Well, I'll blog...

Hi, fine and lovely people of Kairos past.

I do hope everyone is well everywhere. My updates are simple: I'm almost done with a year of teaching. Things are terrific with my girlfriend, Quinn. I'm planning to spend the summer laying low around the Oregon area, living on the cheap, and getting the book I've been working on now for two or three years to the point where I have a 'salable' draft.

I'm writing to do two things. The first is to mention, quickly, that I'm being published next Fall in the literary journal 'Brevity,' which specializes in the short non-fiction essay. I don't know how the heck it is that the first thing I'm publishing is non-fiction, especially non-fiction that I created by taking two paragraphs from a failed short story I wrote two years ago (ok, it was thinly veiled autobiography even then) and adding two lines. The venue is decently prestigious, however. And it's, well, encouragement and an audience.

The second, and more important thing: I once upon a time created something called an 'Oregon trip.' For a while I was a uniter. Then I lost my credentials by being too broke to travel to Boston last Fall. To redeem myself, I propose that people consider coming out to Oregon in the Summer for a retreat out at the cabin my folks have on the river. I say, we do it in mid August, though for me the dates are awful flexible. California folks, it's only seven and a half hours from the Bay to the cabin, and a little less coming from Seattle and environs. I'd go a week, open house, drop-in-as-you-will, with a couple events interspersed-- a camping run just up the road, or perhaps a kayaking day for those who want it on the nearby Umpqua or Rogue. A week out of time, in the Oregon summer, with no worries, no demands. Consider it. If I hear positive response, I will make it happen.

mike