Pillars of the Earth

So I meant to be more regular about this thing and it clearly hasn't happened. Oh well. I'll update you with what's been cooking lately.

First of all, of utmost interest, is that I have a roommate. My good friend Genevieve has a best friend, Cory, who was awarded a post-doc at the art museum here in Cleveland. She'll be doing research for a collection of miniatures they have here. She'll be here for about nine months and she initially stayed here while she was looking for a place to live. We found that we get along extremely well and have lots in common and similar standards of living, plus we both like to live alone and like our alone time. Therefore we really respect the other person's privacy and alone time and yet we can go grab beers together. As a result, we decided that it makes the most sense for both of us, as newbies to the city, slightly lonely and missing our respective friends and boyfriends, to live together. She has no furniture; I have tons. We're both kind of poor right now and could use the cheap rent for her / cheaper rent for me. We need company. I need a catsitter when I'm in Austin or at a conference or whathaveyou. So I have a roommate. :)

Second of all, I'm still not convinced by Cleveland. The weather is gorgeous - 86 and sunny every day. It's been kind of sticky lately, but I'll get over it. I went to the pool yesterday and just read and swam. It was delightful.

Thirdly, the job is going well. I've been charged with the professional development program we offer teachers here at the Rock Hall and this new challenge has required me to network in new ways. Also, a non-profit is launching an arts education program with eight Cleveland schools wherein arts orgs around Cleveland hold residencies, offer fieldtrip opps, and conduct distance leraning courses for these schools, all of which are k-8. The neat thing about this program is that we get paired with a school or two and actually get to know the students in it. Plus, we get to meet educators from all of these other fabulous arts organizations in Cleveland: the orchestra, the art museum, dance troupes, poetry groups, etc. It's pretty awesome to see the arts, including rock and roll!, flourish in such productive ways among young people. Fun fun fun!

I'm joining a book club with my old college roommate, Arlie. Arlie is a novelist and poet, and has turned me on to lots of fabulous authors including Jeannette Winterson, Ruth Ozeki, and Louise Erdich. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to read fiction while in the midst of the dissertation and also to meet other women in my city. And it will be. It's just that each woman in the book club gets to choose a book and sometimes it's a book that's slightly less, well, Erdichey than Erdich. And this month's book is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Just the name - Ken Follet - elicits memories of trying to read in Spanish. His books were always an easy read, and I could keep up my bilingual chops when living in Spain. Well, I guess that sums it up. ;)

I'm going to Austin for Labor Day Weekend! Hooray! I wanted to go somewhere - I really wanted to go to New Orleans to visit Dan and Laura, but it turns out that I really need to get to Austin to train the new assistant editor of the journal, and also to dispute a library fine. Boo. But it's not torture; I'll be seeing my brother and everyone else, so I'm excited. And it's kind of funny because I'll be back in Austin in four weeks to hit up ACL with Genevieve. Woo!

Today I like it ok.

After a grueling morning and afternoon in front of the computer, trying to meet a deadline, I decided I needed to go for a run. At 4:00 in the afternoon. Yes, you can run in Cleveland at 4 and won't die of heatstroke. It was about 85 and sunny and I decided to go 25 minutes out, 25 minutes back, about five miles. I decided to push it slightly, because I was frustrated with my writing and needed to breathe hard. I ran down Lake Avenue and then down Edgewater Boulevard. True to its name, it is on the water's edge. And as I turned a bend, I nearly choked. All of the sudden there was a spectacular view of a beach, sailboats, the city skyline (I could even see the Rock Hall!) and this was only 15 minutes into my run! I kept on rolling, past a huge Indian picnic (I half hoped they would invite me to some samosas), past a game of cricket, a Puerto Rican cookout, tons of kids playing in the park, climbing trees and running around, past cyclists, dogwalkers, and down a hill to the beach. Right at Edgewater Beach I hit 25 minutes and turned around only to face the huge hill I had run down. I barreled up it, and was sufficiently out of breath at the top, making the run really nice. I ran back home under shady trees, watching the sailboats, passing the occasional teenager wandering home after a day at the beach. Today I like it here ok.

Today I hate it here.

Some days, I like Cleveland. Some days I don't. Most days I miss Austin. Today I hate it. Mostly because today it's pretty and sunshiney and there's an art festival in downtown Lakewood and I'm at the beautiful newly remodeled library working on a chapter. You'd think this would be a day when I love it. But no, it just makes me think of Austin and how the library in Austin is better, the art festivals in Austin are prettier, the sun is brighter, the people are nicer. Some days I just compare, which isn't really fair, but I don't care. I'm a poet, by the way.