Oops: a Summer in Review

As you've noticed, I took a- ahem- brief hiatus from the blogosphere after my post about poetry camp. This was due to the fact that I am a lazypants and, despite spending obscene amounts of time on the Internet, didn't ever click the New Post button. I'm sorry, I really am. But anyway, here's a list of things that happened.

• French exchange! I hosted my French teacher's niece for two weeks. She's so lovely. It was a great experience, and I hope she'll come back soon.
• Pink hair, don't care: I dyed my hair pink. And then purple. And then (due to a silly school rule that requires me to have a normal-colored head) back to blonde. Currently I look like a Marilyn Monroe wannabe. But I like it, I think.
• Work: Yesterday was my last day of work. I spent nearly all of my summer doing maintenance-type stuff for Hogwarts. It was dusty. Glitter Unicorn and I actually spent all of my last day assembling new tables and chairs for the cafeteria. Seven hours of drilling drove us both a little stir crazy. If anybody complains about those tables, I'll probably cut them 

School starts tomorrow. I am less than thrilled. No part of me is ready. It'll be great to see my classmates, but I'm so worried about this year. It has to be better than last year. I need it to be.

Wish me luck.

And That's That Piece: my Week at Slam Camp

I've returned from what was possibly the best week of my life so far. I spent seven days at Gustavus Adolphus College's slam poetry camp, courtesy of the Fairy Godmother Council. It was brilliant.

This was the very first year of camp, and there were only seven campers total with the addition of four of the best poets and educators in the country. We bonded the very first evening and henceforth became known as the Slamily.

A typical day consisted of three gigantic meals, fourteen hours of poetry-related activities, writing time, and the occasional few minutes of sleep. By the third day of camp everyone was positively delirious. My caffeine intake increased significantly.

I feel that because of this camp I've grown leaps and bounds in my ability as a poet. I know now that it is perfectly okay to struggle with writing a poem because frustration means you care. This is something that I'll remember often, because I normally always have trouble when I sit down to write.

I met the most wonderful, talented, and kind people. Look out, world- I have no doubt you'll be hearing great things from them in the very near future. We are the Fourth Wave of slam- you'd best be ready for us.

My parting gift- five pieces of advice for the young poet from Adam "Henzbo" Henze.
1. It doesn't get better. You get better.
2. You can always pick up your pen again.
3. Your greatest legacy is your friends.
4. You are someone's favorite poet.
5. You don't owe anyone. You owe everyone.

Pockets of Pride

So I'm on the nineteenth floor of a fancy hotel in Minneapolis.

I spent this afternoon with Fairy Godmother and Big Funny Kid at my very first Pride festival.

Oh, and also Kait Rokowski and her friends. Yeah. Remember, my favorite slam poet and lady I the history of ever? Yeah. She showed me all around the giant rainbow love-fest that is Minneapolis Pride. It was wonderful.

I am proud. Proud of this wonderful, supportive city. Proud to know such genuinely lovely people. Proud of Pride.

Happy Pride, everybody. Share the love.

Woo! Pictures!

I've been back for a few days now, and I'm about to leave again. But that's a different post.

The beach was lovely! I had a very relaxing time, although I was definitely ready to come back to Homaha by the end of the week.

So anyway, here's what I wore!

Sheepish

So, um, remember that one time I said I was going to post every day?

Actually, never mind. Let's not remember that.

Anyway, this is just to say that some exciting things are going to happen on this blog very soon! I'll be spending all of next week with Hipster Sister and my aunt in Duck, North Carolina. I'm going to take so many pictures, people! It's gonna be nuts! There'll be a lot of faux-artsy scenery shots, I'm sure, so you'll have to bear with me. But there will be fun outfit pictures, too.

You see, I'm doing maintenance-y stuff at Hogwarts this summer, and in one of my cleaning escapades I came across a box of seriously vintage clothing. I think someone forgot to take it to Goodwill in, like, 1983 because everything was covered in at least one layer of dust. So I took it home, and now I'm taking it to the beach! And you get to see all this fancy stuff! Yay!!!

That's all for now. I'll update y'all a little more on my adventures later.

Anger, Then Joy

This was originally just going to be a post about North Carolina's really not-nice amendment. Last night they voted in favor of Amendment One, an addition to their state constitution which defines marriage as between "one man and one woman" and effectively bans both civil unions and domestic partnerships.

So basically it's an entire clump of suck. I can't believe there are people in this world who still think that there should be limits to love. There aren't. You love who you love, and if you decide that you want to spend the rest of your life being loyal to and having babies with them, then you should be able to get married! Is that too much for people to understand? Honestly, if they were so concerned about destroying the sanctity of marriage or whatever, they should have made it illegal to get a divorce or cheat on your spouse or marry your first cousin. Apparently all that is still allowed. Yuck.

After reading about the injustice and yelling and being sick over it, I made a decision. I'm not getting married until everyone can.

But not five minutes ago, I learned that there is hope. President Obama has just come out in support of same-sex marriage. I love, love, love this man. Go watch this video. It will make you fist pump for joy. Maybe things are changing faster than we thought.

Really, North Carolina?

Really?

I'll post something more eloquent later, but right now all I am feeling and thinking is disappointment, anger, and sadness.