AWP 2013 ~ Day 1

AWP info booklet

Day 1

Waking up before 7 am for the first time in months was exhausting. But since the first panel started at 9 a.m. and Sara and I still need to get our badges, so it was a necessary evil. Of course, it was also the start of the two-day snow storm so just getting to the train stop was a journey in-of-itself.

The train was packed! The two-seat row was full, and the three-seat had people on the window and in the aisle seats, so whenever anyone had to sit you had to ask a person to move over. Because of this, Sara and I had to sit in separate seats, with me in a middle seat and Sara in an aisle seat. Since it was the first day of the conference, and because I had never been before, we're obviously going to talk. After the sentence sentence, the woman sitting next to me interrupts and asks if we're going to talk the whole ride.

Yes, of course we are. She then says she has a headache and wants to know if won't. I said that if she didn't mind, she could switch seats with Sara. That way we could still talk and it wouldn't bother her. The woman just huffed, zipped up her L.L. Bean jacket and went back to her book. Rude much. And then, the whole time Sara and I talked, she kept sighing.

But whatever. Sara and I got to Hynes Convention Center, and since I preregistered, I got my badge in five minutes. Sara however had to go wait in this super long, slow moving line. The next panel became at 10:30, and since Sara still hadn't gotten to the front, I left her in the line. I went to "Being a Good Literary Citizen." It was interesting, took about a page worth of notes and a lot of it was about having good manners, but it was a good way to kick start panels.

Next was "The First Five Pages," and it was packed! People were sitting on the floor in the aisle, along the wall, in the doorway, in each other's laps. The women all around had their knees pulled up to their chests, just so other people could sit down. This panel was super-informative about getting your book published and the importance of a great Query Letter and how to write one. Two super helpful tips were to personalize to the agent - "Hey, I love your podcast. Read my book!" - and keep your book to yourself until it's ready to be sent out. She said that one of her writers had given an unfinished version to a friend who gave it to an Editor and that burned a bridge with a press.

One thing that made me gave me pause was a comment about the dangers of self-publishing. They said that if you self-publish it makes them think "are you a great writer who is getting overlooked, or do you just want to be able to say "I published a book!"?" Kind of a throwback to how self-publishing used to be called "vanity printing." Yet, earlier in the panel, the agent said she literally rejects hundreds of manuscripts a day. Self-publishing can be vanity-driven, but it can also be a way to get your stuff out there. If you're a nobody, it's so much harder than someone who has a platform - a following, which is needed to publish in more traditional routes.

The last panel we attended was "Launching the Literary Journal." This was also extremely helpful and full of tips and tricks to use. Again some it was all about manners and respecting your readers and writers, but there was a good tidbit about establishing a connection with local galleries and artists to have access to art. After the panel, we walked around the bookfair and I went to the one of the guys from "Launching the Literary Journal" just so I could grab a copy of he's journal. He gave me a deal and I got a t-shirt too!

Eventually, we had dinner and then went to a reading by David Starkey and Marsha Pomerantz. Pomerantz was amazing! Her poem "Roy G. Biv Appears to Mebetween Two Clouds" was my favorite of the night. We also got to meet this professor from Minneapolis who spent time with a Swedish circus. It was super cool! I gave him my business card, so I hope you connects me. Just so when can be FB friends or something.

And the last event of the night was the Keynote speakers, Seamus Heaney & Derek Walcott. Before it began, Sara and I talked with a woman who was just about to start her PHD. She was really interesting, and again I gave her my card so I hope she emails me. Both poets were wonderful and it was lovely hearing them read their poems and then talking about the craft. After that, we had to go home cause we were almost falling asleep during the talk. haha.

It was an amazing day, and a great way to launch the conference.

Love Always,
Joe

Overcoming Treacherous Obstacles

I love walking with my head held up high as torrents of rain or hail pelt me. It's almost as if Mother Nature is trying to force me into submission, but I valiantly refuse to be swayed from my noble mission.

In other news, it started hailing as I was coming back from the grocery store and I ran home.

hahaha

Love Always,
Joe

My life

It's 12:50 a.m. on a Monday morning and I'm eating ice cream and researching for a story about male pregnancy.

I fear I've reached a point in my life where I can't go back. I'm officially a writer.

hahaha. The story can be found here.

Love always,
Joe

New York!

For the first time, I was in New York City. The school went as a day trip. Just for funnies.

Since the predeparture meeting started at 5:45 a.m, I decided to wake up at 4:30. And I did, it's just that I ended up spending 20 minutes on my hair. So I left my apartment at 5:40. haha, I got to Marsh at 5:50 and I was quickly filled in and directed to my bus. haha. It wasn't that bad actually because there were a couple of other students running late.

We ended up leaving Marsh at 6:30/6:45 instead of 6:00. But it was alright. I was sitting in the second row so I was close to a TV. We watched "That's My Boy" which was very much an Adam Sandler film. Our bus driver was very cool. There were a number of times when I thought we were going to get in an accident, but he managed to avoid it. Driving in New York seems crazy!

When we reached the city, we were free to just explore. Only rule was not to get arrested and to show up at the pick-up location at 6:30. Since I had tickets to see "Silence! The Musical!" at 2, I had about two hours to explore before the show started. I ended upstumbling upon this park with free ice skating and all these statues dedicated to famous writers – including one for Gertrude Stein, the “mother of the modern short storytelling” and an important figure in gay history in America. Two things that are really important to me, so it was refreshing to just find that.Not exactly fate, but like finding 20 dollars in a pocket. It was nice and felt very New York-y.

After the park I got hungry so I headed towards the theatre “Silence!” was taking place and I found this restaurant that was morgue themed – which appealed to my love of allthings macabre. I ended up ordering a burger with chicken fingers called “Severed Hand,” with the burger being the palm and the chicken as the fingers.It was deadly delicious.

 
  
Then it was time for the musical, which was beyond amazing. It was wicked funny, messing aroundwith the story. The plot stayed the same as the movie, but the jokes were outrageous and extreme or just plain silly. Like, having the only African-American cast member be the maid and having her character say “why I gotta be the maid?” Or the song about the Senator’s kidnapped daughter just being her name sung over and over again. I actually bought the soundtrack because I needed it on my iPod. Haha.

But! What may be even more exciting was I met (and took a photo with) an Internet celebrity before the musical started. On the bus trip to NYC, some of us were joking about how we were going to meet up with Jay-Z and Beyonce, and while that ideais ridiculous, it’s New York, there are famous people there. It was just surprising to see Sketch Comedienne Jenny Jaffe in the audience. She was so nice and humble; it just made the trip even better. I feel that most of the trip has an “once-in-a-lifetime” feel to it.

After the musical, I went to the National Photography Museum which had an exhibit on apartheid in South Africa. It was ironic that the National Photography Museum doesn't allow photographs, but it makes sense. The actual images and videos that were on display were really emotional and awe-inspiring. There were the expected So-In-So at the Signing of Something, but there were magazine covers dedicated to South Africans who were overcoming the laws in order to achieve their dreams, photos of shootings at schools, videos of police beating protestors. It was an intense experience, but I loved the photography aspect.

Then I went to the NYC library because it's me and yes I'm going to the library. They were having an exhibit on Dickens characters, but when I got there, they were closing. So since it was almost time to head back to the pick-up location, I headed towards a bar. Cause, I'm in NYC, of course I'm drinking. It was actually kind of uneventful and awkward. I ended up leaving the bar without finishing my drink. hahaha

The ride back home feature us stopping in CT and me begging my classmates not to leave me at the rest stop cause I was going to lay down on a bench. haha. I'm really glad I got to go and it was a great trip.


Love always,
Joe

Ocean

I love the ocean because the ocean doesn't love me; it consumes me.

Concerts

When writing my "Best of 2012" post I said that I had been to 15 concerts. But now that I'm thinking about it, I might have been to more. Part of me thinks that's kind of crazy, but another part knows that I've been going to as many concerts as I can because concerts are awesome. So I've decided to try and list the ones I've been to, and hopefully in chronologically order and links to songs!

1. Shinedown - Aug 2010. With sister, her then boyfriend, Cousin Seth, his fiancee, BFF Chris in Westfield. I don't remember much from this show, just that the people in front of us were really smelly and that whenever the lead singer tried to tell a story, people would shout for him to "just sing" - which is really rude and fucked up.

2. Miranda Lambert - Oct 2, 2010. Saw her at the Big E with my sister and a cousin. I'm not a big fan of country, but she has some good songs and despite the rain, I enjoyed myself. Plus, we made a day of it and I finally got to explore the rides and sights of the Big E.

3. Ellie Goulding - Mar 23, 2011. With BFF Chris in Boston. Ellie got lost in Boston so she was three late to the show. It was crazy, but we got to meet her and take a photo. She was really entertaining and I love to see her again.

4. Airborne Toxic Event - May 11, 2011. Again with BFF Chris in Boston. This show was amazing! My first time in the House of Blues, a guy proposed to his girlfriend (she said yes!), and it's where I discovered an indie band (I have their CD somewhere...). Again, I'd recommend seeing them live.

5. Maroon 5 - Aug 13, 2011. Alone, Comcast Center. My friend bailed at the last minute, but since Maroon 5 is one of my all-time favorite bands, I loved the show. Train also preformed, but I had to be leave before they took the stage. Still, it was a great show and I loved seeing them.

6. Sara Bareilles - Aug 30, 2011. Sister and Karaa from High School, Boston. OMG, Sara has a mouth worse than a sailor! Within the first couple of songs she was dropping f-bombs and I'm pretty sure she said cunt at least three times! But she's amazing and knows how to play to a crowd and she's wicked funny. I actually starting following her on Twitter because of this show.

7. Mixfest! - Sept 17, 2011. BFF Chris, Boston. A local radio show hosted a free concert in the park, featuring Bareilles, Michelle Branch, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, and a couple more. Sitting on the grass in a park, listening to music was so college student, that it was perfect. The show was free, so I won't complain about anything.

8.  Reba McEntire - Oct 1, 2011. With my sister, her friend and her friend's sister at the Big E. One of the most famous singers of my lifetime and definitely someone who brings in a crowd, Reba was a delight to see. She sang her more famous and more recent songs in full, and then did a melody combining her other songs. It was a great show.

9. Grace Kelly Quintet - Oct 3, 2011. Alone. WOW! Grace is a saxophone prodigy and that surprises no one after hearing her perform. I got to meet her and see signed my playbook. She's definitely small-time right now, but give her a little more time and all she needs is one large stream media to grab her and she's be famous.

10. Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra - Nov 19, 2011. With my sister, friend was in the show.  OK, this one might not really count, but it does. I wanted to support my friend who plays violin, but I also wanted to enjoy the music. I'm a classy bitch.

11. Kelly Clarkson - Jan 26, 2012. With sister and BFF Chris. What's funny about this show is the week before Chris asked if I wanted to see her, I was hearing Clarkson everywhere - radio stations, stores, just on TV. What's awesome was we were in the last row, aisle seats and two were together and there's a barrier or sorts for the other one. It was super silly. But the show itself was great. Clarkson is definitely a cultural figure and she has the power to reach the balcony seats. I would love to see her again, just with much better seats.

12. Gym Class Heroes - April 19, 2012. Alone, Salem State University.  I got to see them free! By being press, I was invite to see the show for free and I took my photographer too. haha. I had to work so hard to make sure I was the reporter who got to cover this. Multiple interviews, tracking people down and two articles, but it was worth it. GCH is a fun band, and it was nice to feel like a journalist because of this. 

13. Ingrid Michaelson - May 15, 2012. With my cousin Amy,in Boston. I've been a fan of Ingrid for years and seeing her live was great. She tells stories and jokes about her career and her voice is deeper, but in a more heartfelt way live. She was funny and sweet and it was such a relaxed night. Ingrid is definitely someone I'd like to see again.

14. Marina and the Diamonds and Coldplay - July 30, 2012. With my girls, BRL and GD. After GD had converted me to a Marina fan, I knew we had to see her. We were at the Garden and sit almost directly behind the stage, but she was great. The opener was Emeli Sande and both women were able to project despite the Garden's crappy sound system. We only stayed for the first few songs of Coldplay, cause none of us really like them. But Coldplay knows how to play to a crowd, with glowing bracelets of varying colors.

15. Florence + The Machine - Sept 14, 2012. With GD, sister, cousin Amy and her friend Mick. It's Florence live. Of course this show was breathe-taking. The drive there was crazy fun as well. hahaha. But with her soulful sound and her latest album only being a few months old, Florence was great. She played to the crowd amazingly, and she even left the stage to run around in the hall, barefoot because she is a wild woman. One hell of a night, and worth every minute.

16. Me Vs. Gravity - Dec 9, 2012. With my mom and in Cambridge. That band and 3 others, but we left early because Mum didn't like the music. hahaha. Also, it was super-hipster and in the back of a breakfast joint. If you looked up on the dance floor, you could see pipes held together with duct tape. So totally hipster, not even a real show. But the day was amazing because after the show we did a whole explore Boston thing. It was so much fun. 




I know I'm missing at least two shows, maybe more. But I'll make sure to come back to this in the future.

my baby

Ok, so Global just tried to climb up the cage using the table, but he's so fat he could barely fit.

He had to slide-climb-cling to the sides. it was adorable!

I love my kitties, all of them, but global is definitely my loveliest one. He's my chunks and I'll always love that about him.