Shutting Up. Keeping My Head Down.

I realize I spend a significant amount of time complaining about not writing.

This, I believe, is the natural ebb and flow for a writer. I know I need to get sick of hearing myself complain about non-productivity. When you're in the presence of a nag, the initial effect of the nag is nullified (YMMV). I know, at least, when my folks nagged me as a teen, I didn't get anything that they had wanted done until after they stopped nagging me. So, I'm still giving myself the finger and doing my own thing--watching The Wire. Eating potato chips. Surfing the web. I do feel myself getting bored of my leisure.

Soon, I predict, I'll get off my ass and start to work on some new materials.

***

So, what's on my plate--well, there's this matter of reading 32 books. Again, I put that number out there arbitrarily. I felt it was a goal that I could achieve during my summer break. Alas, I've not been reading as much as I have in the past for a number of reasons. Not all of the excuses are good excuses, so I'll spare you from hearing them.

I've also got three writing projects. I worked on one of them in June--my little chapbook. I'm going to work on converting that into a book-length collection. It needs an interruption, I feel. It's too much of one particular tone and there's not enough movement to keep a reader interested for anything longer than a chapbook.

There's also the poems I wrote to take a break from some of the newish fatherhood poems I had been writing. I've got about fifteen rhetorical poems (they're in couplets) that I think would be an interesting collection.

Finally I've got a project I started about five years ago that I've stopped, focusing on migrant Filipino workers in the middle part of last century (weird to say last century).

So you see, I could be really really busy right now, but I'm choosing not to be.

I feel like I'm biding my time before I head over to the Camano Island house.

***

I am, however, discovering lots of good new music:

Rural Alberta Advantage. Seems like a lot of the stuff I like these days is from Canada. What does that say about me? Maybe it has something to do with my proximity to the US/Canada border . . .

Focus! Focus!

I've been having a tough time concentrating these days. The child is ambulatory . . . well, not just ambulatory, he's a dynamo. He's in the climbing stage, so he's getting on top of everything--the fireplace, the sofa, the dog. I have to be ever vigilant, so I really can't do much of anything except keep L preoccupied.

I really shouldn't use my son as an excuse for my not writing or reading much this summer, but it's true. He's quite a big reason for my lack of productivity.

There is hope, though. August is just around the corner and I plan on writing a poem a day as I do every August with my usual online writing group.

***

I've got a stack of beautiful books on my desk. Just received Jonathan Thirkield's The Waker's Corridor from The Academy. I've also got Myung Mi Kim's Penury and Michael S. Harper's Use Trouble. I've also got The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor.

Maybe being in their proximity will urge me to write.

***

I am, however, currently commenting on a friend's manuscript, so I'm doing something poetry related.

***

Manuscript 3 is out of my house.

***

My house is hot.

***

Current Spin:

We Were Promised Jetpacks.

The Present Tense

Is getting guilty

First off, my current theme song:


***

Now, I've been sucked into the internet vortex. Clearly I need to get off my ass and start creating art, but I've never been one of those artists who could sit for hours on end in front of a pad, typewriter, computer screen and grind. I'm not a grinder.

I like this one story I heard about Dylan Thomas the other day . . . Apparently after an all-night bender, he woke up the next morning and went to his writing shed, as per his ritual. He sat there for several hours writing nothing. Finally, he wrote "Oh!" as in the poetic "Oh!" Thus, fulfilling his writing obligations for that morning.

So . . . this blog is, in a way, fulfilling my "Oh!" quota.

Oh!

***

It's too damn hot to sit still, though now there's a very pleasant breeze which is bringing along with it some very unpleasant pine pollen.

***

My 160 GB iPod is almost full. How ya like me now, Best Buy jerk?.

***

Speaking of audio, I've been recording MP3's of myself. Anyone know how to attach 'em to a blog? I'm assuming I need to go to a third party site like Youtube or something.

***

Children next door . . . screaming.

***

Current Spin:

Vetiver. I like how it's Karaoke-ready.

Recent Obsessions

Things that have been keeping me up at night:

1. The Wire
2. Wagons
3. Bears
4. Garageband
5. Lawnmowers

***

Not much to say. It's the dog days of summer. I'm not feeling much motivation to do anything at all.

I did just polish up a chapbook which I'm going to chop up a wee bit. But after that, not much writing. I'm good with that. I did write a poem a day for a week in June. I'll pick it up once again in August.

***

Saw the new Harry Potter movie. Definitely scary and not for the youngish like the other movies were. I do like the raging hormones part of the story. Great fun.

***

What've you been up to?

***

Current Spin:



The Starlight Mints.

Recovery

I'm taking my time this week to get back into poetry writing after having spent last Tuesday through Sunday in the presence of amazing poets, activists, and teachers during the Kundiman retreat.

It does take a lot out of me traveling cross country . . . more so than it had in the past. And for this 6th annual retreat, I stayed up till 3AM for almost every night.

As you can see by the pictures below, much fun was had, as well as much writing. My enthusiasm for writing is recharged, but physically I need to recover.

***

I've got a stack of books here staring at me, wondering if I'm going to fulfill my 32 book obligation for the summer. I'm wondering that myself.

***

Ha . . . iTunes is currently playing

Talk about flashbacks. I remember I drove all the way to Salt Lake City Utah to see DM way back during the Violator tour. They were going to play in an outdoor stadium but a major storm caused all kinds of problems, so they had to postpone the concert and move it into the big indoor auditorium. But the funniest part about going to see DM was all the goth boys and girls with dripping black makeup and mud as they slid down the grassy/muddy banks trying to leave the outdoor stadium. Ha.

So my friends and I wound up staying one extra day to see DM. We drove home immediately after the concert (home was 6 hours away). We cranked the AC to keep us awake. I'll never do that again.

***

The real current spin:

Lightning Dust.

Kundiman 2009: Jai Cuts the Rug

IMG_1752, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Rick, Carolyn, and Stacyann

IMG_1699, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Prom?

IMG_1689, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Graduates Part 2

IMG_1717, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Staceyann Loves Brownies

IMG_1580, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Soham=Fierce

IMG_1537, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Mugging for the Camera

IMG_1585, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Jennifer Obviously Got the Beer

IMG_1569, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Group Photo!

IMG_1591, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: The Faculty

IMG_1594, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Staff & Faculty

IMG_1596, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: The Staff

IMG_1598, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Group 2 Rocks.

IMG_1604, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Graduates

IMG_1607, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Workshop

IMG_1234, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

See, we really are doing work. . . .

Kundiman 2009: ???

IMG_1351, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Bet you're wondering what's going on here.

Kundiman 2009: BANJO!

IMG_1384, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Esther plucks.

Kundiman 2009: Karaoke Madness

IMG_1437, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Sing it, sisters!

Kundiman 2009: Bros 2

IMG_1444, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Kundiman 2009: Bros

IMG_1448, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Some scenes from this year's Kundiman Retreat

IMG_1450, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Soham serenading Sarah.

Kundiman 2009

IMG_1063, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

I'm writing to you from the fabulous Alderman Library.

The coffee machine is humming behind me and there's lots of writing going on.

I'm glad I'm here.

Travel was hell.

I woke up early Tuesday morning so that Meredith could take me to the airport. My flight was scheduled to depart at 7:30AM. Anyway, no hitches until the plane got on the runway, when it was discovered one of the engines wasn't working. So the took the plane back to the gate and had all of the passengers deplane. The pilot said that the delay could be anywhere from 2-3 hours. It was, of course, longer.

I wound up getting rebooked to a later afternoon flight. I originally would've gotten in to C-ville at 7PM, but instead got in at 11PM. At least I made it.

***

Anyway, the Kundiman Retreat is in full swing. The fellows are, as I mentioned, writing. Workshops will kick off this afternoon and boy am I impressed by this group. Some of the folks have already published a couple of books.

***

Current Spin:

Bowerbirds.

A Kiss Before I Go

I'm getting ready to head to Charlottesville, VA, for another Kundiman Asian American Poetry Retreat.

This year's faculty includes Myung Mi Kim, Rick Barot, and Staceyann Chin.

Should be quite fantastic and quite hot.

I'm also bringing a small karaoke machine. . .

I'll try to blog on site with pictures, of course.

***

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't plug an upcoming reading of mine as well as a bunch of readings for the PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series. Check the info here:

pawainc.blogspot.com.

***

Have to say that I love the layout of Cue. Makes me want to update my own website.

***

So, how's the summer reading going? Slowly. I did just finish Joel Brouwer's Exactly What Happened.

Still trying to finish Almanac of the Dead. My mistake was to take this "project" on starting with a very dense and epic novel. So, I might put it down for now and keep on going through my stacks of poetry books and thinner novels.

Ultimately, what I'm finding is I'm distracted by parenting, The Wire, and deadlines.

Enough excuse making. On to the next book--I'm looking at Laura Walker's rimertown.

I'm intrigued by her atlas poems, and the delving into the memory of her small rural town.

***

Current Spins (Songs that remind me of Summer):

Icicle Works, and





The Dream Academy, and




The Kinks.

Happy 4th!

Stuff online

A long poem of mine can be found at Guernica Magazine.

***

For those of you who are interested in my recent radio bit, I've been told the show won't air in Bellingham until Friday and that the podcast will likely be available around the same time. If you're really curious, you can check back with the Chuckanut Radio Hour's Website.

***

I've been a busy bee indeed. Parenting, reading, writing, building garages . . .

I'm only three weeks into my summer and already I feel it sleeping away from all these projects.

***

I need to buckle down and finish reading stuff. Not enough hours in the day, people. What I wouldn't do for a 25th or 26th hour. To think of all the things I'd get done.

***

Nothing beats a good cover. Try this:



And compare it to the original:

On the Air

Tonight, I'll be reading a poem for the Chuckanut Radio Hour. If you're in Bellingham, WA, you can tune in to FM 102.3.

***

Spent about three hours yesterday revising approximately 28 pages of a sequence for a chapbook entry. Fiddling with margins is tiring. The MS Word defaults drive me crazy. I keep turning them off, but somehow they magically get turned on again and again.

***

I've been renovating my parents' garage. They were in dire need of storage and for the past couple of days I've been installing cabinets, building shelving, and putting down a work bench counter top.

I love power tools.

***

I've been slow with the 32 books for the summer challenge. I blame The Wire.

It's my new addiction. I'm going to try to finish the novel I'm reading this week, before I head to The Kundiman Retreat.

***

These days I feel like I'm mostly done with my third book. Such thinking has afforded me the luxury of thinking about other projects. As I mentioned earlier, I did some touch-ups on a chapbook which I think I can convert into a manuscript with a few more poems and pieces that work as counterpoints to the chapbook's main obsession.

***

Wow. The quarry is blowing up parts of the mountain. I felt a really big explosion just now, after the whine of machinery.

***

Current Spins:

The Innocence Mission. Calm. Summery.

Writers Group Stuff Day 6

Write a poem that somehow incorporates the idea of the DOCUMENTARY.
You could use a shaky, hand-held camera as your point of view, or you
might employ an element of documentary poetics in the piece (or
attempt some kind of hybrid thereof). Try to include the following, if
possible:

1. A quote, either real or invented.

2. A moment of unexpected humor or comic relief.

3. An object found in a place where that object is not typically
found.

4. At least one proper noun.

You might also try using the word "documentary" in the title, and then
writing a poem that doesn't announce itself as connected to a
documentary of any sort, but somehow distills the idea.

Extra credit: after your poem, share the name of your favorite
documentary or documentary-ish film.

***

God, this was hard. Being funny is hard. Sort of lost the film idea of the POV.

Favorite documentary film--Trekkies.

***

Poof!

***

If you follow me on Facebook, you'll know that I'm addicted to The Wire. After much praise about the show, Meredith and I decided to see what all the hype was about. Oh my goodness, we devoured Season 1.

***

Favorite characters--Freamon, Bubbles, and Omar.

Where the hell did they get these fantastic actors for this show?

***



Prefuse 73.

Writing Group Stuff Day 5

The Prompt:

Write a poem that incorporates a city or town in the state you grew up
in, but make it a city you've never been to before.

Include a reference to either religious iconography or a national
monument.

Finally, use your favorite brand name laundry detergent.
***

I cheated with the monument and the detergent. I sort of referred to 'em, but didn't give any names.

***

The Poem:

Poof!

***

I have to say that I'm not surprised about Michael Jackson's death, really. After all his surgical procedures, I imagined that he was on a number of addictive pain killers. The EMT in me saw the tell tale signs, just by watching him move around in public. Still, it's definitely a tragedy. There were quite a number of tragedies with celebrities this week--Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson. Rough week.

***



MJ.

2 of 32

2 of 32, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

I'm still reading Almanac of the Dead, but I'm also reading Joel Brouwer's Exactly What Happened.

Almost done with the Silko and I'm about half way through Brouwer. My summer is long, so I think I can still meet my goal! 32 books for a summer!

Writing Group Day 4

Prompt:

Write a poem entitled:
Fragments Addressing ________________

You (obviously) can put anything in the blank, and use the title as a
call to form, or not.

Here's the other thing you have to do:
Use Google Image search and plug in whatever word (or words) you
inserted into the blank. Pick the 5th image that comes up and
incorporate it into your poem somehow. (For extra fun, feel free to
include a link to your image in your post.)

****************

Poof!
*************************

Yeah, they're fragments. I think I'm going to blow this up. Here's the picture:

Na Pali Coast.

Why I chose this topic is beyond me. I had a National Geographic on my desk and figured I'd "topic-dive" for this prompt.

The hour time limit was actually a welcomed thing. This was a hard one for me.

***

Currently editing a chapbook. . . my "Dear Empire" pieces are getting reworked into something.

***



Super XX Man.

Writing Group Stuff Day 3

Here's the prompt:

Compound and portmanteau words.
Such as watermelon, suitcase, lipstick, icebox, tree lawn, honeydew,
hairdresser, overcoat, typewriter, whale road, mantelpiece, T.V. tray,
pigtail, ladyfinger, copperhead, newsprint, etc. For some reason, I’m
finding this interesting lately. I’m not sure if it’s the putting
together of two things or their exact relationship or the metaphoric-
ness or the echo of kennings??? Use at least 8 compound words in a
poem. They can be either the compound word itself or the compound
taken apart into the two separate words. Quick source:
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/compound.htm


***

POOF!

***

This was fun and I could've kept going but I've got other projects on my plate for today. I'm pretty sure I'll come back to this poem.

***



Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I am seriously thinking about getting a ukelele and here's a master for you.

Writing Group Stuff Day 2

OMG. Why did I try a pantoum? I did adhere to the one-hour writing quota, but I fear I didn't have as much time to revise as I'd like. And I kept screwing up the pattern so I kept having to go back and redo things.

***

Look at the Junk Drawers by Paho Mann. Assemble your own junk drawer
and create a poem influenced by its contents.

www.pahomann.com.

This is a prompt directly taken from my friend Papatya Bucak.

***
Poof!

***


Lisa Hannigan with a very cool hat.

Writing Group Stuff

My writers' group is kick-starting again for a mini-session. As usual, I'm posting the poems here for a brief time and then I'll take 'em off the site at the end of the day.

We're using prompts this time. The prompt for this day was to grab a random non-poetry book and find a word from a few random pages. I drew the following words:

1. Myself. 2. Speechlessness. 3. Mythologies. 4. Vacuum. 5. Idleness.

I give my students similar assignments. There's something about putting together puzzles that I truly enjoy.

Anyway, I know Blogger is going to kill my linebreaks. The poem's in couplets, so when there's a staggered third line it's because the line was too long.

Also, I have to say, I'm still in love with the couplet. You can't hide in a couplet.

***

Poof!

***

The Poem's Origins:

The story about my father asking a Japanese soldier for a cigarette is true, from what I understand. My dad was probably five years old when he asked for a cigarette.

My grandfather was a heavy smoker and it wouldn't surprise me that he would tell my father to get smokes from the soldier.

I'm a little unsure about the correct name for the flower. I know it's a lily and I know it's orange with some darker orange stippling. The flower's on a thin stem and there can be clumps of five or six flowers per stem. Our house is along a logging road that's U-shaped. We're adjacent to some DNR (Dept. of Natural Resources) property, and they recently cut back a swathe of about 40 acres, leaving a naked, scarified empty lot. We take daily walks on this road with our stroller.

***

Current Spin:

More Summer-ish music.

My 2nd Father's Day

IMG_0534.JPG, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

This is the photo Meredith took while she and Lucas were still in the hospital. It's still my favorite picture.

***

Heading down to Seattle for Dim Sum to celebrate!

***

My summer writing "program" starts on Monday. Wish me luck!

I'm still in bed. Summer is awesome.

***

Current spin:

Riveted خرداد

20 June - 30 خرداد, originally uploaded by mousavi1388.

Watching this right now . . .

At Last, the Rain

We've had 28 rainless days during the end of spring. I've avoided watering everything--the lawn, the rhododendrons, the heather. Everything's crispy and yellowed. But yesterday, it rained. I'm beginning to really like the rain. It's writerly weather.

***

Today I'm going to buy some lumber. The plan is to build planter boxes for a vegetable garden. I'm sick of spending all that cash on things like kale and tomatoes. Plus, since we're living on a budget and we have 6 acres, we may as well use some of our land, no?

I'm not sure what to plant, since I'm a newbie at all this. I'm thinking lettuce would be good, since I like salads in the summer. Squash perhaps? Cucumbers? Tomatoes?

***

Now half way through Almanac of the Dead. I'm thinking I should've started with a "thinner" book for this 32 book marathon. My initial judgment about the book is mildly revised. The pace is picking up and I'm glad the focus of the narrative has turned to Lecha, the medium (or whatever her ability is). Still, it's a slow read. Lots and lots of back story. Character development. Not a bad thing, necessarily. Like I said, I'm only half way through.

***

Writerly things to do:

1. Revise/edit some of my NaPo poems for a chapbook.

2. Send more work out.

3. Write more stuff.

4. Dust off some older projects.

5. Write more stuff.

***

It's so good to have the summer in front of me. Ah!

***

Current Spin:


Telekinesis. It's just the right amount of summer sugar to get me started.

Done! Done! Done!

I just entered the grades for my classes this morning. While I do say that I'm "Done! Done! Done!" I'm not completely out of the woods yet. I still have a few comments to make on my grad portfolios. Shouldn't be bad, since I'll mostly be writing to them about what to do next with their long poems.

***

I've got a number of projects on my plate for the summer, which is great. I've now got time to assemble version 3.0 of In Defense of Small Towns. I've been sending out version 2.5 to publishers and contests, but 3.0 is looking to be a leaner more focused collection. I had been quibbling with myself over the inclusion of poems about illness in the earlier versions . . . those poems are out of 3.0 which, I think, is a smart decision, but in omitting those poems the manuscript now has a lot of gaps which need to be filled.

***

First off, it's interesting how Stephen Burt brings up Ronald Johnson's ARK. I could NOT get through that Johnson book. I tried, but I failed.

Secondly, I somewhat agree with Burt's "disagreement" with Tony Hoagland's assertion that the "narrative" will be the next successor to "Third Way." But I think, also, that there are some really spectacular historical narratives that are being written in contemporary poetry, particularly by minority writers, many of whom are not mentioned in Burt's article.

***

Currently reading: Almanac of the Dead. I'm a third of the way through it and I'm finding it really difficult to "like" the protagonist, Seese. It seems like it's the worst possible telenovela. So far, it's far flatter than Ceremony. Mind you, like I said I'm only 1/3rd through it. Maybe the pacing will pick up, but so far no payoff. . . and it's the first book of my 32 books.

***

Current Spin:

Dinosaur Jr. From their new album "Farm."

What the New Kids Are Doing

For much of the past decade, the most imitated new American poets were slippery, digressive, polyvocalic, creators of overlapping, colorful fragments. Their poems were avowedly personal, although they never retold the poets’ life stories (they did not tell stories at all); the poets used, or at least mentioned, difficult ideas, especially from continental philosophy, although they never laid out philosophical arguments (they did not lay out arguments at all). Nor did they describe concrete objects at length. Full of illogic, of associative leaps, their poems resembled dreams, performances, speeches, or pieces of music, and they were, in M.H. Abrams’s famous formulation, less mirror than lamp: the poets sought to project their own experiences, in sparkling bursts of voluble utterance. Their models, among older authors, were Emily Dickinson, John Berryman, John Ashbery, perhaps Frank O’Hara; some had studied (or studied with) Jorie Graham, and many had picked up devices from the Language writers of the West Coast. These poets were what I, eleven years ago, called “elliptical,” what other (sometimes hostile) observers called “New Lyric,” or “post-avant,” or “Third Way.” Their emblematic first book was Mark Levine’s Debt (1993), their emblematic magazine probably Fence (founded 1998); their bad poems were bad surrealism, random-seeming improvisations, or comic turns hoping only to hold an audience, whether or not they had something to say.

Thanks to Carol for pointing this article out to me.

***

My thoughts on it when I've had a chance to digest. At the moment, recovering from four hours of brush-cutting.

***

Random thought: Thinking about film, particularly the old celluloid stuff. How each cell was a picture, and how such a concept influenced book making--namely poetry book making.

Now wondering how digital media will reconstitute the art.

I, unfortunately, wasn't wearing my iPod as I cut brush, so I thought of very random things as I waved the cutter from side to side.

***

Current spin:

Fanfarlo. They're selling their new album for $1 here and it's quite good. Worth way more than a buck.

And so it begins . . .

After my 3PM meeting this afternoon, I will officially start my summer.

***

As I said in posts below, it is not my intent to read all those books in the list. I just posted it to show you/see what everyone recommends. The tastes, I see, are wide-ranging.

***

Baby is teething, big time. Lower right bicuspids. He was in some real pain last night and refused to eat. We've got all the gels and the fix-it medications. Sleep seemed to do the trick.

***

My creative writing students want to be creative writing teachers. There is nothing inherently bad about wanting to pursue this particular line of work. There is, though, a divergent array of obstacles that are in their way. My job as their teacher and adviser is to teach them not only about art, literature, and a life of reading, but to teach them how to navigate the very difficult terrain that comes with my line of work. I also have to stress to them that what I do is not for everyone. Therein lies the crux of the problem--on the one hand, creative writers in academia can thrive and be effective teachers. On the other hand, by becoming a model for students as an artist in an academic environment, (depending on the teachers and the students) you're providing students with a limited world view of the life of an artist. I want to stress that all of these thoughts are my thoughts and are subjective. I can say that I had the benefit of learning from very effective creative writing teachers. They were not perfect teachers, but they did instill in me a passion for writing and especially for reading.

I've been teaching college-level courses since 1994 when I was a biology TA. I did take some breaks in between, but that's almost 15 years of teaching at the college level. I wasn't a great biology TA. I wasn't a great creative writing TA either, but over the years I've gained some insight into how to work in a classroom. I personally was motivated to become a better teacher at the sacrifice of some of my art. Ah yes, so there. I said it . . . at the sacrifice of my art. I'm okay with making these sacrifices because that's how I'm wired. I know that I can't write when I'm teaching during the year because it takes quite a deal of creative energy to prepare for classes, and I'm okay with that. I just love being with students who want to learn about literature. I love filling out my book order forms for the next quarter's classes. I love discussing the books with students who may be encountering an artist's work for the first time.

Not every artist can or will thrive under such circumstances and not every academic environment will allow the artists housed in their towers to make such sacrifices. I like to think about the poet Robert Hayden when I think about writers who teach. Brilliant writer whose own poetic output, it is suggested, was greatly affected by his teaching. I've also had classes with well-respected writers who didn't care about their teaching. It definitely showed and it did illicit some distaste for the course, but there are always teachers who greatly care about their own teaching.

How do you learn to navigate the academic world as an artist? How did I learn to navigate the academic world as an artist? I had good models and I'm still learning.
***

I really like this article by my friend, Papatya, on the whole tenure process: Papatya's article.

***

Current Spin:

Still listening to Eulogies.

Summer Prompt: Watch this, then write a poem

Suggested Summer Reading

So, these are the suggestions from people via Facebook, this blog, and elsewhere. Mind you, I may not get to all of these books, but I'll certainly see if I can get a hold of a copy somewhere. Here it is:

Leslie Marmon Silko: Almanac of the Dead--currently reading.
Junot Diaz: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Jeffery Eugenides: Middlesex
Haruki Murakami: After Dark
Kelly Link: Stranger Things Happen
Ed. Michael Chabon: Best American Short Stories of 2005
Michael Ondaatje: Coming Through Slaughter
Ed Pavlic: Winners Have Yet To Be Announced
Adrian Matejka: Mixology
Daniel Chacon: Unending Rooms
Alice Sebold: Lovely Bones
Denise Duhamel: Ka-Chang!
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Garage Sale
Beth Glylys: Bodies that Hum
Arundahti Roy: The God of Small Things
Peter McCabe: Butcher Boy
Karen Russell: St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Roberto Bolano: 2666
JG Ballard: Empire of the Sun
Alison Bechdel: Fun Home
Elias Canetti: Auto-da-Fe
Thom Gunn: Thom Gunn: Selected Poems
David Markson: The Last Novel
Richard Price: Lush Life
Jay Wright: Transfigurations
Laurie Sheck: Captivity
Felix Feneon: Novels in Three Lines
Haruki Marukami: Kafka on the Shore
Antonio Munoz Molina: Sepharad
Gerhard Richter: Writings 1961-1993
Jerzy Kosinski: Steps
Charles Johnson: Dreamer
David Markson: Wittgenstein's Mistress
Joe LeSueur: Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara
Ahron Appelfeld: Badenheim 1939
Nathaniel Mackey: Bass Cathedral
Janet Malcolm: In the Freud Archives
Nick Tosches: The Devil and Sonny Liston
Nick Tosches: Where Dead Voices Gather
bell hooks: Wounds of Passion
Raymon Queneau: Exercises in Style
Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives
Alan Dugan: Poems Seven
Kazuo Ohno: World from Without and Within
Rutu Modan: Exit Wounds
Paul Metcalf: Both
Ben Marcus: Notable American Women
W.G. Sebald: Austerlitz
Louise Erdrich: Master Butchers Singing Club
Douglas Coupland: JPod
LJ Davis: A Meaningful Life
Claire Hero: Sing, Mongrel
Attila Bartis: Tranquility
Catherine Bowman: The Plath Cabinet
Liz Waldner: Trust
Barbara Maloutas: The Whole Marie
Sheila Heti: Ticknor
Carmen Gimenez Smith: Odalisque in Pieces
Katherine Dunn: Geek Love
Craig Lesley: Burning Fence
Tom Philips: A Humument
Mahmoud Darwish: Memory for Forgetfulness
Yasunari Kawabata: Beauty and Sadness
Michael Ondaatje: In the Skin of a Lion
George Stewart: Names on the Land
Lawrence Weschler: Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees
Elfreide Jelinek: Anything by her *Thanks E.*
James Harms: After West
Fatima Mernissi: Dreams of Trespass
Jane Hirshfield: Nine Gates
Hayden Carruth: Collected Shorter Poems
Bert Meyers: In a Dybbuk's Raincoat
Patricia Smith: Blood Dazzler
Steve Lopez: The Soloist
Terry Tempest Williams: Finding Beauty in a Broken World
Tobias Wolff: Our Story Begins
James Conrad: Making Love to the Minor Poets of Chicago
Yannick Murphy: In a Bear's Eye
Roberto Bolano: Last Evenings on Earth
Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis: Suspended in Language: Niels Bohr's Life, Discoveries, and the Century He Shaped
Michael Connely: City of Bones
Octavia Butler: Kindred

***

Whew. Lots of books. We'll see which ones I get to. 32 books is an awful lot.

***

Sent the manuscript out this afternoon. Decided not to release version 3.0 this round. I think 3.0 still lacks crucial content.

***

Current Spin:

Eulogies. There ya go, Lee. ;-)

Waning Confidence

I felt good this morning. Really good. So good that I decided to tackle a task so Herculean that I'd been putting it off for so long.

I decided to chop several poems out of my manuscript and slice up my eight-section long poem. All this makes manuscript version 3.0.

I've taken out stuff that seemed unrelated to the collection's strongest narrative. The long poem, which appears in manuscript version 2.0's first section now has sections sprinkled over three sections. I felt the long poem was too loud with all of its sections together and that by distributing the pieces over the course of the manuscript, a reader can build up a relationship with the themes and ideas contained in each long poem section.

But . . . now that I see how short the sections have become, I'm a little worried. Prior to my cuts, the first section was about twenty-one pages. It's now thirteen pages. I haven't complete all my cuts, but for reference, the page total of 2.0 is 75 pages which is too long. I'm trying to get the manuscript to 55-65 pages.

***

The good news is that those poems that were cut could fit into another project that I'm working on, thereby boosting the numbers of poems for that particular collection.

***

Finals week. I'm collecting my first batch of portfolios tomorrow. I'm so ready for the summer. I'll be done with everything, including grading, by Thursday.

***

Current Spin:

Iron and Wine has a new CD out with a bunch of B-sides and covers. This gem is on the newest CD.

Palpable Heat

It's so close . . . summer. I can feel it. We had a minor heat wave in the Northwest, topping out at roughly 88 degrees at the homestead. Which means my teaching season is almost at a close.

As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, I'll be spending the summer reading and writing. It is in fact my honest and earnest goal to read 32 books this summer while maintaining a writing schedule.

I've been getting a ton of book recommendations on Facebook. I'll consolidate those recommendations and put them here on the blog.

The intent is not necessarily to "review" the books, but to 1) see if I can keep my attention focused on all things literary, 2) lessen the impact of losing cable TV, and 3) modeling good behavior for my son who, in fact, seems to read a lot more than me these days. Of course, I also want to fill up my head with good art, so there's the REAL goal of this exercise.

Now, I do intend to blog about my progress, not that you care.

***

Currently, shoulder to shoulder with L. in bed. He didn't get his full nap today, so we're taking a make-up nap.

***

I have to pee, but I don't want to get up, lest I wake him.

***

We managed to refinance our mortgage this past Friday. Yay! When we first bought our house, our APR was 6.5%. We locked in 4.5% for our refinancing which cuts out about $400 from the monthly mortgage payment. That'll give us a little more breathing room.

***

Meredith got into the Speech Pathology program at WWU. She'll be great. I know her first love is teaching French. She's a brilliant teacher and I for one know that she's done her part to build the French major. The French department is making a big mistake by replacing a brilliant and talented teacher like her.

***

So now, because of all of these life changes, we've been budgeting ourselves. It's good to do.

***

Here's my current spin:

Zee Avi. Because it's Summer! Yay!

Why I love Isabella Rossellini

Heat Wave

I haven't had much to say since Monday. I've basically been feverishly grading . . . trying to clear my desk before the mad rush of student portfolios arrives.

What have YOU been up to?

***

Looks like we got the refinancing on our house approved. That should definitely lighten our debts. We also just paid off one of our cars (with the money from another sold vehicle), so we're slowly paying down things we owe and cutting back our expenditures. Unlike much of America, we have no credit card debt, so in that regard we're fiscally healthy, apart from the loss of one income.

***

I'm planning on starting a garden . . . not this summer, but perchance I'll build the beds in the Fall (Raised beds are the way to go with our acidic soil out here).

Kale is a biggie on my list. Maybe lettuce too. A student brought bags and bags of the stuff to class one day, saying that she had far too much of it. I want too much lettuce, too.

***

The nice people at Artist Trust have accommodated my schedule. So now I can enjoy the Camano Island Residency for a month any time between July and November. I'm looking at my calendar and planning around August. August seems to be my most productive months. I don't have any other travel plans (July = Kundiman).

Got into Breadloaf, but didn't get any financial assistance this time and 'cause we're tightening our belts, I just can't spend the cash to pay for the trip or the tuition. Thank you to those who nominated me. I'll try again next year.

***

I also missed attending the ASLE Conference. I was all ready to go and then discovered that the ferry times weren't working the way I had assumed they would. Apparently from Anacortes there's only one ferry to and from Victoria, BC.

And the ferry from Seattle was triple the price. If I wasn't teaching today, I would've happily stayed overnight, but alas. I'm sorry Camille!.

***

I brought goodies for my classes today.

***

Current Spin:

Regina Spektor. New album, June 23rd.

Dancing a Jig

I'm dancing a jig because of this: Ta Da!

Came at a good time, too, because of the recent stuff I've been blogging about.

Also, the Camano Island residency will be great. I'll use that time to put some finishing touches on a couple of projects that have languished while I've been working on this third book.

***

I"m also dancing because the end of the academic year is upon me. It's the last week of classes and there's not much left to teach. I'm looking forward to getting back to the writing desk.

***

I saw UP this past weekend with Meredith. If you haven't already, you must see this movie because I firmly believe that it's a masterpiece of animation. It's also intelligently written. The 30 minute montage at the beginning of the film is emotional but not overwrought. To be honest, there are parts of that montage that are devastating and stay with me. But the early emotion of the film is so necessary to drive the action of the film.

I'm curious to see what the movie looks like in 3D. The director of the film was interviewed on Fresh Air. What's interesting is how Pete Docter says that one of his influences was Warner Herzog.

***

Current Spin:

Old School. Sonic Youth has a new album, too.

Continuing with the Reading List

The List (of possible Summer reading) So Far

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Middlesex
Almanac of the Dead--currently reading.
After Dark
Stranger Things Happen
Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Best American Short Stories of 2005
Coming Through Slaughter
Winners Have Yet To Be Announced
Mixology
Unending Rooms
Anything else? Poetics, perhaps? Remember, 32 books. . .

***

I'm trying to refinance my house. It seems that banks want a whole bunch of information before such a thing happens. In our case, I need to come up with a "Road Agreement" between all the residents of my little wooded road. There are four other families that live on our dirt road and much of our communication has been informal, over beers and bbq. But seems like the hard times in the banking industry call for bigger hurdles. The insurance agency who was asked to "insure" the loan wants a road agreement filed with the county, so I have to gather all my neighbors, get them to sign a document in front of a notary, yadda, yadda.

What's funny is out where I live, our notary is in the liquor store behind the town's only gas station. How's that for charming?

***

I've got a talented bunch of writers who are graduating. Sad to see 'em go.

***

A lot of universities are culling their journal holdings. WWU is no exception . . . That's going to hurt a LOT of journals.

***

Thinking about my manuscript again. It'll be a week or so before I can act on some of my impulses, so I'm storing them here for future reference:

1) Cut all the Syllogism poems and place in Dumbstruck Luck
2) Distribute 8 sections of the long poem throughout ms.
3) Insert Self Portrait as the Burning Plains of Eastern Oregon
4) Cut Eschatology poems.

***

Current Spin:

Old school, I know. I'm feeling nostalgic. I miss my youth today.

Summer Reading List

I'm compiling a summer reading list.

The list will be multi-genre. I want your recommendations.

There's very little on the list so far:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Middlesex
Almanac of the Dead--currently reading.

I need ideas on poetry collections. It's not that I'm unfamiliar with poetry, mind you, it's that I just don't know where to begin! There's so much I've already read. I want to be surprised, you see . . .

Anyway, I'm not particular, though if you've got solid short-story collections you can recommend, that'd be great too.

My ambitious goal is to finish 32 books this summer. Why 32? I have no idea.

***

Other things--I sold my car and my father's truck for money. We're cutting back on a number of other things as well.

Meredith, ultimately, was offered one class in the English dept. for Winter quarter, but unfortunately, that won't replace the seven classes she's used to teaching year to year.

I'm going to look into doing some low-res teaching . . . at least for part of the year to make ends meet.

***
Current Spin:

Echo & the Bunnymen.

Good News About Melissa. Still Concern for Her Companions.

Roxas has been reunited with her family. The fate of her two companions — Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc – is unknown.

***

Thank goodness. It's still unclear what condition Melissa's in, but I'm glad she's back with her family. Keep the pressure up for Juanito and John Edward.

Melissa Roxas

Melissa Roxas, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Roxas is a well-known Filipino American activist, who served as the first Regional Coordinator of BAYAN-USA in Los Angeles and co-founded the cultural organization Habi Arts. Roxas is an active human rights advocate and was instrumental in organizing a BAYAN-USA contingent that participated in the International Solidarity Mission in 2005, an international fact finding mission that called attention to the escalating human rights violations in the Philippines. Roxas went to the Philippines in 2007 to pursue human rights work, where she became a full time volunteer health worker. She was abducted on May 19, 2009 at approximately 1:30 PM in Sitio Bagong Sikat, Barangay kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac. She was with two other volunteers, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc. .

***

On a personal note, Melissa Roxas was a Kundiman fellow in 2005. She's a supremely gifted poet and a beautiful person and I'm deeply worried about her.

DeVotchKa at the Nightlight

Be patient w/ the video. I've got the wrong type of video equipment for this kind of thing:

Some Wishes

Found out that Meredith probably won't have any work coming in from the English department either. This is mostly due to the fact that she had found out that she had been replaced after the various departments already had their 2009-2010 academic schedules in place. The only thing we can hope for now is that someone who teaches linguistics suddenly gets a grant and plans on taking some leave, or if some other non-tenure-track faculty member winds up carrying to large of a load.

I'm still pissed, but we'll manage.

Thank you all for your words of sympathy, encouragement, and support.

***

I and my creative writing colleagues will be meeting with lots of students to talk about MFA/PhD programs this afternoon. So much to tell them.

I've got handouts at the ready.

***
I've been blessed with a sudden burst of productivity these past two years. Summer brings me back to the writing desk more regularly, and I have a number of projects I'll be hunkering down to deal with.

First of all, I've come to some realizations about my manuscript, tentatively titled In Defense of Small Towns. I'm going to make some big cuts this summer. Additionally, the cuts I make will, more than likely, make it into another manuscript I've been working on. The tentative title of that second manuscript is Dumbstruck Luck.

And then there's this business of the "Dear Empire" poems. I don't think I can sustain a whole manuscript like that. I need to think about relationships in that manuscript . . . how I want to produce a narrative--a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, so to speak.

Finally, I've shelved a project about Filipino migrant workers for a time, because . . . well, because I fell ill, had a child, and couldn't do the research. I might be ready to return to that project.

Anyway, the past two summers had me writing exclusively in August. I'm going to try to maintain productivity from June to September. We'll see what happens.

***

Current Spin:

The Pixies. Yes, old school.

On Narrative Difficulty

Internet's incredibly slow this morning (as many of you know, because we live in the country, we have to use Satellite broadband). It's partly cloudy, so that could account for some of my difficulty on the web today.

I'm currently taking a respite from my grading. I had students write some persona poems and they did so with much difficulty. I suspect it's quite difficult for some newer writers to move beyond the ego. Either that, or they've spent much of their time in college discovering self-hood that to be asked to move out of self-hood stretches them in uncomfortable ways.

I don't remember a time when I struggled with writing outside of myself--mostly because when I was a younger writer, I wanted to get away from myself--who I was then.

***

Currently discussing with some grad students the problem of incorporating characters into a long poem or a manuscript. I'll tell you what I told them--

When you introduce a character in a manuscript, the character(s) often inadvertently become the pivot-point for a manuscript. All poems that surround them then seem to, in some way, service the character. If the surrounding poems don't, then it's up to the writer to determine whether or not they want those surrounding poems to service the narrative of the character or whether they want to take the manuscript in a different direction.

It is, however, relatively easy to move through a collection's narrative once you have a character established. A couple of my grads are finding that they can't stop writing from character. That, unfortunately, is also a side-effect of writing poems with characters in them. It's easy to get attached to the conventions of such writing. Berryman couldn't stop. Neither can (could) Bell.

***

And in other narratives, this is re-hash for most of you, but it's collected here on the NewPages blog: The Future of University Presses and Journals (A Manifesto).

***

Finally, I saw the renewal of an old narrative that I watched with great joy in my childhood. The Star Trek film, was joyous, epic, and just what I needed as a respite from the troubled times my family's having. Sometimes I too want to open the door to a parallel universe.

Loved the updated McCoy and Spock. Wasn't too keen on Simon Pegg's Scotty, or the fresh take on Checkov. I had a hard time seeing Checkov in the fresh-faced actor who played him in the film. But otherwise, I really enjoyed the film.

***

And other things I'm enjoying:

Straight Dish

So many of you were wondering what the bad news in the de la Paz household entails.

It's bad.

Meredith was laid off and then replaced at a time when Western Washington University's President called for campus-wide hiring freezes.

We went to the union to see what our options are and basically because Meredith is a non-tenure-track faculty member she did not have sufficient union protection.

I do want to thank all of you who've e-mailed me via back channel. We're working on our financial situation and we should be okay. We'll just need to cut back a lot.

I go up for tenure and promotion next year, so that may provide a bit of a bonus in salary depending on the situation between the union and the administration.

Additionally, some part-time work is cooking up here and there in the English and Linguistics department for Meredith.

We'll be okay.

I must say, though, that I'm composing this note using a great amount of restraint. . .

In Oliver's workshop sessions today:

I told students to write down the contents of the garbage containers for their characters.

I muddled over the differences between "Squawk" and "Squeak"

I said ". . . freaking Mary Oliver."

I pulled an assignment out of my ass entitled "Diptych: The Knife in the Actor's Hand/The Ghost in the Wings."

***

Sunny, finally. The window guys are replacing our old aluminum windows for vinyl ones. Should help us save some money in the winter from lowered heating costs.

I don't know how far along they are. I'll find out soon.

***

In an effort to save money, Meredith and I are consciously trying to eat out less. Right now, though, I'm craving sushi.

It's been hard deciding what's going to go. We'll definitely get the most basic satellite TV subscription. That's for sure. But what else will we cut? I'm thinking about losing the land line, since I do tend to use my cell phone a lot more these days.

We were talking about also losing the internet, but I do need it for work. Decisions, decisions.

***

Current Spin:

Sandy Denny & Fairport Convention. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes."

DJ School

DJ Qbert has created an online DJ School.

I want to learn how to juggle.

Quickly

Wilco is streaming their new album on their website. Listen here.

***

One more thesis defense to attend this week and then I'll be done.

It's funny what a table of contents can do to a manuscript collection. I know I've said it before, but it's extraordinary what such a gesture can do for the writer.

***

I'm still pissed.

***

Haven't had an opportunity to see the Star Trek movie yet. Soon. Soon.

***

Tonight, I'm presenting awards for the Sue Boyton Poetry contest, co-sponsored by the Whatcom Community Fund.

***

Current Spin:

Silversun Pickups.

Restraint

So much to tell you. There's just so much that I want to say, but there are reasons why I cannot tell you the exact nature of our dilemma.

Thank you all for your support. I can probably tell you more about our plight after a few meetings important parties.

Cross your fingers.

***

Not all news is bad, though. I've got something to announce in June.

***

Also, we're in week 7 of the final academic quarter of the 2008/2009 year. What a crazy year, eh?

I for one am both excited for and dreading summer.

***

It's amazing what constructing a table of contents can do for a collection of poems . ..

***

Current Spin:

Bat for Lashes. "Daniel."

Happy Mother's Day Meredith!

IMG_0872, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Downturned but Sunnyside Up

IMG_0835, originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Went to see the Skagit Tulip Festival with my family, which was a much needed respite after the bad news our family received on Friday.

I'd love to share the news with you, but we're in the process of going through procedures. Suffice it to say we as a family will have to make some drastic decisions about our lifestyle.

Still, on this day there were tulips and kites and a kid who laughed and talked baby language to horses without malice or irony.

Today, there was bright joy.

From the Family and Friends of Craig Arnold

THANK YOU.

Our dear friends and family,
Though Craig himself has not been recovered, the amazing expert trackers of 1SRG have been able to make themselves and us certain of what has become of Craig. His trail indicates that after sustaining a leg injury, Craig fell from a very high and very dangerous cliff and there is virtually no possibility that Craig could have survived that fall. Chris will pursue what he can about getting specialists to go down into the place we know Craig is so we can bring him home, but it is very, very dangerous and we are not yet completely certain what that will require. The only relief in this news is that we do know exactly what befell Craig, and we can be fairly certain that it was very quick, and that he did not wait or wonder or suffer.

I cannot express again the profound gratitude I feel to everyone who has loved and honored Craig with their goodwill, their immense efforts and energy, and their overwhelming generosity. I believe that where he is, Craig knows.

There will be further occasion to celebrate Craig, and when I know more I will post it.

For my part, I love Craig beyond the telling of it and will always love him as immeasurably, as enduringly, as steadfastly and as unconditionally as I do now and have done these past six years. In leaving our family Craig, in a manner absolutely characteristic of his own vast generosity and capacity to inspire, brought us all closer together than we perhaps have ever been. I feel his presence, loving and understanding and funny and deeply feeling, at all times. I hope you do, too.

With love,
R.

***

Saddened by this beyond words.

***

Latte and a Rice Krispy Treat

Yes, that's what I'm snacking on in my office after a day filled with talking to students about poems.

My throat is parched and a latte, perhaps, isn't the best solution.

I find that 15 minutes of a conference is often more valuable to students than an hour and fifteen minutes of lecture. Besides, I do like chatting with my students as individuals. They're quite interesting people who've got a lot of things on their minds and in their lives.

In my capacity as the Creative Writing adviser for Western Washington University's English department, I'm finding that I do like the position a lot because I can literally sit students down and talk to them about what brought them to the major, which is supposedly a love for the language.

I do find people who use the major as a place to hide. Of course, there are plenty of those and they make themselves known through their work. But I also find students who are sincerely in love with the language, have stories they want to tell, and have stories that need to be told.

***

My students in the long poem class are in the middle of their projects now. Wow. All I can say. They've got some really fascinating poems--tangled, but fascinating.

***

The sun is out and I suppose it'll stick around through the weekend. The family will probably go to the Tulip Festival this weekend. Good idea, eh?

***

Current Spin:

DeVotchKa. "How It Ends."

YAY! Going to see them on the 22nd!

Ninja Grandparents, Arts in the de la Paz family, and other things

My parents are ninjas.

They drove all the way from Bellingham to my house. I wasn't expecting them. They have grand-baby fever.

Retirement seems boring . . .

***

My cousin Jovencio has a new website: jovenciodelapaz.com.

Yes, he's an artist.

My other cousin (from a different uncle), Sarah, is musically inclined. She's a trained violinist.

Looks like there's an artistic gene in my family.

***

My parents brought Hum Bao.

They're good ninjas.

***

Current Spin:

Bowerbirds. "In Our Talons."

Hot diggity

So glad to be out of April.

***

May's looking to be a crazy month with lots of graduate students defending during the first two full weeks. I've got two students defending this week and two next week. All of 'em have put together some really incredible and publishable work.

***

Saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The title, of course, suggests that there will be other origin stories.

What can I say . . . it was exactly what I thought it was. I had a big bucket of popcorn and I shared it with my younger cousins. I turned my brain off and watched big explosions and martial arts.

I wanted a bit more of Deadpool, and the geek in me was cringing a little bit at how they sort of mangled his story.

I also wanted more of Gambit . . . but otherwise, I enjoyed myself.

***

Now, looking forward to this:

Star Trek! Check out Leonard Nimoy!

***

Current Spin:

Passion Pit. "The Reeling."

My very blurry, damp, video of The Shins

Of course, there's lots of background noise, and a shaky hand-camera, etc. The conditions were downright crap. I cut a moment early in the video where James Mercer also complains a little bit about the weather.

What this definitely signifies to me is that I should think about investing in a digital video camera. ;-) *cough*

RIP Al Robles

Al Robles was such an important social force in the Bay Area as well as in Fil-Am letters.

The Start of May

It's Free Comic Book Day!

***

Going to see The Shins tonight with Meredith. Pray for no rain.

***

I'm so glad National Poetry Month is over. I'm burned out. Don't get me wrong. I love what I do and I love writing and reading poetry,

***

My folks are going nuts over this fight tonight: Pacquiao vs. Hatton.

***

Current Spin:

The Shins.

I'm trying to gear up for the concert.