Let me show you Hattiesburg, MS.

... I've been meaning to show off some of the pictures I've taken here in Mississippi, and today I made this little slide show of Hattiesburg:

Hope you enjoy!

Just a quick reminder that my reading / book blog has moved to outsideofacat.wordpress.com -- Drop by and have a look! The paint has dried, that smell of wallpaper paste has gone, and everything is shiny and new. You'll find lots of new posts about Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Rainer Maria Rilke, and a bunch of other cool folks.

The Strangeness of Athens, GA

...this past weekend, E, L and myself made our way to Athens, GA for the "Strangeness in Context" conference. It was a fun trip, and I really enjoyed the presentations.

Athens is a lovely place, with fun affordable eating places (The Grit, for example) and great mint mocha (Jittery Joe's).

Yes, "America's Best Inn" turned out to be pretty much the opposite, and it was an 8 hour drive each way, and it did rain while we were there, but I still really enjoyed the trip and spending time around other strange / creative people like myself. :) I did miss one talk that I wanted to hear, about Virginia Woolf's Orlando, because it was at the same time as my own presentation, but what I did hear was interesting and thought-provoking.

As for other news, keep an eye out for poems of mine in the inaugural issues of Lumn and China Grove. I'll post links once the issues are live. The next issue of The Nassau Review will also include one of my poems.
USM's Center for Writers has generously given me the Ben Mounger Rawls award, and I am both very happy and honoured.
Oh, and I just proofread the poems for the upcoming issue of Memorious -- there will be some great stuff in this issue!