I am excited that the movie Julie & Julia is coming out in theaters in the beginning of August. I picked up the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child after seeing the trailer for the film. I left the book by Julia Child at my mom’s house in case she got around to reading it before I did. I almost instantly began to devour the book by Powell as the themes in the book have a lot of similarities to my own life.
In Powell’s real life she was bored by her job and wanted to find meaning in her life. She decided to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking within one year. Powell chronicled her experiences with cooking varying degrees of outdated recipes, some requiring a real hunting expedition through neighborhood grocery stores to find some of the more outlandish ingredients, in a blog that started to generate media attention as the project picked up speed. By the time Powell finished her project she had been interviewed for print and television. She then was able to write the book that I read and now her story is coming to the movie theaters!
Powell’s story excites me because it gives me hope for myself and for people of my age that haven’t made it to instant stardom or even attained their dream job. Powell was able to reach her goals and dreams by just doing what inspired her. She was lucky that people paid attention and she was able to get her story out to a wider audience. But I think that even if she didn’t gain the notoriety that she has, she still would have been proud of herself for completing what she set out for herself to do.
I started the online literary journal Imitation Fruit two years ago. It has grown in readership and in submission quantity each time my editorial team and I put out another issue. The journal has filled a void that was in my life before I started it. I wanted to be involved in the production process of a publication and I wasn’t getting any job opportunities from other publications. I decided to start my own publication and my friends and family were supportive and some even submitted to the first issues of the journal. Imitation Fruit has filled my creative need for the past two years and I know that it will continue to do so. I hope to give many writers and artists a place to call home with Imitation Fruit. I am not sure that there will be a movie for Imitation Fruit in the future but I know that the journal will gain more and more readers each time an issue comes out.