Stacyverb

I had no idea

It’s been just over a month since I returned from my four-week residency at the Vermont Studio Center. After some initial post-residency blues, now my thoughts of VSC are less about the sadness of leaving and more about gladness and gratitude for the time I spent there.

I arrived at VSC eager to have my own space and time away from job and home responsibilities; to focus completely on finishing a first draft of my novel; to meet other writers and artists, and make friends with a few of them.

Little did I know how low I was aiming!

 

Before & after: view from my studio window on March 31 & April 24

For one thing, I didn’t anticipate falling in love with the view of the Gihon River outside my studio window, or having the jaw-dropping experience of witnessing that river—mostly frozen when I arrived on March 30—thaw, break up, and begin to flow freely. Living in this dynamic setting with about 50 other writers and visual artists, I felt constantly invigorated by my surroundings and the sheer range of talent and imagination around me.

During any given conversation, one resident’s casual comment could inspire someone else in a totally unexpected way. I experienced this VSC magic from both sides more than once, and witnessed it countless other times. Inspiration and support from fellow residents frequently gave me the sensation of a switch being flipped in my brain, making it spark and sizzle and light up in new ways.

So, with fresh confidence and curiosity, I embarked on a path of pushing my writing in a more personal and experimental direction. What an exciting shift that was! After holing up in my studio for long afternoons of this new work, I’d emerge feeling equal parts exhausted and giddy.

Giddiness became a familiar feeling during those four weeks. I’d had no idea how much fun the residency would be, or that I’d grow so close to so many people so fast. And within this fantastic sense of community, I rediscovered something I’d nearly forgotten--the pure joy of writing just for the sake of writing.

While I did make huge progress on my novel, I didn’t complete my draft. And that’s okay! About halfway through the residency, thoughts like, “How many pages have I written?” and “Will anyone publish this?” began to seem irrelevant, replaced by “What if I wrote about that topic?” and “How about experimenting with this technique?”

 

My official VSC studio portrait by Howard Romero

And what happened? Magic, basically. I produced some of the strongest work I’ve ever done. Lots of fiction, for sure, but non-fiction as well. And poetry! (What? Where did that come from??)

Back home in the “real” world now, my residency experience has helped me to clarify my priorities. I recognize that my creative self—imaginative, exuberant, adventurous—is my best self. For a while, I’d lost sight of her, but VSC and my fellow residents revived her. Now I feel committed to making sure my writing and my connection to a creative community don’t get sidetracked by the routines of everyday life. I hope to keep surprising myself with what I can do when I set my expectations aside.

When I headed off to VSC, I thought I had good ideas about the work I would do, the things I would accomplish. Compared to what I actually did there and what I feel capable of doing now, I realize I had no idea at all.

This is my gift

For Christmas, Anthony gave me a mysterious large box. Unwrapping it, I found layer after layer of tissue paper and decoy items, all labeled "This is not Stacy's gift." Deep inside the box was an envelope proclaiming itself to contain my real gift--tickets to see the amazing Jason Isbell.

I can't even list all the things I loved about this present. It was a total surprise, and clever, and not a piece of stuff that would just take up space. And while Jason Isbell had already passed through Atlanta when I couldn't go, these tickets were for the show in Knoxville, Anthony's hometown, at a theatre where he used to do plays as a teenager. I'd never been to the Bijou, so I was excited about that. Plus, on this leg of Isbell's tour, my girl Holly Williams was opening for him!

So this week we drove to Knoxville on a gorgeous clear winter day, stayed with Anthony's mom for a couple of days, met his high school best friend for dinner at The Bistro (loved it) and went to the show. It was really kind of a magical night. Really damn cold, but magical.

You ever have the experience of witnessing somebody do something they're really, really good at--whatever that might be--and you just want to say, THANK YOU? Thank you for sharing this ability you have, this thing you have created! That's what this show was like. It was an honor just to be in the room to hear these songs.

Isbell's Southeastern was my favorite album of 2013. I don't write songs, but this music just plain makes me want to be a better writer, period. A musician friend of mine described Isbell's writing as "precise," and yes, that's exactly it. I love plenty of artists who write abstract lyrics, but the words that really stop me in my tracks are the ones that create a picture that I can't get out of my head. It's a matter of riveting storytelling, and lyrics that make you see things in new ways.

And that's what listening to Southeastern is like for me. Some of the songs are really raw, powerful slices from Isbell's life. Others, like "Yvette" and "Elephant" are devastating, self-contained stories that come from his imagination. Make no mistake, folks--this music is literature. That precision of language that my friend talked about? It's what creates a new way to express ideas we've all heard countless times before. Isbell doesn't say, "A woman left me, and I miss her," he says, "The songs that she sang in the shower are stuck in my head/ Like 'Bring Out Your Dead'/ And 'Breakfast In Bed.'" He doesn't say, "Hey, baby, let's do it all night," he says, "Girl, leave your boots by the bed, we ain't leaving this room."

During this song, the whole room sat perfectly still in their seats, then rose in stunned applause. An amazing thing to witness. A great gift.

 

The kindness of strangers

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Mosso. She's a friend of a friend (and my friend now, too) who's currently on a 14-month walk across America. Yes, that's right--she's walking from Massachusetts to California and back. Why is she doing this? Because she can. It's been her dream, and she's been planning it for two years, and now she's doing it.

Mary at our house on New Year's Day

Mary is making her cross-country trek with just a few belongings in a push cart. She stays with friends, or friends of friends, or fellow travelers she's met on the internet, or she camps. She makes friends everywhere she goes, and greets each new day with her heart open to adventure.

Next time you're feeling cynical or hopeless, I invite you to spend some time perusing Mary's Facebook page, Because I Can. Reading about her gutsy journey and the amazingly kind, generous people she meets along the way just might give you a new perspective. Maybe it will inspire you to stick your neck out to help someone, or to embark on an adventure of your own.

Speaking of generosity, I want to say THANK YOU to the folks who have donated to my Indiegogo campaign to help pay for my writing residency in Vermont.  After only three days, I'm already about 35% of the way to my goal.

Several of these donations are from people I don't even know. I'm truly touched and honored to know that these kind souls, along with beloved friends and family, have chosen to support me.

Kinda makes you feel all fuzzy inside, huh?

Backyard Market

On Saturday, BestGalPal Christy and I ventured OTP* for a little day trip to visit our friend Melissa.  About two years ago, Melissa left the hustle and bustle of city life behind and moved up to the tiny north Georgia town of Ball Ground.  A few months ago, she opened a little shop called Backyard Market, dedicated to selling local handmade goods and produce.

(I don't think we look too bad, considering it 105 degrees that day.) 

It was so great to see Melissa, her shop, and her baby bump (still small, and obscured here by horizontal stripes, but exciting nonetheless).  Next time you're heading north to the mountains, make a stop at Backyard Market!

* For you non-Atlantans, that means Outside The Perimeter, or outside the I-285 loop that encircles the city.

Scenes from the Tennessee Valley Fair

While Anthony and I were visiting his mom in Knoxville last weekend, we had the chance to go to the Tennessee Valley Fair.  What a great way to say farewell to summer--a cornucopia of farm animals, games, lights, "freak shows" (thus the "two-headed squirrel" reference in my previous post), junk food, and other spectacles.

SSS, Days 10, 11 & 12: Tennessee

For Saturday, Day 10, I needed an outfit that would be presentable for work, yet also comfortable enough for a five-hour car trip after work.  My husband and I were heading to Knoxville, Tennessee, to visit his mom for a couple of days.

Maybe it's because I first wore this skirt during my trip to Mexico in 2008 (that fact plus the color gave this garment its nickname, "the guacamole skirt"), but it's one of my go-to items to wear and/or pack for warm weather travel.  Cool, comfy, looks fine with any neutral color on top--easy.

 

• Skirt: Yet another McCall's 4783 (OOP)
• Earrings: Beaded by me

 

 

Holy crap!  Look, everybody--it's a 2-headed squirrel!!  Or at least a poorly drawn one.  The reason why I'm next to this sign is a topic for another post.

For now, let's talk about my shirt, worn in honor of the first Sunday of football season.  It's my Steelers shirt, which I love.  Unfortunately, my team got clobbered in their season opener, but let's not talk about that right now...oh look--a two-headed squirrel!

• Top: Vogue 8078 (OOP)
• Earrings: Beaded by me

 

 

On the way back to Atlanta from Knoxville, we paid a visit to Panarama Orchards for some apples.  This place has become one of our favorite stops whenever we have a chance to take the back roads instead of the interstate.  So many delicious varieties of apples are coming into season now, like these Honey Crips I'm clutching here. :)

• Top: Simplicity 2614
• Earrings: Beaded by me

I'm getting behind on my SSS posts--have been too busy living in the clothes and not just posing in them!

A weekend of wings

Last weekend while Adverb and I were visiting his family in Tennessee, we had several encounters with lovely creatures of the winged persuasion.

These are my in-laws' chickens.  Aren't they a beautiful, colorful group?  The hens gather together while the rooster stays off to the side and keeps an eye on things.

While I was sitting out on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather and knitting, this little visitor landed right on me.  It continued to ride on my hand for quite a while, even as my hand moved to knit! 

Later, I spotted this little cutie near the back door.  It's a baby dove, fresh out of the nest.

 

It wasn't flying yet, but was eagerly hopping around, exploring the yard.  Be safe, little bird!

In a tree nearby, the mama dove was sitting on the nest and supervising Junior from above.

Sperber exhibit in Knoxville

Last weekend, Adverb and I headed to Knoxville, TN, for an early Thanksgiving with his family.  While there, we paid a visit to the Knoxville Musuem of Art (valuable tip: the museum offers free admission on Sundays).

It was a lovely, warm, autumn day to be out and about in downtown K-ville.

Here's a nice shot of the Sunsphere in World's Fair Park, as seen from the upper level of the museum.  Some of you may know it as the Wigsphere. Heh.

The current exhibition at the KMA is Threads Of Perception by artist Devorah Sperber.  She has scanned famous works of art, converted them into low-resolution versions and then found spools of thread to correspond to the color of each pixel.  The results are then suspended from the lengths of chain, with the overall image inverted, like this:

(Image courtesy of Knoxville Museum of Art web site)

The KMA web site explains the presentation this way: "The thread spools works are hung upside down in reference to the fact that the lens of the eye projects an inverted image of the world onto the retina, which is corrected by the brain. A clear acrylic sphere, positioned in front of each work, functions like the human eye and brain, not only inverting but also focusing the image so that it appears as a sharp, faithful, right-side-up reproduction of the famous painting."

This exhibition was so fascinating to me.  What was most interesting was that even from across the room, even though these masterpieces had been greatly simplified, produced in an entirely different medium, and turned upside-down, you could still recognize them immediately.  It made me think a lot about how little information our minds and eyes actually need in order to understand an image, and about how some images are so prevalent that they are basically branded onto our brains.

Props to the KAM--for a smaller museum, they do quite a good job of bringing thought-provoking exhibitions to their patrons.  Threads of Perception runs through January 24, 2010.

Day trip to Amicalola Falls

On Monday we took advantage of both having the day off and drove up to north Georgia to enjoy a perfect autumn day.

Here I am, admiring the scenery at beautiful Amicalola Falls State Park.  (I should have had my shades on, so I wouldn't look so squinty.) 

We had a delicious lunch at the restaurant in the park lodge.  In the lobby of the lodge, a huge plush bear greeted visitors.  I wanted to get a picture of Adverb with it.  There was a sign posted that read, "Do not climb on the bear," but Adverb found another way to get an action shot with the beast.

That's my husband, ladies and gentleman.  Never a dull moment with this guy.  :)

The park had a couple of nice wheelchair-friendly trails to the falls.   Above, the view from the top of the falls.

And here we are at the bottom.  The falls are 729 feet high--a bit of trivia I learned during our visit.  Also, Amicalola means "tumbling waters" in Cherokee. 

As we meandered along the scenic route back to Atlanta, we stopped at an orchard to get some apples and admire other harvesty sights.  I hope you all are having a lovely autumn, wherever you may be!

Shopping for banned books and more in Asheville

September 26-October 3 is Banned Books Week, a "national celebration of the freedom to read."  Libraries and book stores around the country are holding events this week to raise awareness of the fact that each year, individuals and groups attempt to have hundreds of books removed from schools and libraries.

According to the American Library Association, the most frequently challenged "classic" book in America is The Great Gatsby.  With this in mind, I bought a copy of it while I was in Asheville.  I've read it before, but did not own my own copy.  I got this one at Downtown Books & News, a great used book store on North Lexington.

Celebrate Banned Books Week by buying a frequently challenged book at your favorite local book store.  Share your favorite challenged books with young readers!  Check out this link for more ideas on fighting censorship in your community.

While I'm giving a shout-out to Downtown Books & News, I'd also like to mention some other businesses I recommend in downtown Asheville:

Beads and Beyond - gorgeous gemstones and lots more, in the cute little Wall Street neighborhood.

Chevron Trading Post & Bead Co. - also on N. Lexington, this bead shop had (among other things) probably the best selection of seed beads I've ever seen outside of a catalog.  They also had a comfy couch by a fireplace, great music playing, and a big, fat, friendly cat.  I did not want to leave!

Earth Guild - For the more esoteric crafts, this store on Haywood has lots of supplies that are hard to find anywhere else.  Spinning, candlemaking, basketry, rugmaking...just to name a few.  I bought some wool dye there.

Flying Frog Cafe - It's a fine dining establishment downstairs, but upstairs (where we ate) the Flying Frog Bar serves drinks and lighter meals.  It's on Battery Park Ave. and has a very eclectic menu.  The food was delicious and they made a really good mimosa (at dinner--how decadent!).

Malaprops - If you don't want to buy your books used from DB & N, buy them new at Malaprops!  A great little store on Haywood, just up the hill from Earth Guild, they also have a cafe.

Support small businesses at home and when you travel!