Instagrammer-in-Residence: Amy Kurzweil
Our Instagrammer-in-Residence is the amazing Amy Kurzweil. She is a cartoonist and writer living in Brooklyn. Her first book, Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir, will be published with Catapult Books in October 2016. Her comics appear regularly with The Huffington Post, drDOCTOR and other publications. Her shorts stories have appeared in Hobart, Shenandoah, The Toast, Washington Square and other journals. She teaches writing and comics at Parsons and the Fashion Institite of Technology.
amykurzweil.com
Good morning pants wearers! Yes, I wake up late. Let me introduce myself. I am something like this hapless sucker in the middle here: a writer/#cartoonist at a slanted desk, motivated and amused by existential anxiety. Lately I feel like the days are going by too quickly and if I don’t get it all down on paper, soon I’ll be wrapped up in a rocking chair on a porch somewhere, wistfully failing to remember the days when I dreamed of being a #real #artist. A rocking chair sounds kind of nice actually. All the chairs in my apartment are strictly non-rockers, under $10 and purchased from fellow Brooklynites on Craigslist. My desk chair does swivel, but it is missing screws. Will repair. But not today! Happy #monday!
I just finished my first #graphicnovel. It’s a memoir, called #FlyingCouch, about the women in my family, mainly my grandmother (known to all as #Bubbe) and her story of surviving the Warsaw ghetto and making her way to America. This week, I’m working on a post script to the book, an essay about my recent trip to see her in Florida, during which I endured much love/interrogation such as above. During this visit, I tried to show Bubbe my book. She’s proud, don’t get me wrong, but all she seemed to care about was whether or not the book was making me money. We also talked politics and I learned she supports, of all people, Donald Trump. Not the Jew. Not the grandmother. I was aghast. I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences between my grandmother and I. I’m hoping all this writing and drawing will help me understand.
It’s #Wednesday morning, which means any New York dwelling New Yorker #cartoonist or aspiring should be in line at 1 World Trade Center, fl 38, to show their #cartoons to editor Bob Mankoff. I had too much grading for a new batch this week, but here’s one of my favorite #rejected toons from weeks past. This is now up on @huffposttech with Gregg Murray’s eloquent essay on humans and #automata — Am I #Bot or Not?
#student midterms are in! So many #comics so little time …
Happy to be #drawing, but hard to hold a camera meanwhile. Here, on page 6 of my #graphic essay, #bubbe declares her allegiance and I am shocked
#Saturday night. Putting the #pen down. ??
Happy #Sunday pants people. Thanks for sharing the week with me. Follow @amykurzweil for more…
Gregg Murray is an Associate Professor of English at Georgia State University and the editor for Muse/A Journal. Having received his Ph.D. in English from University of Minnesota, Gregg has published scholarship and reviews in various magazines and journals. He is also a poet and the author of “Ceviche.”
Latest posts by Gregg Murray (see all)
- Here Are Some Famous Quotes to Help You on Your Journey - April 10, 2018
- Why Muse/A Pays Its Writers - March 16, 2018
- Anna Sandy Joins Muse/A - February 4, 2018
