which as Clay later pointed out reads more like an outline for a really BIG novel :-) I think a rewrite or 3 may be in order. But the cool thing is; I got it done! Hurray Sue :-)

Onto the rest of the challenges.... October 20th dawned beautiful and sunny; the 24 Hour Comics Day had arrived. Five brave souls threw themselves into the fray (Keith Savage, Westin Church, Meaghan Quinn, Suzanne Marsden & Clayton Jacobs) and three came out, including moi! I will be posting info on that all on its own, cause I want to scan in some pics too.

And, because I haven't had enough of grueling creative exercises, I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Basically, you have 30 days to write a novel of 50,000 words (or more.) It's day 6 and I'm clocking in around 9296 words...which ain't too bad. I feel good; my fingers are a little annoyed with me (whaaat? You're doing Data Entry? Whaat?)

Finally, my biggest challenge to date...
Return to Statistics Canada. How is that going to be? Don't know... It is in a completely different Division than I was before, doing work as a Publication Assistant. So--it might even be fun? Mm, you can tell I generally see things in the glass-is-half-full light, right? ;-)

So...there will be more. Sorry for the long hiatus, and thanks for continuing to check in to see if I'm still alive and kickin'. Yeap! Still alive... Still kickin'...

Cheers!
Suzanne.

Diary of a mad woman...

Hey there all, I'll try and document as best as I can remember; I couldn't do it during the foray, because I had to bloody write, didn't I (say the last few words with a good, thick Brit accent :-) I took the odd pic of myself with my digi cam and a few pics of what I ate, the time, calendars and stuff.

The story itself is a Western, loosely based on a character I came up with for a potential erotica story (har har!) and later she actually got made into an RPG character for my friend Keith Savage's role-playing game that he invented (I won't name it here, because it's still in development!) Clayton and I are lucky beta-testers, and my character got to star in her own story with this game. (Well, Clay starred too, but my novel wasn't about his character.)

In fact, the words: loosely based are very accurate. I only used the idea of her origin in the story, and not the game itself. That would've been using KEITH'S story idea, and not my own. Big chunks of the novel wrote themselves, which is very nice. I love when that kind've thing happens.

I wrote 4 or 5 story "threads", that I attempted to pull together late Sunday afternoon. I pulled and pulled and most of them tied together, except for one connecting thread I just didn't have time to reattach. Of course I realized the futility of it around 11:58pm Monday night, and then it was too late :-P Well enough of my rambling.. here we go..

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Got writing around 9:00am, after a pb & wildflower honey on toast brekky, with muchos coffee. Music to start the mood: William T. Stromberg's Trinity & Beyond The Atomic Bomb Movie sndtrk. This is a great soundtrack. If you like Basil Poledoris' Conan sndtrk, you'll love this. Go hunt it down somewhere! The next pieces of music I threw in were a couple of CD's I found at Big Bud's before it closed: Dad's Favorite Western Movie Themes Vol I & II. This basically set the theme for the whole book. Between other CD's, I kept switching back to those two and it really helped.

Mood-wise I was pretty upbeat and positive. Whenever I got stuck or needed a break, I went upstairs and took my friend Myra's doggies outside to walk around in the back yard and get some fresh air. Her dogs are a lot of fun and it cheered me up to play with them and just got my brain away from the story for a few minutes.

It was distracting writing with someone in the room watching TV, but with headphones attached to my massive JVC 80's style ghetto-blaster, I re-immersed myself in thematic music, which in turn, immersed me in the feel of the book.

Drank coffee and later, rye & lemonade (thanks for the suggestion Matt!), ate a mango, stretched, called friends, got back at it. Had left-over pizza for dinner, which was good, cause it didn't take much time to make. I rolled up the carpet on Day 1 around 11:45pm, thoroughly exhausted from the crappy night's sleep I'd had the night before and plumbing creativity all day. Page count: 35 My original idea, when I'd heard that the average submitted pages for 3-Day novels were between 90-120 pgs was to try to shoot for 40pgs/ day. Gahh..

Becky, the toy poodle, curled up and slept as sound as a log against my back. The little Shitsu Brody, barked for hours. Finally had to resort to earplugs...

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
Woke late and blurry. Made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast with Clay and was civil! :-D Took doggies outside, drank coffee and realized my brain was starting to buzz with the story. The buzzing was actually snatches of dialogue, scenes, character bits & pieces. There was the odd FLASH of "Yeah, I can link up that thread there..." Which is good, because I was getting worried that none of my story threads would link up...

Continued to drink coffee, then later switched to my homemade Margarita mix w/ ginger ale (thanks to Myra!) Ate Pringles, cookies..mmmMmm sugar... and kept typing. I found writing the second day went much more smoothly. Called Carol & Troy a couple of times & updated my insane status on Facebook to let them know I was still alive.


Music was again a very important part of the process because I had to completely submerge myself away from the TV, Clayton, the dogs, everything. I listened to a variety, again starting with Trinity, but then moving to the V for Vendetta sndtrk., Army of Darkness Sndtrk., Workingman's Dead - Grateful Dead, Indigo Girls' Retrospective, The Hulk Sndtrk... then looping back to the Dad's Favorite Western Movie Themes Vol I & II. Occasionally themes from the "Good The Bad & The Ugly" would penetrate my chattering brain and I'd go YEAH Yeah!!!

The doggies went home around 6:00pm, and were delighted to see that their "Mommy" returned for them. I've never seen dogs levitate before..so that was kinda cool! Had TVP tacos for dinner, which were good & didn't take that long to make. Hurray! Back at it... Knocked off around midnight with a healthier page count in the 80's, thank goodness. Felt burnt and confused, as well as a bit giddy. In fact, glancing at my work after talking with Carol, I saw (or thought I saw) completely different words on the page. I laughed hysterically and sent her this pic:

Monday, September 3rd, 2007
I woke with such an intense feeling of dread and exhaustion that I wanted to crawl back in bed and never emerge. Slid out like an otter and crept into the shower. Only water and scrubbing could save me now. My mind darted like zig-zag flashes you see out of the corners of your eyes when you're sleep-deprived. The story.. the story.. it was in my head, completely entrenched in my brain. It was continuing without me even being at the keyboard. Wait!! Wait! I groaned. The answer spun behind my eyes; the HOW of hooking up the impossible chunks of story that had tormented me the day before.

I can't even remember what I ate. I just slid down the basement stairs with my coffee, booted Clay off the computer, threw a CD in the player and got typing. I was elated, and mad with the need to get it down before it evaporated out of my head. I had to make it work.. had to..

The writing came easily Monday. It flew out of my fingertips... I'd take food/ bathroom/ stretch breaks... but the urge to return to the story would draw me back like a succubus' enticing siren song. When Mom turned up in the afternoon, it was a relief to have a break, and also difficult because I needed to get back to the story. She dropped off some beautiful chairs from my friends Lyn & Ralph, to go with my lovely antique oak table (an early birthday present! Hurray :-)

After she headed off, Clay & I finished the taco leftovers & then had angel food cake with ripe strawberries and cream. That was like heaven on your tongue.. Ooooh!! Precious, delightful strawberries!! Angel food cake! Squirty cream! CHHKKKAHHHhh!

I returned to the desk, which loomed in the darkness like my personal Sword of Damocles, or Sisyphus' cursed boulder & mountain. It was a curse and also the elated freedom of running barefoot down an empty beach with nothing but wind in your hair and the surf in your nostrils. I climbed back in and dialed up music.

Monday, I listened to: Run Lola Run, The Chieftains Film Cuts (they did music for a movie version of Treasure Island, which is my fav version of the film), Thrive (the same CD I listened to when I first invented "Ivy & Dummy"), John Debney's Cuttroat Island, disks 1 & 2, Madonna "Ray of Light", the old standbys from Days 1 & 2, Starship Troopers & Robocop sndtrks AWESOME!!! Trainspotting, Signs, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, and Steve Earle's "The Hard Way".

The words tumbled from my mind and fingers. I did too much editing and not enough pure writing, which killed me in the end. Looked up format online and proceeded to tweak the manuscript, adding my contact info at the top, a word count (36 800), and the title at last... TIERRA DEL MUERTO

I found that a couple of elements I wanted to use in my story, which is set in the 1870's thereabouts were... invented/ published in 1921! Drag! These included Yeats' wonderful poem "The Second Coming" (which I stuck in my book anyway in the introduction), and a couple of other things I can't remember.. The 'Net and Wiki were great for doing quick & dirty fact-checking, finding style pics on Google Images for things like hats, pistols and horses. I'm lucky, because Tuesday our connection went down totally... I'm really glad it didn't do that Monday morning.

By midnight, I'd finished 131 pgs and was in the throes of a turbulent emotional mixture of equal parts elation and disappointment. I couldn't believe I'd finished a book in 3 days, and I was a bit down because I still had one thread I'd not been able to tie-up within the novel. I'm sending it anyway, connected or not. It'd be a real shame not to! The reality is, there's nothing to stop me from continuing to work on the novel and to finish it the way I'd like to... The stipulation of the 3-Day contest is simply to keep an original that is in the same shape as the one you submitted. So that is cool.

At 12:15am, I grudgingly turned off the slightly overheated computer, took a few pics, and trudged to bed, where tired out as I was, I was still buzzing from the whole process. It took far too long to fall into sleep!

Miscellany!

I would like to thank Keith Savage for turning me on to lots of great, inspirational music! Thanks dude, it would've been a different story if I'd been listening to just Chris de Burgh, the Pogues and Hoots & Hellmouth!

I would also like to thank my folks for being behind me 110%, my friends for yelling at me to write like KENYANS and for singing the Uncle F**ker song from South Park over the phone at me, and also to all the other 3-Dayers out there, beating their brains out writing like crazies they are. Knowing we weren't alone helped.

Ooh yeah, and thanks to the organizers. With a prize incentive, it makes forays like this even better! (Here follows the incentive!)
Grand Prize: Publication
2nd Prize: $500 cash
3rd Prize: A great literary prize pack
And lots of prizes and fun stuff for everyone who makes the shortlist.

And finally...
How can you recreate the amazing soundtrack to the TIERRA DEL MUERTO 3-day novel in the privacy of your own home?

Follow ze links:
"Trinity and Beyond - The Atomic Bomb Movie" William T. Stromberg
"Dances with Wolves" by John Barry
"Small Soldiers" by Jerry Goldsmith
"Dad's Favorite Western Movie Themes" Vol I & II
Featuring The City of Prague Philharmonic, The Philharmonia Orchestra, The Westminster Philharmonic. 2 CD set with 20 outstanding "High Quality" modern digital recordings of classic Movie Themes. Featuring...... The Magnificent Seven, True Grit, Hang 'Em High, The Outlaw Josey Wales, How the West Was Won, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven, Maverick, A Distant Trumpet Red Sun, A Fistful of Dollars, Silverado, Gettysburg, Stagecoach, Lonesome Dove, The Big Country, The Last of The Mohicans, The Proud Rebel, The Professionals.
Army of Darkness Sndtrk by Joseph LoDuca
Track 23 From Red Sonja, by Ennio Morricone
Track 24 From Conan the Destroyer by Basil Poledoris
Track 25 from The Sword and the Sorcerer by David Whitaker
V for Vendetta Dario Marianelli
Starship Troopers, Robocop Basil Poledoris
Trainspotting
Steve Earle and the Dukes "The Hard Way"
Cutthroat Island Disk I & II John Debney
Madonna "Ray of Light"
Indigo Girls "Retrospective"
Deep Forest
The Grateful Dead "Workingman's Dead"
"The Hulk" Danny Elfman
Prem Joshua "Dakini Lounge Remixed"
Unbreakable & The Sixth Sense by James Newton Howard
Signs by James Newton Howard
Thrive (Very hard to find)
Run Lola Run sndtrk
The Chieftains "Film Cuts"

All written material & photographs (c) 2007 Suzanne A. Marsden