Summer Wane

I feel like my summer is swiftly coming to a close, though I know I still have roughly a month and a half. Things have been busy in a domestic sense, though not in a writerly sense. With my son walking now there's much policing to do around the house. Every corner is a danger. Actually . . . he's not just walking, he's climbing, so there's that.

This all leads me to say that the poem-a-day venture couldn't be possible without the sacrifices of Meredith. She definitely deserves a shout-out here.

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Next week I'm going to check out my Camano Island residency house as part of my winning the GAP grant.

I'm fortunate to have two or three projects in hand, and I hope to use the time wisely up there. I've never gone away to write before (never been to a colony or a retreat other than Kundiman--and I work at Kundiman), so I'm worried that I might go a little stir-crazy. But I figure as long as I work at least three hours a day I should get a lot out of the experience.

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What books should I bring with me?

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I've been following the story of the two journalists who were imprisoned in N. Korea very closely. When I had cable TV, I watched a lot of the profiles on Current TV, the television station that Al Gore partially funds. In fact, the other day at my parents house, I had watched an investigative journalism piece by Laura Ling on the Narco War in Mexico. It's my understanding that she and Euna Lee were doing a piece on the trafficking of women across the N. Korea/China border. Gutsy journalists, both of them.

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In many ways, Laura Ling and Euna Lee's story reminds me of Melissa's story.

I've been getting heckled via e-mail from anonymous posters for supporting Melissa because 1) I know her and respect her as an artist and a person and 2) I am in awe of her beliefs and her willingness to fight for those beliefs.

Dear Anonymous, get lost.

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Current Spin: