Double Downs and A Sweet Potato

First of all, Ian Denning doubled-downed at KFC. Enough said.

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Yes, this post is about a sweet potato. A few weeks back I bought a sweet potato and I didn't cook with it, because, well, I got a whole bunch of other food that I wanted to cook, so I left it. Then it started sprouting and I thought, "I'll throw it away tomorrow." But the next day it had grown a bunch more, so I thought, "I'm gonna see if it gets bigger." Well, it did. Now, it's pretty big. Look close, you can see how tall these little vines have been. Fiction writers, here's an exercise: Write a story about a sweet potato that grew too much, rapidly, and took over someone's kitchen. There must also be a cardboard box, a loaf of bread, and a pair of boots in the story. OK. there you go.

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We're looking for Chicago Apartments. It's slow going, but we got a lot of leads. We were thinking Rogers Park, but I think we're shooting for something closer to campus so that I'm not so far away from home, what with the baby and all. So, we're looking for places in Lakeview and Andersonville (and other neighborhoods in those areas). We're really excited to be in Chicago during the summer, and even more so that this will be our home for the next couples years, maybe more. We'll see.

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I'm excited to start the program at Columbia and excited to meet the poets and profs whom I haven't met.

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OK. Time to clean up the house and stuff.

Keep it real,

Stay clean,

Joshua

Wordle and Projects

So, I did some wordle. These are the word clouds for my four recent projects. There's The Story Thief, Bumping, When the Wolves Quit, and To the Chapel of Light. If you're a publisher, publish these. I've been sending out Bumping for probably two years, and the biggest critique is that the book's language is fairly spare and minimalist. It's a book of understatement and subtext. The Story Thief is in its final editing (at least, I'm combing through checking dialogue and shit before I start querying agents and some awesome presses). I'm excited. Anyone wants to read it and give me some feedback in a couple weeks...let me know...you included Dave. To the Chapel of Light is now out at small presses. I hope someone sees the good in this project. I'm so proud of it, and I have a lot to say about that project. When the Wolves Quit has another draft in it. I met with my professor, Richard Greenfield (who is a brilliant poet, fucking brilliant, and a fucking great teacher), took the time to read my massive book and talk to me about it. He had a lot of great things to say, and some comments that jazzed me so much! i got some work to do, but to me, I think it's not a lot of work, just some teasing out of the performance of each character. I've got some books to read and some things to think about in terms of really bring out that this book is a play and not just some arbitrary form holding a narrative together. It's about roles and roles being stretched and twisted when violence and things out of the norm rear its head.

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I've got poetry workshop tomorrow, then one more fiction workshop. Then I meet with MY class on Friday, get the final papers and tell them their current grades. I'm sad to see 'em go. But I'll have new students in Chicago...keep your fingers crossed about summer teaching!!!

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Alright, just watched Glee, gonna watch some parenthood and hang out with Em and Indie.

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Love,

Joshua Young

Don Waters and other things

Dear Chicago,

Don't worry, we'll be there soon. Just hang on...we've got some shit to finish here, then we're on our way...Indie's excited to meet you. Though, we're probably gonna have to get her a fancy coat for the winters. I'm sure she'll be happy not to have to deal with pulling goat-heads out of her paws. Anyway, see you soon.

- X

So, except for two more fiction workshops and one poetry workshop, and giving a final, I'm done. We had a nice little workshop today, and ended up in this little nook, talking about the stories. But whatever, you probably don't care about that.

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Last night I got to see Don Water's read from his collection of stories, Desert Gothic, which won the Iowa prize for fiction. He read the story, "Mormons in Heat," which is a really great story, and super funny. My friend Peter was laughing so hard, that Don started laughing a lot--that and he was laughing at his own stuff, 'cause he hadn't read it in a while. It was a great reading! Go check out Don Waters. He's brilliant!

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What's funnier about last night is that the gentleman who read, the MFA student was a guy named David Roe, who introduced (each student is introduced by a friend in the program before the reading) by a guy named Steven Lloyd Weber. OK. So, Steven read last year, when I came to visit. And David Roe introduced him. Talk about fucking full-circle. Even if I wasn't leaving, I would have to with something like this. It's just crazy that the same students who I saw when I came to visit--my first reading series at NMSU--were the same two who read at the last. CRAZY.

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I'm getting excited to get out of this town, but I gotta say, I really like a lot of my new friends. And some of them I respect as writers so much more than I did in the beginning of the year. Maybe it's cause they're grown as writers, or maybe I was just pissed. Though, there are some people you'll see out there in the fiction world for sure. Poetry-wise, ditto.

I think I'm also on the same page with most people here about the "laziness" of the town, and how that can affect the program. I think, for the most part, many fellow students are really hoping for a more intense next year...maybe not intense, but fuller.

I'm excited to start at Columbia, though we got till September 7th. I think I'm gonna go troll around over there during the summer. I applied for a teaching job, though, I don't think I'm gonna get it. My cover letter wasn't the best. I've rewritten it and made it really sharp. Maybe I should reapply. There's nothing wrong with that right?

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I've got a headache right now. But I tried to pushed through it, I revised some stories and work on some endnotes and my poetry portfolio. I'll still have a lot to do by monday. I read a lot this semester, but I read a lot of fiction, and not as much poetry. Probably about six or seven poetry books. I read a lot more prose...plus prose books are longer...

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There's a ROCKBAND party tonight. Me and Indie are gonna head over there in an hour and a half. She's gonna play with her friend Rory. So, we have to go over earlier, so they can get their sniffing, barking, and growling (And maybe some pissing) out of the way. They usually run around like crazy for a long time, then that night, and the next day, both of them just want to sleep...ALL DAY.

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Alright, I think I'm gonna straighten up some shit for a while. Have a great weekend.

Later,

Joshua