I found this old thing

No one is watching us, why don't we do it in the road?

Writing and reading

After a panic attack the day before Thanksgiving (I don't have to explain this, do I?) things settled down again Friday and I spent the day writing at home. I proved to myself that I haven't lost the gift (?)  I discovered back in the early 90's when I wrote my first story about an eccentric aunt of mine.  It was amazing to read what I had written and realize it was actually pretty good. I've since had another day writing which proved fruitful as well.

I'm about midway through Sebald's Austerlitz, which Maggie Zurawski loaned me, and I have her book, The Bruise, to begin by Christmas. It has been hard not to dive into it but I'm trying to read one book at a time for once!  I also have Lucy Corin's 2 books: Everyday Psychokillers, A History for Girls and The Entire Predicament. I would imagine after reading these I will have an even better idea about what it is I'm doing or not doing with these stories. Reading women writers who are my contemporaries is bound to be revelatory.  Both Maggie's and Lucy's writing are as much poetry as prose and there is something about this I can relate to as the sound of words as they are spoken internally by our reader's voice is something that very much drives my own writing.  So far, from what I've managed to understand having glanced through the books, impatient to begin them, is that both these women have more than just a little bit in common with the way my head works and both are enormously talented.  I hope to excerpt some of their writing here once I get started in earnest with it. That is, if they approve. I can't end this post without mentioning that Lucy kicked our asses in pool at the Pinhook when she came here to Durham and read at The Space.  Hearing her read that night really started my most recent burst of energy for creating. Thanks Lucy. Thanks Maggie.

It's exactly 3 years from my last post.

Since then, we lost Hugh's mother to pancreatic cancer. Hugh decided to go get his PhD in Geography from the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Before he left we put a kitchen in the studio so we can rent it. I have remained in Durham.

The economy tanked as a result of the theft of the Bush administration and the mismanagement of investments by Wall Street and the Big Banks. We elected Barack Obama, the first African American President...naturally, having inherited 2 bullshit wars and a broken economy from 8 years of Republican pillaging, it is "all his fault".  Politics have been the main focus of the last three years of my life and to date, it seems the rebublican party has split between homicidal idiots and old white farts with money and the democratic party has split between people who read and people who don't.

Books I've read that are worth mentioning: Rings of Saturn, by W. G. Sebald. Experiencing this writing is like floating in a dream. I hover in his and in my own through a meloncholy landscape while being told the most amazing stories; dreams within dreams within dreams.  Eudora Welty's small book on writing, One Writer's Beginnings, is arranged in 3 parts: Listening, Learning to See and Finding a Voice. It seems train trips and her imaginings while taking them informed her understanding of how stories flow in our minds; forward, perhaps, but with lots of sidings. I've found this insight useful.

I've become more interested in my own writing having found a friend who is turning me on to new work that is as much poetry as prose. It's something I can relate to. I'm hoping to post photos and writing here and try to capture some sense of  the way Durham has evolved into a really wonderful place to be again.

My first 3 "captures" in the 18th hunt

4th"capture"

Here's another capture. I have been so inspired by the community of folks making art and sharing on the web; unexpected, fabulous or just so-so, the making of it is worth every minute.

Portrait of Hugh playing chess

This was my 5th "capture" in the #18 Scavenger Hunt (Wet Canvas) It may be my most successful sketch of a live person in years. I was using my favorite medium, a dense black pastel called CHAR-KOLE.

Full Circle

Being here alone over the past week or so, I've had a very difficult time motivating myself to make art, or do the laundry, or much of anything. This was a forced session with the ink and watercolors and I had an absolute ball! I was in the moment the whole while. Thinking it was a big, rushed mistake from the start... I didn't much care how it turned out. I'm thrilled! I feel like living again, if only to make the next picture. Daniel Smith watercolors rock... and so do waterproof pens!

Hugh on the Porch and one more day til we take it back

I am so excited about the elections tomorrow. We've waited so long for the chance to begin to turn this madness around. I wish Hugh could be here to watch the returns with me. He's in Minnesota for a while looking after his mom. I drew this picture before he left.

I got the scanner!

A little painting in my sketchbook of my afternoon on the porch. I am finding it difficult to get the vivid saturation I want from the colors.