This morning I went to a free training for my volunteer job to learn "verbal judo," which is the gentle art of persuasion. There's a book that came out in the 90s that still had a lot of holds on it at the library, so I think a lot of people still use it for training, especially police. I expected it to be over at noon, so I packed a lunch and was ( Read more... )

A few days ago, I read some of my entries from 2010 and I could remember the events in them so clearly. The details of who I talked to, what we talked about, what we did, and how it felt. I have a more regimented writing practice now. I write every day, with only the occasional missed day that gets away from me. But I haven't spent so much time ( Read more... )

Hey dudes! New posts are over at The Watermelon-Shirt Type now. Goodbye, Livejournal pop-up ads smart enough to get around my pop-up blocker. Hello to new adventures, including going to see Marina Abravomic, getting settled into a new apartment, and taking a weekend trip to Kansas for brotherly gradu-ma-ation purposes ( Read more... )

After just shy of seven years, I'm jumping ship from Livejournal over to Blogspot.

My new blog, The Watermelon-Shirt Type, can be found hereToday I went to see Marina Abramovic's "The Artist is Present" exhibit at the MoMA. You can read about my experience on the new blog: http ( Read more... )

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the annual benefit for Four Way Books, a small literary publisher run by Martha, one of my former college professors. I could hardly believe last year, that when Martha invited my poetry class, that I was the only one that took her up on the offer. I mean -- wine, chocolate, and poetry? Impossible to turn ( Read more... )

After reading this article, I think I really want to go see the Marina Abramovic exhibit at MoMA. I actually had a dream about it. I dreamed I worked at a cafe at the museum directly adjacent to the exhibit, and I wandered away to go and sit with the artist. She was wearing a magnificent blue dress and approached the table on stilts, looking ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I took the 2 train out through the Bronx to attend my friend Patrick's recital at Sarah Lawrence (which was, by the way, all kinds of beautiful -- and probably the first concert program to successfully and seamlessly combine Beethoven, Nine Inch Nails, and the Smashing Pumpkins ( Read more... )

Yesterday morning was not out of my closing-at-work routine. I slept late, stayed in bed and wrote for a little, and then got up to take a shower with the intention of making some lunch and then leaving for work. I lingered in the shower, washed some of my clothes to hang out on the line, and then went to turn off the water ( Read more... )

Part One ( Read more... )

#1- New apartment -- pictures to come when I unpack enough to locate my camera. Am thankful for all of the previously mentioned things, and also that my roommates seem to have a fantastic array of books for me to borrow, and in general they seem really just pretty wonderful ( Read more... )