getaway
Every August, the Chatham low-residency students are asked to come to campus for 10 days of workshops and readings and meetings. And this year, I am going to join them for a bit! I'll head to Pittsburgh on Friday morning, and will return sometime Sunday afternoon. So far I've got dinner scheduled for Friday with SSG and some of the guest faculty, and at least one meeting on Saturday afternoon. Then Saturday night, I get to give a public reading from my work. We can't really afford this, since it also means getting a rental car, but I'm staying with SSG and they're paying a small honorarium for the reading. Plus, I want to go. No, NEED to go. It has been almost 2 years since I have been well and truly *alone,* anywhere. And I am in desperate need of being with other writers/teachers/kindred spirits. I plan to do a little shopping (Ulta, how I miss you...), and also am going to make a short hike into the Frick Park off-leash dog area. I want to put Troy the Collie to rest in his favorite place in the whole world (J is charged with putting Lewis the Cat to rest in a cornfield in Iowa next week - then we will just need to lay Hannah in the desert, the next time we find ourselves in Arizona).
I am, selfishly, beyond excited. I'll get to meet many of the students from my nature writing class last spring, and will get to meet some of the ones taking my fall course. But I am also a tiny bit nervous about the reading - it has been a looooong time since I did that since about 2002 I think). I've spent the last couple of days editing down my favorite essay, practicing reading it aloud for timing and to try to remember all those words. Am also nervous about this being the first time J will be left alone with both girls (the most recent entry in the other journal explains why...).
I am, selfishly, beyond excited. I'll get to meet many of the students from my nature writing class last spring, and will get to meet some of the ones taking my fall course. But I am also a tiny bit nervous about the reading - it has been a looooong time since I did that since about 2002 I think). I've spent the last couple of days editing down my favorite essay, practicing reading it aloud for timing and to try to remember all those words. Am also nervous about this being the first time J will be left alone with both girls (the most recent entry in the other journal explains why...).