Hodge-Podge

Happy anniversary to me. I've been blogging for a year today. A lot has happened since then: my first publication (which reminds me--I just found out I'll have a poem in January's issue of Hobble Creek Review. Yay!), my trip to Bisbee, and my best friend's wedding, just to name a few. I love it here in blogland. I hope I stay forever.

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Dear Business Owners of Cuyahoga Falls & Stow:

Will someone puh-leeeze open a frigging coffee shop? I drove around for an hour today looking for a coffee shop in the town that I live in. There isn't one. And if there is, it's well hidden. I did see dozens of quick oil change places, ice creams stores, fast food joints, and bars. But if a girl wants wi-fi and coffee, she's got to go to Akron. WTF?

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Last night I read The Visible World by Mark Slouka. Wow. Reminded me of reading The Bell Jar. Not because of subject matter, but because the emotional resonance of the narrative made me feel completely sapped of strength when it was over. I remember reading TBJ a couple of years ago and not moving for an hour after I finished. Just sat there staring at the floor. That's the mark of a good book for me, although if it happened with every book, I'd probably have to commit myself.

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Anybody seen Moonlight? It's a new show on CBS about modern-day vampires. I admit, I've been fascinated with vampires since I was a kid, so I couldn't pass up this show. And I'm trying to like it. But the acting is so-so, the film-noir-esq narration is maddening, and the premise (vampire with a heart of gold helps innocent-looking blond reporter solve murder mysteries) is a little sickening. But I can't stop staring at the carnage.

One thing I do like about it is the updates they've made to traditional vampire-lore. No fear of garlic, stake through the heart paralyzes, not kills, the sun makes them sick but won't make them burst into flame.

Let's face it. I'm not as discriminating about television as I am about books. I was a huge fan of Charmed, after all. I'll keep watching the show until it's cancelled, which I imagine will be sometime before Christmas.

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Thinking about my thesis defense (less than a month away now!). *Someone* hinted that he may ask me, "If you were to write a blurb for your book, what would you say?" Also thinking about "what's at stake?" and "so what?" type questions. What's at stake? Me. My soul. My self-worth. Do you think that's an acceptable answer? Nah. Maybe something a little less self involved. But really... it will be difficult to think of these poems as anything but an exploration of self. Sure, it's about family. It's about coming of age. It's about working class issues. It's about relationships and love and sex. But it's all about me. How to turn that into an academically acceptable answer will be constantly on my mind for the next 3 and a half weeks.