Ticket to ride.
What I’ve been doing for the past five months or so, while I’ve been neglecting this blog:
∆ Posting random thoughts, images and autobiographical jukebox selections on my Tumblr blog, Strange Loop.
∆ Discovering more reasons to love New Orleans during my third visit to the city in less than a year (and yes, I’m already making plans to go back).
I love rambling through the French Quarter early in the morning, when the streets are still quiet and have not yet been scrubbed clean of the previous night's debauchery.
∆ Becoming better acquainted with Florida during road trips to Panama City, Jacksonville and Gainesville.
∆ Putting in some volunteer hours at Full Earth Farm, a small farm in Quincy, Fla. This lifelong city girl had no idea that feeding compost heaps, yanking out weeds and playing a (very small) part in building a new greenhouse could be so much fun.
Behold the power of Full Earth Farm's fully armed and operational greenhouse.
∆ Thinking, researching and writing about local food and the people who grow, sell, cook and consume it. (More information about that project coming soon).
∆ Reading stacks of zines and other independently published works. Jacksonville and Gainesville each have awesome zine libraries, and I’ve visited both of them in the last few months.
The Civic Media Center in Gainesville has a swoonworthy zine collection.
∆ Listening to Jennifer Egan read the first chapter of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “A Visit From the Goon Squad” — is there anything more thrilling than hearing a writer you love read her own words? — and talk about her writing process.
∆ Watching “The Interrupters” and marveling at the consistent genius of Alex Kotlowitz, who produced the movie with filmmaker Steve James. This heartrending documentary about the brave souls who work to stop street violence in Chicago is the most thought-provoking film I’ve seen in a long, long time.
∆ Spinning a lot of Leonard Cohen — his own recently released album, “Old Ideas,” and Greg Dulli’s pitch-perfect cover of “Paper Thin Hotel.” Also on heavy rotation around here: New records by Guided by Voices, Robert Pollard, Lucero, Ryan Adams, the Heartless Bastards, the Cloud Nothings, Ani DiFranco and Bruce Springsteen.
∆ Filling our little townhouse with a diverse group of wonderful Tallahasseeans to celebrate the Professor’s birthday. Wow, we’ve met a lot of great people in the 18 months that we’ve lived in Florida.
One of the Professor's awesome birthday gifts from our Floridian friends.
∆ Driving from Tallahassee to Chicago for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference and the Chicago Zine Fest, with an all-too-brief stop in Cincinnati and a quick dash to Milwaukee. (You can find a handful of photos from the trip on Strange Loop under the tag “Leap Year Road Trip”). During the 17-day, 2,100-mile journey, I racked up more great outings, memorable meals and inspiring conversations with my Midwestern friends than I can tally.
Chicago's unofficial flag.
exile from guyville 