Glamor shots

Attention Rebecca Loudon, Charles Jensen, and Ivy Alvarez: y'all are reviewed (by yours truly) in the new issue of Galatea Resurrects. (Yes, it sounds familiar -- it's a revision of a post from this blog. My thanks to Eileen Tabios for suggesting that I send it in!)

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So we had a bit of an ice storm here yesterday. I wimped out and left work early, before the streets got bad; some 6000 households locally were without power thanks to ice on power lines, ice on branches making them fall onto power lines, etc. but fortunately I wasn't among them. Woke up this morning to hear on the radio that campus was closed until noon, which was pretty astonishing; snow days are all but unheard-of here. (Okay, it wasn't really a snow day -- we only got about two inches of that -- more of an ice day.) It was beyond lovely to look outside at the sun rising over a frozen world, and to turn right around and go back to my nice warm cozy bed for a couple hours.

Also beyond lovely: the frozen world today. Driving near campus, the brilliant sun made diamonds of ice -- made the trees into crystal sculptures, into ghosts. The power lines encased in ice looked like blue laser beams. Just breathlessly, frighteningly beautiful.

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Hooray for James, the English Springer Spaniel who won Best in Show at Westminster! Even though I had to work till 9 pm on Monday, I recorded the first night's competition and started watching when I got home. So, yes, I watched all six hours that were televised. Riveted to the TV, I was. Westminster is my Super Bowl, my Oscar Night, and my American Idol all rolled into one. I have to say I was rooting for the PBGV -- that's Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen (and you wonder why they call it "a Peeb" for short!) -- for BiS, cute little critter that she was, but all along I did think the Springer had an awfully good chance. He was just showing beautifully, and what a gorgeous dog.

Lots of gorgeous dogs, really. The cats always get just a little nervous when I watch Westminster because I go into total "wanna doggie!" mode. I do want a dog, but as it stands right now the poor thing would be crated from 7:45 am until, most days, close to 6 pm. And that just wouldn't be right. Someday, though, someday.

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Today I left work early and went to a photo shoot. The April issue of Bloom: Celebrating Life in Bloomington (not to be confused with the other Bloom) features an article on the history of the poetry scene here in Bloomington, and yours truly is one of the featured poets, along with Cathy Bowman, Roger Mitchell (who has a new book out), Tony Brewer, Jenny Kander, and Patricia Coleman. The issue will include interviews with each of us and a selection of our poems, in addition to the (glamorous, I'm sure) photos. For the group shot we had to stand OUTSIDE. And since it's for an April magazine we couldn't bundle up in our heavy winter coats. The horror! (Actually, it was bright and sunny and not really that cold, though certainly below freezing.)

Those of you who know Bloomington will appreciate the complete and total appropriateness of the fact that the photo shoot took place at the Runcible Spoon. *grin*

It was a pleasant couple of hours, and it's fun to be in such stellar company -- two of the poets (Roger and Cathy) have been my teachers, and the others (including Shana Ritter, who wrote the article) are friends of mine. I'll try to snag some extra copies of the magazine when it comes out, in case anyone might be interested in getting one.

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No AWP for me this year, unfortunately, unless someone drops some unexpected cash in my lap. Maybe next year. All y'all who are going, have a drink (or not) for me!

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Happy Half-Price Valentine Candy Day, tomorrow. Now that's a holiday I can get behind. And if I eat a lot of the stuff, I'll have even more behind to get.

Thankyew, I'll be here all night. Be sure and tip your waitress.