Back To School! Oh My!
On existing in the midst of everything bad, plus a sneak peek of my syllabus.
Lovers & friends,
Oowee. It’s been what… a month & a half since we last spoke? I never claimed to be a *regular* newsletter writer so you (& your inbox) should be thanking me for the break.
Anyway, July and August have felt like two whole years, respectively. A lot has changed for me (& perhaps, for you) in this time. Let’s talk about it, but first, some updates.
On May 28, I dropped my debut memoir, Pretty. It’s gotten more than a few nice reviews. I’d really love it if you bought the book and requested it at your local libraries! <3
I wrote a screenplay as part of my time as a 2023 National Endowment of the Arts fellow. I've been sending it out to contests here & there & Coverfly just told me I'm #18 on the platform this month. 😱
KB thee screenwriter coming to a screen near you soon? 😏
Pretty is going on the road (again); I’ve got virtual stops, and IRL stops planned in Jackson MS, San Antonio TX, Nashville TN, Iowa City IA, and Austin TX! Check out all my upcoming events here.
I’m hosting & co-curating Austin’s official Poet Laureate Kickoff Party. We somehow already have over 300 RSVP’s ( 😵), so if you’re local, comethru to see this STACKED lineup & learn more about the poet laureate program!
*bugs bunny voice* that’s all, folks. Now onto some school daze.
This is the first page of a weird (and probably appropriative?) musical that my middle school choir & band did in 2008. So long ago! We all dressed in layers like it wasn’t blazing hot! I remember a song in it that went something like this:
“I’m in a daze, I’m movin FAST / Being in school is such a BLAST / Reading books & writing / are things I find exciting / I’m in a daze, oh yes, I’m in a daaaaze—”
& in a daze I was. Still am. Yes, I do enjoy reading & writing; I’ve made a career out of it for Christ’s sake! I even enjoy the *structure* of school; often, when I don’t have meetings and places to be, I’ll sit around all day and spiral while watching Spongebob (the old episodes). Schooling institutions and the ways that some folk go about delivering knowledge — especially knowledge about something as subjective as creative writing — are often where you lose me.
This semester, I’m teaching an Introduction to Poetry class that all 16 of my students have voluntarily signed up for. It’s not a required class, so I won’t have to spend the first 4 weeks getting them to care (sorry to my K-12 and Comp 1-teaching friends!). I’m focusing on teaching from first collections, and some of the authors have agreed to come talk to my class. On paper, I should be elated — I’m literally teaching a genre that saved me! — but some things are hindering me from being 100% excited.
First: my university is one of the many across the globe that decided to brutalize and punish students for participating in anti-genocide protests in the spring. I was on-campus. I saw, with my own eyes, students being pushed to the ground, maced, denied water in 100 degree heat, and so on. The last two weeks of my semester were tainted with oppression and anti-Palestinian hate. I already was feeling disillusioned with my campus, since they decided to wrongly terminate and demote 60+ people in order to overcomply with Texas’ anti-DEI law. This deplorable action taken against students with a moral compass was just the icing on the cake.
Second: I’ve been going through heavy and profound losses in my personal life. My dad passed away on August 17th. I ended a tumultuous, 7-year long friendship. My book came out and I was nearly crushed under the fear of failure. I faced many, many disappointments associated with promoting the book. I had a tough week and a half in my hometown; that’s the longest I’ve been there at all since 2017. Many things have been out of my control, and that’s made me (a controlling virgo) highly uncomfortable. I’ve been on the brink of, as the kids say, “crashing out”. On top of it all, I’m in the last year of my MFA and for the first time in a long time, I have no idea where I’ll be — location and job-wise — by this time next year.
Many things have transpired over the last few months that have made me question some things. What type of writer can I be? Should I be? Am I destined to be? What is my allegiance to “family”? None of them have good or finished answers, so I’m turning to diary entries, hoping that I’ll crawl back to creative writing when the dust settles, or at least till I reach an equilibrium again.
I say all this to say, life is hard but I’m still, somehow, alive. I’m still finding reasons to laugh and cry and make new mistakes. Losing a parent is hell BUT I did just finish a draft of my screenplay (after month of doubt and procrastination). My emails and texts are overflowing BUT I finished my syllabus. Here’s a list of folks I’m teaching!
You’ve gotta count wins when you get them.
Anyway, I’m hoping that this newsletter is reaching you in a good place. I hope that you’re easing into the school year (and if you’re blessed to not be on a school schedule, I hope you’re easing into the fall). I hear that Starbucks (boo!) already has Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Cooler weather is coming soon, though it is 93 degrees in Texas 🥵
Till next time!
Love, Peace, & Chicken Grease,
KB