Writings in the Raw
In case you missed it, I was interviewed by the amazing Evan Karp in last week's SF Weekly. You can read all about my obsession with RuPaul and Laura Ingalls Wilder here. Evan is the literary impresario behind SF's Quiet Lightning, and he's interviewed a number of amazing Bay Area writers for Litseen and SF Weekly--a treasure trove.
Thanks Evan!
We spent three weeks in Europe--visited London, Geneva, Barcelona, Malaga, and Madrid. It was, well. The words are still coming, in spurts. I'm hoping to preserve it all in fiction someday soon. I had to return to doodles this week.
Another big week down the hatch: we launched our first outdoor show for Play On Words--and I discovered my travel journal from my first trip to Spain. Summer is the time of year that everything starts.
Somehow, even in the busiest of seasons, there are slow days. Tonight is our Play On Words show in San Jose's St. James Park--it's going to be awesome. We're featuring work by 14 writers--a number of them new to our organization. It feels really good to offer opportunities to fellow artists.
It is the height of summer. Gay marriage is legal in all 50 United States. Fourth of July was hot & beautiful. Our next Play On Words show is next week--July 14 in San Jose's St. James Park. And just a few days after: we depart for Europe. It's the best time of the year.
Wiggling & jiggling. It is a day of wiggling & jiggling.
Cool things: We met our next door neighbors--at Lake Arrowhead--and they are rad! And they make fruits and vegetables out of fabric! Also, Play On Words is performing at St. James Park on July 14! I met a cellist named Freya. It's summer. Ry and I depart for Europe in less than a month.
The news is still sad. But Obama was on WTF this week. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write, and it makes me so happy to know that things do change, in their own time, in their own ways. And the beat goes on.
in which I try to draw President Obama and VP of Podcasting Maron.
Check out our rad new lime pillow, courtesy of our new friend Amy of Jumbo Jibbles.
This is a special time of year: birthdays, anniversaries, memorials. The news is hard to read. I don't have the words to process it all yet. In the meantime, here are some doodles:
We have reached a time of our lives in which everything is maximum. Maximum Fun. Maximum Friends. Maximum Love. Is there such a thing?
Play On Words is producing a summer show! We're accepting submissions through June 30--find details here.
We did it: We launched Play On Words at Cafe Stritch. We celebrated birthdays. We biked in the rain.
I'm thrilled to announce that my short story, "Exposure," was a finalist in the 2015 Reynolds Fiction Prize, awarded by the Center for Women Writers. Congratulations to all involved!
In other news, tomorrow night is Play On Words: Take Flight at San Jose's Cafe Stritch. I'm so unbelievably excited. This production represents more than six months of dedicated work--soliciting submissions, collaborating with artists and performers, networking with San Jose businesses. Tomorrow will be our biggest, boldest show yet, showcasing the work of 13 Bay Area writers. We even got a mention in the San Jose Mercury News! On my birthday, no less. It has been a good week.
The pursuit of creativity is often as wonderful as any one "thing" we can create. And the beat goes on.
Birthday week...I'm the luckiest.
I've been a little under the weather the week; perhaps because the weather itself is off, cloudy and gloomy. It is that insane time of year in which everything seems to culminate.
I saw our dear border collie Taj for the last time just a few days before we lost him--the same day, incidentally, I drove to Calistoga for four incredible days at LitCamp, where I met Pulitzer Prize winners and got to nerd out on fiction. Laurel graduated from her master's program in San Francisco. It has rained on us intermittently and the sky is one huge mood. May is always an insane time of year, the time of year that stories are planted. It's time for me to sow.
I'm thrilled to share that a series of my 100-word stories have been published in the spring issue of Oracle Fine Arts Review, a wonderful journal published by the University of South Alabama, and edited by the force of nature that is Karie Fugett. (If you haven't yet, you really need to read "Needs a Miracle" in Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal. It's gorgeous.)
Cover art by Micah Mermilliod
In two weeks, I've been from the Colorado snow to the Palm Desert. I've worn cowboy boots and biked with saddlebags. The clip of life does not slow down, and sometimes that's a good thing.
Got lost on campus. Ran a 5k in Santa Cruz. Contemplated Shabbat. And, finally, announced Play On Words' new partnership with Cafe Stritch! Can't wait to promote our next show.
That's not a filter you're seeing: it's the lovely summer haze of Europe--waiting for us on the horizon.
The rainclouds are rare and beautiful. I hope they stay awhile.
I write.
I doodle.
I'm at work on my first book, a collection of linked short stories that follows a community of expatriates living on the southern coast of Spain.
I care about stuff. Like curing type 1 diabetes. And marriage equality. And rights for immigrants. And public radio. And espanol. And Frank O'Hara and Jennifer Egan and Federico Garcia Lorca and Tony Kushner. You know, cool stuff.
I make postcards that are also stories.
Sometimes I read stories and poems out loud.
Sometimes I go to conferences.
You can find my short stories, essays, poems and flash fictio in a variety of places in print and online. If you Google really hard, you might find the two short radio pieces I produced on a badass NPR affiliate in San Francisco.
This is where you can go to find out who I am.