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random thoughts

too crazy high-tension to sleep, even though i must. i must!

i got another offer to sit on a 2009 AWP panel, this time on the process of translation. i'm really interested in socialist women poets of the tokyo literary scene of the 1920's. want to get more into their stuff, but have no time. i feel kind of phony thinking about sitting on a translation panel when i haven't even finished any of my 3 translation projects, let alone new projects, however dreamy they may be.

reading louise erdrich is both inspiring and paralyzing for a writer who suffers from chronic loneliness. close to yet just outside of reach of mythical homeland, a.k.a. "The Community."

i am slowly getting to know my characters, during time stolen on train rides, between jobs, and long walks between here and there. sometimes it's their names that come to me first, other times, their histories. sometimes i recognize them through their faces, their scars, sometimes their speech patterns. i am trying to accept their weaknesses, even though they usually show me their strengths before they open up and let loose. often i am made to know how ignorant i really am about their lives.
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