Caissie St. Onge is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer (she’s worked for David Letterman, Rosie O’Donnell, The Grammy Awards) but more recently she’s the author of a shiny new YA novel entitled “Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever.” (Slated to be released May 10th by Random House and now available for pre-order through Amazon.com).

I met Caissie on Twitter when she offered me a shoulder to cry on during my Snooki meltdown. That led me to be charmed by her rarely updated blog and prolific Twitter stream, where I found her to be humble, funny, and almost obnoxiously happy with her life in Connecticut, where she lives with her husband, author Matt Debenham, and their two sons, Eli and Lincoln.

So okay, Caissie—where’s the dark side? We all know that writers, especially comedy writers, have one. Spill it.

HA! It’s true that most people in comedy do harbor a dark side. I guess I’m no exception. The upshot is that my upbringing was kind of tough. I was raised by a single, hardworking mom, my father struggled with addiction and with a lot of things – facts, dates, finances, the truth – and a lot of times, I was a very, very lonely kid. We didn’t have enough money and we lived in a rural area with not many other kids around. I was sexually abused by a family member, outside of the home, over a period of time in a child-care situation gone wrong. And in my own house, we had only one tiny pass-thru closet that was shared by two bedrooms! And one year, mice infested my dresser and ate and pooped all over my favorite Yvonne Goolagong polo shirt from Sears!

It was bad, but at the time, I’m not sure that I put it together that those things shouldn’t necessarily be, and it wasn’t until I was in college, or maybe moved away to New York even, that I realized that my childhood was actually a little weird and not so terrific in many ways. Maybe even a bit gothic.

For the longest time I didn’t talk about any of it at all, ever. And, if I did trust someone enough to reveal a secret to, it was always with the qualifier that it was no big deal and that other people had it much worse than I ever did. Well, you know, nobody ever said it was a terrible-life contest, right? I was kind of missing the point about acknowledging things that may have had an impact on me, for better or worse. And my life wasn’t all terrible, there were many good things, but there were clearly some issues that I needed to address, which I’ve finally started to do on my “rarely updated” blog. Instead of with a professional therapist like I probably should. But blogging doesn’t require appointments or insurance. Or clothes that aren’t pajamas!

I have heard of Amanda Hocking, though I haven’t had a chance to read one of her books yet. I am excited for her! And maybe a teensy bit envious of her untold riches. She’s so young! Listen, I’m sure for every great book that is published traditionally, there’s at least one great book that’s languishing in someone’s drawer for whatever reason. How fascinating is it that now a writer has the ability to go in this new direction and let the readers decide? And her readers have certainly decided, haven’t they? That’s pretty cool. At the same time, let me point out that I’ve met some published authors who have decided to explore the self-publishing route and tell me they’ve sold maybe twenty copies at .99 each. So, it’s not a sure path to millions of adoring fans.

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Do you know that Wim Delvoye has a farm in China where tattoo artists cover pigs in elaborate tattoos? They put the pigs on high tables where there is no chance of escape, and spend hours puncturing them with needles.  Afterwards, they show the pigs in art galleries and exhibitions.  People show up – they pay to see this.  The pigs then get slaughtered, and their skins are sold to the highest bidder.  Delvoye, whose other art includes birdhouses dressed in leather, and x-rays of people taken in the act of coitus, has been wildly successful.

There are no accidents, everything happens for a reason, life is a folly, a fool’s game, there is no rhyme or reason.  Accidents happen,  buck up, be strong, find your bootstraps. You’re on this earth for a reason, better days are coming, look ahead, don’t look back, learn from your mistakes, learn from history. You’ve got to stand up, stand tall, back down, back off, be gentler, take some pride, you’re too proud, don’t be so arrogant. Look out for #1, remember there’s only one you, don’t be so self-serving, remember you’re not that special.

The other week, a 13 year-old Somali girl was raped.  When her family filed a complaint, they sentenced the girl to death by stoning.  They buried her in dirt up to her neck, and let a group of men and boys throw rocks at her until she was dead.  I know, it’s the culture, right?

You’re too strong, it’s not all about you, no woman is an island, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, stay strong, be stronger, tomorrow’s a new day, things will look different in the morning, get real, face problems head-on, think of something else, think positive, luck will come, think it and be it, the world is your oyster, the world doesn’t revolve around what you want, give yourself a break, put your nose to the grindstone.

Right here, in America, a woman didn’t want to be with her husband anymore, so he threw acid in her face.  She lost her eyes, her nose, her ears, her mouth. That’s not our problem, right?  I know. The thing is, see, it really is. . .the same human impulse to injure someone, to leave a punishing mark, exists on a smaller scale all around us, and we cover it up in self-blame and platitudes, and create this false paradise where our minds and emotions – that thing called spirit – is so disconnected from our physical bodies that it supposedly can’t be affected by any actions except our own. It’s this lie, ingrained and long-told, that is killing our compassion and ability to empathize.

You need to love yourself more, you don’t love yourself enough, be humble, you’re too confident, you come off as a bitch, you’re intimidating, look people in the eye, don’t stare, don’t be so intense, laugh more, smile more, if you smile too much people won’t take you seriously.  There are no problems, only solutions, no obstacles only challenges. Try, try again, keep trying, if you had any talent at all you would have made it by now, why don’t you find something else to do.  Rise above it all, take a breather, be realistic, pay attention, heal yourself. See, the problem with you is. . .

Yes, I know.  I have no tattooed pigs.  It would never have occurred to me to tattoo a pig. I am closer to the pig, and feel more for her, than for the artist.

You can’t afford that kind of thinking.  No one wants to hear the pig’s side of the story.  They want bright and colorful amusement.  Something they can laugh at, make a calendar of, display on their coffee table, or frame on their wall.  A conversation piece, a knick-knack, a little something to gab about at the water cooler.

I would rather rescue the pigs and damn those who collect tortured skins as art.

Don’t be an idiot.  Pigs cannot buy their own farms; artists can and do.  Stop making excuses.  All any of us can do is find our own version of the painted pig, parade it around, and hope it’s successful enough to buy us the freedom to do what we really want to do.

You’re really fucked up.  Wim Delvoye is fucked up.

It’s a fucked up world we live in, and see, that’s your problem. . .

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Linda Woods describes herself as the black sheep of the family. The third-born in a family of two boisterous boys and a more outgoing older sister, she was a born artist, who grew up feeling different, not only in looks (she’s petite and darker than her siblings), but in the way she viewed the world around her. Childhood circumstances, such as having to work in the grade school cafeteria in exchange for a reduced lunch price, were acutely felt by the shy, quiet girl who grew to hate everything about school except the art classes. In these, she excelled, and drawing and painting became not only her instinct, but her safe haven.

After a contentious split between her parents when Woods (nee Goldberg) was four, she and her siblings were left with a largely absent father who didn’t pay child support, and a mother who struggled to earn enough to keep four children fed. The struggle wasn’t always successful. There were times when food was short, and times when a parent was needed, and none were around. The siblings – Lee, Karen, Linda, and Tod – turned instead to each other for support and grew amazingly close, not only in caring, but in interests. Lee Goldberg and Tod Goldberg are both respected authors. Karen Dinino is a practicing attorney, but also collaborated with Woods on two books, Visual Chronicles and Journal Revolution.

Woods left high school at 16 to pursue her passion at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, where she studied visual arts and graphic design. Sharing a one-room apartment with her older sister, Karen, who was attending UCLA, Woods eked out a living working for a print shop and selling hand-painted I AM ART t-shirts and other creations at the local swap meet.

“Our furniture was wooden crates we stole from the back of the grocery store and two beach chairs. We both scheduled our classes for morning, so we could spend the afternoons at the beach. We’d carry our two chairs from our living room to the beach and back, and at night we’d do our home work and I’d paint shirts.” Woods describes those lean years as “the best of times”. Eventually, the two sisters made it to a bigger apartment and better furniture before marrying their respective husbands within months of each other.

The first time I met Linda Woods, I felt like an adoptee meeting her real-life sibling for the first time. Whether it was because the same things annoyed us both – such as humorless people, people who don’t ask questions, and insincere people – or whether it’s because we appreciated the same things – like laughter, loyalty, sarcasm, and great chocolate, is difficult to say. What was easy was the communication and the instant feeling of sisterhood.

I’m not the only one who has felt that bond. Many other women have also claimed Woods for a sister (or seester, as they often say on her blog). Her spontaneous warmth, quirky sense of humor, and love for sharing art in all its various forms is a draw to other artists, whether they are just beginning or looking for new perspectives.

Woods’s career has been soaring since Visual Chronicles hit the bookstores. Her art has been featured on television shows like The View, in magazines such as Somerset and Artist Sketchbook, and in books such as Living the Creative Life.

It was a pleasure to interview Linda Woods, my sister, my friend, and an artist whose passion is not only in paint and ink, but in breaking the rules.

The artist’s temperament. What does that mean to you?

I think that artist temperament is kind of an insult, or else a wall people try to hide behind or throw in front of others, as if it could protect them from having to be good, smart business women.

There are several facets to being an artist. The first, of course, is creation. Then there’s marketing, promotion, and finding an audience for your work. Do you find the bridge between solitude and being “out there” difficult?

I think one difficulty in crossing that bridge between solitary creation and being “out there” is that the the artist’s creation may NOT be what the admirer sees. So when you cross the bridge, you actually aren’t in the same place as the person you came to meet, and that can be awkward.

I create alone, in my own little world with the music blasting, a bag of chocolate chips at my side, and my own thoughts and feelings flowing. I don’t even notice time passing! Even when I am out in the world just living my life, I am observing, listening, SEEING, creating art in my head. I’m paying attention to all the little details and making mental notes, which is very similar to what I do with marketing and PR but with the art, it’s private and much less exhausting. It can be a challenge going between the parts of the day where I am alone working on art and then doing the marketing of the art, dealing with people. It’s like being two different people with two different jobs.

You’ve collaborated with your sister, Karen Dinino, on two books (Visual Chronicles and Journal Revolution). Was that always the plan, or did the idea to collaborate occur spontaneously?

I’ve collaborated with my sister on my entire life so the books seemed like a natural progression! We do everything together. I think it was always the plan once it became the plan but as plans with us go, there is never really a plan. Karen is the only person I ever really want to work with. We never get sick of each other, we always know what the other one thinks, we agree on everything, and she always leaves me the last bite of pie.

You’ve also been featured in several magazines, most recently for your journaling endeavors. How different is it to create art for a singular purpose, like an article or specific audience, rather than as something you create solely for you?

When I create without the intention of selling a piece or a specific market, I do not sensor myself at all. When I am creating art for a specific publication, there are usually guidelines or requests the editor gives. I start by creating one version of a piece the way I would do it if there were no rules then do a second watered down version for the publication. I always create for me first. Sometimes the first version ends up being the one the editor wants but I can offer both. I like to give options. Part of being professional and successful is being able to work with editors and be flexible. Sometimes I do have to rework my art. Sometimes some pieces are not appropriate for some publications in their original form. By creating the version I want first, if it’s not the one that gets published, I have still expressed myself. Part of the job is knowing which battles to choose and knowing when to tailor your art to a specific audience. You won’t connect with people if they don’t connect with your art.

We’ve been talking about the “too much” accusations that are often leveled against passionate artists, particularly women. What “too much” or “not enough” charges have you heard throughout your career, and how have they affected you?

I used to be told often that I was ‘too mad’, and I WAS mad. I was so mad, I could hardly speak. Then I decided to turn that anger into art. Now people think I am so nice, and the funny thing is, I am more expressive with my anger and emotion than when they thought I was mad! The thing people wanted less of is what they ask for more of now.

I recently saw how your lack of rules affected what’s become known as the Scrapbook Mafia. What is with those people?

The gist of it is a bunch of scrapbookers got upset because we teach people that expressing yourself does not require acid-free products or expensive art supplies. They didn’t (and still don’t) understand the difference between self expression (ART!) and preserving memories. We teach people to preserve their sanity, not their memories. We also tell women to journal their own lives, not just their husband’s or children’s. So, they frequently send hate mail and write blogs about how awful we are for suggesting that people express themselves with whatever ART supplies they have handy, whether it’s duct tape or the back of a cardboard box.

You’re fortunate to be a working artist and photographer — it’s your passion and your livelihood. What’s the next step in your evolution?

Forms of expression cannot be predicted–the fun of discovery and invention are part of what impassions me!

Woods’s latest venture is still somewhat of a secret, but I can tell you it will feature women and photography in a totally different, but bonding light. Like the books that preceded it, this one promises to share stories of women and sisterhood through art, humor, and relatable experiences. As for rules, the Mafia can keep them. Woods’s only abiding rule is that there are no rules in art – least of all those that inhibit creativity or expression.

Other Links:

Linda’s Etsy Shop

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If the Brothers Grimm were still around, they would write the story of Nikki Hardin’s life just as fairytales used to be written — with plenty of twists and turns, dark days, seemingly insurmountable challenges, and glimmering moments of hope before finally, there is an ever-after to the story, one that is both happy and richly deserved.

Hardin’s path wasn’t short, and it wasn’t easy. After eloping with her boyfriend at 17, Hardin became the mother of three children. Twelve years later, she found herself in the unenviable position of being divorced, with few career skills. At 29 years old, Hardin enrolled in college where she eventually earned a B.A. in literature. She moved onto graduate school on a Governor’s fellowship, but didn’t complete her master’s because, as she says, she spent “most of the year crying and watching Kojak reruns.”

Still, the divorced mother had her college degree, and an accomplishment like that usually signals some neat happily-ever-after ending — at least in the contemporary realm of women’s stories, where even years of hard times are often condensed into a bite-sized afterthought, making success seem easy or somehow inevitable.

Hardin’s story isn’t that neatly packaged, perhaps because she tells it herself, with unflinching honesty and very little romantic glow. After her graduation, Hardin went to work as a secretary for a book publishing company in Northern Virginia. In 1985, on a whim, Hardin moved to Charleston, SC, where she “nursed a midlife crisis”, cleaned houses, clerked in a liquor store with a “psychotic” parrot, and picked up the occasional freelance writing job.

In 1994, a “broke and bored” Hardin found herself venting to a friend about the state of her life, feeling like a failure, and wanting more.

He asked me what I would do if I could choose from anything at all, and I said, “Start a magazine for women”. Then do it, he said. I can’t, I protested, I’m 50. I don’t have any money. I don’t know how. I wanted it to be easy, and I was scared. I thought of a million reasons NOT to answer that calling, but the idea wouldn’t go away.

Hardin began Skirt! magazine with $400 and the support of her friends. She had no business plan, no collateral, and no experience in the magazine industry, but she did have a vision. She wanted a publication that she would be interested in reading. “If we had an ideal reader,” Hardin explains, her name would be ‘Martha Steinem’ because most of our readers are kickass liberals who also like to shop and cook and don’t think wearing lipstick means you don’t have a brain.” It was a pleasure to interview Hardin, whose passion is apparent not only in her flagship publication, but in her personal stories.

In The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls goes from college to success with seeming ease. As a single mother of three, you returned to school at 29. I imagine it wasn’t easy. What was that process like, and how did you get from there to starting Skirt?

It wasn’t easy because I was so broke all the time, but on the other hand, it was one of the best times of my life because I finally felt as if I was where I belonged. I think it was hard on my kids because we were living kind of a chaotic life, but we all survived it. I graduated from American University in D.C. when I was 33 and found an entry-level secretary job with a branch of a national publishing company. I was lucky that I had a great boss and mentor and he really pushed me and gave me more and more responsibility and promoted me to the editorial staff—unheard of at that time in that company for a secretary to become an editor. By the time I left, I was a Sr. editor and an assistant vice president. I left to take a job with a software company, which was just not the right for me, and at the same time, the relationship I’d been in for the past 7 years went bad and my two older kids had left for college and the military—so I had a clichéd and classic midlife crisis.

As a result I made what seemed to be an irrational decision—I moved with my high school-age daughter to a tiny barrier island off the coast of Charleston, SC. I had no money, no connections, no clue what I was doing (except that I wanted to write), so I embarked on a series of kind of dead-end jobs that turned out to be just the right thing for me. At the time, it felt like I was vegetating—leading a bohemian day-to-day lifestyle at the edge of the world—but I think I was gestating instead. After cleaning houses, working in a liquor store with a psychotic parrot, waitressing and other odd jobs, I finally began freelance writing, but I was not making much money and I felt I’d run my life into a dead-end alley. That’s when the idea for Skirt! came along. I was 50 and started a pro-choice, liberal publication with about $400 in one of the most conservative states in the south. Another irrational decision! Women were hungry for something authentic, though, and they weren’t getting it in the daily paper. Skirt! was different in that it combined local features with nonlocal content in a highly visual style — not like your usual free alternative publication. And we made sure that the ads were just as interesting in terms of design as the editorial—a simple idea, but one that nobody else had picked up on.

What are your goals for Skirt? What overall message do you hope your publication will carry to its audience?

I’d love to see editions across the country. We’re in 20 cities now and hope to keep expanding. I never set out to change the world or be a standard bearer for women’s rights, but since that’s one of my interests, that plays a big part in the mission of skirt!. Advertisers know that we’re pro-choice, liberal, and sometimes controversial, but they also know our target demographic is one they want to reach. It’s been incredibly instructive for me, too, to have a dialogue with women who don’t agree with us on those issues but read Skirt! anyway. Having those exchanges has proven to me that women in this country have so much in common, and if we could just get past the surface disagreements, we could change the world!

We’ve spoken briefly about the “too much” factor – how passionate women are often called “too much” of something or not enough of another by people who expect us to be more docile. What have you been called “too much” or not enough of? And how have these attributes contributed to your life and career?

Being “too much” is not something I can help, although I do find myself at times trying to be “nice,” using a kind of camouflage in order not to threaten people, especially men, with my sometimes radical views and large ambitions. It never works, of course. I think being an ambitious woman in this culture definitely affects your personal life and your work life. Just look at Hillary Clinton—her campaign failed for many reasons, but one of them was the way the press beat her up about her clothes, her laugh, her coldness and then her tears. I think the real reason was because they didn’t know how to deal with her ambition and somehow in a woman, it was unseemly.

Many people feel that the country turned back the hands of time in the last ten years, and that passion for politics, social issues, and noble causes has lessened. Do you believe this, and if so, do you see passion, particularly for females, making a comeback?

I see this every day in the area where I live. The size of a woman’s engagement ring or how much their wedding cost often seems a bigger achievement than someone getting promoted, but I also see that salaries and opportunities for young women are in some ways still very limited in comparison to men. Beyond that, I’m discouraged that women in general seem not to be fired up by political and social inequities, and there is a real dearth of women running for public office. In South Carolina, we have one (!) woman in the state legislature, and she is retiring. It’s still a boy’s club with not much hope in the near future of changing that. Why aren’t we outraged?!

You’ve met many women through your work with Skirt. Do you believe assertive women are still largely considered “bitchy” whereas assertive men are viewed as “competitive”? Do you see this as something is changing?

Yes, I think it still happens and unfortunately, I think much of the criticism or negative remarks come from other women. I hear a lot of, “what kind of mother could she be to be that single-minded about her career?”. Ugh.

Have you taken any of your life lessons from women you view as passionate? If so, who were they, and what lessons did you learn?

Gloria Steinem has always been a huge role model for me, because she is so focused and unwavering even when she’s under attack. Women’s ideas often get ridiculed as a way of marginalizing and neutralizing them. Steinem has endured a lot of that and yet she never loses her dignity or her core values. I’m also a big fan of Frida Kahlo (my blog is named after her) because she kept on creating throughout a life filled with physical and emotional pain. Her passion jumps off the canvas, and she’s an important personal icon for me.

In 2003, with a legion of loyal readers, Hardin sold Skirt! magazine to the Morris Group but continues on as editor, lending both her vision and her voice to the original publication as well as its newer book-publishing arm. In her sixties now, Hardin’s passions haven’t faltered or waned — they have only grown stronger and more focused as she finds ways to share them with other women.

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Tammy Teller grew up in a working class neighborhood, with a family prone to fist fighting in bars, and not inclined towards academics or corporate ladders. Her mother and father divorced when she was two, and Teller didn’t meet her father again until she was sixteen.

“We are like fraternal twins, so similar, that it’s scary,” Teller says of her absentee father. “He’s more like a big brother, but not father material.”

Her mother remarried several times, and Teller recalls most of her childhood being spent in a “circus of divorce, beatings, boyfriends, and threatening bill collectors.”

Although she was academically gifted, school was particularly rough on Teller. “I was placed in the MGM (mentally-gifted minors) program and they segregated us in 4th grade, which is the year my mother got divorced for the second time and everything was hell — I mean, we had knives and guns being drawn in the kitchen and I was supposed to be learning Spanish. I dropped out of it because I felt like I couldn’t keep up or handle the teasing I endured from my friends for being ‘conceited’. I refused to go unless my mom put me in a regular class. For the longest time I was terrified when people said I was smart — like they’d find out I was a fraud sooner or later.”

Teller’s feelings of being something of an outsider both at home and school manifested in disruptive classroom behavior, fighting, and truancy. She dropped out in her senior year, and received her high school diploma through alternative school.

“I knew I didn’t want to grow up to be like my family. I knew I was different. I didn’t just want a job with benefits, and a tract home in the suburbs. I had passion; I wanted to see the world, to study, to be in control of my own life. I was obsessed with kids on the Jerry Lewis Telethon, and the boy with leukemia in Something for Joey. Yet any time I said I wanted to be a doctor I got that Oh sure, uh-huh response. I can’t count the times my mother said ‘you aren’t going to change the world, little girl’. When I was in college one of my uncles berated me for wanting to be ‘some corporate bitch’ who thought she was ‘too good for where she came from’. My vision was just not part of their world-view.”

Despite a lack of encouragement from her family, Teller waitressed her way through college, graduating with a B.A. in psychology from Pitzer College. Afterwards, she attended Bryn Mawr, and then transferred to the University of Vermont – Burlington, where she graduated with honors as an M.D. in 2003.

Her graduation was bittersweet. The night before, after a heated argument which pitted a daughter’s need for understanding against a mother’s denial, Teller’s mother flew back to California, missing her graduation. The pain of that fight, and all the years preceding it, is still unsettled. “She’s my biggest cheerleader now,” says Teller, “but really not so much a mother still, you know? It hurts my heart to say it, but it’s true.”

Teller’s lifelong empathy for children led to a residency in pediatrics, then anesthesiology. She is now in the final days of her formal training as a pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s Hospital of NY Presbyterian, NYC, after which she will transfer to private practice in Philadelphia, along with her partner of thirteen years, Grace, who is a pediatric nurse.

From a child living in violence, to a doctor that specializes in preventing and relieving children’s pain, Teller not only broke a cycle, but used her past experiences to fuel her passion for a personal happiness, professional integrity, just causes, and a supportive circle of family and friends. She delights in old R&B music, photography, baking from scratch, roasting her own coffee beans, and spending time with her partner and their young niece, Morgan. She and Grace have volunteered their skills for a clinic in Ecuador, and are considering adopting children one day.

In her own words:

As a young girl, I remember knowing, not just thinking, but knowing I would grow up to be and do whatever I wanted to do – call it vision, call it whatever fits, but it’s always been there without question. My life circumstances told me otherwise –- but I wanted to be a doctor, a painter, a judge, an entrepreneur, a crusader for all the world’s sick and injured children, a professional athlete — I just wanted to do it all. Yet, I was the daughter of an eighteen-year-old girl who dropped out of high school to have me, who would never have had an abortion even if it had been legal, whose entire family told her adoption was better for all involved, and who was left to raise me alone by her young husband.

My mother might have been literally correct that I couldn’t change the world, but I’ve no doubt changed my own world and hers with it –- I moved 3000 miles from home, came out as a lesbian, and was the first in my family to finish college (my half-sister was the second), and the only one to go to any kind of graduate school. And though my professional pursuits have given me enormous opportunities and access to places I would not have known otherwise, they are, nevertheless, the stuff that “looks great on paper” or on Lifetime TV.

What really matters, what I am most proud of and at peace with, is that I was driven to be my true self no matter who I turned out to be. My family, now, is very proud to have one of their own who’s a doctor, and while I am deeply grateful for my experience taking care of sick people and the skills I’ve gained to help them, there’s more to it than that. I am not content with getting to this point and staying in one place. I might know how to save the life of a sick child, but there are those who don’t make it to medical treatment, and there are abuses in every corner of the world. There’s a democracy that gave me every opportunity to succeed that’s being frayed at it’s core, and there are cakes to bake, and faces to photograph. There’s so much more to see and do

Was I “too much”? Yes Since I was a child, I’ve been too much of something: too sassy, too talkative, too hyper, too tomboy, too smart for my own good. . .

The funny thing is, I never really saw any of these as being negative! I also don’t think boys were ever called too much of anything, they were supposed to be unruly, weren’t they? And, even, as an adult, I’m mostly considered too crass which, when I look at what it really means, doesn’t bother me either. Crass: so crude and unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility. Now, I’ll take issue with lacking sensibility, but what people mean when they call me crass is biting, cutting, insulting, and insensitive. I’ve asked them, so I know. So then, if I look at crude meaning raw, lacking subtlety, offensive, blunt – I find some truth in what they say, and I’m still not really offended.

I’ll admit to being unrefined in my social graces as a young adult trying to traverse socioeconomic classes, and trying to create relationships not built on dependence and angst, and generally trying to figure out who I was as defined by me, not by anyone else. So, yeah, I was raw, unrefined, and rough around the edges. I don’t feel bad about that.

As for being somewhat cutting – I’ll own that, too. I like to think of being cutting as coming from a way of seeing things as they really are and not being afraid to say it, with a dash of sarcastic humor for good measure. Raw, not subtle. Good, I like it! I’ll take it over mild, wishy-washy, and sugar-coated until my last breath.

Last week I was talking with a colleague about taking an extremely disabled child who was scheduled for a ‘palliative’ procedure that required general anesthesia. Do the parents realize the child might die having it done, I asked. She wasn’t sure. A young trainee then asked what the point was – I replied that, really, it was an attempt to make it easier for the caretakers to look at the child, he was never, going to get up out of that bed and play soccer.

There was some nervous laughter, and then, one of the more seasoned physicians in the room said, you’re right, Teller, you’re absolutely right.

That same doctor later went on about 3 criteria for explaining anything. Is it nice, is it true, is it necessary?

I told her I thought that was bull. Nice is not always necessary, nor is it necessarily true What’s the motive? That’s the criteria I care about – and it’s not meant to be mean, but to be honest, true. If it sometimes requires shining a spotlight on the ridiculous and calling it out – so be it.

Whatever my passion is, I consider that at its core, is a fundamental belief in my own life force –- that I am here to do whatever good I can offer, that I came to live out loud, and that whatever ability I have to see the truth, and beauty, and even the ugly parts of life cannot be ignored or silenced –- otherwise why be here at all?

Determined to rise above her early circumstances and control her own destiny, Tammy Teller turned chaos and pain into reasons to live the best life possible. She’s living that life out loud, honestly, and with passion to spare.

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“She has a way of writing songs for anyone who has ever been at the short end of the stick and turning it into a victory. Lyrically, her details are very poetic and brave. Most songwriters hide behind oblique imagery. Jen revels in baring her heart.” -Jeff Trott, Producer, ‘The Underdogs’

Jen Foster is on her way up, and in the music business that means an almost endless string of performances, airports, and hotel rooms. The constant movement seems to energize Foster, who not only writes and performs her own songs, but who started her own record label, Fosterchild Records, in order to promote and distribute her music.

Foster’s story-telling, rock-and-roll style is catching fire and filling concert halls from her home state of Texas to California. Her music has been featured on the LOGO channel, in All My Children, and in the American Pie movie sequel. Her song, The Underdogs, from her album of the same name, won Out Song-of-the-Year at the Out Music Awards in 2006, and this past April Foster won the Triple A Category in the International Songwriting Competition for “Closer to Nowhere,” a track from her upcoming album, Thirty-Nine.

Her passion flows from spirit to voice to fingertips. An indomitable spirit, telling passionate tales, Jen Foster stands apart from many of her contemporaries, shedding labels that are not her own in favor of a creative, authentic, and independent style.

In her own words

As an independent female artist running my own career, I definitely have a lot of hats that I have to wear. Songwriter, Performer, Booking Agent, Publicist, Radio Promoter, etc. I do have a small, fabulous team to help me with these things, but if there is anything I have learned, it’s that no one cares about my vision for my music and career more than me. I have always had a strong sense of purpose, and my songs have clear, universal messages that I want to make sure get heard by the masses. I know that to make this happen, I have to stay focused, because any team is only as good as their leadership. I have to be as good of a communicator in my business as I am in my songs. Not an easy task for an inherently creative person! I have had to really work hard to be a good businessperson. It doesn’t come easy to someone who loves to stay up late and write songs and be a free spirit.

More than a few times, I have heard the comment made that I am “too obsessed” or “too worried”. And maybe there is truth in that – but I have to always be on my toes – because it is so challenging to do what I’m trying to do and to also keep my sanity!

I am actually thankful, though, to live in a time when I feel it’s becoming more acceptable for a woman to have this kind of drive in the business world. It has not always been easy for women in business, but my outlook is still positive, and I believe it is getting easier to be a strong, passionate woman. I do believe that when you are truly strong and passionate, NOTHING will stand in your way, and people calling you “too this” or “too that” become irrelevant!

Those who don’t understand the passion behind the music, or respect the strength it takes to share it with the larger world, aren’t going to stand in Foster’s way. She’s forging ahead like the maverick she is, and courting far more fans than critics.

Foster’s counting on fans right now to help her garner a spot on the Austin City Limits Music Festival’s stage. The three-day festival, featuring musical luminaries such as Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and the Foo Fighters, is reserving one spot for the winner of a Sound and Jury online battle of the bands – and Foster wants that band to be hers. It’s been a dream of hers to play ACL, and fans, old and new, can help make it happen. You can place your vote below!

Vote for Jen in the Dell Austin City Limits Contest
Jen’s brand new video on LOGO, and another chance to vote!
Jen’s MySpace page for info on all of her new music and video, touring info, and the latest news!

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