December 10, 2004
Dear Nieldsophiles,
This Thanksgiving was full of thanks and full of giving. In my cynical past, I sometimes thought of Thanksgiving as a cruel prelude to The Festival Of Anxiety Where You Spend Money You Don't Have Trying To Please The People In Your Life With Whom You Have the Most Complicated And Loaded Relationships, AKA Christmas. Thanksgiving, in my mind, was Christmas Lite. The food isn't as good (for those who read our blog — "'sBlog", you can find it here — you already know I am not a turkey fan) and the pressure isn't as high. The ground is still bare and the pumpkins might still be rotting on the porch. But this Thanksgiving brought miracles of music, healing, festivities and best
of all, William John Chalfant. Katryna will tell you more, but let his aunt praise his many virtues while she has life and breath!
Life (and breath) is good. We miss performing, but we are writing new songs. I just finished one called "When The Soldier's At your Door." I wrote it in my writing workshops which are becoming increasingly delightful. I invite you to try out a class and if you like it, you can think about joining a group. I always wanted to start a school of sorts, and somehow, without exactly planning to, it seems like that's happened. I have a full schedule of classes and workshops which you can read all about on our webpage (did I already give the address? This one's www.nields.com/writing.html). I have been teaching teens on Mondays (girls) and Wednesdays (boys), and running adult workshops Tuesdays and Thursdays. A workshop is not that different from having a party. We meet, write together and then share what we've just written. We laugh and get to be friends. We eat cookies and drink tea. What more could anyone want?
I am also doing an online workshop, starting Jan. 15 and going for eight weeks, called Journaling for Peace. It's about working on that ongoing dialogue you have already with yourself and like minded others and trying to broaden it to reach those with whom you might not agree. What I am particularly interested in is how we untangle the knots within our own hearts that form when we hit a roadblock. How do we deal with our own anger? How do we make peace with those around us? Once we learn that, we can begin to make peace with those we disagree with and maybe get some ideas about how to make peace on a global level. Of course, it might work the other way around: learning diplomacy abroad might be the catalyst for learning how to heal those relationships that are near and dear. Maybe in the course of the eight weeks, we'll find out.
I have a Writing retreat on Jan. 7-9 with two spots left. At 2pm Jan 9, we are doing a group reading at PACE in Easthampton. All are welcome to come listen. I will be reading from The Big Idea, which I just sent to my agent. (YIKES!! Do I feel naked and exposed!)
I will be doing a Songwriting Master Class at Passim's School of Music on Feb. 5. For more info, go to http://www.clubpassim.org/musicschool/?school=winter2005.
And I am doing some writing coaching with all kinds of writers: fiction writers, poets, songwriters and students. I am saving up to buy a pony. Katryna and I want to ride it to our gigs when we hit the road again in March. Lori is busy booking us.
And, ta na! Go to our web site and see the cover for Plastic Angel, my novel that was once entitled This Town Is Wrong. It's coming out in May 2005, coincidentally on the very day I'm getting married to Tom Duffy, aka Love of My Life. Amelia is going to be the flower girl. I still don't have a dress. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Also, did anyone Tivo or tape Bob Dylan on 60 Minutes last week? I'm dying to see it.
About the book coming out. The plan now is for Tom and me to have a honeymoon in CA interspersed with book shows and signings. Book shows are when I read from the book and play the songs in the book (from the soundtrack – which is called This Town Is Wrong and available at www.nields.com – have I mentioned our website yet?) on my guitar. We will go up and down the west coast. In June, when we get back from the honeymoon, Katryna will join me (and probably William will come too)
and we will do some shows together.
That's a lot of news. I miss you all. It's different not touring. I miss seeing your faces and hearing you sing along, and sometimes I miss loading in and out and the rest stops. But this way I am warmer. May you be warm and merry this season. Happy Hannukah, blessed solstice, Good Boxing Day, Merry Christmas, Delightful Kwaanza and may your New Year's be full of hope and absent of regrets.
Love, Nerissa
So Amelia doesn't have a dress yet for her flower girl shenanigans... Do you think that William needs to be dressed in Little Lord Fauntleroy velvet shorts like the little boy attendants at Star Jones' wedding?
I consider myself an enlightened person, but the college me would be appalled at the grown up me. I can't bring myself to put Amelia's frilly pink frocks on my sweet little boy. This means that not only am I playing in to society's rules that boys can't wear pink, but I am teaching my daughter that there are silly rules like that. argh... The problem is that each day William looks more and more like Amelia and I have to REMEMBER that he is indeed a boy. I haven't had very many boys in my life. I grew up with two sisters, four aunts, two Grandmothers, four great aunts, and a female golden retriever. My Dad had a lot to contend with. Anyway, as a result I cannot believe that I actually gave birth to a BOY! So I have to dress him in blue outfits with choo choo trains on them so that I remember in the middle of the night – when I am changing his diaper that he has a secret weapon and if I forget to cover it I will get peed on – maybe even in my face.
William is a dream. I am so so happy. Being a second child myself, I am contending with the guilt of having upended Nerissa's little life the same way that Amelia's is being upended now. I just keep reminding myself that eventually Nerissa was grateful about my existence. She might even say it was worth it. So I tell that to Amelia when she gets sad about my lap being occupied.
I miss you all. I wish you a joyful season. May you find light in this dark time of year. I certainly am. William's eyes are a deep dark green right now. They are pools of hope and twinkle.
Katryna
ps. if this seems strange remember that I never sleep more than an hour at a time.
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