Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Things I Learned at AWP
- It scares your seatmate on an airplane when you have a hot flash (caused by your fever, congested sinuses not allowing your ears to pop, and/or a bad reaction to a menthol cough drop) and lean forward with your head in your hands, sweating profusely.
- Book fair + ATM (though the one in the Hilton was broken) = dangerous.
- David Keplinger is a sweetheart. Still.
- Mary should be very proud of her work on Barn Owl Review. Great debut!
- Charles Jensen is better looking and taller than me, and still manages to be highly likable. Dammit.
- I may have to reapply to the Vanderbilt MFA program. I saw Mark in the taxi line, and the about the second thing he said was "We're fully funded now. You should reapply."
- Students can be a little cavalier about wandering into your room when you're passed out sick there at 11 PM on Thursday.
- Doing your resume work for a couple hours during Thursday and Friday sucks, but it's doable.
- John Gallaher is an early riser, but good conversation does help me wake up.
- Eduardo Corral is my new favorite huggable Latino stuffed animal. And he bought me breakfast! Ha ha...
- Suzanne does seem a little wilder in person than on her blog. I like it.
- Sandra will rule the poetry world someday if she wants to. But she's also wonderfully sweet.
- The panels and readings are tertiary at best at AWP.
- Brandi gets nervous about her events, but they turn out well in the end. Probably something to do with having her shit together and being whip smart.
- It's hard to find a cab on a rainy Friday in New York, but maybe, just maybe, you'll get a cab driver who will sit at a green light showing you his acting portfolio.
- The Hilton bar stops serving at 12:30, which is just ludicrous. Especially when you can walk a block away and get served again for about half the price.
- AWP is also apparently good for bumping into people you haven't seen in 2+ years and didn't know were attending.
- I bear something of a resemblance to Johannes Goransson. In learning this, I met Amy King, who no doubt thought Johannes was rudely ignoring her at first.
- Jake is a very busy person. He is far from alone in this at AWP.
- I could be convinced to do a panel or a reading. It would be very hard to convince me to work the book fair.
- The Carnegie Deli is good and has giant portions, but I recommend whichever incarnation it was of the Original Ray's pizza that was right on the back side of the Hilton block.
- C. Dale Young is not as easy to find as some people.
- I already know a lot more people than I realized.
- Book fair + ATM + space in your luggage = really dangerous.
- Number of really nice one-to-one conversations I had with friends at bars: at least 4.
- There are few enough direct flights between St. Louis and New York that were one to crash after AWP, a huge slew of Eastern/Central Missouri poets, including Mary Jo Bang, Scott Cairns, Aliki Barnstone and yours truly, would be taken out all at once.
- Other people I met/re-met: Amanda, Sara, Simmons, Gina, Jessica, Gary, Oliver, Reb, Matthew, Adam Deutsch, Paul Guest, Daniel Nester, Adam Clay, Zachary Schomburg, Jordan Davis, Ali Stine, Ander Monson, Tim Green, Dorothea Lasky, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, etc. I can probably just come back to this list and add more as I think of them. Sorry if you're reading this and I forgot you.
That doesn't cover the half of it, really. There are tons more things I did and so on. I'll post more if I think of them. Pictures should be forthcoming, though I got a disappointingly small total.
Comments:
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The panels and readings are a mixed bag, for sure. I think the off-site readings are much better; certainly more energetic and authentic.
Your comment about working the bookfair is interesting. This is my third AWP (in a row, no less), and I found working the bookfair more relaxing than bouncing through the aisles like a glazed-eyed pinball. Sure, there's the talking-head marketing component, but that doesn't bother me. The ability to actually sit in one regular place is not to be overlooked.
Anyway, great seeing you again, and I hope you're feeling better! (Oh, and true about Suzanne!)
Your comment about working the bookfair is interesting. This is my third AWP (in a row, no less), and I found working the bookfair more relaxing than bouncing through the aisles like a glazed-eyed pinball. Sure, there's the talking-head marketing component, but that doesn't bother me. The ability to actually sit in one regular place is not to be overlooked.
Anyway, great seeing you again, and I hope you're feeling better! (Oh, and true about Suzanne!)
Haaaa, I always laugh when people think I have my shit together... if only they could hear my internal monologue! Fake it til you make it, my friend, fake it til you make it.
Emailing soon,
b
Emailing soon,
b
Yes, Lisa, great to meet you. I'll give you a call as soon as this stupid lingering cough goes away.
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