Saturday, September 18, 2004

Days End

Tera's wedding was beautiful...and a bit surreal...both my parents there together and I remember her first wedding, a very different affair. So much has happened in the last several months...my sister's wedding, my brother's return from Japan, receiving my Master's degree. Des Moines was an experience in itself. It has been many many years since I've spent any real length of time in the Midwest, particularly that deep in the Midwest. Farms, restaurants and stores closing at odd hours, it was strange. Friday and Saturday nights the thing to do was to cruise through the downtown area, I don't know how many times the kids circled the various city blocks. The State Fair was going on at the same time, I don't know how many times I watched white women look at my brother in fear and trepidation in the hallways and elevators of the hotel. Joshua spoke low in Japanese to them, "It's alright, calm down." Aside from that, the wedding was beautiful, hopefully I'll have some pictures posted in the next couple of days. In the meantime, onward.

Every so often news comes up of an ex friend of mine...there was no blow up, no seemingly overt disagreement; there was tension and then a fizzle of sorts; we parted ways without so much as a good-bye. We both had our issues undoubtedly but there's always that nagging in my head, should I have done more, could I? Ahhh....shoulda, coulda, woulda....too late now it seems. Nonetheless, she has received a Fulbright and is on her way to Paris for a year....I wish her luck and godspeed and leave off with the thought that someday our paths will cross again. And yes, this definitely feels like a possible essay/story.

We (and when I say we I mean the rest of my cohorts in my MFA writing program) went through the usual administrative mayhem and chaos. I have own issues with the administrative side of the college which may or may not affect my credit, either way, the poor young man who this week is working by himself in the Registrar's office (why when the year is just starting) should start becoming familiar with me until my forms are sent out like they should have been at least six weeks ago.

I have committed to writing three more creative essays....tentatively titled Conversion, Colorstruck and Grief...I'm in the midst of trying to complete a draft of my first novel, a mixture of fiction and creative non fiction narratives and I am also in the arduous but necessary process of submitting my essays for publication and revising my manuscript.

Link of the day, check out Ruby Roth's work at www.drawordie.com for your taste of artistic works...for newsworthy items, take a look at www.robert-fisk.com, there are great links to other sites....