My groovy colleague
Michele L., an avid reader like myself (occupational hazard; after all, we're librarians) and a regular contributor to the Entertainment blog, told me about a book she loved written by a
Scranton native that was the basis of a hit Off-Broadway show
The Mother Load, which continues to tour the country (yes, even
Scranton). The book is
When Did I Get Like This? The Screamer, The Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget Buyer & Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be and it features several reference to
Scranton and even a couple of landmarks in
Scranton; furthermore, its author
Amy Wilson is a
Scranton native.
Before venturing in the the world of theater and writing,
Amy Wilson was familiar to television viewers for her role as Molly Carver on
The Norm Show (1999-2001). Amy also made appearances in TV shows such as
Felicity,
Daddio, and
Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Her film credits include
Kinsey and
Kissing Jessica Stein. She also starred on
Broadway in the
Tony and
Pulitzer winning play
The Last Night of Ballyhoo.
In 1996,
Amy was one of the writers and stars of the sketch comedy show
Live on Tape.
A mother of 3,
Amy used her experiences to write and perform the show
The Mother Load, which was a hit off-Broadway and continues to tour the US.
On April 6, 2010,
Amy Wilson published her first book titled
When Did I Get Like This? The Screamer, The Worrier, The Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget Buyer & Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be. Not only is the book hilarious, but it features lots of reference to her hometown of
Scranton, PA.
Page 22
"So we took the two-hour drive to Scranton that weekend, and sat David's parents, then mine, down at their kitchen tables."
Page 56
"Like the majority of my peers, I had not been breastfed. I may have been a '70s baby, but that hippie stuff did not fly in Scranton, Pennsylvania."
Pages 79-80
"Granted, this was a particularly bad weekend, since we had taken our possessed child out of his element to our hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to attempt an exorcism."
Page 80
"(We had, of course, deflated and packed the ball for our trip to Scranton; I would sooner have left Connor behind than the ball.)"
Page 96
"Growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where everyone is Catholic."
Page 104
"In Scranton, Pennsylvania, when I had just turned four..."
Page 109
"Manhattan moms in the know plan their conceptions to occur sometime just after Chinese New Year, so that their children will have an ultra-desirable autumn birthday. Like I said, I'm from Scranton, so I don't know about that."
Page 142
"Each student at St. Clare School (K-6 school located in the Green Ridge section of Scranton) would be send home with a checkbook-green account of his or her progress."
Page 142
"Before I was old enough to get graded on actual subjects, the assessment scale at St. Clare School had a very simple rating system."
Page 172
"Those were the girls at St. Paul's School (Grades 6-8 school in the Green Ridge section of Scranton) who had their act together."
Pages 204-205
"If you needed help, your mother lived next door; at least that's how it happened in Scranton."
When Did I Get Like This? is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold,
click here.
Click here to follow Amy on Twitter.
Much thanks to Michele L. for another great reference.
This week's issue of Entertainment Weekly (#1136, January 7, 2011) features not only a rave review of Blue Valentine (pps. 50-51) but also takes the #1 spot on this week's "The Must List"--which also states that the film (partly shot in Scranton, with a pivotal scene filmed at Albright Memorial Library on May 13, 2009) will expand to a wider release on Friday, January 14th. So if you can't get to NYC (now playing at Lincoln Plaza Cinema) or LA to see Blue Valentine in its limited release, it will more than likely be playing at Cinemark in Moosic in about 2 weeks.
