Talking to Strangers: An Introvert Hits the Streets: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Stepping into 2012

Our new kitten, Arthur

I've been gone, obviously. Teaching is hard; writing while teaching is harder; but not writing is hardest of all, and I vow to give it up. In 2012, I'm going to write while I teach, no matter how complicated my life becomes, how tired I get, how behind on laundry, no matter if both the teaching and writing go downhill as a result.

Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act today, meaning that American citizens accused of domestic terrorism can be detained, interrogated, and tried by military as well as civilian officials. The tricky thing will be how how broadly domestic terrorism is defined. (A scary example is the prosecution as terrorists of Earth Liberation Front activists, for property damage alone. Watch If a Tree Falls, now streaming on Netflix.) What has looked like a popular uprising in Syria turns out to be some kind of proxy war against Iran, with our fingerprints all over it. Los Angeles is on fire, and it isn't even fire season. My children struggle to make ends meet, and we struggle to help them.

Yet whether it's 1984 or 2012, on whatever morning in whatever year we wake up, we get in the shower, get dressed, and do the things we can't help doing. Not writing is harder on my health than fatigue will ever be. I hope that whatever it is you can't help doing, your most important occupation, thrives next year, and you along with it.

P. S. I plan to post a book review now and then on this blog since I'm not reviewing for Trachodon's Cheek Teeth site anymore...and I never stop reading.

About Me Lately

When I started this blog in 2011, I'd been living in Bellingham, WA, a new town in a new state, for four years. I spent the first two years getting an MFA in fiction, and the second two recovering from this process. By the beginning of year five, I was walking my dog, worrying about my grown children, and writing with little focus. I got some help with the focus thing (if you need a coach, I know a good one), my kids solved their own problems, and I started coming out of myself a little. I went back to teaching for a year at a local community college, where I loved my students, my colleagues not so much. It probably doesn't take most people six years to fully relocate--to a new place, an empty nest, and life after the MFA, when all that's left is to sit down and write--but no one has ever accused me of moving fast. Now that I have placed my rear end in my chair, my introversion, which has always felt like a curse, feels like a blessing. I still need to hit the streets occasionally. This blog is one way to do that.

How to Talk to Strangers

1. Blurt something out. 2. Allow time for shock. 3. If no response, don’t give up. 4. Make a self-deprecating joke. (In my case, there's plenty of material.) 5. If you see a smile, even in the eyes, ask a question. 6. If no response again, walk away. (It looks better if you do something else first, like bend over to tie your shoe.) 7. Don’t be surprised if, when you run into this person a few minutes or a few days later, a conversation ensues, and this time you won't be the one who starts it. 8. Some people won’t have anything to do with you . . . ever.

Readers!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Stepping into 2012