Elesean Fields

From the website at the Grand Praire Public Library, check out what my big bro did.  That's right.  The man who walked me down the aisle at my wedding made this happen.

The Lois Weber Film Collection:

Historical and Contemporary Films by Women Directors

Grand Prairie Main Library

Grand Prairie, Texas

loiswebercollection@gptx.org

Available March 27, 2009

Named for one of the first successful women directors, the collection of more than 160 films (in dvd format) showcases the exciting variety of motion pictures directed by women since the earliest days of film creation. The Loan Star Libraries grant program, sponsored by the Texas State Library, encourages and enables Texas libraries to make available materials normally out of reach to many library patrons.

Wanting to focus on both the historical and ongoing contributions of women in the motion picture arts, we decided to acquire a core collection of films directed by women, far-ranging in terms of time period, subject matter, style, and country of origin.

It is our goal to create a growing collection that becomes the most expansive and diverse library of films directed by women in the world, supported by books and other research material.

Lois Weber, for whom the collection is named, began as an actress at the Gaumont Film Company in 1905, and directed her first short feature in 1911.  By 1916 she was Universal Studios’ highest-paid director. Unafraid to reflect her convictions in her work, she examined social issues such as corruption, politics, birth control, and capital punishment. Movie archivist and author  Anthony Slide has described her as “certainly the most important female director the American film industry has known.” Image credit: Lois Weber, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ggbain-32125

• Thursday, March 26 at 7 pm Reception formally opening the collection. Movies will be available for checkout beginning March 27, 2009.
• September, 2009 Film Festival at the Main Library and Uptown Theater, Grand Prairie.
  

NEWS The Opening Reception for the collection will be Thursday, March 26 at 7 pm. Our special guest will be Texas actress and director Janine Turner.

Ms. Turner is known for her work on television shows such as Northern Exposure and Friday Night Lights. She was judged Best Emerging New Director at the Deep Ellum Film Festival for her short feature film, Trip in a Summer Dress, which we will show at the reception. Besides starring and directing, Ms. Turner also wrote the screenplay, based on the short story by Annette Sanford of the same title.

Using the Collection:

Films may be checked out free of charge using a Grand Prairie library card. Library cards are free, and available to anyone with current photo id. You may also check out materials using your Texshare card.
Books and these films check out for a two-week period (Educators, please ask about longer loan periods).
Currently, there is no in-library viewing of films, except for scheduled film festivals.

For more information about the films, visit the library’s catalog at library.gptx.org (or use a terminal at one of our libraries). Search the any film title, or the subject “Women motion picture producers and directors” to see a list of feature films and related books. An annotated list is also available at the Main Library Information Desk.

About the Library:

Grand Prairie is located between Dallas and Fort Worth, south of Irving and east of Arlington. The Grand Prairie Main Library is located on Conover Drive, off of Carrier Parkway.

• A map to the Library
• Hours and contact information.

From Interstate 20: Take the Carrier Parkway exit north for 5 miles. Turn left on Conover Drive.

From Hwy. 360: Take the Carrier Parkway exit south for 5 miles. Turn right on Conover Dr.

From Interstate 30: There is no exit for Carrier Parkway. Take the Belt Line exit south one mile, and turn right on Jefferson. Turn left on Carrier Parkway, and right on Conover Dr.

Our library catalog's list of feature films

Our library catalog's list of documentary films

The latest newsletter about the collection. Want to subscribe? Sign up for any of our library email newsletters.

Visit us on Facebook. Or visit us on Myspace.

Posted by eleseanfields at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(That's Jenifer on the far right)

I met Kim through Amber, and we hit it off immediately.  We liked the same music, watched the same movies, loved the same designers, wore the same dreaded clown-suit rompers in our misguided youth.  We bonded over lip gloss and questions about our religion.

When we met, Kim had three children.  Less than a decade later, Kim has eight children--I think.  I lost count.  The point is, Kim knows a thing or two about blended families and children!  She has children who were adopted, children who are biological, and children who came into her life with her second marriage.  And she still has time to fix her hair and put on makeup.  I'm tired just thinking about it.

Kim works from her home as an independent beauty consultant and keeps up with a highly enjoyable blog called Mama Fasha.  She looks better in striped shirts than anyone else I know, and sells a wicked red lipstick that every woman should own.

Meet Kim:

First Name: Kim
Age Range: just entered my forties! Gah!
Job Title: Mom & Wife
Industry: Life

How would you like to be remembered? I’d just like to be remembered! Ha! No honestly, this is so evil of me, but I want to be the Mom and Wife whose passing totally just crushes the family because they loved me so much and knew every moment of the day that they are what makes the sun shine and that I was totally devoted to them. Of course I want them to be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and move on, but I want them to hate to do it. Because I’m evil like that.

Posted by eleseanfields at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have a love/hate relationship with the great outdoors.  I love to look at it through plate glass, inside of climate controlled walls.  I hate being attacked by bugs, weather, and the rest of it.  Thus, I have very little interest in being anywhere other than inside.  Considering that Texas summers are brutal, I am even less interested in carting my delicate flower-like self out of doors for any reason after May. 

But, I've come to love camping.

I camped for the first time back in 1998.  My three girlfriends and I, whose combined camping experience equalled one trip, borrowed a tent and gear, and off we went.  We were joining a group from our church, and set up camp among the families.  However, we were asked to move, and go camp in the Singles' section the second day, after some of the church wives started to worry that their husbands might be paying too much attention to our hat hair.

Down we went, into the valley area, secluded from everyone else.  We were a five minute walk from the rest of the church group at that point, and since we were the only Singles there, we were completely alone.  This made us grouchy, but did not spoil our fun. 

What nearly spoiled our fun was the tornado that ripped through that night, including severe thunderstorms and flooding.  What saved our fun was finding out that while we suffered only minimal damage (thanks to Renae and Karen managing to McGuyver a shelter out of a tarp and tennis shoe laces), the couple who had insisted on having the spot where we'd set up camp, had seen their tent and gear blown completely away into the lake.  Karma's a bitch, y'all.

I didn't camp again until January of 2008.  See, I bought myself a dog for Christmas, and I think my husband was punishing me.  Pretty decent punishment, actually, and creative.  We ended up having a really good time, though, even if we did spend a ridiculous amount of money on gear.  The dog slept in my sleeping bag with me, along with our 2 year old.  I stayed warm, at least, if not comfortable.

We camped twice more in 2008, and just had our first trip of 2009 over the weekend.  Save for our 3 year old waking up at midnight and puking into the pillow/mummy-style sleeping bag we were sharing, things went well.  The weather was gorgeous.  The campfire burned just right and was easy to start.  We had plenty of hot dogs and apple pies, and all was right with the world.

You know what I like about camping?  Naps.  Camping to me means zipping up the tent to trap the toddler inside, then curling up on a sleeping bag and letting the birds sing me to sleep.

You know what I dislike about camping?  Having to pee at 3 am.  I have this weird fear of raccoons, ever since one chased me (on my first camping trip) and tried to follow me into my tent.  And we never camp near the toilets.  This means, I have to scurry down to the nearest bush and kill some weeds.  I dislike this.  I dislike, even more, when I feel something brush against my naked arse while I am in the position.

Soon I will have some video up, showing us as we put up our tent, heedless of the wind that was white-capping the lake we camped near.  It's pretty funny.

And it was pretty fun.

Posted by eleseanfields at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amusingly, I just spent thirty minutes of my life in a seminar discussing Myths About Women in the Workplace.  After listing the myths (we talk too much, we're too emotional, we can't make hard decisions, and we can't do men's work), we got a litany of ways to--

Okay, before I say that, I have to say set it up.  The leader of the seminar made it clear that social mythologies come into play when an individual has an experience, and that experience is inferred onto a population.  So because I had a bad experience with a waiter in Switzerland who humiliated me in front of a full and buzzing cafe, I think the Swiss are rude and thumb my nose at their cheese, chocolates, and Army knives.  And because you know me, and you think I am worldly and cosmopolitan, and because you want to secure my favor, you agree with me that the Swiss are all rude.  Then people who idolize you, like you idolize me do the same thing.  And in Breckian (no, not Brechtian, Breckian--like the shampoo) fashion, you tell two people, and those two people tell two people, until finally there is a run on Cheddar cheese and people revert to plain old pocket knives and Hershey's.

The only way you, your friends, and their multitude of followers will ever eat Swiss cheese again is if you, or they have an actual encounter with a Swiss waiter, who is kind, courteous, and does not shout at you for not saying "please" quickly enough to suit him.  Thus, if men (or women) are buying in to the myths about Women in the Workplace, the only way to change their minds, is to change their experience.

So when the speaker followed up his list of myths with an even longer list of ways I can be opposite the myth to give a new experience, I understood what he was trying to do.  However, telling me, "Men think women talk too much, so you shouldn't talk so much, you shouldn't make everything about you, and you should really try to listen more to change their experience," is the same thing as telling me, "You talk too much.  You make everything about yourself.  You don't listen."  Because explaining the myth, then telling me that I change the myth by not acting like the myth, is insinuating that I was already perpetuating the myth.

Not to mention that his follow up to men thinking women are too emotional was to tell us that it is okay to cry, but that we should preface it by saying, "I need to take a moment."  Thank you, George Costanza.

Let me tell you what I think.  Speaking of men who believe in myths about women, is speaking of men who relate all women to their mothers.  And those men not only think women talk to much, are too emotional, and can't take out the garbage, but they believe women should set up for them, clean up after them, and mix them a cocktail.  And there isn't anything you can do to change their minds because those men are not men at all.  They are pigs.

So the message should be this:  There are always going to be people who think you are too much something and not enough something else.  You should look at their criticisms to see if they are valid, and do something about it if they are.  If they aren't, consider the source and move on.

Posted by eleseanfields at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had this horrible nightmare last night.  I was walking home from a cocktail event, wearing a really cute champagne colored dress with little flute beads all over it.  I don't know why I was walking, but it was late at night, very dark, and I was alone.  As I started over a bridge (like the one that crosses the Mississippi into Vicksburg), I realized someone was following me.  I picked up my pace, but this man (who happened to be the same scary actor who had been on a show I'd watched just before bed) grabbed me from behind and started pulling me down.  He was saying things in my ear (which I'd rather not repeat), and I was screaming, and I was praying, and I realized that there was no way I was getting out of this, and that I had some hard choices to make in a very short time.

Then the dream shifted, and I dreamed that I was waking up from that nightmare, and going down the hall of my mother's house to tell her about it.  I was glad when I really woke up.

This was the first headline I read this morning:  More Young Girls Facing Rape in Afghanistan

The story is bleak and paralyzing.  I read words like, "Violence is tolerated or condoned within the family and community, within traditional and religious leadership circles, as well as the formal and informal justice system," and I feel my heart sinking.  If there is no authority to stand up for the helpless, then who can help?

And we're talking about children who barely have an idea of their own bodies, being violently invaded by adult men, who apparently have no idea of what it means to be human. 

"--child rapes," the article reads, "within the ages of 9, 8, 7, even lesser than that--"  I'm sick thinking about it.  That somewhere out there, probably right now, a little girl is suffocating on fear and confusion, and pain.

I know these things happen in the US, but when these things happen here, it is a shock and horror.  It isn't acceptable.  It isn't tolerated or condoned.  We have authorities who will stand up and say that we protect our children as much as we possibly can, and we will not allow predators to have access to them.  Not for reasons of pleasure, or war, or punishment, or religious insanity, or for any reason.

I don't know what we can do for those little girls.  I wish I did.  I wish I were powerful, or even a man in a situation like this.  Because no matter how powerful the woman, in that society, her voice is the buzzing of a fly.  I want a Goliath to stamp into town and crush the offending men under his sandals.

It is too horrible to think about.  Too horrible to talk about.  But if I don't think about it, don't talk about it, someone who actually could make a difference might not know what is going on.  And that's why it is important to spread the word.  No, maybe I can't make a difference, but I can make a sound.  I can make a noise.  And then someone with the power to make a change might hear my voice and act.

Meanwhile, I pray those girls find peace and healing.

Posted by eleseanfields at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have started taking a couple of classes during the week.  Power Yoga on Tuesdays, and Tai Chi on Thursdays.  The Tai Chi agrees with me beautifully.  It is slow and easy, and helps me focus on breathing and relaxing.  The only problem is that I am wholly uncoordinated.  I am so uncoordinated, and so bad at choreography that I was once asked to leave a dance class (which I had paid for!) because after 4 weeks, I was still so bad, I was slowing the other beginners down.  The teacher said, "I'm sure you have other talents..."

Tai Chi is a series of coordinated, choreographed movements.  You have to know your right from your left, and need to be able to turn your feet one way, while your head is going another way.  There is a set of movements, called "parting the pony's mane", that entails moving both arms, both feet, and your upper body all at the same time.  I absolutely could not get the coordination down until I changed the name to "putting on lip gloss in bad lighting".

See, your right hand moves up to shoulder level with your palm facing you, as though you were holding a hand mirror.  Your left hand moves down to waist level with your palm facing down, as though you were reaching into your makeup bag for the lip gloss.  All the while, your body is turning from the waist to the movement of the right hand, as though you were trying to find good light for your primping. 

Posted by eleseanfields at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LAC, which I thought for the longest was acronym for Likable And Cute, turned out to be Lori-Anne.  I met Lori-Anne on a web forum, and then got to know her better through LiveJournal.  Lori-Anne is one of those women I admire for working herself into a career.  I don't remember where she was working when we first met, but I do remember that at one point she was working two jobs to pay the bills and volunteering at an animal shelter at the same time.  Once she was settled and established with work that met her financial needs, she started expanding out creatively, and now owns a handmade jewelry company called Jewelry Maven.

I own a several of her pieces and love them.  I've got one necklace in particular that draws raves every time I wear it.

Lori-Anne is diligent and dedicated.  She is true to her friends, and loyal to her family.  She has made a place in her home for her mother, which speaks volumes not only to Lori-Anne's heart, but also to the type of person her mother is.  After all, she raised this wonderful woman.

Meet Lori-Anne:

First Name: Lori-Anne
Age Range I will be 40 this year. It's my age, I own it and I certainly earned it.
Job Title: Interesting question since we've re-organized again. I think my title is Production Management Supervisor. Although I like to refer to myself as a professional nag. I nag a lot here.
Industry: Educational Publishing.

Who are you? I am the walrus! No...I'm not. I am a partnered Jewish/Buddhist woman who loves shoes and sci-fi. I like pink and movies based on graphic novels.  I swear like a sailor but know when to keep a lid on that. I am hard working, a good friend and I hope a good daughter.  In all things, I am a work in progress.  And I like color, a lot of color.

Describe Your Family: I am an only child of an only child. I was raised by my mom who was a single parent.  I do not know my father as he saw fit to forget about me when I was but a baby.  I like to think he feels the loss more keenly than I do but I am sure that's arrogance on my part.  I was also raised by a wealth of other people, including my grandmother, a number of drag queens and just a very odd but lovable selection of people my mom knew. I am very lucky though; I have a lot of wonderful friends who I consider family. This includes my best friend who I've known since I was 11. We are sisters in every way that really counts.

What does the first hour of your day look like? Blurry without my glasses. (as you can see I use humor as a shield quite often). I function on a pretty routine but regimented schedule. I get up, I get dressed, I get out of the house. I do not watch the news or read the paper...I do what I need to to get out of the house and get to work. I commute by public transportation so I tend to be aware of bus schedules, etc.

What does the last hour of your day look like? Quiet. I usually am already in bed watching tv or reading.  I have trouble sleeping so I try and keep as quiet as possible so that it's easier to fall asleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Mostly I try and remember to brush my teeth before I pass out.

What makes you feel successful? When I make a piece of jewelry I am proud of  and since I really like my job, doing a good job makes me feel successful. But there are days when I think I've achieved something just by getting through the day in one piece.  But mostly if I think I've made a difference in someone's day, I feel like I've been successful.  I try to feel good about the small things because at the end of the day, I think it's those things that really matter.  I am way more sentimental as a general rule than I let on.

What brings you joy? My friends. And even though he's gone now, my little fur baby Navarre gave me more joy than I am sure I deserved.
 
What were you like in first, sixth, and twelfth grades? Well, I was cute, in a goofy way in the first grade. I was cross eyed, coke bottle glasses, really long hair and lots of bruises. I expect I was quite shy and to be honest, that's carried through most of my life until recently.  I was quiet so I got teased a bit but I was smart so it was a double edged sword for the bullies if they wanted help with their schoolwork. But I was way more fearless than I was when I got older. And that goes for the 6th grade too. I looked about the same except I had my eye straightened.  I was teased less because of it but middle school was a minefield anyway because well, the kids are jerks. Plain and simple.  I was an odd kid. They don't like odd kids in middle school.  12 grade....hmm...well my hair was shorter and my glasses were no longer as thick thanks to modern optical technology!  I was still shy and a bit quiet. In a lot of ways I always did feel like the odd kid out but I was generally always ok with that even though I was worried about not being liked. I was a mass of conflicting impulses for sure.   I dressed cute in the 12th grade. Well, 80s cute.

What advice would you give yourself at each of those ages?  I would tell myelf to relax, loosen up and not worry about what others thought about me. I have spent many years wondering that and it's not worth it. Mostly, it only matters what you and the people you truly love think.  I would tell myself to go away to college though and to start travelling earlier than I did and to not be scared of failing and to just try. Failing is not the worst thing in the world. I look back and I am seriously annoyed with myself as a teenager. I would tell myself to be more like I was when I was in the first grade.

Who do you admire? My grandmother. I want to be like her when I grow up.   She was a tough lady who was independent, smart, gorgeous and took no crap from anyone.  But man, that woman could cuss you out if she wanted to and you would be twitching on the floor hoping for it to be over soon.

How would you like to be remembered? As a good friend and a good daughter. And a good mom to my pets.

Posted by eleseanfields at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have to give a shout out today.  You remember Irene, right?  Her amazing daughter Liv was one of the 125 teens in their county to be accepted into a school that is a nationally, top 20 ranked program in mathematics, science and technology.  Congratulations, Liv!  We're all very proud for you.

Isn't it good to know smart girls?

Posted by eleseanfields at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't get the girl-on-girl hate for Rachel Ray.  She's not my favorite person on tv, but she's smart, driven, and has made a mountain out of her own molehill.  Isn't that impressive?  She's made her name into a brand, and she's not stick thin and made of plastic, and she didn't have to release a sex tape to get her career jump-started.  Can't we like her for that alone?  She promotes a good, healthy body image, and seems to be a decent business woman.  Sure, she's the Tracy Flick of the Food Network, but listen, Tracy Flick is cool.

The Tracy Flick in my high school was named Amy.  She and I were arch-rivals, but that had more to do with her making an overt play for my boyfriend at my 17th birthday party than anything else.  That and the fact that we were competing for our mutual best friend's attention.  I wish I had been a little older, and a lot wiser when I met her.  I could have appreciated her drive, her ambition, and been kinder about what she was missing at home. 

I am only lazily ambitious.  I am delighted to daydream about success, but *yawn*, it makes me so sleepy, and my mom bought me this Snuggie, and it is so warm and cozy, and the sofa is so soft and cushy, and I love naps, and purr.  And this is why I will never be a marketing empire.  I am motivated by what will get me the best nap.  Tracy Flick never sleeps.  Tracy Flick is awake making it happen.  Elese Morris is snoring.  (For real, those Snuggies are awesome.)

Watching Rachel Ray makes me tired, but it also makes me feel like a potential success.  If Rachel Ray can do it, I probably can too.  Because she's a lot more like me than that Giada Goddessperson, or Grandma Deen, or that rich woman whose kitchen is bigger than my house.  I can identify with her.

Then again, that may be why people dislike her.  She's too close to home.

Posted by eleseanfields at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)