Lesson one...

Which is to say, "My first lesson!"

It was smashing, literally. I learned a new languange, and now I just have to figure out how to read it...

Also, the proofs came today for six, count em, SIX!!! Daphne and Jim poems, From LIT!!!

A good day.

Found in my yard...

Can someone PLEASE tell me what this thing is? Will it eat me in my sleep? It's HUGE!!

Congrats to Sabrina!!!

Just saw on Aaron's site that SABRINA has a book forthcoming!!!


Such good news. She's truly one of my favorite poets from theIowa days. One of those poet "wins" you can hear/read about without envy because she really has it coming!!! It's just in her, you know?


This is the first round of contest wins, this last week, in which I've not entered a manuscript. Too busy with moving and jobs and so on, and sort of given up on "Simple Machines." Sad. Not yet done with Daphne and Jim. Sadder.


But now I'm off topic. The topic is Sabrina. Yayayayayayayayayay!!!!!!!

A little drive in the 'hood...

Yesterday I drove around with Ben, my photographer for the new PROJECT!!!


We cruised East Atlanta, Cabbagetown, Reynoldstown, and Edgewood, looking for pictures.


Then, inspired, I came home and wrote wrote wrote...


Blessed, blessed weekend. Thank you Lord!!!

Last night's dream...

There I was, dancing with Susan, at a club, around a bunch of big thugz, in Baltimore by the water. The club was on Thames St, next to The Admiral Fell Inn (if you're from Charm City). We were getting our grooves on with the big ol thug dudes, when realized (miraculously) I was needed outside.


So, I went into the street and found myself beside a grocery store freezer case full of fish. The fish were crying and cackling and talking, stacked side by side, with their tongues agaggle. They begged me, pleaded, burbled for help. "


It's so cold in here" the fishies cried.


Their tongues wagged and made a funny sound. They were freezing and drowning and I thought, "Why aren't they dead yet?"


But they weren't.


So I picked up a big heavy fish, a 3 footer, and-- carrying him like a baby in my arms-- I walked over to the Bay. I could see byond his desperate head that the Bay was full of sharks and horrible waves. I knew he fish would never make it in those waters... but I wanted to make him happy. I couldn't put him back.


I looked at the freezer. I looked at the sharks, and I flung him just as hard as I could.

Poetry TAG...

Here's how it goes... I'm writing a poem and calling it "Tag, you're it!"


That's the name of the game. In the poem, I'll link to (and hence mention) another poet by name. Then, if anyone is reading and/or interested, that poet will also write a Tag poem, mentioning/linking another poet... the poems don't really have to be great, though that would rock! They do have to be called TAG, in some form or fashion...


TAG, You're It! ( a challenge)


When I was seven, I didn't have asthma. but I pretended.
Mainly with John-John, the retarded boy from Charter Oak
bearing down on me, the slowest girl in town. For shame!


Usually near a big tree, with knees bleeding,
mud on the ass, braids falling out. A rock in my shoe.
Lord, I tried, but I was slower than the slow boy.


And so, winded, I always quit, little hand to pink T-shirt.
Cramped, hunched, I ruined the game. The kids groaned.
My mother had asthma. She never helped rake or shovel.


You would have quit too, I bet. Afflicted by slowness,
and the neighborhood retard. With the other girls watching,
over there, by the big red azalea. Shanna giggled first.


You would have blamed your mother too. Gone inside
for a popsicle, where someone understood. Slowly,
your breathing would have calmed itself. "So what. "


Eventually, John-John raped a girl, got sent away.
I smoked and developed asthma. Got an inhaler.
It's nice when everything works out in the end.

On politics and faith... (overheard)

The last time someone listened to a BUSH...



They wandered 40 years in the desert...

Big shocker!!!

Cheerleading coaches in Georgia are Christians?!


No, but seriously. The news in Hillel-o-land SOUTH is that...


...22-year-old Jaclyn Steele claimed her chances of making the football cheerleading squad were hurt because she didn't participate in Bible studies and pregame prayers encouraged by Braswell.


And so now of course it's an uproar. All kinds of freaks are writing in support of the coach, and in opposition to the ADL. The coach is appealing, and can't understand why a college student might find bible-study and prayer an unpleasant component to an athletics program...


Duh.

Feeling done in...

A 14 hour day yesterday, and it occurs to me that I have a nf proposal and a poetry ms I haven't touched in weeks.


And my poor poor little "Myth of the Simple Machines" promises never to see light o day... since I can't make myself send it out...


And NOW, some of my posters were grafitted with swastikas. Some fucker scribbled swastikas and rewrote the text, turned "Hillel" into "Hitler." Clever, right?


Today calls for ice cream...

I'm in Tony's...

Poem!

But how cool if it linked from me to a poem I wrote, in which Shanna appeared... and then Shanna linked to a poem in which Corey appeared... which linked to a poem in which Tony appeared?


How about that for a journal, or a web-book? A series of poems by poets "about" the same group of poets, linking in circles.

We could call it, "Dahling, everyone who was anyone was there..."


It would be JUST like Strand's Delirium Waltz, only good... and funny!


(Kinda like your mom?)

You know, I've always had...

These bands in my head...


I have! I have a whole bunch of acts living in my head. Charm City (super hip cover band with big hair) Laurel and her darling Clementines (all girl neo-trad cuntry band in vintage) Xylophone (indie rock band I actually started a tour journal for)...


They've always been full-on imaginary bands, but now that I'm actually messing around with drums, I'm discovering that music is a GREAT way to distract yourself from writing...


If you ahd a band, what would you call it?

Today I toured...

I went to see the single largest oil painting in the world, the CYCORAMA!!!


It was commissioned for a vice-presidential campaign, as propaganda, but then the guy bought the farm.


So then it joined a circus and was bought by Coca Cola, along with a bunch of zebras, and everything else...


Man, is it EVER ugly, but interesting....


Kinda like your mom...

In laws visiting...

And so I think I'll be sightseeing for the next few days, in addition to working. May not be much time for blogging. Just time for zoos, botanical gardens, and dinners out...


But this weekend I got tipsy and played my drums!!!

Three dumb questions about the Olympics...

1. Is Anna Pavlova related to THE Anna Pavlova?


2. Is that Selassie guy from Ethiopia related to THE Selassie guy from Ethiopia?


3. Why do girls have to tumble to stupid music on the mats during the "floor exercises", in solid gold outfits? Why don't the boys? The girls do all this silly jazz-hand shit, and then get deductions for losing footing during a weird dance move even though they manged their tumbling just fine? Why? Why? Why? I'd like to see those silly Hamm boys prancing around in purple sequins to some Celine Dion shit. Ha!


Seriously, explain?

A new friend and my favorite conversation...

Had dinner and drinks with my new friend N, who also happens to be a colleague on two campuses. She's a Priest. She's WAY cool, and it makes me happy to find someone who sees so many things my way, and comes from a religious angle.


Especially important is that I feel I can discuss things with her openly. Like I can with you.


It's hard, being part of an "ecumenical" circle, when so many of the other people in the circle must (you know) have a very hidden perspective on Judaism.


Or maybe it's just the chip on my shoulder, but I'm not sure... and though my upbringing gave me models for Catholic and Quaker "alternative" religious perspectives, my years in Chattanooga convinced me that a Southern Baptist almost always thinks I'm going to hell. Even if they aren't saying anything because they're polite.


Often, they're interested in Judaism as a window into the context of Jesus' life. So I'm a window. Or they think that Jews need to be in the holy land for Jesus to return. So I'm a contingency.


Either way, I'm not sure what to do.

Formally speaking...

After beers,


Corinna didn't ever feel guaranteed.
Her intellect just kept listing.
Men nudged, opened, posed questions.
Repeatedly, she turned under, visited wistful.
Xed herself. Young. Zonked.


Little tiny poem, a new form. 26 words, each beginning with the next letter of the alphabet...


Discovered this by way of Shanna , who got it from Maggie !!

I was pulling for the Romanians...

Since clan Snyder (somehow) hails from Moldavia...


But MAN those Japanese dudes kick TOTAL ass! And they have such hep hairdos!


Who knew gymnastics could be so frickin cool?!


The low point was when the HAMM boys spoke. What awful voices! I feel bad saying it, but I think their silver egos can handle my blog...


Sure is good they can swing like monkeys, cause they'll never be in pictures.

Ah me, and the workaday world...

One of those days where all you do is run run run... no time to think think think... I hung up posters and wandered into random offices, and pestered people about finding me some office space... and put brochures and membership forms at key locations, and had a Federation meeting..

But this is how to make things happen. Not by relaxing...

Though we did manage to grab dinner at a nice place (nw to us) called "Six Feet Under" which is a pub and fish house in Grant Park. Very good corn on the cob. Spicy!

And I got a lovely note from someone who'd read my "Darling of the Highwire" essay. Made my day...

Joining my blogroll...

Two men I haven't seen in years, friends from the Workshop...


Antoine Wilson, who used to be a clever Canadian when I met him... he's still clever. Once, he shaved his beard into a chin strap. He likes Makers Mark (or used to) and one year, for Halloween, I dressed up as a Japanime super hero and he was the evil villain in a silver body suit and an afro. Speaking of afros, Antoine also knows himself to be the only white Antoine Wilson in America. God bless Google, may it live forever!


And Eduardo Corral, who used to come and sit in the corner of my diner while I was working in the wee small hours. He'd be tired and I'd be embarassed that I was done with the Workshop but I was still a waitress. Eduardo has a soul. If Eduardo and I had talked more in Iowa City, we'd each have been happier I think...


Now go visit their sites!

Who wants to see the new house???

Sarah does! And so does my mommy... so maybe you do too...


This is what it looks like from the outside:

This is my "garden":

This is where Chris makes the music:



And where I make the poems and the noise:



The food room:



And the "dining" room, sans table (for now):



Which offers a nice window for kitten-sitting:




And through the window, what the kitten sees:



Which is what, most of all, makes it HOME!

It's really easy to pick on Israel...

So the Presbyterians are divesting, huh?


Lord knows I oppose much Israeli policy, but this is a really tricky issue... anti-Israel sentiment is (first of all) closely related to all-out antisemitism, and (second of all) an interesting move for a movement that doesn't divest from North Korea, Iran, etc. etc. Why is Israel held to a different standard? I feel that we need to divest from the United States if we want to divest from Israel...

Shabbat posting...

So it's Saturday, and I'm blissed out, with coffee and my wireless (Ye gods, how good) connection. Had a nice long chat with my ex-roomie Maria this morning (She's applying to law school at Emory!!!) and took my shower and such. But mostly, I'm in morning mode all day today. I need to post, and work on the PROJECT, and practice my drums.


I know this isn't how good Jews spend Shabbat, but it's the true meaning for me. Time to write, cook, walk the dog. Time to move slowly.


Last night we went to see a Drive-by-Trucker at the Earl, but we faded and left, after not being able to handle the openers. I did, however, meet a cute girlie who invited me to join her crafty-ladies-group for stitch-n-bitch! This plus the Mah Jong circle I'm latching on to should be plenty of social life for me.


Mah Jong??? Mah Jong!!!


In other news, I found a photographer for the proposal, had my first program at Georgia Tech (a roaring success), and ate a turkey reuben.


If you want to write me a letter or send me a present, send it to:


1986 McAfee Rd.
Decautur, GA 30032


Or not.

A few things to report...

Today someone (Jewish) said this to me...


"So I've been seeing this Christian girl. And it's cool because, like, since she's married to Jesus in her heart and all... there's no pressure. She's all happy about Jesus and so she doesn't have the issues other girls have. Like, nothing's a big deal because... heaven."


Wow. Maybe that's the answer. Marry weirdo super-Christians.


And also, doesn't Jimmy look hot in his current picture at his SHOW? Yow-ZA!

I got no strings on me...

I'm wireless, in a coffee shop in the EAV. Yay! I'm at work in a coffee shop! Double Yay!!!


Just off the phone with the Jewish Times. They want a picture of me in my "ask me about Jewish Life and Georgia State" sweatshirt! Triple Yay!


My Jews for Jeebus post was incendiary! You emailed me and told me about the subject. More later on that...


Last night I made lots of veggie salads to keep in my fridge and eat healthy. Then I went out this morning and ate chicken sausage anyway. Yum.


And don't ask me to hang out this weekend. I have to WRITE!!!

Right now... at this very moment...

I'm sitting on a conference call with a group of Hillel professionals... about interfaith Jews, and how to serve them!!!


Maybe next year we'll have a birthright trip for us frum shiksas. Just imagine, visiting the old city with a group of peers... a group of honest-to-gosh-halfsies, interested in Jewish heritage.


But the call is bringing up a massive issue... about language. How do we define the population, but also, what do we call it? When we want to call to someone on the street, and say, "Hey you, half-Jew!" ...how do we find a word that speaks to them without offending...

Toto, I don't think we're in Iowa anymore...

Just read Jimmy's post... how did I miss this? Don Justice is DEAD!!!???

Sweet man and brilliant poet. Shame on you if you don't love him...

Oh my.

Mission me this...

Can anyone explain "Jews" for Jesus to me? What's the appeal? Why would you do that? Is an at-home-circumsion so appealing? Do people desperately hope to cultivate a taste for gefilte fish? Is there a population starving for additional non-gift-giving holidays?


Maybe thats it! Extra days off work, and all the sweet blackberry wine you can drink!


Doesn't this count as misappropriation of culture?


More than that even... mission in general is just bewildering. Truly, there are few things so upsetting to me. I can understand cannibalism (in a dire situation) , satanism (a sexy dark lord)... I can imagine a logical purpose, however weird... but mission?


As the queen of interfaith, I have to say... I really don't get it...

On poetry and such...

Just read Tony's post over at Geneva Convention (see blogroll) and I like what he says. Truly. I like that each sentence ends in something like, "...except when it's not." So often people come up with "rules" for poetry.


Worse still are the "prose is facts, but poetry is truth" pensees. Bosh, I say!


In this day and age, "poetry" is what happens when people who love pure language, the study of language, the sound of language, the limits of language, and the history of language... sit down and play with words. Poetry is exercises. Poetry is a club.


Except when it's not....


Poetry is also what happens when people try to make sentences that "do" something to people. More than the sum of their parts.


Did you know that in many prisons, poetry gets sold on the black market, just like cigarettes, shivs, and bitches? It's true! So many inmates are illiterate, and carrying on relationships via correspondence... that they "pay" other inmates to write them poems for their sweethearts outside the compound.


So poetry is also love-propaganda!

In brief... debrief...

Hao is visiting from Knoxville.


I have a big bag of condoms that say, "Israel... It's still safe to come!"


Yesterday, Chris (the best husband ever) bought me DRUMS! That's right, I'm about to become a badass girl drummer!!! And I'm about to piss off Roger watley, my neighbor-who-builds-street-racers. But he drills large pieces of metal in the early mornings, so whatev...


My "stroke of genius" from last week is turning into a lengthy document...


& the weather is damn fine.

Looking for a photog...

5{I'm in the middle of a thing... working on a proposal for a book, and I find I need a photographer in Atlanta (or Athens, willing to drive in and maybe sleep on my couch)... I can't pay more than the film and developing, but the project has an agent, and if it sells, this would be a great gig for a good, young artist! And it would pay. So if you know someone who's good with a camera, someone who lives in the area, send them my way. Have them email me at sweetloreleiatmsndotcom. I'll need to see work, and this is a serious project. For real, yo. So... no flaky stoners who got a camera for their birthday... Thanks!

(PS... Stacy Oborn, over at Punctum, is who I'd really want... if I could get her here for a work weekend in the next 2 weeks. Alas, I fear it's unlikely. Her photos, somehow lush and gritty, are just what the doctor ordered)

How funny is this???

So yeah, the DAY I post that I need friends...


Chris and I go to the Echo Lounge, to see Drew and terri make beautiful music (and to hear it too)...


Where I run (literally) into this cool guy Marty, a friend from UTC. I hadn't seem him since 1995!!!


It turns out he now has a theater group in ATL.


YAY!

If you're a cool person in Atlanta...

Or if you know a cool person in Atlanta...


Let me know!


Though busy, we're beginning to want to do something besides eat and write and prcactice our collective bass playing.


Chris needs a good band. I need writer friends. And a "regualr" bar.


So invite me over! I don't bite (hard).

xoLaurel

I'm so glad I'm Jewish!!!

Can I just take a minute to say how much I love the "way" of Jewish study and dialogue. I LOVE the method of answering a question with a question. I LOVE the anecdotal quality and the storytelling involved. I LOVE the structure, the antiquity, the intonations of Torah study. I LOVE the way the rabbi says, "Thank you for learning WITH me" and seems to have learned as much as the "students."


Needless to say, the retreat was amazing. We studied the part of Exodus in which G-d "remembers" and goes to Moses in Midian, tells him it's time to scramble back to Egypt and get all the other folks. Not something I'd ever studied before, but it connects with my own parshah from my bat mitzvah, about the taskmaster I think. At any rate, it was super fun! Academic and social and everything else.


Our new staff is great, and I came home really excited about the year at Hillel.


In other news, my friend Hao is coming to visit tomorrow, as she passes through town on her way home to Knoxville from California. Yay!

Gone fishin...

I'm on retreat for a few days, at Ramah Darom...

Back when I'm back.

Peace OUT!

Woe... and OH!!!

Well, between behrle's pics of lil James Davis, and Shafer's recap of the (soon to be famous) underwear exchange, I'm feeling very very sad about skipping the Massacree...



But if I had gone away to Boston, I wouldna hae been here when the good-idea-fairy stopped by wih a package for me.


That's right folks... I've had another stroke of genius, which i can't tell you about for fear you'll steal my idea...


But I'm both sad and glad. And I hope hope hope Jimmy will extend to me an invite again for next year... which I'll be sure sure sure to attend unless I'm pursuing my stroke of genius to Jerusalem...


(which is only something I said to throw you off the scent of the REAL genius stroke)


Stroking genius? Truly, everything reminds me of Jimmy!

I was 19 for a night...

Last night, Drew (of No River City fame) and his friend Taylor showed up. So we went with them to the Flatiron grill, down the street. For beer and grub. Hot wings!!!


A little drunk (maybe more than a little) Taylor was eager to practice (He and Drew are forming a new duo together and have their first show in 5 days) but he wanted us to come too...


So we all drove (I was sober) to his place in Ormewood, not far. Where the boys jammed on Taylor's songs, which were nice and sounded to me like a mix of Palace and Skynard. I sat on the couch with the dog, and read magazines. I felt like I was 19 all over again. I wished I could have a cigarette. Bad!


The end of the evening included air guitar to Guns-N-Roses, more drinking, and Chris and Taylor almost fighting several times. Over what I'm not sure, but I think they were having fun.


Boys!


We left right before midnight, and I wanted to have a beer, since I'd been "designated" all night. We ended up having an adventure in the PACKAGE STORE near our house.


You can't sell booze on Sunday in Dekalb County, and the stores all lock their cases at 11:45. This results in a mad dash for intoxication at 11:40 on Saturday nights, which we unknowingly walked into. It was us andd a bunch of our neighbors. We were the only people there (besides the Korean shop owner) without gold teeth. We were the only white people there. It could have been uncomfortable.


But the collective need for booze cemented us to each other. Everyone was raucous and fun, kind and friendly. It was great.


Until I got back outside with my six-pack, and saw that the guy who'd just purchased the Maddog and the woman with the wild cherry wine coolers were getting into a car with a little girl, who'd been sitting outside in the parking lot at midnight alone.


My neighborhood is complicated.