Windchimes

re-surfacing (e-emerging?) from my new digs

Wow, it was early May, right after graduation, when I last typed in this box. I will admit to days, weeks, even, of sluggage for a while after finishing that B.A. All my fizz fizzled for a while, then I started working as the "Senior Secretary" in our uni's Department of English and Philosophy. At my age, I wish someone would come up with a different title for that position. Other than that, I'm extremely happy working there. It took a little while to adjust, to learn some of what goes on behind the scenes, from the other side of the department office desks. I'm still adjusting to the different nuances of relationships with the professors. I feel comfortable calling some of them by their first names now, but still don't know, quite, how to address a few of them.

I write lots of emails during the course of my workday. It's changed the way I write emails, they've become pretty minimalist most of the time, bare and stark. One of my former professors remarked on that fact to another one. Oh well, it's an evolving style. Sometimes I still ramble. Sometimes I forget that the phone is just as available as the computer, and can be more quickly effective. Like today. One of our instructors told me that the internet connection in his classroom wasn't working, and I immediately started emailing tech support. I'd written one and half sentences before I realized a call would likely work quicker and better. For all my crazy little errors, I'm still adapting quite well.

It's wonderful, too, to be around so many writers. Chad just had his second book accepted for publication. Paul's newest book of poems is now on sale at Amazon.com (and going fast, judging from http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Double-Prairie-Schooner-Poetry/dp/0803260350/ref=pd_... He gave me an autographed copy. Other professors have other types of books somewhere in the publishing process.

Maybe I'm crazy (and if I am, then I'm in some good company, because quite a few others agree) but there's a strong vibe of creative energy in those hallways. There's also the continued opportunity for ready exposure to lots of good writing. I've started getting to my office early so I can write before office hours.

I've got a faculty parking-permit hangtag now. It's number F0777. I feel divinely lucky.

J.H. Larrew
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