Clara54’s Interview With Beverly Peterson-part 2

Beverly Peterson, a filmmaker out of New York captured my attention & hopefully the worlds when she began to screen her latest documentary There Oughta Be A Law. She so kindly took time from her busy schedule to give Clara54 this indepth interview:

BP. The great thing about having the power to make a film is that it gives you a megaphone to shout aloud the dirty little secrets that those abusing power don’t want told. However, while there may not be a law to protect victims, there is one to protect the abuser and ensure we are silenced. It’s one of the hardest challenges in doing this project. We can’t point and say: “He did it! Joe Blow destroyed my career, and devastated my finances & health. And the management at the XYZ Company let him get away with it.” If we do that we’ll be sued for libel. Our experiences, pain and personal stories become censored to the point that there are so many witheld details it seems like abstract whining. That’s why I decided to use the internet to launch this video project . The internet is a place where the private becomes public. I want my website to become a safe place for victims to come out of the shadows & talk as openly as they can about the devastating impact of psychological harassment in the workplace.

The next posting is the story I was filming last weekend in Wisconsin. Jody was a young mother who worked as an Xray technician in a hospital clinic. Her boss decided to target her and the harassment became constant. Jody came from a large extended family & they all offered support. Jody tried to lateral out to another position but kept getting passed over. She was finally told by HR to bring in a list detailing her boss’ harassment…That was when she hung herself…

It is incredibly humiliating to make a list that looks like petty grievances and it’s even harder to convey on paper the horror of being viciously targeted for no reason by another human being. Jody left behind a husband & two small children.

C54. What can folks do to help bring awareness to this problem by employers in the workplace?

BP. I think the most important is exactly what you are doing, writing articles to get the word out. Your readers can easily email your article to everyone they know and those people in turn can do the same…

As I said Beverly Peterson is on a mission and I’m encouraging everyone who read clara54 to take action. This interview gives a wealth of information which I will be posting in its entirety on my column for chicago women’s examiner.com. There is an important date that Beverly speaks about & you should note. On May 28th Illinois passed a bill to study hostile work environments that just needs the Governor’s signature. She’s encouraging folks to make sure that this study doesn’t languish & eventually disappear…If you haven’t seen There Oughta Be A Law, or visited Beverly Peterson’s website, please refer to 1st part of interview…

Interview with Angel Harper

Angel Harper can be best remembered as one of those gabfest women alongside Whoopie Goldberg’s character “Clara” in the movie Clara’s Heart, or maybe folks know her as the reporter in Kiss The Girls with Morgan Freeman. No matter… if you remember Ms. Harper from those or other movies like “Gabriel’s Fire”. Hairspray. The Rugrats Movie , or Batman, the animated Series, this Hollywood Actress… Author… Comedian & Filmmaker so kindly allowed me an interview (after clearing things with her publicist) between fundraising junkets for her documentary Keeping The Faith With Morrie…

C54… You’ve worn many hats over the course of your career. Actress, Comedian, Author, Voiceover Expert for Animated movies and recently, Filmmaker. Which do you find more rewarding and why?

AH. I truly enjoy every aspect of the entertainment industry. I am so happy I can dabble in different areas. I am never bored.

C54. You wrote your book, Cold Reading as a guide for other Actors to follow when scouting for acting gigs. Did you accomplish what you set out to do in writng the book?

AH. I have not accomplished all I wanted to do with this book. My goal was to be a guest lecturer at colleges and speak about the technique of Cold Reading to students who have a serious goal to be an Actor in Hollywood.

C54. I loved Clara’s Heart! Do you and Whoopie Goldberg keep in touch? Has she seen the film?

AH. Well, it was a professional relationship. We worked extremely well together and I did see her at a few events in Los Angeles. She was cordial to me but we are not off screen friends.

C54. Your documentary Keeping The Faith With Morrie ,about the life and times of Morrie Turner, the first syndicated African-American cartoonist. I read that you’d never heard of his work? 

AH. When I first came to California, I was not involved with the cartoon/animation industry. Once I started doing cartoon voices, I learned about important people like Morrie Turner.

C54. What do you say to those who might infer that there were other great African-American cartoonists known before Morrie Turner, although not published in mainstream newspapers, but published in African-American newspapers? There’s mention of E. Simms Campbell & Ollie Harrington as examples.

AH. Morrie Turner is the first African-American cartoonist to have a syndicated comic strip with a cast of multicultual characters.

C54. You’re on a fundraising junket to expand the film to 60 minutes. After you’ve accomplished your goals & the film is ready for mass distribution, what’s next for Angel Harper?

AH. In March 2009 I completed a Teaching Artist Program. I will be introducing the Arts into the acedemic classroom, my first assignment is with the third grade. I created a six week lesson plan for Language Arts called Poetic Hip Hop Expression…the students will learn to read poetry with expression and a Hip Hop beat I will also teach them movement to enhance the words…

For information & a brief preview of the documentary Keeping The Faith With Morrie, visit www.heavensentproductions.org .

Interview with Rachel continues…

Did I mention that Rachel Goodchild was one of the first to comment on my blog here at clara54? Well, she was & I’d also had the good fortune of talking with her before Eighty Eight Dates… that interview is out there in cyberspace looking for a great home. But, back to this Author & Entrepreneur who also have a line of English Contemporary Greeting Cards & Gift wrap you can check out at Rachelgoodchild.com:

C54.Some stories are hilarious, some not so much…

Rg. People love the funny ones. To be honest, the ones that are scary are also funny to some people. I think it’s very comforting to read stories that are terrible and think ” at least I’ve never been that stupid!”:) We added some good ones in too, after we realized that we didn’t want to scare people away from dating entirely. And I think that worked. In fact people have said they loved to hear the happy ever after stories too. I had non conventional couples, however. The first story is about a trouple-one man and two women which I guess starts the ball rolling on odd couplings indeed!

C54.How long did it take you to complete the book?

Rg. Around six months. I researched pretty heavily for this-including going on about 50 dates myself. And it was worthwhile indeed. I myself suffered dating burnout after it  however  🙂 I’m only just coming out of it right now!

C54.Where can folks in America purchase a copy of Eighty Eight Dates?

Rg. Good question! You can order one directly from me through my blog http://eightyeightdates.wordpress.com/whereto-buy-eightyeight-dates/ (and I’ll sign it:) ) or use an online store such as www.mightyape.co.nz, they’ll ship it to you:)

C54. Next Gig?

Rg. I am a little unsure to be honest. I have a few non Fiction books currently in development, a film script I’m working on & my novel needs some care. I’m in an interesting writing spot at the moment, indeed…

And indeed she is…Thanks to Rachel Goodchild..

Clara54.

Clara54 interviews Rachel Goodchild

For the record,I hope to profile a series of social networking writers,entrepreneurs & interesting folks in future talks right here on clara54…so, for an interesting read,informational tool & a bit of wit and humanness (Is that a word?) join me:

Rachel Goodchild is an amazing New Zealand Author & Entrepreneur whose works have included a series of learning books like Alligators To Zebras & The Blend Books. She also published Mountain Men in 2008 and She’ll Be Back in 2007… However, it’s Rachel’s latest book , Eighty-Eight Dates that seemed to have propelled her into superstar status as the go to guru for dating & relationship advice… a woman of dating aplomb:

c54. Was it difficult to stray from your normal writings with Eighty-Eight Dates?

Rg. I loved doing EightyEight Dates. For a start I already had a book contract to write it, so I knew it wasn’t all “in vain”. I think one of the best things we can do as writers is learn to first listen, then to write in the voice of another person. This book is full of other people’s stories so I got to do that again and again.

C54. Are you amazed at its great reception? some of the perks please…

Rg. It’s been amazing. Besides the fact that my daughter thinks I’m going to be famous enough to get special car parks at the museum (I’m not sure how, but, I like her belief in me ) I have had amazing press from this book. I’m now running a regular spot on breakfast television on a national network as a dating specialist, and journalists will use me as a source for both tv and print. A lot of that has been me knocking on doors.

Rg. You need to have a certain amount of self confidence and believe you are writing someone that people want to know about. People need to know you are available and want to help…

Clara54 is not finished with Rachel Goodchild yet, more to come 🙂

A Great Body Of Work-Where To Send Your Masterpiece?

You’ve scored that all terrific interview from such a gracious writer! You’ve finished your very first short story who all of your friends tell you is just great! You’ve even completed your first book of poems…Everything for the beginner writer becomes brand new and once completed, leaves one wondering, where do I go from here?

This is one dilemma that established writers doesn’t have to worry about. ..They have already connected with that brillant agent waiting in the wings to critique/shop around your masterpieces to the higgest bidder… There are those friends in the biz who are well known in the publishing world and all too willing to lend a critical eye; Those writer friends you’ve known and written alongside all those starting out years ago…

It’s hard for the newbie out here. Loving to write /create isn’t enough. It’s when your work have reached completion, that the real job begins. Who will want to read your work and actually offer to pay for it? Who can you turn to for encouragement? Advice and productive criticism? Recently, I’ve established an online reader/writership with another aspiring and published writer. We email back and forth our goals, contraints and questions of where to send what? What are you working on now? that sort of thing.

We’re both sort of brand new at being writer ‘buddies’, but, I think we’re getting the gist of it. Writers need the comraderie/that other writers eye, if you will, to help them navigate the maze of a writer’s world…