Day Six in Boston - Magic Nipple Nerve

Last day of working with Venise Berry in workshops went very well and I actually managed to pump out a few good lines for that Dystopian piece I've been playing at starting.  After we did some exercises and said our sad goodbyes to our fearless workshop leader, the day progressed to lunch and then a fantastic Starbuck's date with fellow writer/grad student, Marilyn.  We discussed everything from dirty angel sex to YA novels to Harry Potter to Magic Realism.  There were other topics as well and by the time we left I'm sure the young woman sitting near us was probably frightened.  When we returned to campus we buzzed right on over to enjoy Randal Kenan's class on Magical Realism.  I learned a great deal and mainly I learned that this genre completely eludes me as a writer.  As a reader, however, I find it quite fascinating and eye-opening.

The student reading tonight went very well!  It was really neat hearing bits and pieces of poetry and prose from everyone.  I stayed within my two minute limit, got some good laughs, and several high-fives.  It was nerve-wracking leading up to it, but very rewarding in the end.  Afterward, I went to McDonald's with Marilyn (we just seriously needed off campus for a little while as we were feeling cabin fever pretty strongly) and we continued our discussions on life and other things.  We discussed the vital importance of research when writing about other cultures and places and talked about how old we had perceived the other to be via our writing and how very wrong we were in the end; she thought I was nearing or in my forties based on my style and I had thought her to be much younger than me based on her content which has such a youthful, fun feel to it.

This time when we returned to campus we went to the President's Dining Room for the advertised movie night.  Well, as it turned out pretty much everyone in the program went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner leaving only Marilyn, myself and Von, one of our fantastic poets, in attendance. Since the DVD for the planned movie "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" was cracked beyond repair, we scanned Netflix and finally found a different Magical Realism film "Like Water for Chocolate" and watched it on the projector screen while gathered close to the computer as we had to make due with the little laptop's speakers for sound.  It was actually pretty damn cool and I felt closer to Marilyn and Von after watching such surreal craziness (my favorite part has to be, without a doubt, the part where she eats matches one by one).

Back at the dorms, there was a barrage of intimate and odd story telling including a personal anecdote involving a certain sexual instrument getting stuck in a certain sexual hole, as well as the dangers of nipple piercing.  Apparently its possible to pull a nipple nerve right on out of your areola.  Yeah, retyping that just now made me cringe.  Onto less upsetting topics: tomorrow is our first day working with Sandra Scofield and from what I've heard she's a tough one.  I say bring it on, but I say it quietly... from a corner... in a different room.  I don't know that I want to have a new one ripped into me just yet, but if the last workshop is any indication, then it can only end well.  Right?