home is where the heart is.

Click to Play

starring, not in order of appearance [probably]: suzanne stein, brandon brown, amy, stephanie young, taylor brady, tanya hollis, jocelyn saidenberg, kelly holt, elise ficarra, the Itinerant Poetry Library [or, Sara WIngate Grey], bisquit, polly jean, buster, percy, bear, michael nicoloff, david buuck, rob halpern, alli warren, judith jordan, cynthia sailers.... with the off-camera voices of magdalena zurawski and kate pringle.

message from SF

Dear All,

TAXT is pleased to announce Michael Nicoloff’s “PUNKS”

As ever: 24pgs!
Hot-pink cover, chartreuse double cover, green-apple staples, white guts

forward, post, repost as you see fit.

xo
from TAXT
& SS

*****

IT IS FREE. AND IT IS AWESOME. get yrs from TAXT.

***

umn. i don't have anything to say really. it is hot.
i guess i'll just post another film.

xo
k

maggie's first birthday in North Carolina

A common sight
Originally uploaded by Ken Rumble

again, stolen from ken rumble!
[i forgot my camera. can you believe it?]

thanks ken!

if i were in california.

i would go to this:

Apogee Press Book Party

Valerie Coulton – The Cellar Dreamer

Paul Hoover – Edge and Fold
Elizabeth Robinson – Apostrophe
Diesel Books
5433 College Avenue, Oakland
Sunday, July 22, 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.


***

TODAY IS MAGGIE'S BIRTHDAY! YAY!!

texas 1.

Click to Play

here.

has a million streets named chapel hill and erwin.

the best part of my day was coming in second for the trivia night at charlie's.

o boy.

or...

watching casey wasserman dance to the spice girls. video on the way folks.

we love you david buuck and brandon brown.

Click to Play

Couches Under Poets

Couches Under Poets
Originally uploaded by Ken Rumble

totally stole this picture from ken rumble....

our new poetry family. er... i mean... in addition TO... of course.

dear s

Click to Play

is this cicada

Click to Play

the deafening sounds of our new backyard.

our next collaboration

is announced over here at hex press .... thanks to michelle! we are super excited about it....

craigslist raleigh

mason jars
Reply to: see below
Date: 2007-07-14, 3:04PM EDT


Mason jars. 2-3 dozen pint and about 8 quart jars.You have to empty 5 yr old contents and wash. Call 782-2340.




* Location: North Raleigh
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests


PostingID: 373829507

flickr is now updated

Originally uploaded by minor americans

yes, it is. i'd go to sets though....

i had to upload from 3 different cameras and i can't figure out how to change the order on the home page... so... bleh. enjoy!

my mosquito

bites look exactly like

chigger bites.


and they don't burrow under the skin.

and i still hate mosquitos but i hate chiggers even more.

yep

i got my computer today.

you know what that means. tomorrow i will spend the whole day putting together a little film or two of our trip out here... instead of unpacking.

i love baseball in a city that actually has WARM weather AND COLD BEER AND... DOLLAR HOT DOGS.

[and we walked there from our house.]

[i still hate mosquitos, but now i have to research CHIGGERS because i don't know what they are but they sound bad, like... burrowing into yr skin bad, which just FREAKS me out... and...

CHIGGERS LIVE IN DURHAM.

cripes. and ticks.

North Carolina!

Everything is great except were suddenly poor! The bugs aren't as bad today with the humidity down and we're going to see the Durham Bulls play for free thanks to a fellow grad student who works in the Bulls' gift shop. Luckily, it's $1.oo Hot Dog night, so we get to eat.

M

to clarify

Maggie saw a rabbit in our backyard!

YES!

and, i really DO like it here. i realize i have been a little... i don't know... whiney? snotty? complainy? something like that... but truly... it is ONLY because of the MOSQUITOS that are trying to kill me.

and please remember... we haven't been able to DO a whole lot yet.

but everyone i've met and everything i have done has been so GREAT and it IS my favorite landscape.

just so you know.

i'm happy.

and so is Percy.

maggie can speak for herself and also... Bear Dog [now nicknamed Elvis because of something a new friend told us about Elvis...]... he maybe needs Prozac.

yay, poets AND lightning bugs!

i saw my first lightning bug aka firefly last night. i mean that. my FIRST. i've only ever seen them in cartoons.

maybe. maybe... in film.

but NEVER in the world. until. last night.

we were talking to some of our neighbors and our dogs were talking to their dogs and they were tellling us about the free blues nights, WOOFSTOCK, and "clubs that will make you feel like yr back in san francisco" [i think that means GAY. does it? i don't know. i think they get it that we are ... that way].... when suddenly it seemed to me that a spark flew out of this woman's eyeball in slow motion. a cold spark. and i gasped out loud. and maggie started to laugh at me & the woman looked concerned-perplexed and maggie says :

it's her first lightning bug. she's from california.

and that explained everything to everyone.

i have to say....

they are my favorite bugs.

out of all the new bugs and new bug concerns i now have here in NC.... lightning bugs are the BEST.

[i have over 20 mosquito bites i'm sure. and tony was telling us last night about ticks. do you know how TERRIFIED of ticks i am? i am. and what tony told me DID NOT HELP. they like dark, sweaty places.... o god! *what* isn't sweaty right now???? you step outside for 10 minutes and DO NOTHING... and

ONE: yr sweating
TWO: yr being attacked by a fleet of mosquitos
THREE: looking at the most beautiful landscape in the world.

****

we are going to our first poetry reading here on Saturday. all i know about it is that it is a Mixtape reading and Evie Shockley will be there. reading. and we get to meet Ken Rumble. and we get to see Chris Vitielo. and we get to find out if there are any other woman poets here or if it is just us.


****

i can't wait to read & write again.

and get a job. we need money.

somebody give me a job.

and somebody buy minor/american 1.1.!

durham

we are here.

a very special friend has given us her brand new macbook to use until my computer gets here. she's AWESOME. she's from california, too.

well. durham.

is empty.

bear dog and i went for a walk this morning to find a coffee shop. we live right in downtown durham. but, apparently nobody else does. besides sweating profusely after 20 minutes outside... it actually took me 20 minutes to find coffee. and it wasn't a cool... hey, i can walk over here and write.... coffee place, either. i think there are better ones the other way. but. yeah. O, and NOBODY ELSE was around. it was creepy. i hope that it is a little busier than this.... like... soon. i'm not used to it.

also. it is very dark and quiet here.

and the house smells like mold. which is gross. we are having that checked out tomorrow morning.

otherwise...

the house is so big i've already lost maggie in it. and we got here yesterday.

i'm looking forward to our desks and chairs and tv and STUFF... getting here tomorrow. rumor has it that tony tost and chris vitiello are stopping by to help us unload at some point... i'm guessing EVENING.

tonight we had dinner with other folks we met at prospectives weekend... and we really like them and are so happy we have friends here already... makes the move so much easier. and POETRY friends, even.

one day we will meet ken rumble.

my brain is fried from heat, humidity.... and i have 13 mosquito bites.

do we even have mosquitos in the bay area?

i found a dead tick on percy today. he was taking his bath and there it was.

i really could go on and on about all the BUGS everywhere. i'm so not used to BUGS.

and Sweet Tea. which is just... TOO SWEET. and if you don't ask for unsweetened... yr screwed.

it is beautiful here.

and i think we will write a lot.

i have to go email peoples now. and find a job.

why i haven't written about texas.

we had to take Poods to emergency on the fourth. he began his awful lung coughing and he really wasn't doing well. they put him in an oxygen tank overnight and increased his medication and... well... the heat and humidity is not treating him well. we had to stay in texas an extra day. good news is that Poods seems to be taking to his increased medication very well and he seems better than he's been in a while now.

but we are extremely stressed out people right now.

we are driving from texas to memphis tomorrow. all through flash flood warnings. all in pouring southern rain. our Percy Poodle is still in congestive heart failure and we are more and more realizing how frail his health is. we have mapped out vets for each major city we pass through for the rest of the trip.

as if moving across the country wasn't hard enough.

bear dog seems to be the most calm of all of us. his pepcid works well. and. if you know bear dog. well. he's not exactly CALM.

anyway.

we no longer care about seeing the country. we just want to get to durham, turn the air conditioner on, and help Percy feel comfortable.

it is 7:21 God's time.

and by using the phrase "god's time" i realize i am inviting a world to google "god's time" and land here on minor american. so.

we welcome you god's time googlers. you probably won't be back.

this means... we are in TEXAS. specifically,
flower mound. we are staying through the 4th of July with my sister & her sweet little family. but. before i go too deeply into Texas. [which is unavoidable. always. isn't it?]... let's talk about the trip so far.

first. we were up late the night before we left with some of our favorite folks. s showed ups with a bit of tequila and a very nice pair of shoes, elise showed up with a bit of of a cold & some duck mugs that belonged to our housemates... & much later sara, the Itinerant Poetry Librarian, showed up with some smokes... sans library, i believe....anyway... we spent most of the late night going through my iTunes library... which "dates" me, according to my HOMOSEXUAL PARTNER.

all i'm saying is we didn't actually leave san francisco until 3 pm.
which means we got to las vegas at 2 am. and to bed at 3 am. because the dogs were very much annoyed with us. and needed to tell us so. o, and it was 109. at 3 am.

in vegas we went to Paris and ate very well and then watched the fountains across the street at the bellagio.

i don't care for vegas. i mean that, i never have, not just this time around, but before now, too, i didn't like it... or, actually, i have had some fun there... like when i went with a bunch of folks from AA and saw some good friends get married & then we all got tattoos the next day. [no, not the dragon. another one.] that was fun. and sober. of course.

but i don't care for desert settings, so much, except at night. the desert at night is gorgeous. but in the day. in vegas. at least the heat is dry.

i just went to look up the ecological footprint of las vegas and can't find it. i'm really curious. can anybody else find it?

okay. so vegas didn't do it for maggie either. she was disappointed by the very same things that disappoint me... and some different things. i don't like the waste of it all. and how easily you can spend all yr money. let me rephrase: i don't like how easily I CAN SPEND ALL MY MONEY.

we spent two days there. then left for holbrook, ARIZONA... "the gateway to the petrified forest." a very depressed indian town. gorgeous at night.

we have footage. i should tell you. i just can't give it to you now. we were going to travel with my computer but it took up too much room... so i am computerless until we get to durham. and also. our former housemates are mailing it. so. who knows how long it will take. not because of them... but because of UPS.

holbrook isn't as cool as that link makes it.

it was very small. very poor. but also the first cool night since we left SF. we sat outside... next to the pool that was being renovated... and drank some beer, hung out with the dogs.... watched the sky actually meet the earth. yeah. i wrote that.

but not a whole lot else to do in holbrook, az. have to say.

next morning we went to the painted desert & petrified forest. absolutely gorgeous! the dogs seemed to appreciate it, too... and they were welcome on paved paths. i will save this for maggie to tell you.... only because... i lived in the desert for a long time... and, even though it is not the same desert, i do not appreciate deserts in the way that maggie can. i am too .... harshed by the people of the antelope valley to be kind to many deserts.

it was gorgeous but i just wanted to leave it.

from there we got back on I-40 and busted through New Mexico. we hit a much needed 10 minute t-storm through alberquerque. maggie and i were discussing landscapes. she was telling me that on her trip from the east coast to the west [on her search for a wife]... she was consistently blown away by the landscapes of the west. she asked me what the most impressive landscape i've ever seen was....

now. i think this is a difficult question for a californian to answer. and i think the answer for a californian is maybe... probably... CALIFORNIA. but i haven't been many places outside of this place. so my answer was and is... North BAY. hehe. although... that probably isn't true. it is probably THIS.

she understood. being from california and being from new jersey means something.
something different.

okay.

where are we? NOT in california.

we landed in the yellow rose of texas. AMARILLO. home of cadillac ranch. {which is a bruce springsteen song, fyi} ... this is great. you HAVE TO SEE THIS. and bring spray paint.

we met a family from NJ there... they loved our dogs... and they were on their way to live in San Francisco. we told them to make sure they had their winter clothes handy.

okay.

i have to stop now. i am getting too lazy. and texas is big. texas has a lot of money to buy ART. and we've seen a lot of ART.