PROGRESS NOTES

Wow. I've been away so long it's hard to know where to start. Thanks to RHD, I'm stepping into the light for a quick minute. (Yea, girl. I'm still on the planet).


All I can say is: Life is Real.


The past few weeks have held heavy duty detail of school, annual physicals, first PTA meetings, notes back and forth to the second grade teacher, keeping up on lunch supplies, surprise 60th birthday party planning for my mom, running all around town examining menus and dining rooms, finding a portrait studio to do our family photo, hosting over 20 people at my house, keeping the secret from my die-hard New Yorker mother who never, ever, ever ventures out of New York unless it is an emergency of the truest kind, writing and trying my best to get the manuscript for this chapbook done, meeting with yet another graphic artist because the first one is too damn sorry to call me back after I've called him twice asking for the comps he promised. Not to mention remembering to comb my hair, trim my toenails, and get some sleep.

Here's the status report:


SCHOOL


Kid 1 is in Serious Second Grade .... responsible for much more than she was last year. We've got a whole new English/Reading curriculum which so far I am absolutely loving. The publisher is Houghton Mifflin and the thrust is toward what educators have been complaining about for years: children not knowing how to write a decent essay by the time they're ready to apply for college. This curriculum is super duper, heavily phonics based which I'm pleased with. Learning the parts of a sentence, making inferences from the stories, learning parts of a story and learning how to write correct sentences. Friends of mine have their children in all kinds of schools that purport to have "new methods" for teaching children, including this so-called A-Beka program, which is hot and heavy in Christian schools. Phooey. You read by learning how letters sound individually and collectively. There is no magic. There are no tricks. There is nothing new about learning to read and write.


Kid 1 also has memory work to do just about every night that she has to recite in front of the teacher the next day. Good for her but work for me. Oftentimes we do our drills in the car and I pester the heck out of her all the way to the front door of the school to remember to say her memory work so she can get checked off on it. But she's hanging and so am I. Math is still an issue but I'm thinking positively about it. Much more patience with my girl since I'm no longer working full time. One of the Dad's at PTA told me not to worry, that she'll get it. But my thing is that statistics show most girls have a love or hate by third grade and I don't want her to do badly in math for the rest of her life. Where is the balance between teaching and pushing?? I'm still thinking about Kumon but I'm just not sure. I'm still thinking I can teach her without shuffling off to yet another after school activity (not to mention the costs).


Kid 2 has made a smooth transition to 3 year old class. No more screaming and crying and pulling at my leg. Just a big wet kiss and "I love you Mommy, bye!" He knows several colors and counts to 20. Cool. Still not sitting on the potty to do #2 .... I'm trying to hang, trying to hang.


WRITING


Found another graphic artist to do the cover of my chapbook. Had to ditch the guy I met back in the summer. After several calls and several promises on his part to get back to me with comps and no delivery, it's so long Charley. My rule? Two strikes you're out. My time is just as valuable as the next person's and if you don't value my business, I won't value yours. So the sister I've found now is very professional and what do you know? she designed the cover for Walter Mosley's latest book, What Next? which is published by Black Classic Press. She's here in my town and is charging me $300 for the entire layout and cover art. In other words, I hand my manuscript to her and she makes it completely ready to go to print. That's a serious bargain. Sitting with her on Monday just felt right and we agreed to move forward together.


Speaking of the chapbook, the manuscript that I thought was done is not done. Why? Because three additional poems came to me last week that demand to be included. In the midst of all this outside activity I've been in a serious "emotional and spiritual place" reading a lot of Sonia Sanchez (Wounded in the House of A Friend), Lucille Clifton, and a bit of e.e. cummings. I've also got This Bridge Called My Back and something very amazing is happening in my work and in my soul. The poems demand to be included and so I've spent these past few weeks grabbing moments of silence to perfect them and be sure that what my soul intends to convey is what is on the page. I do hope I can cut the manuscript after this. I am really ready to go but I realize that this is my debut. It's got to be good. It's got to be about the work being ready, not me being ready. Also, I totally re-vamped one of the stories in the collection too, chosing to do so because it really was a bit too predictable towards the mid-section. The more I read it the more I saw that I really did have the potential to make it better. I like it much better now and I think I've really nailed home the theme of change. So once I get these poems together, fork over the 50% deposit, and write my intro statement I'll be ready.


At the same time, the novel yells "Don't forget about me." I've finished my study on Plot and now I'm going line for line through this outline in a serious "Cut-Paste-Move-This-Scene-Over-Here Mode. It's amazing to me how much is written and how much gets cut. No despair, though. I realize that one often has to write a ton, to get a pound of usable material.

I met Zadie Smith two summers ago when she was here promoting her book, White Teeth. She told those of us in the audience that White Teeth novel was 700 pages on the first and second draft. 700 pages!! But the job of the writer is not to write but to skillfully revise. Anyone can write, but not everyone can revise. I thought I was going to use my protagonist's wife in first person pov alternating with my narrative. What I've discovered is that my protag's wife is too shallow to tell the truth about her life. She lives behind a mask and she'll never tell the kinds of things I need to convey. So I'm using her therapist instead, in a first person pov, alternating. Wow. I wrote a chapter in the therapist's voice and I'm amazed at how much is revealed about his wife using this therapist.
I'm shooting for the end of the month to be finished with the outline. Hopefully, with things settling down I can do it. Though it may sound like a waste of time to some, I realize and respect how my mind works. My mind is okay with sloppy first and ragged second drafts but at this point my mind is like, Hey I need some structure here. I need a clear path.


HAIR


I've decided to loc my hair. Am I ready? About 99%. The other one percent is nervous about the in between stage when the hair looks tacky. I've concerned myself with the financial outlay required at this early stage ($50 every three weeks or so) and the possibility that I'll want my "regular hair" back in a few years and will have to cut all the way back to a TWA. But something in my heart tells me that it won't happen. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a minimalist. Time spent worrying and doing hair is time I don't have. I'm not one of those women who hangs in a salon, who has every hair in place, who runs to the nail shop the minute a corner of polish chips. I simply don't care. The other thing is, my hair is the type that wants to be left alone. In my perm glory days I could spend almost a hundred dollars on a perm, cut and style and two days later look like I never even went to the salon. My hair is very resistant to manipulation. It has always, always had a mind of its own. I've been twisting and twisting out for about a year and a half now and I'm simply just tired of doing my hair. When I do my hair it is literally a two day event because it is so very thick. Folks tell me I have perfect locking hair. We'll see. I just know that I want to be in a space that is as natural as natural can be.

BODY

I'm strongly feeling a pull toward becoming vegan. Am I ready 100%? No. I love the taste of barbecue chicken and I get to wanting a good burger something fierce from time to time. But I do know that as I age I'm going to have to start making some modifications. I have a low level of trust for our government and am not thrilled with the hormones and chemicals that go into processing meats. So I picked up two vegan cookbooks and The Vegan Sourcebook, figuring I can at least start preparing a few dishes here and there with the knowledge that one day I'll be able to make the move all the way without driving my family beserk (especially Spouse). I did start back with my yoga the other night, which felt good, but an acute awareness washed over me that it's been too long and I do need to make more of a commitment to exercising regularly.

Lastly, my poetry series starts this Friday (Isabel permitting). I am officially a poetry night host. The name of my group is called the Poetry and Prose Literary Arts Collective.
We've got about six or seven poets ready to go; I'll be reading both poetry and prose. My plan, as time permits, is to allow an hour before sign up for workshopping pieces that folks need feedback on. That's a future goal. Right now, we're going to be just reading.
Martha, the owner, is psyched. So if you're my way, hit me on the email for directions to the Cafe Jolie (avshann@attglobal.net).

That's as brief as I can be. Hopefully I'll get back to blogging regularly now that things are semi-sorta slowing down ..... yea, right. Kids out of school for two days b/c of Isabel.

Ah, me.

This thing called REAL LIFE.

Be Good,
ANGEL