One Year

A year ago, at this time I was sleeping fitfully, stressed about what was to come. Actually, I might have been up getting ready to leave the hotel.

Differences between today and a year ago: It is colder today (forecast says 69, last year was 93 or 94). There are more flowers around (the magnolia should be blooming soon. I walked by one Friday and it is heavy with buds). I am hiding in my office writing an essay rather than traveling across North America. I think I would rather be traveling than writing the essay. I know which way is north.

The biggest changes are actually more subtle. Knowing which way is north is part of my acclimation process, though I suspect I would still get confused if I were to head off to Chapel Hill again. I don't feel so out of place here now, the first few months I felt totally alien. Seeing the NC license plates looks natural now, and no longer creates a sense of dislocation. The reminders in signs on trucks and buses, and bulletin boards has also become natural. The thick southern accents, the changing accents still stand out, though that is in part due to my being in an area that is very cosmopolitan, and there is a great variety of different accents here. The heavy green that comes from plant life is still assaultive, but I enjoy the abuse. This spring has been so much prettier than last (a late, heavy frost hurt many of the flowers last year I think), in part because I have watched it through the whole season. I remember how shocked I was coming from the naked grays of Alberta to the green here, how strange and unreal it all felt. Now, as I look at images from the north, I think how strange it would be to see so little green. Even in the midst of January there was a lot of green from the magnolias and holly and pines.

The changes I have experienced over the last year are harder to identify and write about. I have done some things, casually, that I could not have done in the past. Other things I have known as I was doing them that they were extraordinary for me, but I was still doing them. Some things I had not thought I could do, yet I did them without too much trouble. That is a bit ambiguous I suppose, but it is hard to define the changes that have occurred when they have been so gradual in many cases. I am different today than I was a year ago, and not just because I know which way is north. I have acquired a deep affection for the startling blue skies, the multi-hued greens that are everywhere, and the warm weather (even in winter).

I have changed over this past year, I suppose. But it is hard to identify those changes. I am comfortable in my current location, though I miss my family at times. It will be interesting to see how I feel in a year.

Tuesday, April 29

One day away from a year hear!

This is going to be a long day, but it will be a relatively stress free day. I like that. I will be spending the day watching and listening to what class mates and undergrads have to say.

I handed in one essay yesterday, and that leaves me with one more due Saturday. Four days to write it up. I have my research done, I just need to do the writing now. I have most of Wednesday, and all of Thursday to Saturday to work on it. I am really looking forward to the end of the semester.

I was thinking as I went into school yesterday that part of what has bothered me this term is the restrictions on what I can read/explore within each class. The limitations of genre reading chaff. Being required to read something, even if it fails to grab one within the first chapter, is irksome. I would like to be able to go into a class, say that this text failed to work, say why I set it down, and not be penalized for doing so. I did read some great texts in the one class however. It was also the more challenging of the three intellectually as well.

We had a great rain over the weekend, I think we received around two inches. Hopefully, this wetness will allow for some great seasonal vegetable and fruits this summer. I am looking forward to some local peaches. Last years crop was destroyed by a late frost.

One day, huh?

April 25

I am sitting on my back deck listening to the birds mumble and complain about the coming dawn. Or they may be baby birds begging for food. The cheeping and chirping is quite loud. It is warm (high 50's)and going warmer today (84). It feels wonderful to be able to sit outside again, sipping my coffee, and relaxing before the day really begins.

My week has gone better than expected. One paper had the due date bumped forward to Monday, so I have the weekend to slave on it. I spent Wednesday fussing and writing a presentation for Thursday morning, even though I knew I would likely not have to present if I did not wish to. To determine speaking order, we drew lots, and I drew #5. That would have been high enough to push me into next week before I had to present. The man sitting next to me drew #1, but was reluctant to go first, so I offered to exchange with him. Shocking, huh? What makes this even more impressive in my eyes is that I went first in Wednesday night's class as well. That was a shorter presentation, but it was still a presentation.

To celebrate I walked home from school. It was a wonderful afternoon, mid-seventies, lots of sun, and a light breeze. Nearly perfect weather. After supper I also went for a walk (link to photos of lots of green stuff on the right), so I had two great walks yesterday, and that has helped my stress levels a great deal.

This morning I am strolling down to the library for some books, and then I have to sequester myself in my office and work on an essay. I hope to be able to get another evening walk, but that will depend on how things go today. My current goal is to finish a rough draft of this paper by Saturday evening, and spend Sunday polishing it. I can then turn it in Monday sometime, and move onto the next paper. I will need a rough draft of that paper done by Thursday, and that will give me Friday and Saturday to do the polish/edit. Tuesday will be a shot day. I have to go to school and listen to my classmates do their presentations (though that should be interesting). I can relax and enjoy them as I have finished mine! :) In the afternoon I will go to the comp class I was a part of, and listen to the groups there do their presentations. I am excited to see what they have done with their projects.

Wednesday is my one year in America anniversary. It has been a fast year. I suppose I should think about what has changed for me in that year.

Saturday I will have completed my first year of the MFA program, and I suppose I should think about what that means as well.

It is a beautiful morning.

Chapbook

I am nearly done my edits for the spring workshop. I have a collection of ten connected poems. If you would like a copy, send me an email, or leave a comment, and I will send out a pdf.

I am also into my final panic. One week of classes, two essays, and two presentations. Have I done any work on these projects? No. Am I panicking? YES!

The weather has been nice this week, and looks nice in the following few days. Some rain arrived last night, and, with luck, we will get a lot more today and tomorrow.

A much longer entry will appear after the semester's end. That is in two weeks. Or sooner, depending on what kind of progress I make towards completion of the semester's labors.

who is freezing?

Word reached me of some rather unpleasantness up north, so I had to do a litlle bragging. This is a photo of a crow looking for a place to take a cooling dip in our creek (about 50 yards from the back porch where I took the photo, I am still too crippled to go much of anywhere). The current temperature is 83, and with luck we will actually reach 85. I love the south (such as it is).

I am still busy. So much to do and only a few days to do it in. Panic levels are rising, but I am too broke to flee to a warmer climate. Ah, if only poets recieved enough respect to get a free ride in life.

Friday April 11

It is 5:33 and I am sitting outside slurping my coffee. I can hear frogs, some birds, the creek (which is still flowing nicely after last week's rain)cricklin away beneath the traffic noises. Above me the stars glare through the new leaves and seedpods trying to convince me that I should still be sleeping. I am, of course, pretending that they are inanimate and unable to send messages of sleep and warm cozy beds. Though it is not cold out here this morning, and to make the day begin with hope, the forecast says we may get above 80. A low pressure is coming in from the west, however, and it will be much much colder come Sunday and Monday. The trees are beginning to leaf out enough that the neighbors across the creek are less visible. I am looking forward to summer.

Today I am off to the arboretum, though I really should be staying home and grading papers. But if I were a responsible sort, I would not be an artist sort. One of the benefits of being a poet is claiming the perks and running off after small pleasures at times when a responsible person would be working. School is winding down, only two more weeks and it will all be done for this term, well, mostly. Three weeks and everything will be done. I am going to be a bit busy those last few weeks though. One paper, a presentation, and my chapbook. By the way, I have had no requests for the chapbook so far.

It is great to be able to sit outside in the morning, I forgot how much I enjoy doing this. Winter really does suck up all the pleasure a person gets out of life. Damn winter!

Friday April 4

We received another half inch of rain overnight/yesterday. Though it is a bit disappointing to not be able to go running around taking pictures of all things green, it is sure making things go green. I am hoping it will be dry enough to allow me to go to the arboretum today. I want to stick my nose into some wisteria, and perhaps, take a photo or two of it blooming. On the bus home yesterday, I looked off in that direction, and there was a tree that was not yet leafing. But it was covered in the light blue/white of the wisteria flowers. Very beautiful, for a weed.

I finished my teaching yesterday with some individual conferences. It is quite terrifying to think that there are only three weeks left in this semester. In two weeks I have to have one paper written, finish my edits for a chapbook, and have a rough draft of another paper polished enough to do a presentation, and grade a whack of papers. The next three weeks will be incredibly busy.

Two posts in one week, wow!

Haven

It is the morning of April 1, and the silly jokes are flying around. I, however, will not play any jokes this morning. Mostly because I forgot today was April 1 and cannot think of anything brilliant.

I managed to put one photo a day on my web site last month. Given how busy I am/was I think that is an achievement worth bragging about. I failed to write a poem a day three times, mostly because poem writing takes longer than photo putting up does. I will need to go through what I wrote and see if there are any lines,or start of poems that I can use to actually create something interesting. Because of my success last month, I am going to continue this project this month. Image and poem. Both are teaching me things I need to know. Poetry has one advantage over photography, no blown highlights and no underexposed/overexposed areas. Photography has the advantage in its ability to show a story, rather than tell.

0.79. That is how much rain we received in the last 24 hours. It was rather amazing how green the world became with yesterday's showers/rain. Flowers are coming along nicely everywhere I look, masses of white, red, pink, purple, etc. etc.

The windows in the room where I have my workshop were left open on the weekend. The desk was covered in pollen (yellow), as were all the window sills, and I would guess all the books. The seminar room doubles as a library for MA/MFA thesis, and I wonder how wise it is to keep them there after seeing the pollen everywhere.

I handed in my last two poems for the workshop last night, and it felt good. Over the next two to three weeks I will be doing some editing/organizing, and putting them into chapbook format. If anyone would like a pdf file of the finished product, I would gladly email them one once it is ready (End of April).

Today I teach the full class for the last time this term. I still have a ton of papers to grade, but that won't happen until next Tuesday, so I will be concentrating on other tasks this weekend. This semester has been rather busy, and I will be glad when it is over.