Archive for the 'self snap' Category

A kind of dining hall? Tell me more.

Published on April 19, 2010 in self snap. Closed

After I got back from Denver my pals Angeline and Johnny arrived, and we went on many food-based adventures (Tamale House, Salt Lick). Then I spent some happy time with Jon’s parents, and we chased wildflowers and traveled to the Bastrop State Park, where we saw some cabins and buildings constructed by the CCC. One 87 year old who had worked on the massive stone refectory as a young man was quoted as saying “I think everyone should come look at those rocks.”

here it is from the inside

Now I’m sleepy but glad to have spent time with friends. Also I learned the word “refectory.” I need to spend about eight years doing laundry.

I made the finishing touches on my contribution to Spork 9.1. Can’t wait to see what Drew and Richard do. The completed book sounds like it will be an object you should hold in your hands.

  • There are a lot of writers who like to run
  • There’s a journal that has had a story of mine for 1,507 days
  • I feel pretty dumb lately
  • Maybe bullet points will help

We are losing the best minds of our generation to Farmville

Published on February 1, 2010 in real talk and self snap. Closed

Time it should take to consider a manicure, decide you’d rather save the money, go to the store and buy a bottle of nail polish: 1.5 hours

Time it takes Amelia Gray: 7 days

Teak Rose
(not pictured: crushing insecurity)

Five Things happened Friday night. I’m starting to get why having people read more than five minutes becomes appealing from a planning perspective—getting five readers together means all this buildup on the organization side for less than a half hour of listening pleasure. Dunno how the Quickies gals do it in Chicago. (Amphetamines.)

Keeping the time limit is worth it for the feeling of flash. The show featured our contest winners, so it was an extra treat to meet people and see them read at once. A couple of them told me they had never read on stage before, which was nuts with what they brought. After the reading the bands played and a girl danced with a pint of beer balanced on her head.

Speaking of readings, a must-see in Austin: Salvador Plascencia is reading at 7PM, Thurs., Feb 4 In the Joynes Reading Room, behind Carothers Residence Hall at 2501 Whitis Ave on the UT campus. The reading is free and open to the public. Call 512-471-5787 or mvalentine@mail.utexas.edu for more information.

no sleep night

Published on December 7, 2009 in Behind The Blog and self snap. 2 Comments

Everything in my house is in a pile and cleaning only serves to shuffle the pile around and hide it. The pile remains in some subversive form.

You know, between blogs and the Twitbook and the Facespace we have to internalize this brand-conscious do-it-yourself public relations or else we either ruin relationships or go nuts. Everything we say has the power to further alienate us from one another.

The people who are agreeable to most are the ones with the strongest consciousness of their own brand. Person-as-brand has been around since the printing press at least but social media turns the concept into an obsessive stranglehold. If you’re important enough, you hire a brand manager to take care of the far reaches of your brand; corners of childhood you’ve forgotten about, loose ends overseas. The rest of us do the work ourselves. I’m not sure that pretending this isn’t happening is a great idea.

“Agreeable to most,” I know I know.

The best response to my all my worries comes from two old men holding signs on a front porch in Temple, Texas: one sign reads DUH, and the other, CHILL OUT ALREADY. Thanks guys.

Shifting piles.

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