The View Up Here

It's been a momentous month, August has. Here are the highlights: I am now the Assistant to the Director at Ithaca College's L.A. Program , as of this week. This came out of the blue; a couple weeks ago I received a call from the ICLA program's Chair (a good friend of mine through teaching screenwriting at I.C.). They needed a long-term temporary Assistant to start ASAP, as theirs had accepted a job teaching first grade and would be leaving just as classes start up this semester. I jumped at the opportunity, because:   a) I know everyone there b) the work isn't tough but it also isn't boring c) I get to be around students and assist them in various ways d) it's 10 minutes from my apartment, and I don't even need to think about a freeway, e) I feel like I'm still part of the Ithaca College family. And there are bounteous perks to this job, which make it even more lovely. They will have to open a formal search to fill the position permanently, which I ...

Mired in mid-semester grading, and after a jam-packed weekend in Cleveland with my in-laws, I'm finally getting to finishing my thoughts and reactions to the Serling Conference. 1. Meeting Andrew Smith was absolutely an unexpected bonus to the weekend. Drew was a presenter at the conference, and was also collecting interviews to edit a piece for BBC Radio back in his home town of Gateshead, U.K. My husband, Don, and I made sure he didn't lack for eats and things to do after the conference. Now we've started a jar to save up our nickels and dimes for a visit to Drew's neck of the woods across the pond. You can check out more of his conference adventures and audio interviews with George Clayton Johnson here: Illegible Me. 2. Meeting Carol Serling after she watched my presentation at the mini-course. Such an honor and what a lovely woman. She seemed to think my ideas were interesting, which was gracious of her to say. The students didn't fall asleep, and it was a...