Watch for a YouTube link to the Oct. 18 LIVECAST INTERVIEW WITH ZOOEY DESCHANEL & M. WARD, sponsored by Levi’s Shape What’s to Come, including questions from the producer of our Celebrities In Disgrace film, Mark McNutt…
Erin Enberg freelances in various film and television productions and has worked for HBO, NBC, The Travel Channel, A&E, MTV and many others. She currently resides in Portland, Maine and will be graduating in January with an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. Her work will appear in the second edition of Kerouac’s Dog Magazine and she is an editor for The New Guard, a forthcoming literary journal based in Portland. (author photo: Jonathan Grassi).
I AM IN LOVE WITH FLORENCIO AVALOS by Erin Enberg
I am in love with Florencio Avalos.
I can’t get these 33 miners out of my mind–and heart. Thirty-two year old Florencio Avalos was the first one out, and what a looker he was! The dark complexion, the sunglasses, the bravery to be the first to ride up the escape tunnel–no one knew what would happen, only the first rescue worker had ridden down into the shaft, but not up it. 
Their vital signs were monitored–blood pressure, heart rate, and they had to wear oxygen masks, a girdle and compression socks to prevent blood clots. When they opened the capsule—an underwhelming 1960s-ish metal encasment designed in part by NASA—the world waited. Would he be able to walk? Would he be emotionally overwhelmed? The miners had been “coached” every day by doctors, psychologists and trainers, even having them read a book about how to deal with the media and coping with the difference in expectations between them and their families. 
Supposedly Florencio would be first because he was the healthiest and most emotionally stable. They didn’t want someone who might have a panic attack on the way up. When he stepped out from the capsule, his seven year old son let his head hang back and wailed into the cool desert air in the San Jose mine in Copiapo. Florencio, without even a smile or hesitation or any sign of muscular atrophy or emotional imbalance, embraced his wife and son. Oh Florencio, your strength of character and bravery! You won me over with your stoic temperament and endurance! And you’re really cute (Creo que eres guapo!). I would’ve chosen you first, too. (more…)
Celebrities in Disgrace 