A Few Upcoming Events – Jack Straw and Arts Crush Girls on Fire, Dentists, and Hummingbirds

It’s starting to get cold at night, and that causes hummingbirds to puff up in adorable fashion. Here is one in front of our feeder.

While you are distracted by adorable hummingbird pictures… I spent much of this week in dentist chairs, and let me say this – interviewing doctors has nothing on auditioning dentists. The bad ones are really bad and that leads to inevitable pain. The good ones might still lead to experiencing pain, but at least you trust that they’re doing it for the right reasons. Trying to explain multiple dental-related allergies (latex, novocaine, painkillers) and a rare bleeding disorder and trying to gauge whether or not they know how to treat someone with TMJ – and not all dentists do – led to me feeling a little depressed about how weird I am. I guess the more you talk about your allergies and disorders and such, it reminds you – hey, you’re not like everyone else. You’re trouble – difficult – hard to explain. Sigh. I had to medicate myself with some serious comfort television (Pilot of Community, Pilot of Futurama, some BBC Jane Austen) in the aftermath, but I think I finally found a good one (she let me use my previous x-rays, researched my bleeding disorder and allergies before I walked in the door, and answered all my questions with cheerful directness without blowing sunshine, and did a great job detecting slight variances in the teeth that prevented me from getting unnecessary dental work. Perfect.) Anyway, it reminded me how the medical stuff I take for granted is actually pretty unusual, and  a lot of medical professionals just don’t want to deal with someone outside the bell curve.

On the up side – Margaret Atwood will be in Seattle Oct. 4, and I’ve got tickets to see her read! I’m so excited! And onto other more cheerful news!

Part II of Post: Upcoming Events!

This Friday, September 27, you can find me (along with fellow Jack Straw Writers Daemond Arrindell and Chelsea Werner-Jatzke) reading with the RASP reading series – one of my final East side readings for the year (except for the one I describe below. But seriously, none after that!) It should be fun!

And October 9th from 6-8 PM, poet Kelly Davio, myself, and artist Michaela Eaves will be presenting Girls on Fire collaborative art and poetry as part of ArtsCrush at VALA in Redmond.  This picture is of us a few days ago plotting our event – interactive poetry and art activities, snacks, and a reading/art display. And here is some art work that Michaela did for the event. Notice who she left out of the picture? Herself! But she will be there, and her art work!