Quittin' Time, a Circus and a Prison Rodeo Show
I got news. Big news. Shoot the moon and then swallow it bloody and whole, and the news is bigger than that.
I put in notice at one of my library gigs. My last day will be February 28th. What it came down to was not wanting to work every single weeknight and every single weekend of my life. And it'd be swell to have more than one day off, let alone two days off in a row. Yes, this too is possible for all people. And. And. AND I want more time to write. I feel like if I just took the time to throw myself into it and get a hell-ton of page hollerin' done, I might start getting published more. It's either get breakneck about it or give up the ghost and I'm not ready or ever-willin' to toss my notebook scribbling to the wayside.
Will I be poorer? Oh yes.
Will I be happier? I am pretty damn sure I will be.
So off I go, into the wild blue yonder of foolhardy decisions to make during an economic recession.
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Bonus: I'd seen Everett Shinn's painting, Tightrope Walker, before...but much of his other work is equally interesting:
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And in other art meanderings: I ADORE DAVID PLOWDEN!
A railroad track ends in the wide open prairie. A hostler cleans the fires with a cigar stub clamped between his teeth and leather gloves to protect his hands. The depot is wood paneled with hard pew seating near an empty ticket office. Requiem for Steam is David Plowden's portrait of the dead industrial culture of steam locomotives. Plowden photographed grunts, the engineers, the slow trail of freight cars across empty Midwestern fields, the brakemen and the grit of the train yards. And it's goddamn gorgeous. Oh wait, so is dang near everything else he's ever blinked a shutter on - including bridges, broken down buildings and small town America.
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Have any of you all seen Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo? You should. It's EXCELLENT.
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Sweet baby moses, if this isn't swinging the opposite sway, but I also thoroughly enjoyed the PBS documentary Circus. It's six hours of behind the scenes at the Big Apple Circus.
