And the beat goes on...

[susanstinson]

• When the weather was warmer and I was riding my trike in a t-shirt and jeans, young men yelled something stupid out of a car for the first time. That same day, a woman who saw me working to get up a hill waved and gave several excited fist pumps, also from inside her car. She was being enthusiastic, not mean, but I didn't have my trike last spring, and these early signs of it have me mentally girding up for the warm weather harrassment season, which I hope is mild.



• My new glasses were popular in Colorado, not only in the family and in the Denver gallery, but after I went to a concert at my twelve year-old nephew's school (he plays sax, and performed "O Canada" and "Let's Go Band."), he told me that one of his friends asked him who the lady was with the great glasses. I could hardly believe it, since my glasses have not in the past been the characteristic of mine most noted by twelve year-old boys.



• Another good moment -- the kids put on a dance show in the basement, complete with flashing light effects. It was all great, but the highlights for me were when the parents started getting recruited: the oldest boy and his dad dancing to "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash, and my brother and his wife (each of whom has a passionate relationship with intense work) dancing to "Fruits of My Labor" by Lucinda Williams ( "take the glory any day over the fame" or "take the glory any day over the pain, baby, sweet baby"), which are both songs I love, both selected by the kids.



• I'm writing hard on the novel. It's feeling good, fingers crossed. I need to keep going and get a lot done in the next month, so no lj, or next to no lj.



• I'm writing something about why fat girls need fiction for the Fat Studies Reader.
  
  
• Alison Bechdel, whose latest book is Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For, also has a graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, which I'm very excited to read, due out in June.
  
  Edited to add: Check out these early reviews and blurbs for Fun Home. All of those starred reviews, such great people, "one of the best graphic novels ever." God, I can't wait.
  



• Alison also made me very happy by inviting me to a book party for The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, which has just been released in the US. I've read and loved (you know, jaw dropped, how does she do that?, pulse-racing kind of love) all of Sarah's earlier novels, so I can't wait to read the new book, which I now have in my hands. (Hmm, more eighteenth century New England theological history or Sarah Waters' latest novel? I'm pretty obsessed with the eighteenth century at the moment, but...)



• Speaking of the eighteenth century, thanks to a tip from ericaceous, I knew that there was a shape-note singing festival in the area a couple of weeks ago. So when I rode my trike past the Center for the Arts, late to a friend's opening at the library, and heard the singing, I stopped and went upstairs just in time to see the remains of what looked like a truly spectacular potluck and watch a big roomful of people, clearly feeling something very much like joy, mill around the room shaking each other's hands as they sang the last song of the weekend. Even my hand got shook, though I was hovering with crossed arms in the doorway. A prayer was said. Then I went back downstairs, and carried on to check out Revealing Our Roots: Stories of Our Progressive Jewish Heritage, which I liked a lot. It's still up, and there's going to be a video screening by Joel Saxe (whose photos and interviews with a community of Jewish Communist elders in the late eighties are very tender and evocative) and a book reading by Ernie Brill: Wednesday, March 29 at 7pm.



• Also, because I read about the Gossip and Beth Ditto in an interview by Charlotte Cooper, I am going to go see them at the Iron Horse on Monday night. This is both thrilling and daunting. I never go to anything that starts at 8:30 on a week night, and I've only been to the Iron Horse maybe twice in my life. I'm not sure, but I think I may have to buy dinner and sit with strangers. Eeeek! Yet, who can resist? Not me.

Comments

[slantedtruth.livejournal.com]

ha ha the iron horse! i have seen dar williams there. i wish i had known you when i used to hang out in N'hampton.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

I saw dar williams once at the Montague Bookmill. I didn't know you used to hang out in Northampton! Do you think it's true that I'll have to buy dinner?

[slantedtruth.livejournal.com]

can't remember! i don't think i bought dinner. maybe, though. my good friend went to hampshire, so i was there a lot (so cloes to montreal!). hey just now HF and i were talking and we will come down to visit when she comes to visit me next year.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Please do come visit! (My small apartment isn't set up to put people up, but the visiting's grand...) It's true, it's close to Montreal, but the transportation connections are pretty rough, right? -- have to get to Albany to take the train.

[(Anonymous)]

it's good to hear from you! i'm glad that things are going so well!
xoxo

[beccawrites.livejournal.com]

oops, it's me becca saying that.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Hiya, Becca! I've been thinking about you, since I'm going to be in NYC for that party soon, but I'm zooming in and out (with maybe a stop at the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale for some research on the way in), so I don't think I get to try to see if you have time to see me, which is sad.

I've been wishing I had a truly fabulous piece of clothing like one of Bertha's deconstructed skirts to wear to this party. I loved those skirts. But I think I can do okay with what I've got.

Did I tell you that I referred a friend who had recently been diagnosed with type one diabetes to the queeringdiabetes website not long ago? I haven't heard back about her reaction, but I know it meant a lot that I had a resource to offer her.

[beccawrites.livejournal.com]

oh, that's great! i'm glad to hear that! (well, i'm glad to hear that you're using the resource, not that your friend was diagnosed...) we're actually working on transferring responsibility for the site to redrider this weekend.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

One of the things I love about you is your skill at and willingness to transfer responsibility when the time comes. Just did some reading on your lj, getting caught up. Hope you're doing okay.

[beccawrites.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm ok. :) and thanks!

[felicks.livejournal.com]

Feh to harrassment season. Yech.

And I'm also looking forward to Alison Bechdel's graphic novel.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Yech is right.

I just added a link to a bunch of great early reviews of the memoir -- fingers crossed that a whole lot of people pay attention and support her work -- all of those starred reviews really bode well for that, knocking on wood. It's hard to wait.