Comments on: My Daughter’s Vagina, Part 5 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/ Feminist, anti-racist, pro-fat, plus whatever else we feel like talking about. Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:01:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » My Daughter’s Vagina, Part 6 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-312258 Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » My Daughter’s Vagina, Part 6 Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:26:41 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-312258 [...] Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 [...] [...] Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 [...]

]]> By: Richard Jeffrey Newman http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306504 Richard Jeffrey Newman Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:00:07 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306504 Hi Eva-- Thanks for your kind words, and thanks for asking. No, I haven't put the book project permanently aside. My working title is now <i>Inside The Men "Inside Christy Canyon"</i>, and it is, essentially, a triptych of essays. My Daughter's Vagina; My Son's Penis (an excerpt from which you can read <a href="http://www.masthead.net.au/issue9/son1.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> if it is still up. (If it's not, let me know and I will make it available as soon as I can; and "Relishing My Solitude," an excerpt from which you can read <a href="http://www.salon.com/travel/wlust/1999/11/19/korea/index.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. "My Daughter's Vagina" and "Relishing My Solitude" are pretty straightforward narratives; "My Son's Penis" is experimental in form. My plan is to start serialzing My Son's Penis when I am done with My Daughter's Vagina, but I imagine it will be slow going. Not only is My Son's Penis not as finished as My Daughter's Vagina, but since I have other projects (books of my own poems, books of translations) for which I have actual contracts, this book (which is in some ways the most important project for me) inevitably ends up on the back burner. I have been getting some recognition for my translations from classical Persian, for example--a project that fell into my lap--and so I have had to spend time not only doing the translations, but also educating myself about Iranian literature, history, etc. The result has been that my career--which I thought would center a good deal more on the kinds of things I am writing about here on Alas--has taken a big turn in another direction, and it is a turn I would be foolish not to take. But my heart is, truly, in this material far more than it is in the Persian stuff. Anyway, I know you weren't asking me about my career so much; it's just that this has been on my mind a lot lately. Thanks for listening. Hi Eva–

Thanks for your kind words, and thanks for asking. No, I haven’t put the book project permanently aside. My working title is now Inside The Men “Inside Christy Canyon”, and it is, essentially, a triptych of essays. My Daughter’s Vagina; My Son’s Penis (an excerpt from which you can read here if it is still up. (If it’s not, let me know and I will make it available as soon as I can; and “Relishing My Solitude,” an excerpt from which you can read here. “My Daughter’s Vagina” and “Relishing My Solitude” are pretty straightforward narratives; “My Son’s Penis” is experimental in form.

My plan is to start serialzing My Son’s Penis when I am done with My Daughter’s Vagina, but I imagine it will be slow going. Not only is My Son’s Penis not as finished as My Daughter’s Vagina, but since I have other projects (books of my own poems, books of translations) for which I have actual contracts, this book (which is in some ways the most important project for me) inevitably ends up on the back burner. I have been getting some recognition for my translations from classical Persian, for example–a project that fell into my lap–and so I have had to spend time not only doing the translations, but also educating myself about Iranian literature, history, etc. The result has been that my career–which I thought would center a good deal more on the kinds of things I am writing about here on Alas–has taken a big turn in another direction, and it is a turn I would be foolish not to take. But my heart is, truly, in this material far more than it is in the Persian stuff.

Anyway, I know you weren’t asking me about my career so much; it’s just that this has been on my mind a lot lately. Thanks for listening.

]]> By: Eva http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306502 Eva Fri, 05 Oct 2007 01:10:14 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306502 Dear Richard, Thanks for sharing your honesty, intelligence, insight and sensitivity with us. Since, as you say, the essay was part of a larger book I'm wondering what happened to it, and have you permanently put it aside? Dear Richard,

Thanks for sharing your honesty, intelligence, insight and sensitivity with us.

Since, as you say, the essay was part of a larger book I’m wondering what happened to it, and have you permanently put it aside?

]]> By: SarahO http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306259 SarahO Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:32:25 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306259 I have enjoyed this entire series. Thank you for writing it. I have enjoyed this entire series. Thank you for writing it.

]]> By: Celainn http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306195 Celainn Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:33:57 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306195 Wow. Powerful, beautiful, magical. Thank you so much for publishing this so that others (especially other women) could read it. I was riveted, I am moved. I don't know what else to say, except that this will fill my heart and head for days to come, I think. Wow. Thank you. Wow. Powerful, beautiful, magical. Thank you so much for publishing this so that others (especially other women) could read it.
I was riveted, I am moved. I don’t know what else to say, except that this will fill my heart and head for days to come, I think.
Wow.
Thank you.

]]> By: Richard Jeffrey Newman http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306157 Richard Jeffrey Newman Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:55:41 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306157 Doug S: Oh gosh! Thanks! I will edit that. It's a pseudonym malfunction. I used Beth in an earlier version and needed to change it; I thought I'd changed them all to Jennifer. Again, thanks! Doug S:

Oh gosh! Thanks! I will edit that. It’s a pseudonym malfunction. I used Beth in an earlier version and needed to change it; I thought I’d changed them all to Jennifer. Again, thanks!

]]> By: Doug S. http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306137 Doug S. Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:21:58 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306137 <blockquote>We sat like that for a few minutes, letting the heat between us build, and then Beth’s breath, warm and sudden, was in my ear. “Do you trust me?” she whispered.</blockquote> Beth's breath? I thought the girl was Jennifer? Typo, Freudian slip, or psuedonym failure?

We sat like that for a few minutes, letting the heat between us build, and then Beth’s breath, warm and sudden, was in my ear. “Do you trust me?” she whispered.

Beth’s breath? I thought the girl was Jennifer? Typo, Freudian slip, or psuedonym failure?

]]> By: Richard Jeffrey Newman http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306087 Richard Jeffrey Newman Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:51:27 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306087 I know I have said this in the comments sections of previous parts of this essay, but I want to say again how gratified I am by the responses you all have given me. It is affirming on many different levels: of my own experience and my own understanding of my experience, of myself as a writer and also of the importance of the material in general. I am always kind of reluctant to talk about this because I don't like to sound like I am whining, but when I first wrote the material that eventually became this essay, it was as part of a book that I was working on that I think I called at the time "Evolving Manhood"--or something like that. I had an agent representing me who really believed in the project, but she could not manage to sell it. The responses she got ranged from the openly hostile to what I was trying to say about men, manhood, male sexuality etc. to those who liked the material but believed that men writing about their feelings would not sell (this was before the explosion in memoir; but then the book as a whole was not a memoir, and so....) Anyway, I am happy and feel very affirmed that the essay is finding a readership online, and responses like the ones I have been getting confirm for me that the editors who rejected the material were wrong. I know I have said this in the comments sections of previous parts of this essay, but I want to say again how gratified I am by the responses you all have given me. It is affirming on many different levels: of my own experience and my own understanding of my experience, of myself as a writer and also of the importance of the material in general. I am always kind of reluctant to talk about this because I don’t like to sound like I am whining, but when I first wrote the material that eventually became this essay, it was as part of a book that I was working on that I think I called at the time “Evolving Manhood”–or something like that. I had an agent representing me who really believed in the project, but she could not manage to sell it. The responses she got ranged from the openly hostile to what I was trying to say about men, manhood, male sexuality etc. to those who liked the material but believed that men writing about their feelings would not sell (this was before the explosion in memoir; but then the book as a whole was not a memoir, and so….) Anyway, I am happy and feel very affirmed that the essay is finding a readership online, and responses like the ones I have been getting confirm for me that the editors who rejected the material were wrong.

]]> By: Myca http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306076 Myca Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:30:50 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306076 My goodness, this is so sad. Poor you. Poor her. :( My goodness, this is so sad. Poor you. Poor her. :(

]]> By: r@d@r http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306074 r@d@r Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:19:09 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306074 trying not to cry while at work. so much in this post resonated with my own experiences as a young man of 14. i thank you for your courage and candor. if i can bring myself to articulate those resonances further without totally losing it i'll either email them to you or post them on my own blog. again, thanks. trying not to cry while at work. so much in this post resonated with my own experiences as a young man of 14. i thank you for your courage and candor. if i can bring myself to articulate those resonances further without totally losing it i’ll either email them to you or post them on my own blog. again, thanks.

]]> By: Daisy http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306072 Daisy Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:07:31 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306072 I want to second that hooray. What an intense, powerful piece of writing. Thank you for sharing it. I want to second that hooray. What an intense, powerful piece of writing. Thank you for sharing it.

]]> By: Richard Jeffrey Newman http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306065 Richard Jeffrey Newman Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:50:29 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306065 Thanks, Amp! I've just been a bit overwhelmed with the beginning of the semester and a whole bunch of new responsibilities that I have taken on at school. Thanks, Amp! I’ve just been a bit overwhelmed with the beginning of the semester and a whole bunch of new responsibilities that I have taken on at school.

]]> By: Ampersand http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306057 Ampersand Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:26:37 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/09/28/my-daughters-vagina-part-5/#comment-306057 I know it's a bit weird/inappropriate in tone to say this, but hooray! for an update. I was worried that you had decided to discontinue this series. I know it’s a bit weird/inappropriate in tone to say this, but hooray! for an update. I was worried that you had decided to discontinue this series.

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