22.4.06

A Day Spent with Oregon's Finest Product....


Wood, in the form of books and trees. We started our day off with some choice sugar cinnamon toast that I made with our killer toaster oven (thanks McGraws) plus some fabu moka pot koffee. After that, since there was not a cloud in the sky and the temps hit the upper 60's we trekked to Mt. Tabor. What a great day to be alive and at Mt Tabor, it was evident on every face on every person that was at the park. I could even see a smile on this cute little honey bee that Annie saw sitting on the trunk of this huge pine tree. It's really an impressive park to just have blocks from our apartment. After walking around the park and getting a few pictures of Mt Hood and Mt. St. Helens (didnt know that it was so close) we headed off to the Oregon Convention Center for the Wordstock Festival. I had big hopes there of meeting with Dark Horses Comics (based in Portland) about me being the next greatest letterer in the business. Let me just say my dream is still alive, I'm going to submit a letter (probably the alphabet) to them showing them my work. Annie and myself listened to three authors of individual books dealing with the war and the affairs of the middle east. There names are Laurie Becklund, David Oliver Relin, and Stacy Bannerman and each spoke with such passion about there books. It really got the blood moving and your mind thinking. As they were speaking I was thinking to myself about how crazy these times are, but was energized about being in this city during this time of my life. It is hard to explain, maybe more of an overall energy that seems to be created by the individuals in Portland that create this idea that things can be different, and that they must be different! Anyway, enough about that. We then ventured to the Powells Bookstore stage for an hour with Jessica Abel, a graphic novel author/artist who has a new book out called La Perdida. The moderator from Powells kinda stunk so it made it hard to find the energy that she was bringing to her piece of work. The book does seem like it could be a great read for those of you whom enjoy graphic novels (ie. comic books) not to mention the book took place in Mexico City for those of you whom enjoy Mexico. I guess it was said best by David Oliver Relin when he said how amazing it was that this type of convention could have just as many people packing the walls as a boat/home show could. It was a bookworm/nerd paradise, pretty cool for sure. Well I should be going I'm making pasta and alfredo for dinner. Ciao for now

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your description of your day at Wordstock just makes me feel how great it was to be there. Next weekend is the "Wine, Writers, and Song" festival in Brownville -- somehow I don't think it will measure up, but we might go anyway.

Anonymous said...

That anonymous comment is Mom.

Anne and Mike said...

yeah, we JUST missed joyce carol oates speaking because mike wanted to see the comic book writer, and i was cold. ursula le guin would've been pretty cool to see, too.

i think you should go to brownsville for that festival! nebraska has some really great writers to be proud of.

we went to copper canyon press's booth at wordstock. they publish ted kooser's poetry. it was a little slice of home.

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