I’m okay with feeling that summer has worn out its welcome. I’ve been making occasional notes about what an uncanny summer it’s been – the summer of white clouds on white sky, the summer of water everywhere, the summer we rubbed our skin with vinegar so it wouldn’t grow mold. Add to that the fact that Minnesotans lose their minds in the summer, run themselves down like batteries on the joy of air that doesn’t hurt.

butterfly

I’ve been writing about urban destruction myths and the electrical resistance of human skin, refining my chapbook that happened by accident while on a writing residency last summer (oh look – they’re accepting applications!), painting, taking Arabic classes that make my brain happy, walking so much there are metatarsal-shaped holes in my shoes, applying for fellowships, submitting essays and poems, and otherwise building future things to hope for. Celebrating my birthday by eating banana cream pie, having dinner with my grandma, and stomping around in the woods with a pair of dogs. Visiting my wonderful friend Pingping and her family in Boston before she left for Beijing. I stayed on the MIT campus, where people walk around at all hours of the night, discussing their equations and eating ice cream from Toscanini’s.

 

photo 3

Last summer, I also spent quite a bit of time in physical therapy. I’d fallen during a dance rehearsal and injured a ligament, then waited and waited for it to heal, and then instead of healing, it lashed out at everything in the vicinity, let the bone of my hip pull away from the spine and sent muscles into spasm. I have all these drawings I was making of the pelvis and spine from that time before I knew what was wrong, and in all of them, the hip bone on the left is pulling away. I think a lot about what the therapist said – “You know, nothing’s supposed to hurt when you touch it.” Revelation. All that to say that it feels good to be back in the studio, making dance, thinking about movement and closeness and touch.

dance

Here are some new things:

  • I have two new-ish essays out in the world. “How Beautiful Things Hide Themselves” is published over at Temenos, and “Sea of Crises” is published in the absolutely beautiful 1966 along with an interview about my research for it.
  • My essay about dance and God and injury, “Unnatural Acts: A Primer,” will be published in The Normal School‘s fall issue, and I’ll be on an AWP panel to read from/talk about this piece. AWP is in Minneapolis this year, and I can’t wait to see all those writers in my city. Please say hi, and I’ll buy you a coffee and doughnut!

And here are some things I’ve enjoyed lately:

  • This post from Sarah McCarry about dragging your heart up the stairs
  • This comic from Adrienne Celt about night pain
  • This interview with Laura Holway about making the art that you want to make and how no one gives you a key
  • This post by SpiderHugger about how arachnolove can make us better people
  • Dogs

dogs

Happy dog days. Enjoy the warm air. Go watch the stars over a lake (double the stars!) Check the raspberries for ants, then eat ’em all up.