My course is a happenstance of fate. Ever just letting life unfold. While I was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y. I only lived there the first 26 years of my life with a few short times in other cities. Those years happen to be the most formative part of my life. I have been telling various people stories about those times over the years. Most people have said you should write a book about those times. I have written and taken various workshops and college courses, only having short piece's published. My devotion to career and family and education in Buffalo NY has consumed most of my time. I decided that I would make this effort to respond to my need to write my memoir. Somehow I have responded even though I have a very busy life. I am concerned that my efforts might only be small, yet I am already happy for this stimulation. Still I do know how I will learn something about myself and my process while I put my stories together and how it all will come together, of course. Small efforts combining and rewriting what I have already put together. It will be in the rewrites I foster some of my truth. If not all of it.
By the time I got to New York I wanted advice; I continually found my fascination with Marilyn Monroe began because she had lived in New York City. I am sure that Alice Diamond, being of the New York style of an executive in the world of glamor was a part of the knowledge she imparted on me. Also she was aware more closely of all of Marilyn’s problems and stardom. I really wasn’t, only the details of the family owned business, she was to impart on me. I worked for her and forever ran to her for advice, she greatly influenced me. I wanted to be a star myself, so I didn’t focus on anyone but myself, navigating my new world. My inflated need for attention seemed to be getting in my way. Yet I had this wide eyed girl that lived in me. She told me I reminded her of Marilyn Monroe in my struggles.
Somewhere in the treasures of my Studio is a paper that had her words written on it: “To be an adult you need the ability to handle conflict.” It still remains to be seen if I truly learned her advice.
