New Blog! (-ish)

In an attempt to encourage myself to write more, I have begun collecting and editing some recent writings.  The hope is to eventually establish a writing schedule and make regular posts on that page.

The writing will be less personal and more op-ed style: reflections, analysis, ideas about the Universe we live in.  Right now there's a certain kind of tone set by the posts that are up there, which is somewhat indicative of the nature of the project.

The new blog can be found at laurajdt.blogspot.com

If you like it, follow it!  If you don't like it, thanks for giving it a brief chance!  And maybe revisit it again in a month or so to see its progress (maybe you'll like it later?).

Love to all.

Inside My Skin

I have been feeling increasingly uncomfortable in my own skin these past few months.  This isn't a metaphor, not quite, because I quite literally feel uncomfortable in my own skin.  I've gained nearly 20 pounds, and while that may not seem like a lot, or even be immediately noticeable to others, I can feel it every morning when I'm trying to squeeze into pants, or wondering how to hide this "life-preserver" that's appeared around my midsection.

I know how to reverse this, I know how to take care of myself, I know what I need to be eating and how I need to be moving in order to see a positive change in my shape.  But I am having the hardest time being consistently kind to myself and being a cheerleader for my own team.  In some aspects of life, I am doing a great job at self-love and self-support.  In other aspects....I am letting myself down.

For me, this sort of behavior (whether it's overeating, or procrastinating, or letting my house get totally messy & sorta gross, etc) is self-destructive.  When I am not taking care of myself--my whole self (mind, body, work, art, spirit) it manifests itself in behavior that at first seems simply indulgent ("ok, I will have some ice cream"...."nah, the dishes can wait til tomorrow"....."I don't need to start that research right now") but then quickly snowballs into self-destructive repetition.  I make a good show of being a functioning adult when out "in the real world," but when in self-destruction mode, that good show really is just that: a show.  The Laura Is A Functioning Adult show is actually helpful, though, because it grounds me and reminds me that I will pull out of the self-destructive behavior, that I am capable of accomplishing things, and that not all is lost.

The End of Another Term...

Technically I've still got to write two one page (500+ words) journal entries for my "History and Research Methods of Rhetoric and Composition" course, but other than that (which will only take a couple hours), I am DONE with my 2nd semester of graduate work. 

Strange...to not have "homework" for a whole month...other than memorizing/rehearsing my pieces for my grad school audition.

I am so blessed, because I know that I will be able to have several eyes on my monologues before going to U/RTA's.  I will have several people who know me and my work in very different capacities, and so their biases will be so different, that I really will have a lot to work with in terms of feedback as I shape and polish these.

I WANT TO GET INTO DEPAUL OR NYU.

Honestly, I want to get in somewhere, period.  I'm terrified that no one will want to offer a place to me.

It isn't unlikely, you know.  The possibility of failing to secure a Fall 2012 acceptance is actually just as possible, and more so than me actually getting in somewhere.

Oh wow....if I could get in to NYC, then Dave and I would be living in the city where I formed my Self...with all the amazing people who helped me to do so: Courtney, John, Clark, Katherine, Kevin, Evan, Mike, Omar, Alexis, Peter, Danielle, Amanda, Janis, Dave (Auster), Wendy & Jeff, KYLE & BCF, all the 101ers...the folks who did Five Seconds to Air with Evan and I....the Dows, Carmel/Donny & their kids....TIFFANY AND BRET...Chris, Andrew....oh man....the list goes on.   But Dave and I would be there, in that magical city....

OR

If we were in CHICAGO....THE "I will" city....with Dave's family, and our friends, and the amazing Steppenwolves who have come before (Colin, Jonny, Man, Christine, Leana, Brentan....et. al)....and the amazing potential of that town and its signature theatres--The Goodman, Steppenwolf, etc.--I would absoultely love to be in that space....

Welll.  That's where my mind is.   Now to go over to my mother's.  Be sure--I will tell her this.

I want to possess the technology that allows the abstraction that is my thoughts to be able to transpose itself into text.

Dear Media: Have I Got A Story For You!

Here is a copy of an email I sent to KCRA, our local news station, promoting More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets.  I think this needs to get some NATIONAL attention.  This is huge, huge, HUGE.  Modesto has an amazing cultural community that desperate needs to be recognized.  Please read this, and also read the selected poems available on the Amazon preview.  And SPREAD THE WORD.  Send your own email, alerting the media to this accomplishment, to outlets like The Today Show, The Ellen Show, KCRA, Conan, Letterman, The Times, etc.  This accomplishment is major and needs to be known.
_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

This morning, at midnight, the online "launch" for a new poetry anthology occurred.  That anthology is entitled: "More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets."  Edited by Sam Pierstorff, Gillian Wegener, Stella Beratlis, and Ed Bearden, this anthology has SKYROCKETED to become the #1 Amazon Poetry Best-Seller*, the #2 Amazon Mover & Shaker**, and is in the top 100 Amazon Best-Sellers*** all in under 18 hours since its launch.

Modesto has long been tainted by negative press, in no small part thanks to its rank as one of the top-ten worst U.S. cities to live in due to its unemployment rates, illegal drug production/sales rates, crime rates, gang violence, etc.  What those reports can't account for is the pulsating "underground" cultural community that has existed in Modesto for years and has experienced a rebirth in the past two decades.  There is a real and vibrant arts scene in Modesto, created in part as a response to the negative image Modesto portrays to society at large.  The familiar complaint of "there's nothing to DO here" has been taken to task by a determined and passionate group of artists, writers, thespians, gourmands, and visionaries.

The astonishing and amazing response that the online launch of the Modesto Poets' publication is proof--concrete and unavoidable proof that Modesto can no longer be defined by its poverty rate, its unemployment rate, its disproportionate cost of living, and its continued problems with drugs and violence.  If this achievement goes unnoticed, it will be at the potential cost of encouraging continued cultural growth.  The very social factors that this arts movement is in response to are also the factors that threaten it: dissatisfaction, neglect, and apathy.

Please, get in contact with Sam Pierstorff at pierstorffs@mjc.edu.  You can also find him on Facebook at http://facebook.com/sampierstorff  His insight and vision was one of the driving forces behind this book's publication and success.  This is a truly inspiring and motivating local story that deserves attention on both a local and national level.

Thank you,

Laura Dickinson-Turner

*Amazon Poetry Best-Sellers: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Poetry/zgbs/books/10248/ref=zg_bs_nav_b_2_17

**Amazon Movers & Shakers list: http://www.amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/books/ref=zg_bs_tab

***Amazon Best-Sellers list (#95 as of this mailing): http://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=zg_bsms_tab#5

You guys are so awesome!

UPDATE:  

THE FUNDS HAVE BEEN RAISED.

YOU HUMANS ARE AMAZING.

I AM BEYOND THANKFUL.

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Yell Talkers.

I don't understand yell talking.  I just don't.  How many people are you talking to, exactly?  Just those two folks sitting next to you, right?  Right.  So why the fuck are you essentially yelling everything you say?  WE CAN ALL HEAR YOU AS THOUGH YOU WERE SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO US.  SHUT UP.

“Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.” — Vladimir Nabokov

Oh, Nabokov.

"...a series of footnotes..."

I rather like that.  We are just gathering copy, collecting data, weighing the connections between one discovery and the one made in our research a while back.  Say, oh, last year.  We make the footnotes, we write upon our existence and we write upon each other.  All this language, once written, can be rewritten: scratched out, demolished, and begun anew.

There are some footnotes you write in bold ink, and then highlight.

On This Day In 2006

Here is my blog entry of October 9th, 2006.  It is always so awesome to look back at particular moments in my struggle with depression, which began in about 1993 and peaked in the years 2000-2003, after which I entered the gradual process of shedding/overcoming/releasing my depression.  This process gained momentum when I moved to NYC.  That move and my time in that wonderful city was a four-year chrysalis from which I emerged, strong and certain of my forward momentum.  I no longer identify with depression.  Sure, I have the occasional grey day, or pockets of mood, but those are just individual moments.  Now I identify with "yes" and positive expression.  It's pretty fucking awesome.  There have been loads of wonderful people who impacted my journey out of depression, and I am tremendously grateful for their presence on this planet and in my life.  So here ya go, a little trip backwards in time to 5 years ago today.
________________________________________________________________
OCTOBER 9th, 2006


The definition of "Depress," as it reads in the American Heritage Dictionary:

de·press (d-prs) tr.v. de·pressed, de·press·ing, de·press·es
1. To lower in spirits; deject.
2. i. To cause to drop or sink; lower: The drought depressed the water level in the reservoirs. ii. To press down: Depress the space bar on a typewriter.
3. To lessen the activity or force of; weaken: feared that rising inflation would further depress the economy. 
4. To lower prices in (a financial market).
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When I am depressed, it feels like I am being "pressed down," like an unseen force is pressing down upon me, sapping me of strength and causing me to be unable to rise up--to not be "pressed down." I am far more antisocial and much less talkative and more irritable during these times, because I can only ultimately name the source of the depression as being within, and then I feel MORE helpless because I do not know how to fight myself.

Thankfully, Andrew and I had a nice long talk about this on Sunday---which began as me thinking I might break up with him and ended with us still being together---that helped me snap some things into perspective. A little tough love does me good. Not to mention (and this isn't inspired by any suggestions of Andrew's, this is actually something I worked out on my own) that maybe it's time to get a little psychotherapy and perhaps look into a mild anti-depressant/anxiety reliever.

Welcome to New York?

Asshole referrer spam assholes.

So, with Blogger, you can track your pageviews, which is all well and good.  There's even a handy feature which lets you know which referrer sites are generating pageviews (sites which link to your posts).  For instance, my posts mostly autofeed to my Tumblr, so when someone clicks through from Tumblr, my tumblr page shows up as a referrer.  Well, I keep noticing strange referrers, and the most recent one is pu.gg -- I thought I'd just do a quick Google search: "What is 'pu.gg'?"  Sure enough, it's spam.  Here's some helpful info from the Blogger help forum about these referrer spams:

Posted by Dirtycowgirl: 

"Hi, it's referrer spam.

I've seen this site in mine too.

"Designed to appear in your stats so that you then go and visit their site.

It does your blog no harm, just gives you a pageview - ignore it and wait for googles spam bots to pick it up. They always do.

"FYI if you see a site you don't recognise or trust in your stats best advice is don't click it, although it does at least mean that the search engines have crawled and indexed your blog."