Carolyn
Hennesy
Pandora Gets... Young Adult Books Series
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 By
Joe Hummel
The very busy actor/writer/trapeze artist has been seen on
Dawson's Creek, That 70s Show, Jenny (with Jenny McCarthy)
and will been on this fall's Cougar Town with Courtney Cox.
Her stint as General Hospital's Diane Miller started as "two
days" work, and three years later, she is still there.
I looked, but couldn't find any dirt on Carolyn Hennesy.
She explained that the simple reason for that was that just
didn't have time for trouble. She has kept herself busy with
hobbies and, of course, work. She did let me know that she
was 'very good' at covering her tracks too.
Her newest job is as that of author of a new series of books
for young adults about Pandora, a 13 year old girl with a
big problem.
The first 3 books, Pandora Gets Lazy, Pandora Gets Jealous
and Pandora Gets Vain have been released, and she is just
finishing the glossary for number 4, which will be released
later this year. Number five is currently being written.
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I asked Carolyn about the response she's gotten so far,
and she told me that while meeting with elementary school classes,
she finds that many of the 4-5-6th grade girls are enraptured
by Pandora - "Then, I get the boys attention by mentioning I
was the first person killed in Terminator 3... Then I have the
whole class"
"That age is no holds barred - they are inhibited , really
not influenced by peer pressure... not working at keeping
up with each other yet... the way it does when the fully reach
puberty. The things that they say are wonderful, shocking,
the things that come out of their mouths... it's like... Wow!
These guys are really paying attention. Its a lot of fun."
I told her that I heard this story of a girl opening a box
of trouble before...
"One of the things that inspired me was notion that in many
cultures the advent of evil, releasing evil, being responsible
for evil is just squarely set on the shoulders of... a woman!"
"I find that unfair, offensive and just plain wrong"
"About 5 years ago I was in a writing workshop, writing a
series of short stories based on misunderstood women. In fiction,
glancing on religion, just lightly, I'm not a religious scholar
or anything, and why these women should not have gotten such
a bad rap. What were they doing, from their perspective? Very
much like Gregory MacGuire's Wicked, although mine were short,
short stories.
One of these women was Pandora. The gods created her, they
gave her curiosity, she was doomed from the start. She had
no control over what she was doing."
"I thought, what if she wasn't a grown woman, what if she
was a teenage girl? Just 13, with a big project due at school,
living in ancient Greece; your normal, average everyday tween.
She found the box, brought it school, knew she shouldn't,
opens the box all hell breaks loose, what is she going to
do?"
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It was just a short story, and a visiting author heard it
in the workshop, and made it very clear that this was a novel
for young adults. While it was discussed, it was decided that
was a series of books. Seven books, one for each of the seven
evils that she released. That was how Pandora was born.
"Zeus pulls her to Olympus and says 'Look what you did, kiddo!'
She gets the choice between eternal torture and torment or
taking responsibility for what she has done."
"That is the great theme of the book - Take Responsibility
for Your Actions! I have to tell you, I see none of that today.
People are given so much. Here's my Star Trek reference 'the
needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many'- that is
not it! We are literally watching the decline of our civilization."
I pointed out that Carolyn was being rather subversive in
our PC society, and she wore that banner proudly. "I'm doing
my part, because the needs of the many outweigh the needs
of the one. Now, everyone is in their own little universe,
YOU have to do what I say; I will spill a cup of coffee into
my lap and sue McDonalds, even though it is my fault. Frivolous
lawsuits, MY needs and wants totally outweigh the greater
good of society."
"Just the other day, I went to the opera at the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion, in seat that were NOT inexpensive (thank you my
husband!), and a woman was humming along, AT THE OPERA! I
politely asked her to stop, and she just looked at me like
'screw you, I'm going to ruin everyone's time.' It was benign
but it illustrates where so many people are."
"And if you can blame someone else.. Good For You!"
(continued on page two...)
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