May 27, 2006
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I spruced up my site to make it feel more like summertime. Dig my new profile pic? It is a photograph with China marker drawing by Mary Beth Edelson called Woman Rising/Spirit, 1973. According to Olga M. Viso in her essay The Memory of History in my favoriet art book, MENDIETA (a collection of artist Ana Mendieta’s work and influences), this work of art makes “a political statement that says I am, and I am large, and I am my body, and I am not going away.” Beautiful, eh?
In other news, you might remember from my last entry that we were contemplating a move. In April, my husband interviewed well for a dream job in NYC. He applied to a number of grad schools and was faced with both some disheartening rejection and happy acceptance. And finally, enough information was available to us this week to make a decision. I had the pleasure of sending a version of the email below to the bulk of my address book. Read on, if you are curious.
Love Letter
Howdy friends!
My apologies for the mass email, but I’m thinking that it may be the best way to go with this sort of announcement. I hope to connect with you all individually soon.
As most of you know, Shaun-san has been hard at work these past few years seeing that his dream of carving some time out in life to take a deep dive into the study of creative writing comes to fruition. My husband has worked his tail off to get his resume in ship-shape for this (I’ll brag for him, since I suspect that he would rather die than do it himself): moonlighting as an editor, authoring Cliff Notes, reviewing comics, and submitting his fiction manuscripts to editors everywhere (make sure to check out his graphic novella, “Renewal,” published in the anthology “Hope: New Orleans,” hitting an amazon.com near you this August). We’ve scrimped, we’ve saved, and oh-my-lord did we WAIT. And now, it is my great pleasure to announce: starting August 21, Shaun will be attending New Mexico Highlands University this fall to get his MA in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing.
While getting his MA, Shaun has been hired to work in the college writing center for the first year and he has been granted an assistant professorship for his second year. Aside from emerging from this little educational rendezvous as a better writer, an MA is necessary to be competitive when applying for good editorial positions. And what better day job for our dear protagonist to have than as an editor-in-chief of some hot literary magazine? ::smile::
As for me, I’m along for the fun ride, but I also get a kick out of employment situations where I am helping to cultivate the cultural, educational, and recreational services in communities. Thanks to my current position, I am experienced (and damn good at) developing and implementing cultural programming, marketing, and public relations. I’d flourish in a museum, college, art gallery, theater company, tourism office, cultural center, or a mayor’s office of special events. I’d also consider employment at an advertising firm or an events planning company, but my heart truly sings when I am serving communities rather than clients. I have a degree in Writing for Television, but I doubt anyone is hiring a screenwriter—but hey, it never hurts to throw that info out there. ::smile:: I’ll be scouring New Mexico, Santa Fe, and Taos for such a position soon, but any contacts/ideas/leads that anyone might have are greatly appreciated.
If you are curious, New Mexico Highlands University (at: http://www.nmhu.edu/) is in the snuggly little town of Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is about 40 minutes outside of Santa Fe and Taos (and not to be confused with the ever-more popular Las Vegas, Nevada). There are two national forests within minutes of downtown. The western portion of the county contains the peaks of the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The eastern portion contains broad, flat plains. The middle contains the Las Vegas Plateau. Our new neighbors might be Mexican or Native American, the two largest ethnic groups in the county, although there are two universities in the town, creating a large international population as well. According to the chamber of commerce website, there are lots of fun, cultural things to do, just like in any proper college town. See how much you want to come visit us?
Thanks for your time, ladies and gents. But more importantly, thanks for your support, your well wishes, and your solidarity. You keep us grounded and let us know that we have a home no matter where we are in the world. And we’ll always feel the deepest gratitude for that.
Lots of love,
Truly and Shaun
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So now I pose the question to you, my dear Xanga peeps: Any ideas/contacts/leads in NM?
Comments (11)
i’ve not been to las vegas new mexico, but we’ll have to meet in taos for lunch some day! fun news. sorry i have no leads!
Congratulations to you and Shaun-san. I’ll see if I know anybody who knows anybody. : – )
Good for you guys! Wow, I love graphic novels. I will check that out. Who is publishing? Nevermind. I google it. I have no leads in NM sadly, but I will send some lucky vibes your way. You have my best wishes on you new adventure!
Congrats! Sounds like an excellent adventure, and that you should be well-positioned for something where you can both earn a living and contribute. Don’t forget that Laura (mydogischelsea) put in some time in that state.
All the best!
^ OK, I managed to screw up the link, but you know how to find her. Enjoy!
Oh, Truly! You are going to such a lovely area. I adore New Mexico. Santa Fe might be a little trendy, but my god, the scenery. You’ll absolutely love it there. And there are art museums galore, so your experience will come in handy. They also do a summer writing festival there that you might want to check out.
But we must meet before you leave the wonderful city of Chicago. How stupid is this that we couldn’t get a meeting planned when so little real estate divides us? Please, let me know. I could even invite you up to the condo’s pool. That would be a treat for me, that’s for sure.
I do love your new atavar photo. I have to say that I am not large and I feel like I am fading away (the doc says I have minimal bone loss and must work to build it up), so I need to concentrate on those words.
Send me e-mail on when we can meet!
Lynn
Okay, I was going to bed but cannot resist a comment about the graphic novels! I’ve read bits of both “Sandman” and “Strangers in Paradise” and they are addictive (I have Gaiman on my wish list but have read the 1940′s Dodd’s very different version). Recent favorites have been “Jimmy Corrigan :The Smartest Boy on Earth” by Chris Ware (had anightmare about that one); “Blankets” and “Carnet de Voyage” (non-fiction) both by Craig Thompson (that guy has a hand with visual irony <—that is a literary element that should be taught but is not as the appreciation for the form is wanting in academia); “The Watchmen” by (everybody knows) Alan Moore; and smaller pieces like “Eightball” and “Ghostworld” by Clowse. “Box Office Poison” by Alex Robinson rocked and I am looking into getting his next (Clever work and great character development there). Oh! I adore “Stray Bullets” by David Lapham too (Absolutely amazing female character in one Virginia Applejack, the Sopranos have nothing on her and she will hit the big screen one day I’d wager good money on that, very violent though). And I think that one is still coming out in serial form. “Pistolwhip” was good enough and I’ve heard great things about “The Yellow Menace” by Hall and Kindt (my sister knows that guy). I could go on all geeked out! “Ruule” is worth mentioning for cover art alone. Okay, I have to stop.
But the New Orleans one reminds me of a four part compilation series done after 9/11. I forget the name now, but I don’t think it was ever combined into one book. I’ll have to check to see. It was moving as was Spiegleman’s “In the Shadow of No Towers”.
I’ve been into them since Spiegleman was limited publishing “RAW: Read Yourself Raw” wayback when, I think some issues even came out before “Maus” and I know before “Maus II”. Two websites I love are Top Shelf Productions and Read Yourself Raw. They seem to have more than I can handle. Currently, I’m reading “David Chelsea In Love” by David Chelsea (figures). Should finish that one tomorrow at the beach. I will be getting that New Orleans book.
I created a course in graphic literature for the high school where I work but it was nixed even before I could propose it to the school board. I was told that the community isn’t ready for such a thing. Bah! Charles Dickens, for crying out loud, was into the medium and used it to great effect and advantage. The bloody “Christmas Carol” was so overwhelmed with graphics when it was first published that no one could afford it and it had to be altered for mass consumtion. Now look. I’m yelling at my school board in your comment box. I’ll stop now.
Oh btw, you’ll be much close in NM to the big daddy of all comic cons in San Diego. Now there is a place to get noticed. I want to go! Hey, there is a Xangan I know who does a bit of comic writing, drunkpunches is his name.
And my master’s will be in education administration and leadership. I hate it but only have three classes left. Thank you for your kind words and I apologize for abusing comment box space!
Here is the link to drunkpunches. His current post has to do with writing comics if your interested.
Wow that is extremely exciting news! I wish the very best for you both!
RYC: I’m wearing my glasses all the time, too. Got your e-mail!
Lynn
oooh ooh ooh !!! new mexico is b-e-a-u-tiful! I do have some contacts for you, my dear, though they are at a Santa Fe newspaper, if that’s okay. And then there’s my wonderful friend D-lo, who lives in Santa Fe and works as a theatre critic for a different paper slash PR person for le Opera. You guys have a lot in common. I’ll send you an email.