ANALYZE THIS

After researching more on Fran Lebowitz…

I’ve learned she wrote two books…

Metropolitan Life & Social Studies…

(Again? Where has my head been?)

And they’re both now in a collection called:

The Fran Lebowitz  Reader

I’ve decided…

Merry Christmas early to me—from me!

I’m going to buy The Fran Lebowitz  Reader.

After even more research…

I came upon this article written by Cynthia Heimel…

That appeared in the 1981 September 14^th addition of New York…

Where Ms. Heimel interviewed Fran.

I think Fran’s take on writing is hysterical.

 “Writing is the diametric opposite of having fun. All of life, as far as I’m concerned, is an excuse not to write. I just write when fear overtakes me. It causes paralytic terror. It’s really scary just getting to the desk—we’re talking now five hours. My mouth gets dry, my heart beats fast. I react psychologically the same way other people react with a plane loses an engine.” She has many ways to avoid writing: talking on the phone, collecting wrapping paper, sleeping, reading every book she can get her hands on (“The English faggots were the best”), driving around in her Checker Marathon, hanging around with Paloma Picasso, and discovering suspicious lumps on her body. She is an incredible hypochondriac—the only thing she fears more than writing is going to the doctor.

The article also included photos of Fran. 

While reading the article and looking at the photos…

I began to have a strange reaction to Fran.

Hmm?

I was somewhat attracted to her, though not in a romantic way…

Yet there was something–

OMG!

I suddenly realized… 

She looks exactly like the therapist I was seeing in the ‘80’s!

(for therapy, not dating)

Oh, too weird, too weird!

Hmm?

I’m going to research my brain for awhile…

To find out if my fascination with Fran Lebowitz…

Is more about me than her.

Always, Em-Musing

THE EDGE OF LEBOWITZ

Over the decades…

My demeanor has morphed…

Or perhaps I should say, my true demeanor has gone into hiding.

Years ago when I moved from New York to the Midwest…

I used to hear, “You’re so stuck up.”

Actually, I was pitifully, pitifully shy.

Then I used to hear, “You’re so sarcastic.”

Actually, I thought I was being funny.

But the truth is…

If I had said it to a New Yorker, they wouldn’t have even noticed.

So somewhere along the way…

Of trying to fit in the Midwest…

And making friends…

My persona acquiesced…

And I lost that New York edge.

Well, the other day, I found it!

I was watching HBO’s  “Public Speaking”…

A documentary about Fran Lebowitz and …

God! I love Fran’s New York edge!

Here are a few of Fran’s quotes that I particularly love.

“Your life story would not make a good book. Don't even try.”

"All the time I'm not writing I feel like a criminal. It's horrible to feel felonious every second of the day. It's much more relaxing to actually write." 

“Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.”

“When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough.”

"Having been unpopular in high school is not just cause for book publications." 

Uh oh?

I think she’s got me on this one.

Anyway, here’s a quote of  mine that I used to say

(only in my head for fear of insulting anyone)

“Never ask a New Yorker for their opinion…

if you can't take hearing the truth.”

So? Let me hear your thoughts…

On, Fran and New Yorkers, 

Always, Em-Musing