Home again

Sitting here in our new apartment, listening to the cats' water fountain trickling peacefully by the kitchen. One cat is on the easy chair nearby, another on the ottoman in the bedroom, the third under the bed -- she's still acclimating, as we all are, I suppose. But it already feels like home to me. We moved in over the course of last week -- the movers brought all our stuff from storage on Monday, we started unpacking and arranging stuff on Tuesday and Wednesday, the deliveries and repair guys all came on Thursday, more unpacking on Friday, and then Saturday we made the big leap: packed the suitcases full of clothes, the box of kitchen supplies, and the cats in their carriers, and headed down here for our first night in the new place. I was ecstatic, post-move, even as the cats were hating our guts for displacing them for the third time in a year; then I woke up yesterday with the worst virus I've had in years -- puking, aching, shivering, the whole nine. 

So I'm home today, rather than at the office, where I desperately need to go one of these days; the virus has abated somewhat, but I know I have to take it easy, have to let myself rest and recover from the stress my body's been under for, oh, about a year now. And, weirdly, I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I got sick the day after the move, and not the day of. I'm grateful that I'm here in this beautiful new place, full of sunlight and steam heat that says shhhhhh, with a deep, inviting tub for soaking my aching bones. I'm grateful to rest today, instead of running around doing errands and keeping appointments and working; grateful that I have an excuse the rest of the world understands: I'm sick. And I'm grateful that my body decided to give it up all at once, the toxins that I've stored up from a year of anger and frustration and displacement, rather than store them, because I don't need them anymore. It's over. We're home again -- finally, home.

Excitements

1. My personal essay, "Girl Meets Toy," was voted by readers as one of Nerve.com's ten best of the year! They only publish eleven per year, but still! I'm flattered. (I'm kidding. They publish at least, like, sixteen.)

2. I've joined the board at Girls Write Now! I can't tell you how delighted I am to be an official part of the team at this amazing organization; I'd brag about the company I'm in, but it'd be unseemly. 

As an official biffle of GWN, I'll be attending this Saturday's Annual Winter Reading, featuring original works read by girls and their mentors, as well as 2008 National Book Award winner Judy Blundell (What I Saw and How I Lied). It's at the New York Ethical Culture Society, 2 West 64th St. at Central Park West, 5pm, suggested donation $10-20.

Here's a clip from a previous Girls Write Now reading, as featured on NY1. New Yorkers of the Week!

3. I've got a bunch of upcoming classes, readings, and appearances! And yes, I'm actually excited about them. There's a free memoir seminar on Wednesday, January 21, an appearance at the Washington DC JCC on Tuesday, February 3, and a benefit to help overturn California's Prop 8 and promote marriage equality on Sunday, February 15 at Bluestockings Books (click here for more info on all these events). Come to the benefit on the 15th and donate more than $5, and I will write you a personalized haiku! No fucking kidding/I will seriously write/a haiku for you. And it will be better than that one, I swear.

4. And FINALLY. We FINALLY got an apartment, and will be moving into our own home on Inauguration Day. Our long national nightmare is finally over! 

Except...now I have no excuse not to write another book.

Powder -- a book review by Georgia

An incredible book came out this winter that, through working with Janice, I was lucky enough to learn about -- Powder, a collection of writing by women in the military from Vietnam to Iraq, published by Kore Press.

It was at once more and less difficult to read than I anticipated. There were so many details I wouldn't have guessed were part of military life -- large ones like the vast roster of positions within the organizations, small ones like the size of cockroaches in the Iraqi desert (both believably and unbelievably larger and grosser-sounding than the ones in New York City). There are tasks I had trouble reading about, and trials I would run from if ever in a similar position.

In the past, when I've tried to read military-centric writings, I've found the stories hard to follow, the scenes hard to make out, the relationships hard to understand. Not so with the writings in Powder. Here, the voices are abundantly clear, the narration artful, but so straightforward I felt myself immediately understanding what it was like for these women -  in so far as it is possible to do so without living it. There are many reasons for this, but the largest, I am sure, is that unlike the great majority of published military writers, these writers are women. I could not put it better than Helen Benedict, the Columbia University Professor of Journalism who introduces the book: "Women tell different war stories than men. They tend to be less in thrall to the masculine posturing that so many military men feel compelled to perpetuate...as a result, there is little swagger in this collection, but a lot of soul searching."

As achingly earnest as it feels to say, I am phenomenally grateful for the writings in this book and the women responsible for them for opening to me what was before a tangled and forbidding land, and making me feel more knowing and more comfortable about living as a neighbor to it.

Beneficial!

Holy cow! What an amazing night we had on Sunday at the benefit screening and clothing swap for GEMS, the organization that helps girls who have been commercially sexually exploited. Look at this gorgeous crowd of terrific women, waiting for the film "Very Young Girls" to begin:

The crowd ranged from old high school friends, to new Facebook friends, to longtime GEMS supporters, to concerned women in the social services/teaching/activism fields -- here's another view of all the terrific gorgeousness:

And here's some of the food (delicious spinach cups, and dates stuffed with chevre and slivered almonds), provided by our very own Georgia Jelatis-Hoke. Everyone should have their very own Georgia Jelatis-Hoke! But you can't have this one, as she is ours: 

No pics of the swap itself, as there was undressing goin' on, but here I am in the setting-up phase, in my fabulous vintage silk hostess pajama set:

I'm delighted to announce that we raised over $750 for the cause, and nine big-ass tubs full of really swank clothes and shoes for the girls at GEMS. But more than that, we raised a lot of consciousness about the realities of commercial sexual exploitation, consciousness that I know the attendees are going to spread far and wide. And if you weren't able to attend on Sunday, but would still like to see this very important film, it's screening on Showtime throughout February -- check this page for dates.

THANK YOU so much to everyone who attended, to the Under St. Marks Theater for hosting us, to tech goddess Lopi LaRue, to our very own Georgia Jelatis-Hoke, and to Elizabeth and Benny at GEMS for the admin support. You are all very precious gems to me!