Oprah and a working title

I missed the Oprah show yesterday. I had class. Not that I'm a big follower anymore but the show was special. Michelle Obama and others were on yesterday to announce a new initiative for military families. I went to her website and looked at the comments that people had made in response to the show. Many were made by military wives. I was blown away by a lot of them. I wish I could include some of their comments in my book but I'm would not want to come off sounding like I'm in left field. I did make my own comment.

I have also been thinking about what I would title the book. I thought about a few options but I nothing really stood out. Then it popped into my brain. Holding Down the Fort. I don't know if that's what it will end up to be but.. This is something my mom would say when dad was gone on TDY or deployment when we were kids. She'd say something like, OK now I'm holding down the fort while your dad is gone.... I know it has a distinct Army feel and that's OK. I grew up Army and I also like that it gives a nod to my mom who for 30 of my dad's 32 year Army career stood by him and sacrificed along with all those other wives.

Book Arts

For those of you who come across this blog and wonder what it's about, let me explain in a little more detail what I am doing.

I am a second year MFA candidate at the University of Alabama Book Arts program. What is book arts? Well, it can mean many things to people. I like what the Center for the Book in NYC says, " Today many artists adapt the form and materials of the book to communicate their content. There are traditional letterpress books with beautiful typography, fine bookbindings, artists' books, and sculptural bookworms. "

In my third year, in order to complete my MFA, I have to complete a book project. As the book stands now in my mind it will be made of handmade paper that I will make. I will use photopolymer plate to letterpress the text and some of the images. Hopefully printed on my Chandler and Price clamshell press. I also plan to use linoleum and other media to create images. As far as the binding, I'm leaning toward a traditional flat back cased in book. It will have 4 or 5 sections. How many sections will depend on how much of a response I receive from everyone out there.

Here are some sites that might be of interest to you.

http://www.philobiblon.com/

http://www.centerforbookarts.org/

http://minsky.com/sharpaper.htm - Richard Minsky is a legend of the book arts world.

http://bookartsguild.org/

Starting the project

I am starting this blog to enable those who want to participate in my thesis project have a place to put their thoughts. I am very excited about this project and can't wait to start hearing from military spouses and read their experiences or thoughts that I can use for my thesis book project. Some of you might not know what to write. You do not need to be a writer so don't worry about what you say.

You may want to write about the everyday.

What it is/was like to be married to a person in the military.

The routine of it all.

Moving around

The friends you make

Deployments

Raising children, sometimes feeling like a singe parent due to circumstances

What you like(d) best about it

What you like(d) least about it

What you write can be as short as a couple of sentences or an essay.

I will keep everyone posted as this process goes along. I will not graduate until a year from now.