As one might expect, some stuff happened while I was on my blogging break. During my "time off," I was actually working seasonal retail, which was either the best or worst experience of my life (more on that in a later post). Our first Christmas without my aunt and grandmother was a subdued affair, and it didn't feel quite right. Another family--one made for themselves by my friend Charlie and some of his brothers of the heart--suffered a terrible loss just before Christmas when one of them passed away. Finally, the new year arrived, as evidenced by my New Year, New Playlist post last week, but the "holiday hangover" is the worst in recent memory, at least for me.
Yet a few items of good news did find their way through the fog, so rather than dwell on the aforementioned difficulties, here's a short list of exciting events.
1) The North Carolina Poet Laureate situation has been cleaned up. I'm so happy to report that Shelby Stephenson, who is practically an institution unto himself, is the new head honcho there. Having met Shelby and several of his contemporaries and students, I can say without a doubt that NC poetry is in good hands.
2) Speaking of Poets Laureate: my (imaginary) poet boyfriend Dr. Benjamin Myers has been named the PL for Oklahoma in 2015-2016. Many congratulations to him! Go read his work now if you care anything for current American poetry.
3) I was named a finalist in the 2014 Susan K. Collins/Mississippi Valley Chapbook Contest, run by the Midwest Writing Center, which is a pretty cool thing.
4) Oh, and I won this other contest. Nbd.
I'm glad to be able to pass these tidbits along after the endless months of terrible things that happened in 2014, and I hope that everyone out there has a better year than the one that just ended.
-Cate-
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