Remembering different anniversaries and birthdays, I think about this month. I’m rejoicing about a lot of things, celebrating the birthdays of people in my family, but also remembering the deaths of friends in past Septembers.
That said, there is a lot more to celebrate this month than I could have dreamed of years ago.
I interviewed Aaron Cohen, author of the 33 1/3 book series volume on Aretha Franklin’s album Amazing Grace, for the CHIRP Music Film Festival in Chicago on September 17. It was a fantastic experience. I got to ask about the recording and reception of the album, the context of Aretha Franklin’s career, and his work writing the book and interviewing its musicians.
I got a book review published this week at PopMatters on the edited anthology on a songwriting giant, Prine on Prine: Interviews and Encounters with John Prine.
I applied for an LGBTQ fellowship for a writers residency in Tennessee this spring.
I submitted a story pitch to The Moth Radio Hour.
After an injury in April and subsequent surgery, I am no longer wearing a splint on my wrist and am getting closer to where I was before the fall I had.
Work is going fantastically well right now. I am doing embedded tutoring–like being a teaching assistant–in two classes at one of the colleges where I work, and at both jobs I have felt so much pride for the students putting in the work to improve.
In the past, I’ve struggled much more with self-care, so I am happy to report that earlier this month, I had the best dentist appointment I’ve ever had by far.
I have now finished reading 47 books so far this year, most recently bell hooks’s 1990 collection of cultural criticism, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics.
I have eight months away from caffeine. When I am tempted to drink coffee, I remind myself of the sleep issues and headaches I used to experience constantly.
I am preparing for a conference in a couple weeks where I will present research on James Baldwin and music from my journal article last year.
More on the way!