November 21, 2025

Writing 2 you all on this fine November evening from the lovely living room of a lovely friend I'm housesitting for, complete with two dear cats that we've mutually decided to leave each other alone.

Unhappy to report that I'm still underemployed, though not for a lack of trying. After 2 months of considered, consistent applying, I have had one (1) preliminary phone interview, no further rounds, and many more applications that have still gone unanswered. I wish writers up at arms over magazines not sending rejections would turn their ire towards employers. HR teams, maybe.

In the last week-ish, my workplace has been in really hot water for abruptly firing 14 employees without notice or real cause, reverting back on a dime thanks to a pressure cooker of public and political disapproval, and then terminating our HR Director on the following Monday. Not that anyone is sad to see her go -- on the contrary -- but many members of the public, and library worker Unions around the state, are calling for the CEO of the library to be removed. Beyond that I'll hold my tongue, but feel free to email me for my own opinions.

All of these link to Baltimore Banner articles, but we've also been receiving attention in the Baltimore Sun, WJZ, and local arms of CBS and ABC. Not only the public; we have a lot of local legislators watching us very closely right now.

I guess you could call it fun. It's kind of fun. Wasn't there something in the astrological world within the past few months that foretold a large, dramatic return to form coming at the end of the year? Or am I misremembering?

Well, in other news since I last wrote, my partner and I went up to Portland, Maine for my birthday in September, and then we spent a long weekend in New Orleans earlier this month, where we found the empire of Bull Moose and the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival, respectively. Much more to do and see in this fine world. I also set out this summer to start making recycled paper, and I'm pleased to say I've done it! Now I have to figure out what to do with a few hundred A5 sheets of recycled paper!

I've been using them to write poems on -- namely poems I'll be taking to readings. At the end of October, the world's only magazine BRUISER invited me to read at another one of my faves, The House Handcrafted, and I had a damn fine time of it.

I'll be doing another virtual reading the day before Thanksgiving, 11/26, with new-to-the-scene Dodo Eraser, put together by Travis Shosa and if you're reading this far you should come check them out.

I'm sure I have more. I've finished a chapbook MS and have started sending it around, so fingers crossed on it, and it means now I can pivot to the full-length I've had kicking around in my head for a bit. If I'm going to be underemployed, I might as well make something out of it!