Dear Mr Grapes, Hello. How are you today? My great-great-great grandson is in yourMethod Writing class. Last night, in dreams, he spoke aloud thesewords “Jack! I’m confused. Do you still want me to write like me like you told me 2 weeks ago, after I read?” This morning he’s staring at his computer screen like … Continued
In one of the first Method Writing classes this session, I mentioned in passing a communist political group in the 30s known as the Lovestonites, after their leader Jay Lovestone, and a piece of art that appeared in the New Yorker a few years ago. But I didn’t really go into any detail. It was a throwaway … Continued
I was interviewed by Film Courage last week. The interview lasted over 4 hours. No, really, four hours. They told me it would be an hour interview. So by noon on a typical great Southern California day, I was on my way to Pasadena, wending my way from the Hollywood Freeway to the Pasadena Freeway to Aroyo … Continued
I’m sitting in my study looking out the window through the big green leaves of some bush planted right in front of my window. Another gray day, but this one is getting grayer, and darker, and I’m sure it’s going to rain soon. I feel like we all need a good rain. Something to sweep … Continued
When I was a kid, back in the mid-50s, my favorite time to watch television was right after I came home from school. Big decision: do my homework, or watch the “Afternoon Movie.” There was one channel in New Orleans, WDSU, Channel 4. Unlike now, the only movies that had been released to be shown … Continued
So the plan was to move to New York and hang out in dark coffee houses in Greenwich  Village  with  all  the other beatnik writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg and write poetry and stories and become a “New York Writer.” That was the plan when I was 14, dating Becky Finkelstein and writing … Continued