Well, this is a time when I can be vain and act all important about it, because, you see, it's for the book.
Months ago, I was asked to send an author's picture, but I promptly forgot about it. And then, I cut my hair, last summer. This is something I do every two, three years. I let my hair grow below my shoulders usually, and by then, the time that it took for it to grow has worn my patience out and I can't wait to get a new face and I usually chop it off. The scenario can change, here. Sometimes, I go from long to really short all at once. Chop chop ! Other times, I do it gradually. Well, this time, I did it gradually from November until July, last summer, when I decided that now, I wanted it really SHORT. Not quite crew cut short, but almost. I liked it for a while - not sure anyone else did, though :) - but then, I started longing for my long hair again. So, it's been growing and no way was I going to have my author picture taken in that in-between-time. Now, it's reached an acceptable length, and anyway, I can't wait any longer. So, my husband was appointed official photographer, today, and I sat in different spots in the garden, squinting at the sun - to bring the blue out of my eyes, you know, I'm telling you, this is my very vain moment - while he took one picture after another. And now, of course, I don't know which one to send to Tilbury. But that's OK. It's fun and exciting. I think I'll get the girls and the official photographer to help me choose, tomorrow.
A couple of days ago, I sent the author bio as well. It does look as if this is really happening...
7 comments:
Oh mah gosh ! I know what you mean !
I had my first photo shoot yesterday, and I was so stressed out ! I don't like I look great in pics, and instead of the hair, it's the weight I put on during Christmas and so ! Ach !
The photographer came all the way from Lyon for a couple of hours. I'll never be a model, me thinks...
* I don't think I look that great in pics...
I think you should go for a real crewcut! You have definitely the face for it...and you are a very confident woman!
Katia, I tried sending a message to your gmail account and got a "permanent failure, no such user" message. So I guess I will just post it all here-- sorry it's so long. Feel free to delete if you want to, as it's not particularly relevant to this post!
***
Hi Katia!
Sorry for all the drama, I just thought it would be easier to do this by email. Anyway, my paper is on sociocultural issues in English language teaching, and in my research (um, web browsing) I found a couple of things you may or may not be interested in. One is an article in Reading Matrix called "Style and Meaning in Igbo English Novels." I thought of you because I had literally just finished reading your post about the update on your children's book. Anyway, you can find it here: http://www.readingmatrix.com/archives/archives_vol6_no1.html. It's the second article down (I haven't read it, but actually I'd like to, just out of curiosity. To be honest, I am woefully ignorant about most of Africa and had no idea that English was spoken in Nigeria until fairly recently...)
The other thing was also from the same website, though I got to it directly as a pdf from a Google search and it was kind of tricky to locate from the actual website. It is a paper given at a conference, and it's called "Training EFL Teachers to Become Interculturally Competent: Reflecting Upon Identities Through Multicultural Literature." Now, that might interest you in and of itself, since you have talked on your blog about multicultural literature (obviously) and about interculturalism, but the real reason I thought of you was because the last part of the paper is a study done on a teacher training program where they had five teachers partake in a multicultural reading experience, and the book they chose was Jaqueline Woodson's "From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun." I saw that you have a link to her website, and I thought that if you know her personally, she might appreciate hearing about this study (if she doesn't already know about it-- maybe she does.) I have never actually read any of her novels (I'd like to, but as you know, being overseas limits access to English-language books) though I have certainly heard of her, and actually I once heard her speak several years ago when she was still working on this book. And I have read her essay "Who Can Tell My Story?" in a book on cultural authenticity in children's literature. So I was thinking about dropping her a line myself, but it would be kind of embarrassing to say "Well, I've never actually read any of your books, but..."
Anyway, you can find it here, the first paper listed.
http://www.readingmatrix.com/onlineconference/proceedings2005.html
So that's all! I will be checking your blog for more updates on the book news-- what an exciting time!!!
Katia, I know just what you mean! I am finally getting my picture taken Tuesday. I've been putting it off for months.
I have been trying to figure out what to wear -- I've noticed that certain outfits I really like don't look so great in pictures of me. And I feel so vain spending time and emotional energy over this, but I figure I'm going to have to live with this picture.
But you, all the pictures of you are wonderful! Send me your choices and I'll help you choose!
Sue
Thanks for the support and empathy. Jo Ann, I'm the kind of person who looks awfully tense and ill-at-ease on pictures. My husband had to say the most outrageous things to get me to smile and look natural - although with age - age has GOT to prove helpful, and not only a physical nuisance, once in a while, right? - it's gotten a little better. Sue, I sent you the pics. Maybe I should hold a contest on the blog, ha !
Kate, thanks a lot for the very interesting links. I read the article about Nigerian English - English is still the official language in Nigeria, even though - or because - the countrie's number of living languages exceeds 500 ! Personnally, I love seing words from another language weaved in a text in English, or French, or whatever. I think it gives it a unique flavor. I'll check out the other link soon. Thanks again.
Post a Comment