"The more specific you get the more universal it is - we're all awashed with culture but real meaning is not what's going on culturally but who we are as individual humans experiencing life and when we see someone else capturing that, that's freeing - we can all celebrate that quality and not just get all of our meaning from this huge information miasma." -Caren (talking about her vlogs)
Week three of visiting the creative mind of Caren McCaleb. Her video "Together and Apart" (here) is a perfect glimpse into what many of us will be experiencing this Summer as we set out to vacation and visit our extended families. Yes, we drive each other crazy and yes we wonder if we'd be even more crazy if we never saw each other. So we make these treks and most of the time we are glad we did.
Caren is one of the four incredible women in LOST IN LIVING. She has shared her intimate thoughts, ideas and creative process with me and in the film. All four women live lives of deep passion and intensity, contantly moving between the exterior world and their interior visions. LOST IN LIVING captures the domestic complexities and the introspective creative process that inspires these women to make art and be mothers. And while this is one of the focal points of the film, the women have also allowed me to follow them through story arcs that challenge friendships and parenting styles, confront age and rejection and force them to redefine their place in their families as well as the ambivalence they feel about feminism.
If you haven't yet had a chance to see the 10 minute fundraising trailer for LOST IN LIVING, please go here or here. And if you still need to like the facebook page, go here. To follow me on twitter, please go here. To become a generous participant in this project, please visit the website here and donate on-line or send a check written out to my non-profit 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor, FILMMAKERS ALLIANCE, and mail it to 1218 East Palm Street, Altadena, CA 91001. All contributions are tax deductible. Filmmakers Alliance tax I.D. #95-4449125. Your support and participation in this project is hugely appreciated. Because of your generosity I will be working full-time on the editing of this film and interviewing editors to work alongside me. And with your continued support I will be able to hire an editor to shape this project into the compelling and moving story it is meant to be.
Many, many thanks,
Mary
I remember one afternoon soon after my son was born when my husband came home from work to find me crying on the bed. I was so frustrated, in total despair that my window for creativity and FREEDOM had slammed shut for a good 18 years, at which point nobody would be interested in anything I had to say anyway. My husband tried to console me, reminding me quickly of our friend in Oregon who was both a working writer and a new mom. This helped a little. I probably managed to get up and make dinner or empty the baby genie. But even now, 8 years later, with 2 kids, I find myself feeling that same sense of panic, urgency to get out of "second gear". And always with that is the feeling of guilt I have whenever I want my kids to stay at school a little longer, dreading summer and the time I'll lose. Terrified that they're acutally going to grow up and this time will be lost forever. Worried about how many times a day I screw up and if they notice. And a healthy dose of resentment that my husband does not generally have to experience the balancing act of parenthood to the degree that I do because, well, I'm the mom. Your film just brings all of this home, even in a short trailer. Can't wait to see the final cut. No pressure but please hurry up and finish. I mean, after you're done with homework help, PTA, grocery shopping, bath time and packing the lunch box. :)
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