A Woman Warrior Reflects

The lovely and talented Kirsten LaBlanc
was the first of six readers at the inaugural public
reading of my writing club, River City Writers,
held at 4th Street Theater
attached to Java Joes in downtown Des Moines.
Bravo, everyone!

Woo hoo! Last night my writing club, River City Writers, hosted our first reading and it was awesome. I pretty much forgot to take pictures but fortunately, a friend took this one so you get the idea of how cool it was. We were in the 4th Street Theater, attached to Java Joes, a full service coffee shop/wine bar in downtown Des Moines, with two awesome waitri to tend our food and drink orders. (And set up the mic, as my stage hand skills have only just begun.)

This is the first reading I've organize and I hoped for six people. 25 people showed up, including one guy who walked in from the street because he saw something "literary" on the event calendar, he said. He didn't leave early so I took that as a good sign, and I'm sure it wasn't for the free wine. Seriously, I was thrilled with group who showed up; everyone was so casual and mellow, just what I'd hoped for.

I am so proud of all the readers, most who were in my summer writing class "Song of Myself." Happy teacha here. I couldn't believe the stories they wrote and read. We were all spell bound with tales of heartache, love, road trips, shame, fire, a first kiss, and Clark Kent. Bravo, everyone, bravo. And now I feel the force of momentum pushing me to put together the next four-week class for October, "Radio Station KFKD." (An exploration of Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird." Let me know if you're interested. Watch for more info.)

Our guest reader was truly spectacular. Miyoko Hikiji read from her memoir, "All I Could Be, My Story as a Woman Warrior in Iraq." (With thanks to Kirsten LaBlanc who booked Miyoko.) Presently, I am half way through reading the book myself and it is a page turner. But it's more than a good read -- it's a thoughtful, thorough, interesting, truthful, passionate, painful, chilling, thrilling account of her experience as a soldier, as a female soldier, as an Asian American female soldier. While she's pretty dang tough, her writing style is not just a rockem' sockem' war story (although there is some of that too). Miyoko is deeply reflective and introspective while using plain and simple language the described the military setting which centers her memoir. I think she could eventually sell her book for a movie deal. I don't know much about how Hollywood works, but I think this book would work there. Miyoko effectively utilizes dialogue to tell her story, so much so, that the screenplay could almost write itself. 

I close this post in deep gratitude for everyone who came out last night, for the awesome River City Writers, and for the amazing Miyoko Hikiji, who has a story to tell that is important to all Americans. Check out her video blog below. 

Thanks for coming to my blog. 

With love from yours truly,

Natural Born Bleeding Heart