"Bring It 2 Peter," by Melany Joy Beck and Janelle Sorenson

go to Kickstarter! help fund what's sure to be an awesometastic flick.

February 12th is the deadline—if they don't meet their goal by then, they lose all the money they've raised so far!

i mean, who doesn't love Peter Fonda?

thanks thanks : )

"Two women risk everything to deliver a piece of lost fan mail to American icon Peter Fonda in time for his 71st birthday."

what am i doing, what i am doing.

hi,


here's a secret. i mostly write this blog using proper capitalization, but if you knew me, you'd know that's not how i talk when i'm talking to friends.

you can be my friend tonight.


what am i doing. what i am. here's a few things:

*

i'm reading ander monson's other electricities. i'm only like 30 pages in. it's growing inside me. it's everything i need to be reading right now. it's signed. it says something about the white space. i am in it? wherever here is.

"section breaks."

i care about them lately. i'm learning a lot. i'm figuring things. i feel full at the moment. full in the large/wanting way, which is one of my favorites. it makes me wander around with my headphones in, makes me turn music up loud. the snow underfoot.


i am writing.

*

fell out of my purse: one purple glove. a borrowed hat. cigarette butts i didn't want to throw on the ground. another glove, one of the warm pair i found in my desk. who left it? but i traced my steps back across the street and i found it.

fell out of my pocket: a cigarette case, backseat of car, it says hida. a lighter. found it in snowdrift days later. it's working again. sometimes things need to rest.

my purse broke.

who put these up?

*

what does postmodern mean? someone said someone said i was that. i think it means i'm trying too hard. i'm going to try not to try so hard. ha ha, ha ha, haaa.

coffeeshop has great graffiti.

*

smiling at you. smiling at all of you.

*

here's a picture.

-gen & billy

*

i care about barns, too.

*

i'm in boston. i flew here. i'm happy to be here. i miss minneapolis.

how crazy is that?

*

this is my desk.

i just finished my first semester as a teacher.

thanks, students.

*

i love my friends.

*

mmm, i'm tired. sorry, i know i haven't said much.

bye again.

Come on inside

By the Way, My Brand New Life (Oh, Minneapolis)

So I know I dropped off the side of the planet. But I'm here! And now, here is Minneapolis. I arrived at the end of July, and ever since I've been running around trying to get my life in order. Things are just about normalized, so I figured I'd pull it together and post a post for you good people of the internets.

I got lost one night, and ended up with a great view of the river. Did you know the Mississippi runs between the Twin Cities? I didn't, until my first visit in March. "Look at those chunks of ice! Is that a lake?" No, Wahida. It's the Mississippi.

I house sat in St. Paul for the first couple weeks I was here. I found this little street poem in the sidewalk on a random corner:




This is my "breakfast nook." It's like a restaurant booth, but in my kitchen. I am so in love with it. I have red cushions on the benches now. The boxes have been shuffled away, as well. Best part is, it doubles as a writing nook.






Hmmm----what else? Well, here's a picture of the corner of Lake & Hennepin, the (yuppified?) heart of Uptown Minneapolis. I don't live near this intersection, but I do live in Uptown. Most of my friends-----I love love love my classmates-----live here too, and so far I adore it.


Well, I need to write up another post about all the school/MFA stuff that's going on. I'll be back! Hope September is treating you well.

The MFA Chronicles

So, I met a lot of great people on P & W and the MFA Blog during the application season. Some of us decided it would be great to keep in touch via Facebook & Twitter, and I met a lot of new great people through the people I'd already connected with.

One of those great people, Jonterri Gadson, came up with a great idea: a collaborative blog made by first year MFA students. And so The MFA Chronicles was born. We're all starting at different programs, we have different genres, and most of us have never met in person. I'm excited to be a part of it and I'll hope you'll check us out.

PS---I spread the word to my wonderful S. She's starting a Creative Writing PhD in fiction, and I think she'll give us a fun perspective from a different angle.

http://mfachronicles.blogspot.com/

Sacha is a Notable Author!

My dear S. is notable!! ♥

"22 Ways of Looking at Chagall," by Sacha Siskonen

Check it out here, scroll down to the New Mississippi Review.

Notice how close her name is to Robert Olen Butler's?!

You can read her wonderful story at the Mississippi Review Online, here. You might have noticed the link to it in the sidebar, before, under "My Friend Wrote a Story."

You might have seen her blog in my blogroll at the bottom, it's
Those Who Can't Teach. Check out her latest post, "Take Note," to read how she found out about this honor---it's mind-boggling!


Congratulations, S.

I couldn't be more proud of you, you author, you.

Secret Identities

So---I've decided to blow my cover. I feel like I've gotten over some of my initial embarrassment, largely thanks to those of you who keep visiting, those of you who've taken the time to say a few words. So thanks for that.

Yes, I get pretty silly here, and no, it's nothing fancy. But it's me, or at least it's a little bit of me. Why be ashamed about that? I can put together a more professional-ish site if I ever get to the point where that's necessary.

My other concern was about privacy. The internets frighten me, to be honest---and that's weird, because I tend to be a bit of an internet addict. But I've been delving into the world of blogs more and more lately, and there are plenty of real people out there who use their real names to blog, and they seem none the worse for wear. My friend S. does, and she hasn't had any problems. Same with Twitter---apparently it's no big deal. I guess I'm just more old fashioned than I thought.

I want to be able to share stuff, and sometimes that means I can't be anonymous. Like now: Look, the Minnesota MFA program is welcoming our incoming class! Me, right there, it's real! *happiness*



I'll try it out for a while. If the sky doesn't come crashing down, I guess I'll stick with it.

Here we go (knock on wood):

Hi, I'm Wahida. It's nice to meet you!

Last Minute Story (Bad, Writer)

1. ladies and gentlemen, 4058 words. and i think we have an ending here. goodnight, seattle! 2 minutes ago from web
2. @ms. x: i'm required to put a word count in the header. less than 4000 or over 5000 and we get docked a grade. thems the breaks. 2 minutes ago from web
3. they're closing the Boston Globe?! (...300 to go.) 41 minutes ago from web
4. 400 left. my pace is slowing...i'm getting sleepy. and distracted. @ms. x: i wish there was a patch for this. about 1 hour ago from web
5. took a break for dinner, against better judgment. up past bedtime. 500 words left @ms. x: admitting we have a problem is the 1st step. 2 minutes ago from web
6. 600 to go...must. find. ending. about 1 hour ago from web
7. 3135... @ms. y: thank goodness, it's how many words i have done. thanks for the luck! i'm getting so close. just need to find an ending. about 2 hours ago from web
8. 3015...@ms. x: thanks for the encouragement! let's hope i get over this procrastination thing before grad school : ) about 3 hours ago from web
9. 2845. about 3 hours ago from web
10. 2436. about 4 hours ago from web
11. 2263. i think tweeting about it actually helps keep me motivated. about 5 hours ago from web
12. 2028 down! over the halfway mark. but my bedtime is 10 pm, since i have to wake up at 4 am for work. so i'd better get moving. about 5 hours ago from web
13. 1846 down. about 6 hours ago from web
14. 2678, i suck at math. about 7 hours ago from web
15. 1322 down, (4000-1322=wait...2778? oh crap) to go about 7 hours ago from web
16. 900 words down, 3100 to go. This is pathetic. about 9 hours ago from web
17. @ms. y: I know the feeling! about 9 hours ago from web
18. bad writer. about 10 hours ago from web
19. turning off the internet, writing if it kills me. 8:18 PM May 2nd from web
20. @ms. x: thanks for the stories, you're my hero : ) 8:11 PM May 2nd from web
21. @ms. x: good suggestion, thanks. i've been looking over prompts. i have about six different starts, but feel crappy about all of them. 8:07 PM May 2nd from web
22. @ms. x: ugh, i'm so blocked, and i need a story by monday. why must i be such a procrastination junkie? and now i'm twittering... 7:35 PM May 2nd from web
23. devoid of ideas. 5:13 PM May 2nd from web

Congratulations, S!

Big news for S. today---Hooray! We're free, it's over, we actually made it through...now for the good stuff.

PS---No blog lately, sleepy all the time.

Minneapolis

Lind Hall, home of the Creative Writing Program and the English Department

I accepted my offer from Minnesota the night before I flew out for the prospectives' weekend. I just got home---I feel so lucky. It was a dream, except that everything really happened.