Terrible night of terrors ended with a nice dream that my mom and I were moving my stuff in a U-Haul from one place to another, Mom saying “We’ll always have somnolence” as I woke up.
I’m going to St. Louis tomorrow to read at this deal. Tonight I think I’d like to try making samosas. It’s so beautiful outside I could curse about it.
Mud Luscious #11 is live with excerpts of books to get excited about this year. Lily Hoang, Robert Lopez, Jac Jemc, Aaron Burch, Adam Robinson, Michael Kimball, Robert Lopez, myself, and more. I just realized I said Robert Lopez twice. Now three times. I’m going to allow that.
Published on March 30, 2010 in Quotes and Readings. Closed
I’m trying to re-find the quote about how every argument, from world aggression to domestic spat, boils down to someone saying “What about me?” though I must be massively misremembering as I can’t find it anywhere.
It’s the kind of night where you just want to boil a cube of tofu, cut it up, cover it in store-bought pasta sauce and cheese and eat it.
sadness plate
It was okay, you know. The sadness comes in where the boiling water does a splashback thing onto my hand and I have to go find the burn cream before dinner.
Speaking of burn cream, here’s another AWP event, if you’re headed there next week (click for more info):
Stacy and I tried having a word party last night and it worked. New and old friends came out and we all got silly and talked large. It was feel-good. Today I keep thinking baby rabies.
I got a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee this morning and read the whole of MLKNG SCKLS. Well wrought, with the kind of quiet ease to the lines that draws you close and surprises. He had two hair-related elements that intend to stick in the old craw.
Sasha Fletcher sent me his Greying Ghost pamphlet “We Are All Of Us Up To Something” and it tried to float into a cloud so I trapped it.
watching
I saw one of those hoarder cars outside the breakfast place today, the kind where someone piles up mail and blankets and fast food wrappers and plastic sink fittings and newspapers and styrofoam cups and books and sunglass cases and cardboard boxes and paper towels and dead leaves and stuffs it all in the car. This one seemed organized with credit card bills on the dash and blankets blocking all the windows. It was a little Saturn or something, stuffed to the roof, every space filled save for a compartment carved out for the driver. The car sagged on its axles. Well anyway later.
Life is one extended game of Oregon Trail and we have full power to choose the members of our traveling party. I’m glad to have someone in my wagon who can eradicate the viruses from my computer after I’ve downloaded too much Madonna. Our hearts are light, our machines clean. Onward!
On Saturday I was a lucky duck to have three smart and talented ladies in my Dzanc Day workshop. We sat around the fireplace in Mary Sledd‘s lovely new studio and drank mimosas and talked about dialogue and openings and working through the block. Thanks to Brittany, Lesley, and Sarah for being wonderful and showing me your work. Thanks also to Dzanc for putting it together across the country.
SXSW happened. I was happy happy to make it down south to see Trespassers William play music so beautiful it put me into a trance. The woman sitting next to me on the couch was under the same spell. She kept saying “Yes” real quiet.
Zach and Ally visited from Chicago, Autumn from NYC. Good finds this year included The Middle East, Free Energy, Lisse, and Givers. I was happy to see The Low Anthem shine in a smaller venue. The Gary rocked their brunch show. Ally and I watched a guitar girl while we sat on chairs like old ladies. Mary and I walked through a dark neighborhood until we found a stage set up in someone’s backyard, accordions and violins backing pretty singers for a crowd of 75 or so.
Tyson’s Whiskey Rebellion was excellent. I had the honor of reading with Tyson as well as Bill Cotter, James Hannaham, Stephen Elliott. Feeling kind of overwhelmed just thinking about it. A band of young men called The Shake played and some homeless ladies jumped over a wall. It was a fine week in total! Back to work in the morning.
You should read Kyle Minor’s story The Truth and All Its Ugly, for it is heartache in paragraph form. Beautiful work.
And lastly: a kind review of AM/PM over at Broken Pencil. Thanks very much to Jack Cena for the consideration.
If you’re in Austin and you’re like “Man I wish I had an excuse to go to the Hyde Park Grill on Westgate” or “Man I wish I had something to do that doesn’t involve St. Patrick’s Day or SXSW” or “Man I wonder what Amelia’s doing at 6pm today” then come on out.
Otherwise, take some time out of your day to think about Rob Lowe on the occasion of his birthday.
This weekend, a Berkeley grad with a heavy deadline spruced up a tired recessionomics trend piece by taking aim at the poors in trade schools.
These people are victims
It’s true that for-profit schools like ITT Tech and University of Phoenix draw big benefits from people returning to school. However, the article rests on the trifecta of incorrect assumptions on not-for-profit schools: namely, that they 1) aren’t gunning for people’s money, 2) don’t profit off federal funding, and 3) aren’t a huge beneficiary of the rise in recession education.
And yes, for-profit schools draw much of their profit from Pell Grants, which are awarded to students with the highest levels of financial need. Ignoring the fact that 89 percent of all independent students receive some form of financial aid and 58 percent receive federal grants specifically, why do the poorest students choose trade schools over four-year colleges and two-year not-for-profit community colleges? Some ideas:
Students might not live near the 1,195 public, independent, or tribal community colleges in the country
Students working full-time may not have access to education resources with online, hybrid, weekend, or night courses
Students may not meet minimum educational requirements for admission
Courses/materials available at not-for-profit schools may not meet student requirements
Holding up culinary arts as a symbol of the failure of for-profit education is a weak choice. Culinary arts is the slow-moving target of the for-profit educational world, whether or not the training is coming from a for-profit or not-for-profit source. Every one of those quotes (“When they graduate and come in the kitchen, I tell them, ‘I’m going to treat you like you don’t know anything”) could have as easily referred to a culinary arts degree from a community college.
The facts as I see them:
People can train for about a third of the careers on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Fastest-Growing Occupations list at for-profit trade schools
In a recession, graduates of any school may have trouble finding work
Accreditation is key: if a for-profit school is unaccredited, it doesn’t stand up to the same standards the third-party accrediting agency holds for all schools, for-profit and not-for-profit alike. Side-note, you can’t get federal funding at an unaccredited school
A reporter soliciting his sources from the Career Education Corporation has probably never met anyone who has graduated from a trade school, excepting the girls at the salon where he gets his sustainable organic facials
When I read articles like this, I wonder what the point is. I’m all for fairness in marketing or regulations lowering some for-profit tuition. I’m against increased education standards for trade schools; with an accreditation process recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, standards at trade schools are set at the same level as public schools.
But it always seems that the point of these pieces is the classist sentiment that trade and for-profit students should have reduced access to financial aid or fewer options for accredited training, freeing up cash and resources for those lucky enough to have the means and ability to attend the sunny California school of their choice. In response, I’ll sum up the reaction I imagine from trade school students and graduates across the country: screw you, guy.
Will you be in Denver on April 8th? You should come to this reading. Whether or not you come, you should see this excellent poster by Goodloe Byron:
click for large marge
Elisa Gabbert wrote about my last post in terms of online marketing, Web analytics, and using questions in search queries to generate leads. These are things I must think about when I’m doing my day job and it was cool to learn more about it. High fives, Gabbert.
On Thursday night I broke a deadlift record at the gym—a pitiful 115lbs, due to the fact that I hate deadlift plus the fact I am a whiny baby—and I am still paying for it in terms of overall soreness. Deadlifts get your back, arms, legs, stomach. It makes me want to float in the Gulf of Mexico for three days straight. Alas! It is Winter.
A strange thing just happened: First, the neighbor cat meowed at its door downstairs, which I heard clearly from the open window. Directly after, one of my cats attacked the closed door to my room. This gave the impression that a ghost cat had transmuted through my home and was simultaneously present. It’s hard to express how unsettling that was. It made my heart beat up in my inner ear. I’m giving up on reasonable thought for the night.
People have found this blog by asking Google questions. I will try to answer some.
what if my roll dough turns gray
If you’re using whole wheat, it could be oxidizing. Maybe your flour is too old or the dough itself is turning gray out of the freezer. Maybe it’s the recipe. Avoid lead-based butter.
worst high five ever
how long does it take to get a warrant
I think you can get one in an afternoon, if you are a police officer and you can find a judge to give you one. (It will take more time if you’re just some guy.)
rob lowe wears hearing aid?
Rob Lowe is deaf in one ear, so probably. The more you know about Rob Lowe.
kind words to describe someone story
Your story changed my sleeping patterns. Your story was worth forty dollars.
what sort of rocks are there?
All kinds. Some rocks are very hard and others are so soft you can scratch them with your fingernail. Sometimes rocks float. Once I had a dream I was explaining a quartz rock to my child.
my cat just ate a housefly
Your cat will be okay. Remember that cats in their natural state eat all manner of lizards.
is 52 old
Not unless you’re a housefly.
what is rob lowe’s favorite color?
People have found this blog searching for: rob lowe 2010, rob lowe in blue jeans, coach rob lowe, rob lowe bathroom, rob lowe drinking, rob lowe wearing a t shirt, rob lowe crying, rob lowe mas, rob lowe’s dogs, rob lowe official website, rob lowe young, rob lowe today, rob lowe in tight jeans, rob lowe 2009, ring rob lowe wears, rob lowe with his kids, and rob lowe little known facts.
At any given moment, someone is searching for details regarding Rob Lowe.
The Ransom Center got David Foster Wallace’s archives. They’ll be up in August or so. Field trip down the street. (via)
Last night was cool. I read from AM/PM a little. It started pouring rain on half the crowd after I started one page but stopped twenty seconds later. I also read an oldie, as requested by the gentleman what escorted me. (Texas Tip: Dance with who brung ya.)
The reading also featured an open mic, with ACC students and faculty reading short pieces. One of the best open mics I’ve seen, actual. Took me back to Maggie Evans’s shows in San Marcos when I was most excited about poetry.
Then, Finn & Porter for Restaurant Week. Pecans caramelized and further crisped in the deep-fry. Seabass steamed over a bed of potato flavored with some manner of umami. A trio of brûlées in tiny cups. Fine company as well. Today I have a date with the gym. After coffee. Fifteen more minutes.
Thanks to John Herndon for inviting me to last night’s reading and to Sarah Wambold for making a note about it on the Austinist.
Next week, I’m opening the Whiskey Rebellion with Southpaw. In later excitement, I’m reading with Teleportal for Fusebox in April. And more good news, we got Michael Kimball and Christian TeBordo for Five Things in May.
This week, I’m watching a dog with a spinal injury who needs to be walked in a sling. On our last trip outside, we made friends with a half-paralyzed corgi. Its useless legs were strung up in a rolling cage. Everybody’s just happy to be here.
Thanks also to the Art Seen Alliance, to volunteers Sarah and Mike and Jon, and to everyone who came out to hear good stories and music. Pictures will be up at the Five Things site soon.
Other Austin events: I’m reading on Monday the 8th with the ACC Literary Coffeehouse, 7pm at the Austin Java on Parkway. On the 15th, check out 20×2, featuring Owen Egerton, Southpaw Jones, Amanda Eyre Ward and more, delivering two-minute pieces at the Ghost Room. Kicking off SXSW week with a fine who-loves-ya.
Fried Chicken & Coffee is doing a Barry Hannah Memorial Competition. Winner gets copies of Airships, Ray, and Geronimo Rex, plus a $25.00 gift card from Barnes & Noble.
Amelia Gray is the author of AM/PM (Featherproof Books) and Museum of the Weird (FC2). Her first novel, THREATS, is due March 2012 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. For other publications, see here. For upcoming readings, see here. For a big ol' picture of her face, see here.
