NEW SITE

Hello.

My new website is RomanSturgis.com

It features my fiction, travel writing, podcasts, and blog.

Come on over!

Best,
Roman

Excitement!

I ordered a Rode Podcast USB mic this weekend from Amazon after price comparing at Guitar Center. I'm very excited to start recording my stories and also doing interviews, particularly my grandmother, who started writing her memoirs, but stalled out. (We know how that goes.)

A friend from the West coast will help me produce the podcasts. A friend on the east coast will help me design a new site, http://romansturgis.com (losing the www is the future of web, I am told.)

Reading Sound and the Fury and A Feather on the Breath of God (Nunez), and some wonderful stories from my fellow writers. Lately I have been having dreams, in text, that take off from where I finished reading for the night. Very confusing.

Wedding bells? Getting closer.

Check-in

I turned in my first two stories this week. That was exciting. It feels great to be writing fiction on a daily basis again. I’m glad I spent a lot of this past summer writing essay-type things, but being back in a focused artistic environment is so much more fun.

This week and next week I’m reading The Enormous Room, by E.E. Cummings, and Grapes of Wrath, by J. Steinbeck. My part-time teaching at Boston Arts Academy is going well. I recently received tickets for the David Sedaris reading this November, and my students seem to be excited to go.

Laura and I continue to talk out where we want to be next fall, and the latest plan is to teach ESL overseas. Likely South America or Southeast Asia. We’re looking at two possible seasons to get married next year, spring or fall. Spring seems like the better choice, as many school years start in August.

Boston is still warm. I don't get it.

First Day of School

The BU computer lab I've been working in is packed and the print queue is half an hour. Thrilling.

Today I'll have my first class with Allegra Goodman. Last night we had a mixer at the house of one of the faculty. I'm not sure when I'll see the whole department together again. Many past graduates attended. It was really swell to meet them and see that many are active and plugging away.

Being back in Boston is very exciting, but I miss Laura quite a lot. I've been keeping myself as busy as possible to keep my mind from turning towards sadness. We're discussing the possibility of going down to South America (Argentina or Chile) next fall to teach.

New Presidents

If it wasn't for the ridiculous amount of money being spent on the upcoming presidential elections, I would be tired already of the whole thing. Aside: does it strike anyone else that bigger budgets for campaigns translates to bigger government? Why not set limits to candidates budget in order to see who uses their money most wisely?

Anyway. With all this time to talk out platforms and drum up support, I find most candidates talking about solutions for far more problems than they can realistically address in four or even eight years. So why not get real with the people and admit the truth: I've got 100 days to accomplish two, maybe three if I'm lucky agendas, and after that it's all self-preservation--keeping my head above water so that I have a hope of being re-elected and accomplishing two or three more agenda items.

I want to see a presidential candidate not only clearly establish where he or she stands on the following issues, but also prioritize them in a way that gives us a real sense of what the president would work towards:

Iraq
Immigration
Abortion
Education
Health Care
Campaign Finance Reform
Taxes
Federalism
Big Govt vs Small Govt
Energy
Climate Change
Global War on Terror


And I'm sure there are others. Wouldn't it be nice if we could establish a list of items, by popular consent, and get a priority ranking from all the candidates? I think this would be much more useful for understanding who stands for what than the circus and hype we've seen so far.

For a Good Time, Call: "Unkown Sender"

Sometimes, late a night, after I've been drinking, I go thru my SPAM folder.

I have developed a relationship with "unknown sender". Opening emails from "unknown sender" is exciting for me, like opening a message from an old friend who has only recently gotten back in touch. Where the hell have you been? What the hell have you been up to? Oh my God, it's been so long. Or, like a special new somebody looking for friendship and fun on MySpace, "Unknown Sender" serenades me with poorly constructed sentences filled with words "Unknown Sender" knows I like, because "Unknown Sender" has been reading what I've written:

"Regardless of how quiet he scary keeps helpful it, sail Bush art is promoting a national religion..."

"Unknown Sender" understands me, despite not being able to communicate very well in my language.

I've never hooked up in a gas station restroom, but I imagine it must feel like reading mail from "Unknown Sender". The reckless abandon. The excitement of not knowing exactly what's underneath the clothes in the dark: like taking a chance on the "One of Four Special Sexy Surprises" in the quarter-fed condom machine. I don't know where "Unknown Sender" has been and "Unknown Sender" could have been ANYWHERE. It's not safe. It's dangerous. It's against the rules. But it feels so good.

Potter Head Party

Last night Laura and I went to Barnes and Noble in Myrtle Beach and got in line to buy book seven at midnight. I was number 386 and after an hour and fifteen minutes, had my very own copy of Deathly Hallows in my hands, only to have it stolen immediately by a raging Potter maniac in glow-in-the-dark Harry glasses--ahem, Laura.

We spent the afternoon lounging poolside in my community reading. We counted five other Harry readers, all on book seven. My brother and I are not as far along--I just finished book five tonight, and he will finish book six soon. I confess that the last week or so, essentially since returning from the UCLA IHS seminar, I've been a nut for these crazy books. I am now a full-blown convert, and a total flip-flopped from my former opinion that Harry Potter books were trashy fiction. I hope to one day write something equally as engrossing.

Oh, and one more thing... Some idiot at the pool walked up to us while we were reading to strike up a conversation about the books. She's a Harry reader as well. She asked me what book I was reading, commented on how good she thought book five was, and then proceeded to talk with Laura about things that happen in book seven! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I felt as angsty/pissed as hormonal Harry. Had I a wand I would have turned her into a toad. But instead I began to re-imagine Umbridge in her likeness.