Hair

Today one of my Xaviers said, "Did you get a haircut?"

"Yeah, last weekend," I said.

"You should grow your hair out," he said.

"Nah," I said. "You should grow your hair out," I said.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Afro!" yelled Vincent. "Do it!"

Old Zine Friends, Writing, Temping

I like Bill Tuomala's essay Slumming Through Cubicles from his latest Exiled on Main Street, a zine I've been reading since he started it. But yeah--growing up. Taking jobs that matter and that you are invested in. Reminiscing about those shitty jobs you didn't like much, but that left you emotional and mental space for your own creative work. How to be a writer and also be a grown-up. (Grown-up is my word, not his.)

Observed

Behind a truck today. Another landscaping company, with the rakes and mower and shovels in the back. But best name ever: PARADISE RESTORED.

Completely unrelated. Some of my girls have been wearing a headband with a side ponytail. So 1986, and simultaneously cutting edge. This fashion cycle has been amazing to me for the past ten years at least--longer, really; I appreciated it in high school when I was wearing house dresses that horrified my mother. Frumpy on old ladies, cute on me at 16...

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, 1950-yesterday.

I didn't know Eve very well. She was my friend Claudia's professor at CUNY, and Claudia became good friends with Eve and her partner Hal. But when I got diagnosed with a brain tumor, Claudia brought us together, and Eve was so generous toward me, sharing her own experiences with radiation and her breast cancer, knowing that I didn't have anyone else in my life who knew what that was like. She was generous and peaceful and wise, sympathetic and distracting and such a survivor. Which is why I'm sure that of anyone I've ever met, if she believes there will be a next life, then there will be a next life. (See her friend Cathy's note here.)

So she's one that you can't really be sad about for her sake. It sounds like the end was rough in a lot of ways, and I keep wanting to be happy for her that she's out of the pain. But I'm sad for me and everyone left behind without her. So yeah. I keep wanting to say, "See you in the next life, Eve." I look forward to meeting her again.


--

Sometimes writing just can't capture what you feel. But you do your best.

More about censorship.

The School Library Journal recently featured an interesting article on self-censorship in libraries, including the results of a recent survey they conducted on the subject.

I found these through a great article about gay content in young adult books at afterellen.com.