Wattpad Block Party - Winter Edition III

Maryltabor Presents: Should We Drink or Write or both? Bonus: Writing Tip

Should We Drink or Write or both? Bonus: Writing Tip

Q: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

A: If you can call a thimble full of Mogen David a drink, I would say at Seder on Passover. But in truth, I don't really recall drinking the sweet wine. The baby-sized silver cup that I now own meant more to me than the wine and still does. Part of the appeal of alcoholic drinks is the beautiful vessel: the twined blown-glass stems on the set of pastel-colored wine glasses I bought in Venice for my mother on my first trip abroad and that she never used but displayed beautifully in her breakfront.

Even in Italy, I drank Coca-Cola instead of wine that flows there like water.

Q: What's your drink of choice? Why?

A: I began drinking wine in my late thirties when my cooking became more sophisticated and I wanted to understand the pairing of food with wine. My husband and I had dinner at the Henley Park Hotel restaurant near our office, and we had an Italian white wine called Est Est Est, Latin for It is, It is, It is, an inexpensive white wine that was a step up from anything either of us had ever had, non-drinkers that we were.

Q: What about the worst time?

A:I began to understand the dangers of any pleasure that creates both a high anda low when my husband of 21 years said oh-so-Greta-Garbo "I need to livealone," and I cratered. Before I began to sort out what had happened in mymemoir (Re)Making Love, I drank wineat night after I had finished my teaching and writing and I wept. I lookedthrough the glass, through the wine darkly. In this way, I associate the lossof the dream with too much wine. Alcohol in excess gets in the way of dreamingand dreaming is key to the creative process. 

Q: Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

A: My husband, who left like a nightmare, shared wine and food with me as the search for repair, whether possible or not, and that true story is revealed in my memoir (Re)Making Love, here on Wattpad and on Amazon and from the publisher at a discount—see my website. I don't think the name of the wine matters because for me the wine will always be the metaphor of Est Est Est: It is, It is, It is.

The wine and food any of us share together affirm the hope of the family table: That table is, it exists in the face of all the ways that life betrays the living.

Q: Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

A: Drinking in college where I saw a lot of folks roll back to the dorm drunk held little interest for me. Because of my Jewish upbringing, sweet wine was a part of the Sabbath and holiday table. So, it wasn't a taboo that drew me. My parents didn't drink socially. My father would have once a year a single shot of Seagram Crown Royal whiskey, the bottle in a blue velvet bag that remains unforgettable to me. His drink and the velvet bag mean something to be treasured.