Escaping into Montana's Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

I can't think of a better way to spend a week than hiking Montana's Rattlesnake National Recreation Area just outside of Missoula. I wrote about it for the Escapist Traveller here.

Maps at Sixteen

Writer and filmmaker Victoria Johnson graciously invited me -- along with fabulous writers Harrison Solow, Signe Pike, Erica Goss, and Lita Kurth -- to write a guest post for her website. What advice would you give to yourself at sixteen? I took a crack at answering that question here.

"Keepers" in The Rumpus

For a few years after grad school, I worked as a housekeeper. Hard work, as you'd imagine, and strange. You're invisible, yet you have intimate knowledge of strangers. What they eat, when they last had sex, last went to the bathroom. Diaries, teeth in a glass. Remember to tip, folks, and if you want to save someone's back, strip your bed. I've got a short piece up about the experience here at The Rumpus.

Everything and a Pueblo

Editors Jon Tribble and Allison Joseph have been engaged in the hard work of archiving numerous issues of Crab Orchard Review. Below you'll find a pdf of their Color Wheel: Cultural Heritages in the 21st Century issue, which features my story, "Everything Gets Mixed Together at the Pueblo." Check out COR here.

Upcoming Events

On Wednesday, April 25th at 7:30pm, Manhattanville College will have its Student/Faculty Reading in the Library Periodical Room. I'll be reading new work along with my fellow professors.

The real pleasure though is hearing our students read, especially the winners of the 2012 Writing Awards, including the Eileen O'Gorman Prize for Fiction, the Robert O'Clair Prize for Poetry, along with awards for screenwriting, film, and literary criticism. We'll also celebrate the release of Graffiti magazine.

Next month on the 19th, I'm thrilled to be returning to Oregon to be a part of Newport's Writers on the Edge Series. I'll be reading, signing books, and enjoying their famous open mic! Can't wait! Read more about Writers on the Edge here.

The Escapist Traveller

Congrats to the U.K.'s new travel magazine, The Escapist Traveller! They've just launched, and I'm excited to have a short travel piece included in their debut issue here.

Eight Jokes for the Unborn

I've got a new essay up at The Nervous Breakdown. Here's an excerpt from Eight Jokes for the Unborn:

Twenty-seven years older than we were for Ethiopia and we still watch, hands against our bellies, unable to understand what we are watching.

Okuma is abandoned, Namie abandoned, but their street lights cycle. Grass is only beginning to push through the asphalt. The dinner bowls grow mildew, and a pig sups rotted fruit and candy bars until it falls asleep, head against a dead woman’s basket of groceries. A cat crouches inside a dryer, bony shoulders pricking through her skin.

The Haruspex says: The human brain has a limited capacity for sustained tragedy.

We cut photographs out of magazines and put them in envelopes, time capsules our children might be better able to deal with in 2050. Fukushima, a fistful of dog fur. A duckboard of words across dark water.

To read more, click here.