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August 2023 Linkspam

Let me start with the big one: my screenplay for “Infinity” was finalist at the Imadjinn film festival, complete with a nifty little trophy for my office. This was the first screenplay I ever wrote, as part of a workshop at the university under Professor Valerie Vogrin, and I was so pleased at its warm reception. 

It’s August, which means travel and fun is winding down in favor of preparing for the fall semester. I’m teaching at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville this fall. The semester starts in two weeks, so if your professor friends seem mopey and distracted (well, more distracted than usual), have sympathy on them. Bring them coffee and sugary treats. Soon, it will be the running of the bulls, and resuming our recitation of “it’s in the syllabus.”

July 27 was Freedom Day, the five-year anniversary of becoming a full-time freelance writer. Of course, those five years were also grad school, but I’ve always loved being my own boss and I’ve deeply enjoyed writing the projects I choose. Each year I’ve written a reflection on Freedom Day, and this year I didn’t, because so much of my career is in flux right now. But we still marked the occasion with ice cream, as my family chooses to celebrate. No regrets.
 

Publicity/Appearances

July was busy! First, I spoke to TechWrite STL on the thrilling subject of grammar. Look, you can make almost any subject interesting with enough snark and memes. By the audience response, they found it a fun exercise and we managed to cover the major pitfalls of the English language without resorting to diagramming sentences.

Next was Imaginarium, where I was honored to share a dinner table with Terry Brooks and had a terrific time catching up with my fellow authors. The Literary Underworld was there in force, and so was the Traveling Bar (always the highlight of the event for us). 

I also joined my fellow members of Cuppa Words at the Alton Night Market on July 20, which saw the collapsing end of my poor traveling table. It was also the Mississippi Valley’s version of OMG are you kidding why do I live here hot. As I have frequently complained as the summers get hotter: If I wanted Tennessee weather, I would have stayed in Tennessee. 

Next up is Dragoncon! It’s been a long time since I joined 75,000 of my closest friends in the Hotlanta marathon. I’m delighted to return and am looking forward to my panels and catching up with the Atlanta crew. My full schedule will be posted on ElizabethDonald.com as soon as I have everything confirmed. If you’re going to be at Dragoncon, please come by my reading! I’d love to see you. 

Sadly, I have had to cancel my appearance at Archon this year. I haven’t missed an Archon since 2007, and that only because my father and stepmother were holding their wedding celebration that weekend. But this year, Archon conflicts with the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual conference. I am still president of the St. Louis Pro chapter, and thus am obligated to attend. I’ve offered to participate in any virtual panels at Archon, should any take place. I have also had to cancel the Edwardsville Book Fair, as I will be running the St. Andrew’s charity book sale during that weekend. 

However, please note that the Literary Underworld WILL be present at Archon! The show can go on without me. My husband Jim Gillentine will be running our booth at our usual table, with the assistance of LitUnd Underlords Sela Carsen, Nikki Lanahan, Mary Koppenhofer and others. Please drop by and say hello! Sadly, we will not be able to offer the Traveling Bar, but we promise to come back in a big way next year!

Added to the fall schedule: the Spine Book Fair in September; a book signing in Las Vegas during the SPJ conference; the Melting Pot in Granite City, Ill. on Oct. 7 and Writers of the Riverbend on Oct. 14. And that’s in addition to the previously scheduled stuff! Whew.

2023 calendar:
• Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 
• Edwardsville Book Fair, Sept. 9 (charity sale only)
• Spine Book Fair, St. Louis, Mo. Sept. 23 
• SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter/book signing)
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only)
• The Melting Pot, Granite City, Ill. Oct. 7
• Writers of the Riverbend, Alton, Ill. Oct. 14
• Leclaire Parkfest, Edwardsville, Ill. Oct. 15 (charity sale only)
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Nov. 10-12 (solo and LitUnd)

2024 calendar:
• Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Kansas City, Mo. Feb. 7-10
• Conflation, St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 23-25
• Midsouthcon, Memphis, Tenn. March 22-24 (tent.)
• Sigma Tau Delta conference, St. Louis, Mo. April 3-6 (tent.)
• ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. May 31-June 2 (tent.)


Journalism/Blogs

• AFSCME council reaches tentative agreement with state of Illinois (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Next phase of Rebuild Illinois includes millions for local construction (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland offers places to escape dangerous heat (Yahoo! News, SportsCanada and Highland News-Leader)
• Budzinski urges grants for pro-union contracts (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• After four years in restoration, Highland’s bell tower is back in place (Highland News-Leader, SportsCanada and Yahoo!News)
• Speakeasy Parlor now taking reservations in Maryville (Feast Magazine)
• Conservation plan will save soil, pollinators and tax dollars, city says (Highland News-Leader and Yahoo!News)
• St. Louis Public Radio votes to form union, first in state history (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland sues developer over proposed amenities (Highland News-Leader and Yahoo!News)
• Worker dies in Olin plant explosion (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Imaginarium! (ElizabethDonald blog)
• Night Market at Alton (ElizabethDonald blog)
• Medium changes ahoy (Donald Media blog)
• Two pieces go national (Donald Media blog)

Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls. 

Fiction

• To Protect and Serve (Patreon)
 

Patreon/Medium

• The original guilty pleasure (Medium)
• Review: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Patreon)
• The whispering woods (Patreon)
• Everything wrong with The Flash and comics movies (Patreon)
• Runner-up (Patreon)
• Wearing the pants in my own damn life, or the IDGAF jeans (Medium)

Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.


Photography

• Paris Je T’Aime: Notre Dame (Patreon)

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Medium changes ahoy

Once again Medium is changing things, and I’m trying to parse out what it means for those of us earning a (paltry) living on Medium.

Some time ago, Medium declared that one could only be part of the Medium Partner Program (i.e. writers who get paid by the click as opposed to providing content for exposure!) if you had a minimum of 100 followers. I was definitely under that number and figured it would be impossible to get that total by the deadline. I was absolutely floored when the followers poured in and I went sailing past the limit within hours. I still get a little verklempt when I think of that response, coming as it did at a time when I really needed the affirmation more than the tiny check I get from Medium each month.

Now Medium is changing the program again, and one of the things getting kicked to the curb is the 100-follower minimum. Please don’t unfollow me! Instead, anyone who wants to be part of MPP has to be a paying member of Medium.

To be honest, I thought we already were required to pay the $50 minimum. For some that’s going to be tough, as Medium isn’t exactly cheap. But I don’t necessarily object, since I’m already doing it. Note that existing MPP writers will be grandfathered in, but I wouldn’t expect that to last forever.

They’re also expanding to 12 more countries with another 50 or so by the end of the year. People in those countries could always publish with Medium, but now they can get paid, and you all know how I feel about writers being paid for their work. I’ve never had enough readership on Medium to make serious money, but I appreciate the platform and its simplicity.

However, I’m leery of the next part: they’re once again changing the formula on which we get paid. It’s supposed to be how much time members spend reading our stuff, which I always felt unfairly stiffs poets and others who write very short works, and doesn’t take into account the incredibly short attention span of the average internet reader. (Here’s where that media studies MS comes out to play.) The average time a reader spends on a click is three seconds. Seriously, if you don’t catch them in the first three seconds, you’re out of luck.

Well, Medium’s going to keep tracking reader engagement when calculating our earnings, but now they’re also going to factor in other engagement: claps, highlights, replies, and follows. For now it’s only the first engagement that gets counted, but if you want to help out the writer of the awesome piece you’re reading, give ’em a clap (you know what I mean, cretins) or otherwise engage beyond simply taking your time reading, so they get paid more. “Bouncing from a story before reading it for 30 seconds will prevent earnings from accruing for that member,” the policy reads. Thanks?

Stories that get boosted will get a bonus. I don’t actually know how someone gets boosted, but obviously I need to pay more attention to the various options on Medium. And they’re discouraging clickbait by adjusting earnings based on read ratio, defining the latter as people who read the story for 30 seconds or more. Now go back up to that MS theory bit. Thirty seconds is a very long read for the internet. Medium claims they’ve tested this on the poems and comics and it hasn’t impacted them, which I find staggeringly unlikely.

Other aspects of the algorithm: we’ll get boosts for readers who comment (which means commenting on the story itself, not on the Facebook share!), readers who are existing followers of the writer or publication, and so on.

They’re also getting rid of the referral bonus, pretending this program “degraded the reading experience.” Look, Medium, we get you’re a business. You can just say it was costing you more than it was worth and we’ll respect that more than pretending this is about the “reading experience.” We’re in business together, as professionals, so be straight with us.

Whenever this sort of thing happens, I pretty much figure I’m going to get paid less. It’s also why I have not adjusted any of the settings on my Patreon, as I’d have to give up my grandfathered “founders” program and would undoubtedly lose money. The last Medium adjustment was right after I started writing for Medium, so I didn’t have a long history to gauge it, but I definitely saw a drop in my earnings. But I still find it a useful platform for my essays, which might range from musings on journalism and the writing life to interviews with smarter people to utter silliness like the piece I’ve got slated for next week on fast food. While I always prefer people to subscribe to the Patreon, Medium lets people read me without committing to the $1 a month Patreon fee.

So, in short (too late): Follow the writers you like, spend at least 30 seconds on their stories, and clap or otherwise engage with the piece.

From the ghost of Harlan Ellison: #paythewriter.

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Two pieces go national

I was delighted to hear this week that two pieces I wrote for the St. Louis Labor Tribune were picked up for national distribution through the AFL-CIO.

The first is a piece about new legislation that mandates paid leave for all workers for any reason. Illinois is only the third state in the nation to require employers to let their employees have paid time off to deal with life. While most union contracts include at least the minimum paid leave, the law will cover everyone, represented or not.

The other story is part of several stories I’ve written about St. Louis Public Radio employees organizing. It’s the first time a public radio newsroom has formed a union in the state of Missouri.

It was always fun when my newspaper stories were picked up by the Associated Press, and it feels good to see such wide readership of my work.

If these stories interest you, please sign up for my monthly newsletter. I share links to all my work in the newsletter, including the labor work. Don’t worry, I’m far too busy to spam you.

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July 2023 Linkspam

The Summer of Job Hunting has definitely been a challenge to my patience and stress management, on a number of levels. But that isn’t to say I’ve been sitting around my living room breathing into a paper bag, either! 

June kicked off with the long-awaited Paris trip, which was an amazing experience happily shared with my mom, stepdad, and sister. Patreon readers got a daily travelogue of my adventures in Paris, and a full travel essay on Notre Dame is pending. Check out the links below for more details! (What, you’re not a Patreon subscriber? My dudes, it starts at $1 a month and I really feel it’s some of my best work. Make with the clicky and join today!)

In the meantime, I received the incredible news that I’m one of five finalists for the Knost Award. The Michael Knost Wings Award is granted to a writer who is either a new, up-and-coming voice or someone who’s been around for a while and hasn’t gotten the recognition they deserve. I can only assume I’m in the latter category, because 20 years is a long time to be up-and-coming. (What’s the old saying? It takes 20 years to become an overnight sensation?) I was uncharacteristically speechless at the nomination, and very grateful to the committee for considering me – and I’m in fine company, as well. 

To add to the fun, my first screenplay made the finalist list for the Imaginarium Film Festival’s screenplay competition. This screenplay, titled “Infinity,” is based on a novella I wrote several years ago and was developed in workshop during my final semester of grad school under the guidance of Prof. Valerie Vogrin. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the ceremonies next weekend in Louisville!

At the moment, I’m working on the next couple of books for Falstaff, doing as much freelancing work as I can scrounge, and continuing the Great Job Hunt as the fall semester looms. Wish me luck! 

P.S. I am still on Twitter as both author and journalist, as well as Facebook and Instagram with very rare postings on YouTube. I’ve now added TikTok with guidance from my son, who is much hipper than I am, because apparently it’s required. I think that’s enough social media for the moment… 
 

Publicity/Appearances

June kicked off with ConCarolinas, which was a delight as usual. It was great to see old friends like Rachel Brune and Nancy Knight and my awesome publisher, John Hartness. I always enjoy the show, though I keep meaning to schedule an extra day sometime so I can actually see something of Charlotte, N.C. besides the airport and the hotel. 

Paris came only 24 hours after returning to St. Louis, and it wasn’t technically a work trip except I wrote travelogues the entire time, so it counts! Highlights of the trip included Shakespeare & Co., the Opera Garnier (also known as the hangout for the Phantom of the Opera), the Musee d’Orsay, Eiffel Tower and much more. Again, check out Patreon for the details!

Coming up this month is a presentation for TechWrite STL, followed by Imaginarium in Louisville on July 14-16! Terry Brooks is the guest of honor and the film festival is rocking, so if you’re in the vicinity, come see us! We will be bringing the whole Literary Underworld and the Traveling Bar, so you know it’ll be a blast.

2023 calendar:
• TechWrite STL, St. Louis. July, 11. (presenter)
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 14-16 (guest author)
• Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 (guest author)
• SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter)
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only)
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Date TBA. (guest author)


Journalism/Blogs/Essays

• Olin worker dies in plant explosion (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• SWIC expands manufacturing training program (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Multi-family housing approved for Highland (Highland News-Leader and YahooNews)
• Highland officials trim budgets from local groups (Highland News-Leader and YahooNews)
• Staffers at St. Louis Public Radio to vote on unionization (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Illinois unions made significant gains in recent legislative session (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Aging Highland swimming pool closes nine days after opening (Highland News-Leader and YahooSports Canada)
• Bill to address Illinois food deserts could grow union jobs (St. Louis Labor Tribune)

Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls. 

Fiction

I’m happy to report that the much-delayed annual bonus is finally on its way to my Patreon subscribers! Watch your emails for your survey, Patrons. 
 

Patreon/Medium

• Wearing the pants in my own damn life, or the IDGAF Jeans (Medium and Patreon)
• Con Report: ConCarolinas 2023 (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 1.0 (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 1.5, sipping champagne at Notre Dame (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 2, or adventures in ordering (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 3, the farmer’s market (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 4, of bravery and beauty and books (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 5, “I specifically said Box 5 was to be kept open” (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 6, or dreaming beauty in pictures (Patreon)
• Paris Je T’aime: Day 7, always moving forward (Patreon)
• The MFA Reading List (Medium)

Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.


Photography

Just about all of the important photography this month happened in Paris, with the best shots on the Patreon. Some of them will appear on the photography site soon and will be available for purchase! Stay tuned.

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Foodie: Northside Dairy Haven

In a region where frozen custard is king, there are still a few places to get good old-fashioned ice cream in bizarre combinations, and Northside Dairy Haven has a long tradition of serving it up.

At the north end of Edwardsville’s Main Street – thus the name – you can find the roadside food stand that goes back to 1961 with a snarky comment on the message board and a lot of cars lined up for the small drive-through. While the diner-type charco-burgers and pulled pork get a lot of attention, the ice cream is what makes it special.

Northside Dairy Haven makes its ice cream fresh every day, including the orange sherbet that made them famous. Concretes, shakes, sundaes and twisted cones are just part of the offerings, and they have a wide variety of combinations for the weirdest tastes. 

While I’m always partial to the turtle sundae with extra hot fudge and pecans, for the purposes of Metro-East Eats I opted for their newest experiment: the Cherry Bomb, a twisted ice cream cone dipped in chocolate shell and then in cherry shell. 

As posted on Facebook, Northside suddenly declared that cherry dip is superior to chocolate dip and threatened to ban anyone who said otherwise. A customer then challenged them to do both, and the Cherry Bomb was born. Naturally I had to try one, and as a confirmed chocolate fan I opted for chocolate ice cream inside the double shell.

A word to the wise: order small. My husband’s large cone is close to the size of his head. I ordered the small and it still took me a while to scarf it down. The chocolate-cherry dip mix worked well, but the chocolate kind of overpowers the cherry, more than you might expect. For a cherry aficionado, you might order it alone, or perhaps get the more bland vanilla ice cream instead of my preferred chocolate.

Be aware that Northside is an outdoor venue and bench seating is limited, so you might end up eating your ice cream in your car. They also charge a 50-cent fee for using a credit card, so try to remember to bring cash and tip your workers. 

The prices make them very college-student friendly: my small cone was a grand $1.95 plus 60 cents for the dip. The large is $2.95 and the concretes are $4.45, so you won’t need to break the bank here. 

Food is made to order, so don’t mistake it for fast food; it was a good 25 minutes from order to eating when we were there on a Friday. It was absolutely worth it.

Note: This review was originally published by the SIUE Alestle.

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A few quick photos from Paris…

Coming soon to the website! In the meantime, here’s a selection of shots from my recent adventures in Paris. The group included my mother, Patrice Stribling Nelson; stepfather Curtis Nelson; and sister Melanie Caputo. We stayed in an 1830s apartment building within sight of the Eiffel Tower, ate at street cafes and visited Notre Dame Cathedral and the Musee d’Orsay, among many other places.

I enjoyed the French atmosphere and lifestyle, with fresh baguettes and ripe strawberries at street stands within walking distance, experiencing the metro tunnel system and riding a cruise boat along the Seine, and exploring the cultural history of Paris from the opulent Opera de Paris to Shakespeare & Co., bookstore hangout of Ernest Hemingway and the Lost Generation (and later, Allan Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs of the Beat Generation). My favorite spot was Notre Dame, which unfortunately is still sequestered for renovation from the great fire of 2019. They are on track for reopening the great cathedral in time for the 2024 Olympics. 

The view from my garret window.

Chess players outside the famous Shakespeare & Co. bookstore.

The famous chandelier of the Opera de Paris, featured in novel, movie and stage play The Phantom of the Opera. Looks pretty secure…

Notre Dame Cathedral, behind construction walls.

One of the many gargoyles, some of which were damaged in the fire.

The rose window of Notre Dame. 

Street artists and musicians along the Seine
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June 2023 Linkspam

We were prepared for some time that there would be what the bigwigs call a “gap in employment” once I graduated. May was the first month of my hiatus. Yet somehow I ended up almost as busy as I was in grad school!

Of course, the month kicked off with the graduation and celebrations, all of which was detailed in last month’s newsletter. We had more than 50 people at the big graduation barbecue, and I didn’t think I knew that many people, much less could fit them in my house! 

Then came figuring out this whole don’t-have-a-job thing. Which isn’t really true: I have my freelancing work, and as I’ve always found, you get out of freelancing what you put into it. To be honest, I didn’t put in as much as I anticipated, because I’ve been kind of in recovery mode. I’ve been sorting out my house, doing my physical therapy, cleaning out my inboxes, covering my meetings and so on. I’ve been reading books – for fun! I remember what that was like – and crunching on some long-delayed deadlines for fiction work. I caught up on the nonprofit/volunteer work – sorta – so that Eville Writers, St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists, Relay for Life, AWP adjunct caucus (proposed), and the St. Andrew’s Book Sale all got some attention.

We also had a long-awaited visit from the Awesome Stepkids, and so I was wrangling the most energetic twentysomethings in the Central Time Zone last week. 

Publicity/Appearances

No public appearances in May – like I said, recovery mode – but June is kicking off with ConCarolinas! As I write this, my plane is delayed, but I’ll be in Charlotte sooner or later to run my mouth about various topics and hobnob with my fellow wizards. 

Unfortunately this means I’ll miss Relay for Life this Saturday, which was rescheduled from April due to an unplanned tornado. The Awesome Husband will be running the show in my absence, and my team has already raised more than $3,000 for the American Cancer Society (some of which is not showing, but it exists). If you’d like to kick in a last-minute donation, you can find us here.

Then it’s off to Paris! This is a family trip, a very kind gift from my mom and stepdad, who will be meeting me in the City of Lights next week. I’ll be tweeting as possible @edonald and @edonaldmedia, and full travelogues and photo essays will be on the Patreon. Subscribe now for the whole thing and all my backlist, starting at $1 a month! 

In other news, the TechWrite STL grammar chat has been set for July 11, and there’s a possible trip back to the old homestead in Tennessee in September. Stay tuned…

2023 calendar:
• ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. June 2-4 (guest author)
• TechWrite STL, St. Louis. July, 11. (presenter)
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 14-16 (guest author)
• Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 (guest author)
• SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter)
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only)
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Date TBA. (guest author)


Journalism/Blogs/Essays

• Cafe Birdie’s menu evokes the casual, coastal feel of a beach cafe (Feast Magazine)
• Child pedestrian injuries surge in summer, Highland police warn (Highland News Leader and Yahoo Sports Canada)
• Paramedics get a raise, new contract in Highland (Highland News Leader)
• Renovation of Highland City Hall delayed by higher-than-expected bids (Highland News Leader and Yahoo Sports Canada)
• Ceremony honors fallen workers in Madison County Federation (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland’s oldest structure, a bell tower, donated back to city (Highland News Leader)
• Illinois launches pre-apprenticeship program for climate-related fields (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland student disciplined for airsoft gun on campus (Highland News-Leader)

Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls. 

Fiction

• Infinity, Pt. 1 (Patreon)
• Infinity, Pt. 2 (Patreon)

Patreon/Medium

Coming soon: this is the Summer of Bond, as I received a boxed set of all the Bond movies for Mother’s Day and I’ll be unpacking the action, awesomeness, misogny and racism with bonus snark all summer long. Watch for that on Patreon! 

• Be water: Neil Gaiman on comics, craft and a cup of tea (Medium and Patreon)
• Traveling Woman (Patreon)
• Review: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline (Patreon)

Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.


Photography

Not much to report, but I expect that will be significantly different when I get back from the June travels! There is a pair of cardinals nesting right outside our dining room window, and it is the great frustration of my life as a photographer that I simply cannot get a good angle to see into the nest without going outside and therefore disturbing them. Other than that – and a whole bunch of silly candids from the Awesome Stepkids Weekend – it’s been mostly taking pictures of food for my culinary writing exploits and some spot news photography. 

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May Linkspam: Graduation Edition!

Cue the pomp and circumstance, don the World’s Silliest Hat. I am graduated.

This, by the way, is why the newsletter is a week late. As you know, it was right up the wire catching up all my schoolin’ after my illness in order to graduate in time. When I got out of hospital, I had ten significant pieces of academic writing that needed to be completed in five weeks. I defended my thesis on Monday, turned in the final seminar paper on Wednesday, taught my last class on Thursday and graduated on Friday. On Saturday, there was barbecue and laughter and more than fifty friends and family gathered to celebrate with us. 

In short (too late), it’s been a hell of a ride.

Below is the usual list of appearances and publications, but graduating was pretty much the highlight. Those of you who’ve been following me for a while know that’s it’s been five years, fourteen semesters, an M.S. in media studies, an M.F.A. in creative writing, a plethora of students, a myriad of classes, more than 130 books, a gazillion papers and an infinite number of Starbucks Tripleshots. It’s been quite the journey over the last five years, learning to be a teacher while re-learning to be a student again, and launching a full-time freelancing and creative writing business from my “side gig” all these years. 

But the best thing I’ve learned on this ride is that we’re always students. Graduation is an accomplishment, to be sure, and hopefully a gateway to better things. But there are always new things to learn, new perspectives to consider, new books to fall into, new ideas to try on for size. We never graduate from that lifelong journey, and we are the better for it. I know that I am. 
 

Publicity/Appearances

I canceled most of April’s appearances, but I did keep a couple of them! I spoke at the annual SIUE Mass Comm Week on April 20 for my usual ethics discussion, which this year featured A.I. and its implications for journalism. My thoughts on this subject continue to evolve, and I imagine I will be writing more about it in the months to come. Mass Comm Week also featured the First Amendment Free* Food Festival cosponsored by the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists, as well as many other panels, roundtables and events. 

I also took part in a group reading for this year’s edition of the River Bluff Review, which accepted two poems, a short story and a photo from me this year. It was a great reading and a lot of fun to hear the diverse voices in this year’s edition. The video is available on Patreon.

I was also honored to speak at the Second Life Fantasy Faire, a two-week event in metaverse that raised money for the American Cancer Society. I gave a short craft talk and read a short story, which was very generously received. I was asked if I would consider returning to do a writing workshop, and I informed them that VRaze The Bar will be scheduling me for an in-world workshop in the near future, rescheduled from the one that was canceled when I was in hospital. I’m really enjoying the events in Second Life and look forward to doing more in metaverse in the future. 

No formal readings or appearances are planned for May – still trying to take it easy – but June will kick off with three weeks on the road, so that makes up for it! Stay tuned. In the meantime, if you wanted to see the graduation for some strange reason, the livestream was saved here.

In addition, the Banned Books Roundtable in the last week of March was uploaded to YouTube as well. If you can overlook my pneumonia voice, I thought it went off very well. It was also posted to Patreon.

2023 calendar:
• ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. June 2-4 (guest author)
• TechWrite STL, St. Louis. July, TBA. (presenter)
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 14-16 (guest author)
• Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 (guest author)
• SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter)
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only)
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Date TBA. (guest author)


Journalism/Blogs/Essays

• Documenting family’s immigration leads to discovery, award for author (Highland News-Leader)
• Historic hotel is ‘hopeless,’ will be torn down (Highland News-Leader and Yahoo!Sports for some reason)
• Paid leave is now the law in Illinois (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Repeated complaints lead to charges against Highland man (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland schools struggle with staffing problems (Highland News-Leader)
• Ten tips for attending AWP (Medium)
• Once more unto Second Life, dear friends (Elizabeth Donald)
• RBR reading (Elizabeth Donald) and SL reading (Elizabeth Donald and Patreon)

Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls. 

Fiction

• The Good Samaritan (Patreon)
 

Patreon/Medium

• Review: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline (Patreon)
• MFA Reading List (Patreon)
• River Bluff Review reading video (Patreon)

Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.


Photography

Nothing new in the art department, so you get silliness from the graduation!





 

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Foodie: La Casa Mexicana is great food when it isn’t Sunday

Note: This review was originally published in the SIUE Alestle.

La Casa Mexicana has a wide menu of the kind of restaurant Mexican food we’ve all come to love, but you might pick a less busy time to go.

La Casa bills itself as a fusion of Indigenous Meso-American cooking with European elements such as Spanish staples. As a longtime consumer of “Americanized” Mexican food – heavy on the sour cream and cheese that real Mexican food often doesn’t include – I’ve always enjoyed the fare there.

We visited La Casa Mexicana on a Sunday at lunchtime, and the servers were speeding about at a high pace. No one could argue they weren’t working hard, but it was pretty difficult to flag them down for soda and chip refills.

And we needed those refills, as both the mild queso and guacamole we ordered as appetizers were delicious and flavorful. I usually require a chunky, chewable guac and my husband prefers very spicy queso and salsa, but these were terrific enough that we were happy outside our usual preferences.

The menu has an enormous variety, with 11 types of burritos, six enchiladas, 10 platters of street tacos and a variety of quesadillas, fajitas and other entrees, including 15 fish dishes. 

We both ordered beef chimichangas, which come with a platter of rice, beans and a square of sweet cornbread. Again we ran into the crowd issue – the server misheard my husband and brought us both the lunch plates when my husband ordered the full size. We didn’t mention it, though, because the place was so busy and the servers so rushed that it seemed futile. The chimichanga was delicious, though the lunch size will be a bit small for husband-sized appetites, and if you want guacamole on your chimichanga you’ll need to order it special.

Lunch plates run about $8-10, drinks not included. Entrees start at $12 and some items run as high as $20, so it’s not quite as cheap as a college student budget might prefer. 

La Casa Mexicana has locations in Edwardsville and O’Fallon (Ill.), and I’d definitely recommend it as solid mid-range Mexican fare – but not on a Sunday. 

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April 2023 linkspam

What a weird month March was! I kicked off with my much-anticipated trip to Seattle for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs convention, which I wrote about in exhaustive detail for Patreon (see links below). I also posted a great deal on social media and photography is pending, so if you’re interested, you should subscribe to the Patreon and get access to all my previous posts! (See how I subtly worked that in?) I fell completely in love with Seattle and enjoyed the hell out of my time at AWP, returning fully reenergized to make all the words!

Unfortunately, three days after returning from Seattle, I started getting sick. I thought I’d caught the usual confluenza, but by the end of the week I was in hospital with pneumonia in both lungs. I had top-notch medical care, solid insurance coverage and my husband with me the entire time, so I count my blessings while acknowledging the privilege I have to be treated and recover without fear. I’ve been out of hospital a week at the time of this writing, and I’m not yet fully recovered – they say it may be a month or two before my lungs are back at their previous capacity, and I’m also looking at physical therapy for a while. 

I want to thank all the people who sent their well-wishes to me in the hospital and after my release, who sent supportive messages to my husband as he fretted, and offered to help out as best they could with any of our needs. It makes an enormous difference in the isolation and claustrophobia of a hospital room to hear that people are thinking of you and praying for your recovery.

Of course, it had to hit six weeks before graduation, and now I am significantly behind in all the projects I am spinning as I prepare to finish grad school. That also means very little freelance work was done this month. I am canceling most public appearances and reducing much of my “extra” work in an effort to recover physically and catch up on my work. I know you will understand, and rest assured this summer you won’t be able to shut me up. 

Publicity/Appearances

As mentioned above, my illness required canceling most appearances this month, including the Second Life writing workshop scheduled for April 1. I’m in communication with VRazetheBar to reschedule the workshop for a later date, after my voice and lungs return to full capacity. I’m looking forward to resuming events in metaverse and real life soon!

The event I couldn’t cancel was the Banned Books roundtable on March 28. As president of both the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists and SIUE Sigma Tau Delta Honor Society, I was the moderator, and no one was more nervous than my poor understudy when I was in the hospital. Fortunately I got out in time to rest up for the roundtable, my voice held out and I didn’t have a horrible coughing fit in front of a live studio audience. The event was very productive, with a robust conversation ranging over a lot of topics relating to book banning and the current backlash on education. There was news coverage in advance of the event and of the event itself, which I really appreciated. I’m not sure everyone understands exactly how much worse this issue is compared to previous years, but as one of the panelists put it, this is one issue on which journalists cannot afford to stand by the sidelines. The First Amendment protects us all, and it needs us to defend it. 

I’m also keeping my guest lecture on the practical application of journalism ethics for SIUE’s Mass Comm Week, which will also include the First Amendment Free* Food Festival co-sponsored by St. Louis SPJ and the SIUE Alestle every year. That’s when we offer students the opportunity to sign away their First Amendment rights for free pizza, and it always turns out to be a terrific object lesson in the importance of the First Amendment. Other than that, I’m trying to rest until ConCarolinas and Paris in June! 

I’m also glad to announce that I was accepted at Dragoncon once again, and will be returning to the Labor Day marathon after a long absence.

2023 calendar:
• SIUE Mass Comm Week: Ethics, Edwardsville, Ill. April 18 (presenter)
• ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. June 2-4 (guest author)
• TechWrite STL, St. Louis. Date TBA. (presenter)
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 14-16 (guest author)
• Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. (guest author)
• SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter)
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only)
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Date TBA. (guest author)


Journalism/Blogs/Essays

• Budzinski introduces LEAP Act to expand apprenticeship programs (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland’s budget for 2023-24 looks promising, city manager reports (Highland News-Leader and Yahoo Sports Canada)
• Post Commons becomes cornerstone coffee shop in Alton, Ill. (Feast Magazine)
• Budzinski signs on as co-sponsor to PRO Act (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Illinois contractor forced to pay back wages and fines under Prevailing Wage Act (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland man charged in death of 3-month-old infant son (Highland News-Leader)
• Job training, support for Illinois workforce top governor’s agenda (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Funding for annual Highland art festival in limbo as council weighs options (Highland News-Leader)
• Steelworkers union could block sale of Granite City Mill (St. Louis Labor Tribune and Illinois Business Journal)
• Hotel-restaurant complex coming to Highland (Highland News-Leader)
• Granite City hospital sale to California corporation is final (Belleville News-Democrat)
• What Illinois’ paid leave law means for union workers (St. Louis Labor Tribune)

Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls. 

Fiction

Currently bustling away on a screenplay for my adaptation class, the MFA thesis and some badly overdue fiction work I owe to editors who are being astoundingly patient. Nothing to see here yet, move along… 
 

Patreon/Medium

• Ten tips for AWP (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: That’s a wrap (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: Attack of the inkstained wretches (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: Hey, there’s a convention here (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: Klondike Gold Rush (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: The Emerald City, Pt. 1 (Patreon)
• Quote unquote: Ray Bradbury (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: So many evergreens (Patreon)

Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.


Photography

• Seattle photodump! (Patreon)
• AWP 2023: The Emerald City, Pt. 2 (Patreon)