An article that made me lose sleep and start writing and the 08s that made me dance

First, the article:
I don't know what to say about this. It made me revisit my quirkiest story. It also made me feel like I have questionable taste. Like I'm not special or something.

And now commencement:
They didn't hood the MFA--or any of the masters candidates---this year. I guess it was a time saver. But it was sad so here's a pic of us looking sad.





Jack and I were there as adjuncts this year and so we took it upon ourselves to hood the Johns so that's what's going on in the second picture.

In other graduation news, Susan P. finished at UT. Robin, who is with child again (hooray!!!) graduated this semester. Katya did too. And also those other 08s we all know and love.

Yesterday the 08s held a prom at club de ville. My date was Michael. Maybe I will post a picture of us doing the wizard dance move when I can.

I don't have pictures from the KAP reading...

but a year ago today we were reading and singing and clapping for ourselves.


It doesn't seem like it has been a year. Some days it seems like it has been ten years. Some days I still look for your cars at the river pub. Wonder what next year will feel like.

Kevin Brockmeier at BookPeople

I'm editing this post to add some literary content. I realized after I posted the link that it was kind of the blogger's equivalent to posting a dilbert cartoon, or perhaps a picture of a funny looking cat with the caption of "don't talk to me before my morning coffee!" So, I'll leave it at the bottom, but add some content, as well.

I mistakenly saw Kevin Brockmeier at BookPeople last night - I caught the end of his reading and picked up his new collection of short stories "The View From the Seventh Layer." By the time I got up there, he was earnestly invested in the Q&A, and I was very sorry I had missed the meat of the reading. He handed out a list of his Fifty Favorite Books, though, and I thought I might post his top ten here. Just because. Also, in answer to Abby's last post, I think I might choose a few books from his longer list to put on my summer reading list.

Here, also, is an interview with him in which he talks about several of these books.

1. A Death in the Family, James Agee
2. THe Complete Short Stories, JG Ballard
3. The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
4. The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino
5. Orthodoxy, GK Chersterton
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. All the Days and Nights, William Maxwell
8. Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, Daniel Pinkwater
9. The His Dark Materials Trilogy, Philip PUllman
10. Housekeeping, Marilyn Robinson


From Meg Rosoff's website: "secrets to becoming a successful writer."

Summer reading

So this got me thinking about summer reading lists. (Do you make them? Are they shaped by your friends or your interests or what? Basically I want to know not what you are reading, but what you are planning on reading this summer and why?)

A snapshot of student reading habits over two decades
From Why do Men Have Nipples? to the novels of J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen, surveys identify ephemeral, and enduring, undergrad reading choices


And here's an unrelated anecdote about Harper Lee (happy birthday, Lady!!!) from the Writer's Almanac:

To support herself while writing, she worked for several years as a reservation clerk at British Overseas Airline Corporation and at Eastern Air Lines. In December of 1956, some of her New York friends gave her a year's salary along with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." She decided to devote herself to writing and moved into an apartment with only cold water and improvised furniture.

Cupey Cake

This is a picture of a piece of paper I found in a hotel tablet that I stole from the Days Inn. It was a Days Inn Amelia and I stayed at when we went to Carmen's wedding. I've had the tablet forever, but never got to the middle where I found this treasure.

What's going to happen?

Yesterday, Jack mentioned an article in the University Star about Texas State severing ties with the Mitte Foundation. (Their website is under construction or I'd post it.) I mentioned it to Michael and he found it in the NY Times, the Chronicle, and the Austin American Statesman.

Robert Stone

Wish I was in Texas for Robert Stone's visit to TSU. Anyone going?

I paid something like 15 bucks back in the fall to hear Stone interview Ken Burns for The War doc. It was O.K. At least in was in a nice space-- the NYPL--and there was free wine. I wish I could hear him talk only about books.



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