by: Genevieve Palmieri
Remembering Nora Ephron…
I knew Nora Ephron briefly. That is to say, I worked for her for a short time. During those brief days she afforded me the opportunity to share the experience of knowing her. Cooking classes, lunches I still salivate over, my first (so far only) trip to Paris, and a once in a lifetime on-screen appearance opposite a Hollywood legend (Thanks, Nora). When I heard of her illness and sudden passing I instantly flashed back to what have become major pins in my journey to date. I had just begun working on her final film, Julie & Julia, as a production assistant and I was going through a bit of a spell / quarter life crisis, maybe? I felt miserable and jaded and I could not seem to shake it. I started to document my day-to-day thoughts in the hopes that something would occur to me during transcription; somehow I would become self-realized. While trying to weave some sort of clever, anecdotal memorial last night, I came across an essay I wrote shortly after meeting Nora…
The perks of my line of work are limited. And by limited I mean there aren’t really any. None; In fact. I work stockbroker hours for happy meal wages. I eat too much, sleep too little, drink too much coffee, don’t exercise enough, occasionally smoke and constantly stew, all of it ruminating into a festering ball of woe-is-me type frustration. The kind that can paralyze if left unchecked with the healthy “snap out of it” slap that comes along with self-scrutiny. There are things though…things worth mentioning- things that if you didn’t say out loud you would have trouble believing yourself. These are the things worth mentioning as they have happened to me.