Monday, September 7, 2009

What am I doing here again?

During a discussion in a fiction workshop at WWU, the topic of making sacrifices for the art came up. The stereotype goes that writers aren't good family people, they have a hard time maintaining friendships, keeping pets and plants alive, etc. But they write. They produce literature. Which was more important. The fact that we were all locked in a room together at eight o'clock at night, tired and hungry and caffeine-depleted, and paying thousands of dollars to be there seemed to say that yes, we were the type of people who were willing to make sacrifices to write. Kenny disagreed. Yes, literature is important, we're all here because we want to write and have to write, but—and this is exactly what he said—“In the end it's just a book.” He would love to spend his life writing, Kenny said, but he would love even more to spend it with his wife and sons and daughter.

Today my brother Gabe and his wife Amanda became parents, and I became an uncle. My mom skyped Ashley and I from the hospital room where my niece Kaylee was born. They are 3100 miles away, in Seattle; I am wondering what the hell I am doing in New Hampshire; and I am thinking about what Kenny said.

Congrats Gabe and Amanda, and happy birthday Kaylee!

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations to your brother, his wife and on being an uncle!

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  2. Yeah, being an academic of any kind seems to require distance from family/place. Thank goodness for Skype and video chat, right?

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