Wednesday 7 October 2015

IWSG - Insecure Writer's Support Group for Wednesday, 7th October 2015

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.se/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

Anna Nordeman









IWSG - Insecure Writer's Support Group for Wednesday, 7th October 2015

This is my twenty-eighth post for IWSG, written on 6th October 2015:

 
There is nothing more humbling for a wannabe writer than reading very, very good literature from the Literary Canon. I've decided to write a term paper on one of Jane Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey, and I am also doing a group presentation about  Ann Brontë's novel, The tenant of Wildfell Hall.

So much to read and write about, besides the daily struggle of making ends meet. 

My eleven year old daughter, Elisabet, had two free days from school last week and could accompany me to the university in Linköping. We rode the special campus commuter bus together and Elisabet got to meet my classmates and instructors. But Elisabet was too shy to speak English with any of them. And she almost went through the roof when we discovered that I had forgotten to pack her head phones the second day out. She used them on Thursday when we were in the group presentation class. She could look at her I-pad while the rest of us spoke English. 

But on Friday, she really needed the headphones again because it was a high-level lecture about grammar. Interesting for us students but super-boring for her. Lyckily, I could buy a pair of ear phones in a shop (Pressbyrån) that has everything from coffee to sandwiches to newspapers. (I thanked the shop-keeper profusely.)

We came early enough to stop by the office of the grammar-teacher, Emile Farmer, whom I have mentioned earlier on this blog. He's a charming, funny Brit who still only speaks just a little Swedish. When I tried to persuade my daughter to say something - ANYTHING - and in any language, to Mr Farmer, she said nothing and just looked grumpy.

(Swedish) "Han förstår svenska!" I said, " He understands Swedish."

"It's just not going to happen," replied Mr Farmer with a wry smile. 

Elisabet and I left Mr Farmer to continue his preparations for the lecture. And when it was time, we sat in the back of the classroom to not disturb others.

Afterwards, Mr Farmer said that Elisabet was "as good as gold", and that I had succeeded in making the experience as tolerable as possible for her with I-pad, ear-phones and a bag of chips.

"I've been doing this for thirteen years" was my last words to him.


Best wishes,
Anna











P.S. Sorry. No photos from our excursion to the university. I had my hands full.

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Monday 5 October 2015

Question of the month (5th October): Who would play you in a movie of your life?

http://www.alifeexamined.com.au/p/blog-page_26.html
 
Anna Nordeman

 

 

 

 

Who would play you in a movie of your life?

Question of the Month (5th October 2015)

Here is my answer to your question, Michael: 

I am not a famous person. If I do anything worth remembering in the future, it would  have to be an actress in the future playing me. I don't know of any contemporary actress who looks like me.

I like Reese Witherspoon, but I don't look much like her:

 

 Bildresultat för reese witherspoon filmer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bildresultat för reese witherspoon filmer

 Bildresultat för reese witherspoon filmer

 

 Maybe Jodie Foster?

 

 


Anna and the king.jpg
Jodie Foster


















SOTLClariceLecter.jpg
Jodie Foster













Maybe if Jodie Foster dyed her hair mousie grayish-brown and put on glasses, she might look more like me than, let's say, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman or Gwyneth Paltrow.



A headshot of Meryl Streep in the 1970s with her facing the camera with her right arm propping her head up
Meryl Streep

















Nicole Kidman Berlin 2015.jpg
Nicole Kidman
GwynethPaltrowByAndreaRaffin2011.jpg
Gwyneth Paltrow



















Gwyneth Paltrow






































I'm no beauty, but I think I have bright eyes and a winning smile.

But why would there be a film about my life? What must I do to become famous? I am not pretty or talented enough to become a famous actress. I don't want to commit a crime. Any achievement that is attainable within the remainer of my working life will hardly be awarded with a prize like an Oscar's statuette. And the third alternative is not something I want either:





UA93 path.svg
United Airlines Flight 93
Memorial to the passengers





















I've just finished reading about the memorials to the passengers on flight 93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania. (I am writing this on 11th September.) Those innocent people perished 14 years ago today, while trying to stop terrorists from crashing into the Capitol Building or the White House. 

Flight 93 was the only one of the hijacked airplanes that did not reach its goal. The other aircrafts did, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center were hit. The black box and GPS- and cellular telephone calls to loved ones from the passengers on flight 93 seem to indicate that they made an effort to stop the terrorists. The pilot, Jason Dahl, put the plane on automatic pilot to make it difficult for the hijackers just before they overtook the cockpit. The passengers got together and voted on trying to break into the cockpit with a food cart. They may have succeeded in breaking open the cockput and killing one of the terrorists, but not in time to avoid the crash. The plane plowed into an empty field in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania and all 44 on board died. But no one on the ground was hurt.

This was not the case at the Pentagon, where 125 persons in were killed besides the hostages on the airplane. And in and around the World Trade Center, 2,606 perished.


The South Tower is struck

Smoking Twin Towers












The Pentagon was partly collapsed











I don't want to be remembered for something like that. I want to live a long, happy and uneventfull life. And I am sure that all of those people trapped in tall buildings or taken as hostages on hijacked airplanes would have prefered that too.


Best wishes,
Anna 

 

 

 

 

P.S.


Read my comment about a young fire fighter named Stark. Here is a picture of the memorial to the fire fighters:

Source










In a comment, Michael has suggested Anne Hathaway as a possible candidate if I succeed in becoming a memorable writer. She is such a good actress and looks good too! Yes, please! Yes, please!




Anne Hathaway i april 2014.
Anne Hathaway
























Thanks so much for your input, Michael! I really like Anne Hathaway in the film roles that I have seen her, as The White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and as Andrea Sachs in The Devil wears Prada.

I want to be very clear about sonething: 

Yes, I do want to be remembered after my time is up. Even if I only live an uneventful life, I still want to be remembered by my family and friends. 

As we all do, I would have prefered all of the victims of 9/11 to have survived and been able to live out their natural lives. But nothing can change the fact that their lives were brutally ended; and I think they deserve every memorial they can get. They should be remembered. That is one of the reasons I have mentioned them in this post. I want them to be remembered as I remember my loved ones who were able to live normal lives. 

I also hope that I will at least be remembered by my own 'flock', people who once knew and loved or liked me.



First Commenter:

Lily Whalen
of
Notes from Innisfree

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