Interview: Lulu Dalzell on ‘Rhododendron’
In this interview, editor Anna Rubenstein and Issue III contributor Lulu Dalzell discuss four-leaf clovers, Sam Shepard, and who to call when you get bad news.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
I know you well enough to know that your art isn't limited to poetry. Tell me about your artistic practice.
LULU DALZELL
I would call myself multi-disciplinary. I write a lot of poetry, and I've been getting into writing fiction and non-fiction recently as well...I have the film and theater side to things, too. I would say that I mainly identify as a writer, but scenic design is also something that I have a lot of love for and works really well for me.In all things, I like thinking about space, how to make places that people can inhabit.
In middle school and high school, writing was just something to do to get by academically, for essays and things. I would do creative work when I was assigned it, but it was never what I felt I was very good at. In my freshman year writing class at Emerson, my professor introduced us to narrative non-fiction writing. And I was like, "Oh! This works very well for me! This is really fun! I love this in a way I haven't loved writing before!" I started writing a lot of non-fiction, and quickly found myself skewing towards a more poetic style, which turned into writing poetry itself.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Is there a piece of narrative non-fiction that made you fall in love with the form?
LULU DALZELL
It was David Sedaris, Repeat After Me. I remember thinking that it was crazy that non-fiction could be like that.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
How's fiction been? What have you been writing about?
LULU DALZELL
I am not one of those people who can pull things out of thin air. I do not understand how people do fantasy, period pieces, things like that. I write from my life: it's often basically autobiographical, with a little spin. I find that a lot of my fiction comes from poetry that I've written.So I write a lot about, like...girls...living in apartments.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
How did you come to this piece, specifically?
LULU DALZELL
I actually got the idea after I saw Mister's theme for the third issue. I was in a really weird place. It was right after school got out, I'd finished filming my thesis film in May, and I had a month until my lease began in Boston. I was only home for a month, so I couldn't get settled back into things, but I was still home. I was struggling to find any sort of creative outlet and thinking a lot, too much, about home. I have a Rhododendron tree in my yard that blooms pink. It was the first thing that had caught my eye creatively in days. I went from there.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
When I first read this piece, I felt like there was a kind of gut-punching quality to it. I've had phone calls where I feel more connected to the person I'm speaking to than how I'm being received, I was wondering if–
LULU DALZELL
That's like–that's exactly it! That's exactly it! I'm glad it came through. I think it came from a place of one specific relationship where I thought I was very well known, and it turns out that that person knew a different part of me than I really am. I'm trying to express that sense of, "Wow, you really loved a lot, but not everything," you know?
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Tell me about the clovers.
LULU DALZELL
Not to toot my own horn, but I'm the best four leaf clover finder you'll ever meet. I can look at a patch for a second and pick three, just like that. I don't know why – it's always been like this. I'm always aware of them. It's a presence thing. It's very grounding. I can always look for them. They'll always be there.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
In that vein, would you consider yourself a detail-oriented person? Do you pick through your screenplays, your writing like that?
LULU DALZELL
I am so crazy with my journals. I'll have an idea, I'll write it as quick as it comes, and then a few days later, I'll read it again. I'll read the exact piece, and then I'll not look at it. And then I'll write it again from what I remember and what I want to pursue and what I think is working in it. Then I'll let myself go for a little bit, and then I'll repeat that a few times until it feels right. And then I'll start typing it.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
You have always been a very fashionable person in my eyes. What fashion trends do you regret participating in?
LULU DALZELL
Oh, thank God. That is so fucking funny. Ugly grandma sweaters. I way over-exhausted it for myself. Like, my grandma sweaters were too ugly. I had this one with a bunch of little baby angels on it, and it was really beautiful. But it was also like, "You're doing a little too much, there might be one too many baby angels."
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Tomorrow is Sunday. What do your Sundays typically look like?
LULU DALZELL
Every Sunday I have a meeting for my sketch comedy troupe at Emerson. It's called Derbyn. I love it. That's another thing I do, I guess – I write sketch comedy. I hadn't done it at all until I auditioned last year. It's wonderful! It's performing, it's writing, it also helps connect me with people I would never really know. It's nice, it's important, to have scheduled fun time. That's what my Sundays are for. I'll try to hang out, run, do homework. I just ran a 10k last weekend! I've been a runner since I was in elementary school, and I've always really liked the act of doing it, of thinking, "I can fucking run," right? It's always been there to clear my head, to shake the weirdness.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Because you wrote a story about home, I have to ask: what's the first thing you usually do when you go home?
LULU DALZELL
I'll usually just sit in my kitchen. I have three younger siblings, and whenever I'm home, everybody's home. Everybody congregates in the kitchen, and we all just sit, stand, drink water, putter around, catch up. It's the most important thing.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
When you look back at the year, what are you gonna think about it? In the last two, three months of the year, what's one thing you want to do?
LULU DALZELL
I'm gonna think about living in Brookline over the summer. We moved in in June – you should come, sidenote. It's the most beautiful apartment. It's pink and light so home-like. I'll think about gaining independence. I read a lot of books. In the next few months, I'd love to cook a meal that really challenges me, something where I'm like, "Yes, like, this was really hard, and I crushed it."
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Who is your first phone call when you have good news? Who is your first phone call when you have bad news?
LULU DALZELL
Good news my dad, bad news my mom. My dad will be like, "YOU'RE SUCH A FUCKING ROCKSTAR!" and my mom will be like, "Oh, honey, it's okay..." It's exactly what I need.I'll also shout out my friend, Ari Bird. He's always there with an awkward comment, which is always good to have.
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Tell me some of your favorite recipes and books from this year!
LULU DALZELL
Salmon bowls! Bulgogi meatballs!..Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid!
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
Where do you feel the most like yourself?
LULU DALZELL
Hate to say: sketch comedy meetings and my on-campus job at the Emerson Equiptment Distrubtion Center. It's the center for our equiptment rentals, and I've been working there for three years. I'm so close with my co-workers, who I've come to see almost every day. And my bedroom! So many places!
ANNA RUBENSTEIN
All right, I have to ask about your tattoos now.
LULU DALZELL
This one is from my favorite playwright, Sam Shepard. He has the same one, and Patti Smith gave it to him. Those are my two all-timers, so I had to get it. I have one of Poppy's drawings on my shoulder, which I chose on the fly. I have orchids, I have a tooth tattoo, a three-headed flower for my siblings. I love them all so dearly.