Laural Winter

Pilcrow Lit Fest part one and poem

It's been a few days!  I am in Chicago right now for the Pilcrow Lit Fest and visiting my friends Keath and Evelyn.  It has been a whirlwind trip.  I arrived at O’Hare on Thursday at 6:30.  I jumped on the Blue Line EL rode part of the way into Chicago.  I thought the subway was a bit slow but noticed we were moving faster than traffic on the freeway.  I jumped off at Irving Park and caught a cab to Lakeview area and the Fixx Coffee Bar on Sheffield and Barry.  Jami Attenberg and Katie Schwartz were reading.  Jami is our friend so it was so great to hear her read.  She was reading her piece from the anthology Cross My Heart and Hope You Die!  It was a short story about an ex-boyfriend.  It is hilarious and painful.  Painful because it reminds one of how we can be wishy washy about breakups and have post breakup sex or makeout sessions etc etc. You know you have been there!  Katie Schwartz read a funny and squeamish piece about someone shitting in her toilet. The wonderful Amy Guth was the emcee. She is the founder and organizer of of this ah-mazing weekend event.  I was on two panels yesterday. First panel was Gatekeepers Panel: Librarians, bookstore employees, editors and profs dish. This was my second panel ever.  I have learned a couple things now.  Listening to the other panelists is crucial so you can expand on what they are talking about at the moment.  I actuallly took notes of topics of what they were saying and what I wanted to say.  I got to say that one of the library's missions is to represent all points of views and if we don't have anything in our collection that pisses you off then we have failed.  I actually said pisses.  And I mean if we don't offend you then our collection isn't representing all points of view. Also I stressed at differents points that if you want more small press in your library then request them. Either on your local library's website or with a form inside your local library.  Voice your opinion about your library's collection.  You may buy your friend's small press book but others may need to be introduced and your local library can help you do that.

My second panel was the Poem Is The Event: Not all fiction. Not all non-fiction. Poets discuss. We discussed things like the poem being character driven and not necessarily autobiographical. (I'd fix the font but this computer is being a little unresponsive).  One panelists said poetry should hurt.  I think I used to believe that.  So here's a character driven fictional poem of mine.

Wonder Woman

Can I tell you I have this Wonder Woman fixation?

I want to be an Amazon and administer justice in my own court of law!

I want the invisible plane.

I want to hurdle through the windows of crooks and make them bow down in fear.

Ahhh but revenge sweet revenge would get in the way

because I would want to take the lasso

wrap it around your head and

choke you with the truth.

 

Stumptown Comics Fest

I have been meaning to post this post.  I am in withdrawal from the fun I had during the Stumptown Comics Fest weekend.  Here are the highlights.

Stumptown Comics Fest weekend started on Thursday afternoon  April 24th at the Central Library. Jason Shiga, Aron Steinke, and Elijah Brubaker from Sparkplug comics read at the Central Library.  It was an AWESOME reading!  So fun, interesting and engaging.  Jason read from Book Hunter.  Aron read from Super Crazy Cat Dance. Super Crazy is about two girls, many many cats and their adventures together. Elijah read from Reich.  Reich is a comic about the sex researcher Wilhelm Reich. They are all quite talented.  Keep an eye out for their comics! Keep an eye on Sparkplug Comics!

Thursday night I went to Ogle Gallery for the Librarians "Get" Graphic party.  Bowler Hat Comics and Baker's Mark Literary Agency sponsored a party for publishers, authors, artists, and library staff from Multnomah County Library. Why do we go together? Well, Bowler Hat puts it concisely "Even as other book sales decline, annual sales of graphic novels continue to grow. This is in no small part due to the support of the national library systems, and Portland-area publishers, in particular, have benefited from this connection." It was such a great party!  Great conversations, speakers, lovely food, and an all around good time was had by all.  Bowler Hat Comics is another one to keep an eye on!

Friday was Jeremy and Alison's party at Guapo Comics and Books.  Peter and I are so lucky!  Guapo is about 12 blocks from our house on 64th and Foster.  Jeremy and Alison are so helpful and nice.  Also there is a nice seating area with couches, chairs and tables for espresso from the espresso bar in the shop and for reading your new purchases from their extensive comics, minicomics, and zines collection. Support your local comics shop, please.

Saturday I staffed the library's outreach booth at the Stumptown Comics Festival at the Doubletree Hotel.  Thus you have another picture of me with the Giant Library Card.  People love the library. It was a lovefest.  Really it is a moodbooster.  I love outreach.  We answer general library questions and hear how people love our graphic novel collection, our used bookstore, or the library in general.  And they love the library card.  More pictures of the giant library card and people can be found here.

Reading, smiling

I found this to- do list? this note? On the sidewalk in the Hollywood District today.  It made me smile.  It made me pick it up.  It made me think I am such a librarian to get a thrill out of finding something like this and have positive feelings about people reading and needing books or information from their libraries.  Question is have you read a Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle? It is a great science fiction novel. It is one of the most intelligent science fiction novels for children. Give it try!