GirlChild Press on the Road (Day 2)

We logged in about 600 miles today! Amanda did all the driving so that I could write my blog for Velvet Park and read the remaining short stories for the Woman's Work project (and make final decisions). I was supposed to have rejection letters out tonight but that doesn't look like it is going to happen. It doesn't help that the hotel internet is tre shakey! Hopefully I can send them out tomorrow night.

Interesting note about the submissions this time around.Not as many young writers (21 and under) as before. More speculative fiction. More women of color. More clustering of east coast submissions. More repeat submissions from writers from the previous anthologies. Equally as hard making selections:)

We are bedding down in Tulsa, OK. Another day of flat lands and high temperatures. It is 93 degrees at 10:30pm. I am sure as we continue west it will get hotter and hotter.

Tomorrow we are looking at 1200 miles. No, we will not drive them all! Our goal is to make it to New Mexico. We have a dinner invite so we hope to break bread with cool folks on the third day of our trip. At this rate we might be in California by Thursday, but I still think we are looking at a Friday arrival so we can do some sightseeing.

Thank goodness for unlimited phone and text services because we are getting calls/texts from all over checking in and wanting to chat us up. Too bad you can't put positive energy in the gas tank, 'cause we getting that in abundance.

Note: Amanda keeps referring to Marriott because she works for them and we are using her major employee discount to have a nice place to sleep at the end of these long days!

Check out our video for the day.


Michelle
www.girlchildpress.com

GirlChild Press on the Road (Day 1)

The GirlChild Press Express has pulled into Louisville, KY for the night. We did ten hours today. Actually, I drove ten hours. The kid sister talked and slept (see video below).

We started out a couple hours behind schedule but the road conditions were great so we made good time. We spent most of our day in West Virgina and Kentucky. Nothing interesting to report. Mostly rolling hills and long roads. I'm sure folks from both states will let me know there is tons to see in their respective states. It just wasn't apparent from my vantage point (going 75 miles an hour).

Tomorrow we will hit the road at 8:00am. We will be tackling St. Louis and Oklahoma. More videos and pictures to come.



Michelle
www.girlchildpress.com

Here is the cover of the new anthology Woman's Work: The Short Stories. I am working with the wonderfully talented Kendra Kuliga (again) and as always she is working her magic with this project.

The cover model is Melani N. Douglass. She is both a striking and confident young woman. A perfect cover model for this project!

Tell us what you think about the cover.

Michelle
www.girlchildpress.com

The End of Overeating and the Food Conspiracy

A couple of weeks ago, Diane Rehm had Dr. David Kessler on her NPR show promoting his new book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. Dr. Kessler believes there is an active and growing conspiracy against the American people, spearheaded by the agencies that are supposed to be protecting us.

Dr. Kessler is no weirdo food crackpot. He has a million credentials, but his most notable is his tenure as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (under the first George Bush’s administration and a repeat performance during Bill Clinton’s), and he is a self-declared food-aholic. By the time the show was over, he had altered how I look at my local grocery store and I was half-way to the nearest bookstore.

Dr. Kessler’s new book touches on two very clear and hard truths. The first is not necessarily shocking, but I don’t think our egos would allow us to readily admit it. Here goes: We are fat because we eat too much. Earth-shattering, right? But most Americans, spurred on by the diet industry, believe that if you try a magic food or pill or drink we will be “cured” of our fat. But the reality is much plainer and harder than that. Fewer calories in, more calories out. If you eliminate 400 calories from your diet on a weekly basis, you would lose weight or at least stave off any additional gain.

Second truth: The food industry is aiding and abetting in the expansion of your waistline. Specifically, the folks responsible for the processed food that most of us consume on a daily basis. Three simple ingredients, utilized in consistent and amplified amounts, keep us addicted to food like your local heroine addict. Sugar, fat and salt are the building blocks for most of our diets. Even if you are not adding them to your food directly, often they are being added during the processing. Dr. Kessler likens this “adding during processing” to what the tobacco industry has been accused of in making cigarettes addictive. Tobacco smoked in its purest form would not have you chain smoking a pack a day, but the additives are what make you crave it. The same goes for processed food. The double helping of salt, fat and sugar (often in the most unlikely recipes) keeps you eating long after you should be satisfied.

Along with the three magic ingredients, the food industry has hired an army of savvy and creative folks that market food to you in such a way that it literally becomes irresistible.

Now according to Dr. Kessler, there are 15% of you out there that this all sounds ridiculous to. You are the folks who could take your food in pill form and go about your day. For whatever reason (genetic, culture, trauma), food just doesn’t get you off like us 85%-ers. For the rest of us, food is a valid way to nurture, reward, soothe and celebrate. We connect with food in a way that goes beyond our biological needs – and that’s how the food industry has engineered it.

Example: How many of us have been at a restaurant and returned a soda because it has been deemed “flat?” Technically nothing is wrong with the soda, except it hasn’t arrived at your table the way that that giant billboard that you pass every morning says it should. It is not cold and powerful and full of pop! Because a can of soda is more than a can of soda. Madison Avenue is selling you something besides those 16 ounces. It is selling you refreshing, sexy, thirst-quenching goodness. They have assigned a set of attributes to that soda that goes beyond the 200 calories in the can.

As I finished reading the book, I realized it was a great argument for going raw or, at the very least, eliminating all the things that your supermarket sells in those middle aisles completely out of your diet.

New York Times food writer Mark Bittman (during a talk at Ted 2007) has come to the same conclusion. Take a look.

7th Annual Women's Words Slam - $300.00 Prize!

Sisterspace and Books and GirlChild Press
Present
The 7th Annual Women's Words Slam
$300.00 Grand Prize
Friday, June 19, 2009 - 7:00pm
Hosted by Michelle Sewell

Come out and celebrate the fiery and phenomenal women poets
of the Washington Metropolitan area!
Over the years this slam has seen the very best artist step up to
the mic and blow us away. This year will be no different.

POETS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR:
Porscha "Lyrik" Coleman, Jade Foster, Joanna Hoffman, Bassey Ikpi, Natalie Illum, Kanikki, Sarah Lawson, Dehejia Maat and more!

This will also be a farewell celebration for Michelle Sewell
as she heads off to the west coast to follow her Hollywood Dreams.

SEE YOU THERE!

Festival Center
1640 Columbia Road
Washington, DC
Cover: $10.00
Interested in performing contact us at girlchildpress@aol.com

GIRLCHILD PRESS IS MOVING TO THE WEST COAST AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We have 300 first edition copies of Just Like A Girl left from our 1,200 copy run. It is cost prohibitive to ship them to the west coast when we relocate so we are asking that everyone buy a copy. Simple as that. They are $20.00 a piece. Go to www.girlchildpress.com/products.html to make your order. We have about 20 copies of Growing Up Girl if you are interested in that anthology. If you would like to make a bulk order of 12 copies or more please email me at girlchildpress@aol.com for a special rate!

If you can't afford to buy a copy pass this announcement to someone with deeper pockets:)

Thank you for your continued support!
Michelle Sewell
Editor/Founder of GirlChild Press