Just another writer
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Giles
Saint Giles is my home parish, I guess. I’m actually registered elsewhere in Oak Park, but this is the parish where I do music, although for the Mass that’s held in the church hall or gymnasium, not actually in the main church. St Giles himself was a hermit who lived in the woods with his…
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Writerly resolutions: August status
My writing progress this month has been, to be honest, pretty miserable. A week on vacation with my kids plus a week of being sick have led to almost no progress. That said, I did finish a workshoppable draft of a new story plus of a chapter of the novel that’s been in progress most…
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Upcoming reading: Friday, 5 September, Chicago
I will be reading at the After Hours 25th anniversary celebration/issue 50 release party on Friday, 5 September at RLM Studio, 4042 N. Pulaski. Ste 1, Chicago. The event begins at 6p and runs until 8.30. Featured readers for the evening are poets Simone Muench, Virginia Bell and Molly Sturdevant. I’ll be reading my poem from…
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A visit with my younger self: 20 September 1998
I still had some plans for my epic poem about the selection of the mayor of Chicago at this point, apparently: For “the king is dead”: white selects its kingly candidate with a poker game (seven card stud, no doubt). [illegible] Theͯ déck iͯs cút, men círcleͯ aͯroúnd.Fiͯftý-twͯo cárds [illegible] foͯr thé choͯice óf a…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Monica
The normal tradition in the Catholic church is that saints are commemorated on the anniversary of their deaths, which makes the fact that the feasts of Saint Monica and her son Saint Augustine occupy consecutive days seem a bit suspect, although apparently, the day was shifted from May in 1969 so it’s not merely coincidence…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: St Mary of Częstochowa
The icon of St Mary of Częstochowa¹ is one of a number of black Madonnas, showing both Mary and Jesus with dark skin. Tradition says that it was painted by the evangelist Luke and rediscovered by St Helena during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem, although there is no attestation of its existence before the fourteenth century.…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage (a day late): Saint Patricia
Saint Patricia is an early saint about whom little is known and much is contradictory. She apparently appealed to Pope Liberius to be allowed to become a nun to escape a marriage arranged by Emperor Constans II and was granted her wish after which she distributed her personal wealth to the poor. Later, she attempted…
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A visit with my younger self: 13 September 1988
Take one young would-be writer, full of himself, who has never undergone any sort of creative writing instruction to speak of, let alone workshop with a professor who not only allows abuse in the workshop, but perpetrates some of it himself and you get some seriously hurt feelings. Well, I’ve undergone the first real criticism of…
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A visit with my younger self: 7 September 1988
The fall of 1988, I enrolled in the only creative writing class I ever took until I started grad school. The class, under the direction of Robert Mezey, focused on writing metric verse. This entry is apparently one of my attempts. The waxen complexion gazes from its berth— A former | person, | bathed |…