just checking in

I hate to leave my blog un-updated for so long, so a quick post before I get to work.

I turned in the rental application for a pretty nice townhouse this morning. We'll know tomorrow if we're approved, and if so, I'll be moving as soon as the semester is over. I'm alternately super excited and dreading having to pack and move. The super excited part lasts longer, though.

I'm writing my term papers about Simone Muench and we've been emailing back and forth. How cool is the internet? (And your profs introducing you to their writer friends?) I couldn't have imagined using the author of a book as a source when I was an undergrad. I also sent her a few of my poems and I am beyond excited about what she had to say about them.

In addition to the wonderful insights from Simone, I've been reading a lot of feminist criticism to get ready for these papers. I even bought a copy of Gilbert & Gubar's Madwoman in the Attic (although I haven't had a chance to read any of it). I also read an essay called "Why Contemporary Poetry isn't Taught in the Academy" (or something like that) by Michael McIrvin that really got me thinking. I'll post more on that later. It's strange how sometimes I "get" what I read and sometimes it all sounds like gibberish. But I feel like I'm learning something (or maybe "gaining comprehension" is a better way to describe what's going on in my head) so I guess that's the point, right? Maybe feminist criticism isn't the puzzle I thought it was at the beginning of the semester.

and then they went home

Quote of the week: "You do realize you're dancing to a song that says, 'Bitch, get out the way,' don't you?" --Simone Muench

So, that was AWP. Interesting.

I got to meet some wonderful people and pick up some pretty cool-looking journals/chapbooks in the bookfair, but I didn't make it to nearly enough readings or panels. I was just so overwhelmed with information, sensory stimulation, etc., that I spent most of the week disoriented or trying to let my brain catch up. Also, I've learned that while there is strength in numbers, traveling in a large group is probably not a great idea. Five girls in one hotel room = at least 3 hours of prepping each morning. Those five girls trying to coordinate things with four guys staying on the other side of town = just plain stupid. Remind me about this next year.

On the upside, some highlights:

1. Meeting Simone, Kristy O, Jackie from RHINO, Kristy B, Brandi, and Jeannine (plus Leilani Hall and being in the same room as Kim Addonizio) and getting most of them to sign their books for me. Oh, how I love signed books.
2. The Frock You! reading (which, by the way, just happens to feature all the women I was so happy to meet) and staying at Djangos after it turned from quiet poetry space into packed-like-sardines hip-hop club.
3. Sitting outside (on the second day of March) and having to roll up my jeans because it was too warm, then going inside and realizing that my nose was just a little bit sun burned.
4. Reading Brandi's chapbook and losing my breath on poem after poem. I read it cover to cover in less than a half hour (while sitting outside on the 2nd day of March)

Alas, I am back in cold, snowy Ohio and my pockets are empty (holy crap! it should be illegal to charge that much for a drink!) and I have been neglecting my studies and students for the last two weeks, so I have to go. There is a bag full of books and journals taunting me, but I have to wait to read them.

Hope everyone got home safely.