Spring Break Randomness

I found this post card at the coffee shop the other day and absolutely love it. The photographer is Brian M. Heiser, and I might just have to beg him to do my cover art some day. The post card is just about the exact visual representation of my poem "The Orchard".


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Speaking of cover art reminds me of that lonely manuscript that I've been neglecting. Hoping spring break affords me some time to hammer away at it. If not, I will at least do some serious submitting. It's hard to get published when you only send work out once every six months.

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Twilight is at the top of my netflix list. I only get one movie at a time and two a month (which is often more than I have time for) so I'm trying to figure out when the best time to send back the movie I already have will be. If I mail it today, they might get it before Twilight is released. If I wait...all the teenie boppers might get it and start holding it hostage and I won't get it until next month. I'm pretty anxious to see if Edward is more charming on screen than he is in the book (I thought he was kind of a douche-bag, to be honest).

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I don't know if I've ever really blogged about this, but I'm pretty obsessed with my Italian heritage. I'm almost as obsessed with the Bulgarian side of the family (and the suspicion that we might have been gypsies), but that's not the point right now. When I was a kid, I was bummed that I didn't have a cool Italian last name (my mom's maiden name is Morelli, her mother's maiden name is Bentivegna). I was also bummed that I didn't get as good of a tan as my mother, and that my hair wasn't as curly as my sister's. Who knows genetically how "Italian" these things are, but in my mind, there was a one-to-one connection. Vanity aside, I've always loved all things Italian and all things Italian-American (although I admit, I'm not much of a mobster movie buff, and that doesn't quite make sense to me) and recently, Facebook has introduced me to someone who shares my obsessions (Hi Joey!). This is perhaps one of the first Facebook connections with someone I didn't already know that might be somehow productive. We're going to be chatting Italian-American poetry and whatnot and I'm really excited.

I've also decided (almost decided) that I want Italian to be my language requirement for my PhD. I took 4 semesters of Spanish in college, but they don't count because I got a C my 4th semester. I could take a placement test and hopefully remember enough to place me in that 4th semester again, but I think I'd rather start fresh (besides, then I'll be a tiny bit tri-lingual). Now my super-undeveloped plan is to take 2 semesters of Italian next year, then go to Italy next summer (maybe some intensive classes) and start checking out the contemporary poetry scene over there. Maybe do a little translation. Ah, pipe dreams. And credit card debt.

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I'm heading back to Ohio next week for a few days and am worried that I'm not going to get enough work done. I have to take my car to the dealership, go to the dentist, do a bunch of other errands that I can only do in Ohio because I haven't fully transitioned to being an Illinois resident, plus see friends and family...but I have about 18 books to read (that's only a slight exaggeration. It's more like 9), two paper drafts to write, a stack of papers to grade, and all the po-biz stuff I was talking about earlier. Whatever happened to relaxing?

Saturday Snapshots

Had a thesis meeting with Mary today. I asked her what she thought my book cover should look like (b/c there will be a book someday!), and we were both thinking black and white with lots of weeds. She thought little girl and broken down barn. I don't have any little girls around these days, but I do know a couple of barns. (Hmm, maybe Mary has a little girl I could borrow...) I started wandering around my folks' place with my camera and here's what I ended up with:

Of course, I don't think I'm vain enough to use my own photograph for my book-cover-to-be, but I was feeling inspired. Here's a few more (not future book covers):