This Week in my Life and Some of Last Week too

School is about to start again, kids. I imagined over the last two weeks that I would be R&R-ing in front of my computer, writing diligently, reading submissions, etc. But I've been lucky enough to land a nearly full-time fall gig at Eastern Gateway. I'll be teaching two Freshman Success classes, an online version of Comp II (whose technology I've been learning via modules for the last five days--I'm not kidding....they're complicated), and two traditional Comp I classes. It's a full fall program, but I think I'm more or less ready for the fun. Instructor orientation happens this Saturday, and on Monday, classes begin.

Now, let's have an interlude with Royksopp before we continue on....


In other news, my story "The Only Things You Will Ever Give Birth To" is up at Foundling Review. Sad story, this one. But *shrugging* c'est la Vie.

One more story that I know is slated for publication sometime this summer, perhaps early fall, will appear at LitSnack. This story is also semi-autobiographical and titled "Zurich, 1989" (which I also realized is the title of a Pixies album...no intended symbolic correlation, though). This one is about a table conversation I had with a much older, foreign salesman when I was just 14 and on a European business trip with my parents. More on this when it goes live. As I mentioned before, every story has a story. And that one is no exception.

What else? Oh yes, in the evenings, we've been canning everything: beets, cabbage, beans, tomato sauce and putting it all away for the winter. I've been making a fanny-load of pesto, too. It's quite the display in our fruit celler (and, to a lesser degree, in our freezer). We probably have another two weeks of canning to do, and then harvest will largely be over, except maybe for corn and pumpkins.

All right, back to lesson planning. Over and out for now. In the meantime, one of my favorite story-telling songs by Patty Griffin...it's so sad, which is part of its appeal to me. What is not said is every bit as powerful as what is said. Bun always howls along with the ahhhh-ing when I sing along with it. :-)