It’s pub day for Best American Short Stories 2018. My contributor copy (!) is coming in the mail sometime next week, but in the meantime, my bb Nick White (OSU MFA 2013, whoop whoop!) took this picture of my story. It is the thrill of a lifetime for me to have a story in BASS. I’m very ridiculously grateful to Heidi Pitlor and Roxane Gay for selecting it, and to Tin House for publishing it in the first place. I guess it’s also worth saying here that I do not have an agent, and I did not believe I had a real chance of getting into Tin House without one. But they took this story out of slush. (And I almost withdrew it twice.) Keep the faith.

I was invited to present at PechaKucha in Baton Rouge last month. I hand-drew my slides, which got cut off a bit here, but you can watch them and listen to my more-nasally-than-usual voice here: Negative Capability Has More Fun.

I’m in the September issue of ELLE as part of their “Style Across America” feature. Topics discussed: the magic of Red, White, and Blue Thrift Stores; the pita bread at Shaya; the mussels at Oxalis; the “Rhymes with Amelia” mezcal cocktail at Twelve Mile; glueing pom-poms on straw purses (a thing I actually did this summer to very satisfactory effect); the upstairs at Euclid Records; how sweaty we all are all the time.

I was invited by the fabulous Corina Kinnear to teach contact improv to about forty kids at Kim Kinnear’s studio, Parker Dance Academy in Parker, CO. After the week was complete a few of us went for a hike in nearby Jones Pass. A great week with a lot of truly incredible women teachers and artists.

While I was in CO, I booked a guest spot on the Motown Thursdays gig at Pearl’s in Denver. Miggy (DJ Caramello) and Mark (DJ Maladjusted) were great hosts and the dance floor was lovely and enthusiastic.

A new series of music-and-dance concerts. The inaugural show, in June 2016, featured Jasper den Hartigh (Heat Dust, Brother/Ghost, Leaving, Subservient Fuck, Bloody Mummers); the July 2016 show featured Matt Carney (Silo Homes). More to come, including a featured spot in the new Gulf Coast Dance Festival, September 30-October 1 in the lovely Ocean Springs, MS. First photo by Benjamin Davis; second photo by Lenore Seal. Both performances at Art Klub.

From The NOLA Project’s May 2016 production of Don Quixote, written by Pete McElligott and directed by Jessica Podewell. Performed in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

From the November 2015 show directed by Meryl Murman. Performed at Dancing Grounds, part of the InFringe Fest.

Some nice pics from the party last Saturday on NOLA Eater. Photo credit Josh Brasted.