Cinderella: The Development of a Classic

It all started with a dream and a slipper. But where did the dream and the slipper come from? When was the first tale of Cinderella told? The 1950’s Disney animated classic can’t be the original version and it most certainly can’t be the only version.  Common belief is that the French version Cendrillon and the Brothers Grimm version in their collection of folktales are the

'Cendrillon' by Gustave Dore
‘Cendrillon’ by Gustave Dore

original versions of the Cinderella theme, and just about everyone knows about, or has seen, the Disney animated film Cinderella, but is the story older than that? It is; you see, the theme of the tale can be found as far back as 7 BCE in the tale Rhodopis about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt. In another tale, the Cinderella character is known as Cordelia and she is the daughter of King Leir of Britain and in another version out of China the Cinderella character is called Ye Xian. Continue reading “Cinderella: The Development of a Classic”

WILD: A Journey of Self Realization and Self Discovery

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At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mothers death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. Continue reading “WILD: A Journey of Self Realization and Self Discovery”

Seeing ‘Wild’

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Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, Wild is based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her journey along the Pacific Crest Trail. Driven to the edge by the loss of her beloved mother (Laura Dern), the dissolution of her marriage and a headlong dive into self-destructive behavior, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) makes a decision to halt her downward spiral and put her life back together again. With no outdoors experience, a heavy backpack and little else to go on but her own will, Cheryl sets out alone to hike the Pacific Crest Trail — one of the country’s longest and toughest through-trails.

Powerfully moving and emotionally resonant, the film opens with the climactic loss of a boot as it slips from Cheryl Strayed’s mountain top perch, which is immediately followed by a barrage of flashback memories and thoughts — bursting images of a fox, of a horse, of dictionary definitions, of her mother’s face. This opening serves as a framework to outline the story, attempting to afford the viewer with a general overview into the journey that is about to unfold. Continue reading “Seeing ‘Wild’”

Interview with Locked Horn Press

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Locked Horn Press is a multi-genre publisher founded upon the idea that any space in which conflict exists is an opportunity for discovery and conversation. Striving to publish creative and scholarly work that provokes, inspires, and sparks not only excellent writing, but also dialogue about contemporary issues, Locked Horn publishes works that are designed to speak to one another. Interweaving the creative and the critical, these collections will provide space for writers and readers to engage the various and persistent conflicts that surround us.

Locked Horn Press has published two collections this past year: Read Women, a poetry collection of contemporary female-identifying/gender queer poets, and Gendered & Written: Forums on Poetics, a compilation of diverse writings from working poets–including a selection of poets in Read Women–that explore the relationship between gender and poetry.

You can find more information about the press at lockedhornpress.org.

Continue reading “Interview with Locked Horn Press”