Month: October 2011

Happy Hallowe’en!

On By angeliquejamailIn children, decorating, Hallowe'en, holiday, music, Nightmare Before Christmas, parenthood, procrastination, Tim BurtonLeave a comment

So celebrating Hallowe’en, in my house, takes several days.  And while I could have spent a lot of this weekend finishing up my blog post about traditions and rituals, I elected instead to spend that time participating in the holiday festivities with my family.  More substantive prose will be coming along soon, but to tide you over until then, please enjoy this really entertaining video my friend Emily sent me.  (Thanks, Em!)

Happy Hallowe’en, everyone.  Stay safe and don’t get a tummy ache from too much candy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXMtUCcp7o&feature=channel_video_title

 

Mama Spider’s Sacrifice

On By angeliquejamailIn anxiety, children, gardening, parenthood, sleepovers, spiders, tribute2 Comments

This essay has been removed because an updated version of it appears in THE MILK OF FEMALE KINDNESS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF HONEST MOTHERHOOD, along with the writings and artwork of others on the theme of motherhood. 

 

Milk of Female Kindness front cover

 

 

Click here to purchase the anthology from Amazon, or contact me directly at forest.of.diamonds@gmail.com for a signed copy.

A Little Contest

On By angeliquejamailIn challenge, contest, Houston Poetry Fest, poetry, tributeLeave a comment

First, I want to thank everyone who is reading this blog.  I really appreciate it!  In my stats, it looks like a LOT of people are reading every week, which is both surprising to me and flattering.  I promise next weekend I’ll get back to posting prose about things which are more interesting, but this week I want to send out a little thank-you to everyone who’s reading by way of a little contest.  (Maybe that’s not how blogs are theoretically supposed to work, but I’m going to do it anyway.  I’m new at this.)

I have copies of all three Houston Poetry Fest anthologies in which I’ve been published (including this year’s), and I’m offering a signed copy of each to three lucky readers who subscribe to this blog in the next week.  That’s right, between today (October 16th) and next Sunday (October 23rd), subscribe to this blog — and get as many people as you know who might be interested to do the same.  At the end of this week-long period, I’ll put all my subscribers’ names into a hat and draw three, and those three will win one of the aforementioned signed copies.  Yay!  You can get an extra shot at winning one of them if you convince others to subscribe as well.  (Sure, why not?)  You’ll have to let me know you’ve done that, of course.

You might be wondering how to subscribe?  There’s a widget on the menu bar just to the right.  Your right.  Yup, right there.  —>

It should be pretty self-explanatory.  You can enter your email address and then get an email whenever I post something.  (Usually once a week, on the weekends when I’m slightly less frantic, just like all of you, probably.)

Thanks again to all of you for your kind support!  Sometimes watching my blog stats sort of makes my day.

Best of luck.  My next post will be about spiders.

Houston Poetry Fest 2011

On By angeliquejamailIn Houston Poetry Fest, poetryLeave a comment

I am so pleased to have been selected as a Juried Poet again this year for Houston Poetry Fest!  This long-established Houston tradition celebrates poetry and local poets in grand style with a weekend of events and a new anthology of the Juried Poets’ work, which will include my poem “Recipe for My Daughter.”

I will be reading at the Sunday afternoon event, which begins at 2:00 and will be held at UH-Downtown, at the Willow Street Pump Station, address 811 N. San Jacinto St.  Plenty of others will be reading as well, and you can pick up your own copy of the anthology at any Houston Poetry Fest event.

Here are more details about the festivities:

Friday, October 7th, 7:30 p.m. — Open Reading with David Ray Vance, Jerry Hamby, and Juried Poets

Saturday, October 8th, 1:00 p.m. — Traditional Open Reading hosted by Robert Clark

Saturday, October 8th, 7:30 p.m. — Saturday Evening Reading with Jill Haugen, Erica Lehrer, and Juried Poets

Sunday, October 9th, 2:00 p.m. — Sunday Afternoon Reading with Ysabel de la Rosa, Bradley Earle Hoge, and Juried Poets (including me)

All events are free and open to the public, although donations will be accepted.  The festivities are sponsored by Houston Poetry Fest and by The Department of English and The Cultural Enrichment Center of The University of Houston – Downtown.

For more information, see the website:  http://www.houstonpoetryfest.info

Thanks for supporting poetry and the arts in Houston!