A Midsummer Night's Press

Rigoberto González has a lovely write up on A Midsummer Night's Press and particularly Achy Obejas' THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR OTHER LIFE at the Poetry Foundation's blog:
http://poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/02/a_midsummer_nights_press.html

Pack Rat

I need to pack tonight, since tomorrow I'm going out to Long Island to stay with my parents and I'll be flying back to Madrid on Sunday direct from there.

Aside from packing the things I'm taking with me (I've started at least, although my way of packing is to make piles and then put it all in the suitcase in the short time before leaving), I've also been doing a bit of cleaning and throwing out stuff I've been hoarding/accumulating and really don't need to hold on to any longer.

Like, writing market info from 1998, say, or mastheads from queer magazines from around the country, many of which (alas) are no longer around (or those editors are no longer there).

I prepared my taxes last night and today, which is one headache I'm glad to be done with.

And is perhaps why I'm in this organize, clean, throw out mood.

Had a lovely dinner with rosefox, sinboy, Matthew Cheney (Mumpsimus.blogspot.com), and lagringa (who I finally met in person tonight) at The Dish, which I liked before having my gluten issues and where I can still find enough to eat no matter the time of day. :-)

The gastroenterologist called me back, and the blood work hasn't come through yet, although he promised to email me since I'll be out of the country when the results come in. To see if this is in fact celiacs or some other wheat intolerance or problem. (My mother turns out to be allergic to wheat among other things, which I only found out after my visit to the gastroetc.)

One of the un-pack ratting things I'm doing is giving a bunch of books to my mom. These are things I'll want back, eventually, but which I don't mind if they get destroyed. (I am loath to give out my personal copies of books because I'm one of those readers where, after reading a book, it still looks new; my mother tends to roll spines, so I prefer to buy her her own copies of things.) This is probably healthy, in the long run.

There are a lot of books I have that I don't need to keep. Part of the problem is that I can sell them or give them away, but I can't just chuck them.

One of the series I'm lending my mother are Kenneth Flint's long out of print tales of the Tuatha de Danana (THE HOSTING OF THE SIDHE, DARK DRUID, etc.). Not sure if I'd still like them, but I remember being very fond of them when they came out. So I like still having them, but I don't treasure them to such a degree that I can't let her read them (even knowing she might destroy the spines).

I also picked up a bunch of spare copies at library sales and thrift stores of things for her to try, like Lisa Tuttle's THE SILVER BOUGH or Connie Willis' TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG. Hope she likes them!