Ed Vela: The Interview

I recently sat down with my dear friend Ed Vela. Ed is a Houston-based playwright, screenwriter and the creator of the popular YouTube series, Dad vs Lad. I met Ed nearly 20 years ago, if you can believe that, when I was trying to pursue a career as a stage actress. We had a great time reconnecting over coffee and talking about the events of the last few years. 

For me, it was all about the kids, my heart procedures and my recent pursuits as a fledgling writer. For him it was all about his times in L.A., his new web series and his achievements with his screenplays. (Congrats again!) We could have talked forever about how to create the perfect  onstage conversation or how dreadful the editing process is or even how much we both hate stage parents, but I figured a marathon long interview wouldn't go over for my first podcast.

What you won't hear in the interview is what Ed is best known for; his teasing. I brought my (nearly) 14 year old son with me to meet the illustrious Ed Vela and he didn't disappoint. After they got to know each other, they got along famously, just as I knew they would. 

Writer Ed Vela with my son, goofing off

And he couldn't have been a more gracious host. We were together for more than three hours just talking about each other's lives and the art of writing. What could be more glorious than that?

Writer Ed Vela and blogger Laura Romero (me!)

Ladies and gentlemen, Writing 12 in 12 presents its first interview: Ed Vela! 

(click on the link to listen to our interview)

Ed Vela Interview

To contact Ed Vela:

edvelawriter@gmail.com
www.bigdogplays.com
www.normanmaineplays.com
Dad vs. Lad
www.doollee.comThe Quill that will Thrill

Je Sui Charlie - For the Writers of Charlie Hebdo

Unfortunately we find that tragedy can sometimes bring out the best in us. When gunmen burst into the offices of a satirical magazine yesterday in France and killed 12 of their employees, they probably had no idea that the world would rally together and cry out, "Je Sui Charlie (I am Charlie)" in support of Charlie Hebdo.

Among the twelve French citizens murdered was an officer who was there to protect the editors and cartoonists from just such an attack. Eleven others were wounded. All of this from a difference of opinion.

It is one thing to have a piece of paper say that we are protected. That we can say and print whatever we want. That freedom of speech is a right that is granted to all citizens. And yes, France grants that right to all its citizens in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen just as the First Amendment of the Constitution protects our right to freedom of the press. But nowhere does it say that someone can take that right away from us. Not the government, not the people and certainly not masked gunmen.

I admit that I am not well versed on satire. But here is what I do understand.

Satire is using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose someone or criticize their weaknesses. Especially political or contemporary figures. Right? (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/satire)

Ok, well irony is the expression of one's meaning to signify the opposite for an emphatic effect. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/irony#irony)

Granted, I'm not a language scholar, or even a master of the written word. But the terrorists (and that's what they are, I don't care how you slice it) may have been prompted to kill the people of Charlie Hebdo for drawing a picture of the prophet Mohamed as the editor-in-chief of their magazine. So, in a way, they killed their own prophet by killing the editors and the cartoonists who created him.

Therefore, Je Sui Charlie for all the cartoonists and writers of Charlie Hebdo. The whole world is standing with you.

http://www

.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/je-suis-charlie-trends-people-4935086