Mon, Aug 25 2008 08:41
#60 The Fully Formed Kim Chinquee

Kim Chinquee was three weeks late being born and she was a big baby when she finally arrived. She started reading before anybody else in her class and was the salutatorian of her middle school, but her parents divorced when she was 14 and Kim stopped studying in high school. She preferred sports, boys, and parties. When she graduated, she didn’t go to college. She couldn’t afford it and nobody had told her about financial aid. She was going to join the Navy, but the recruiter wasn’t there, so she joined the Air Force instead. She didn’t want to fly planes, but she didn’t really want to be a medical lab technician either—it was her 10th choice. She married another lab tech and they had a son a little over one year later. Technically, they were married for 7 years, but they were separated for the last 4 years of their marriage because her husband wouldn’t sign the divorce papers. He couldn’t believe that she actually wanted to leave him. The divorce finally became official and Kim left the Air Force too. She joined the Reserves, but the next few years were a difficult time. She was a single mother working multiple jobs, taking classes toward her college degree, and paying for food with food stamps. She took her first creative writing class because it filled a general education requirement and has been a writer ever since--though she never admitted that fact until she won the Henfield Prize and the 5K dollar award that goes with it. Now she is a creative writing professor at Buffalo State College and has published a great book of tiny stories called OH BABY. She may have started her writing life a little late, but she has arrived fully formed.

More Kim Chinquee
Kim Chinquee’s OH BABY
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Mon, Aug 25 2008 07:13
Reading Things I Wrote into a Microphone
Dear Everybody,
I've also been meaning to tell you about this audio page that I set up over at myspace. It's me reading things that I wrote into a microphone. It has some DEAR EVERYBODY from an appearance on WYPR (your public radio) and a couple of pieces from THE WAY THE FAMILY GOT AWAY that were recorded in Milan and then some more DEAR EVERYBODY.
I've also been meaning to tell you about this audio page that I set up over at myspace. It's me reading things that I wrote into a microphone. It has some DEAR EVERYBODY from an appearance on WYPR (your public radio) and a couple of pieces from THE WAY THE FAMILY GOT AWAY that were recorded in Milan and then some more DEAR EVERYBODY.
Comments (1)
Sun, Aug 24 2008 08:48
I Forgot to Tell You
I forgot to tell you that I was going away for a week, Maine, an island off the coast of Maine, Peak's Island, in a friend's summer house. It was a $130 flight, an $18 cab ride, a $7 ferry ride, and then you're on an island and it feels like you're living in another time (pre-internet, at least). The air feels different there than it does here. We rented bikes and rode around the road that went around the island. We made cairns on top of the rocks that are right next to the Atlantic Ocean. We explored an abandoned American battery from WWII and a 9-year-old boy told me that he found a skeleton in there once. We ate ice cream every day. My favorite is pistachio.
The life stories will start going up again tomorrow.
The life stories will start going up again tomorrow.
Fri, Aug 15 2008 08:22
I'm the Man Who Loves You
There has been some confusion lately concerning Wilco and whether I was ever in that band. The passing resemblance is understandable, but this isn't me. If I had a that hat, maybe. If I could sing just a little bit, maybe. But I don't and I can't. I do love you, though. Know that.
Comments (1)
Thu, Aug 14 2008 08:34
I Have a New Website
I'm pretty excited about my new website at http://michael-kimball.com/, which has audio, video, excerpts, book tour information for the fall, everything that I could think of for all three novels. Of course, let me know if you think of something else. If you like it, feel free to let the wonderful and glorious Tita Chico know. And feel free to make links. I mean, we're already connected.
Comments (2)
Wed, Aug 13 2008 08:44
#66 We're Lucky There's Blake Butler

More Blake Butler
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Tue, Aug 12 2008 10:06
The Trailer for DEAR EVERYBODY
Luca Dipierro and Rachel Bradley, of Black Arrow Studio, made a beautiful book trailer for DEAR EVERYBODY. If you like it, please feel free to spread it around. I would appreciate it and Luca Dipierro and Rachel Bradley would appreciate it too.
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Tue, Aug 12 2008 07:20
#62 Micah Ling: Outside of Time or Competition
| kindness, Micah Ling, motorcycle, Nate, poet, running, vegetarian
Mon, Aug 11 2008 08:25
#59 The Storytelling Instinct of Shaindel Beers

Shaindel's Website
[Note: In between when I wrote Shaindel's life story and when it went up here, she was offered a two-book deal with Salt Publishing (second item on the left), so feel free to congratulate her on that. The white space at the bottom of the postcard bothered me, but I'm glad that this good news is what it was for.]

Comments (1)
Sat, Aug 9 2008 11:34
An Early Review of DEAR EVERYBODY

Comments (1)
Fri, Aug 8 2008 04:41
The One Thing I Have Learned So Far
Everybody is amazing. Gena is amazing. Gina is amazing. Blake is amazing. Josh is amazing. Christopher is amazing. Zachariah is amazing. William and Heather and Joy are amazing. Graham is amazing. Peter is amazing. Micah is amazing and Micah's mother, Deborah is amazing. Red Delicious Apple is amazing. Karen is amazing. Adam is amazing. Anya and Anastacia are amazing. Rob and Rob's twin brother Kenny are amazing. Barbara and Holly and Bethany and Joe are amazing. Minas and Peggy are amazing. Emily and Ann and David and Albert and Gail and Kristina and Joe are amazing. Lynn is amazing. Bart is amazing.
Wed, Aug 6 2008 07:38
#10 The Life of Zachariah Zebadiah Handler

His parents named him Zachariah Zebadiah, but most people knew him as the Miracle Baby, this because only weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces when he was born 3 1/2 months early. While still in the incubator, his father took the wedding ring off his finger and put it on ZZ’s wrist. His father doesn't know it, but this is one of the reasons ZZ survived. And it is one of the reasons they are so close today (though his father doesn't realize that either). Since his birth, ZZ has gained 193 pounds, an increase of over 100x his early birth size. And by surviving, ZZ has gained other powers, which he uses to perform his own miracles, this in his work with the deaf and the blind.



[Note: This is one of the first ones I wrote, when I was wriiting on the fly at the Transmodern Art Festival (see first post, down at the bottom there). They were a lot shorter in the beginning, though maybe more distilled. I'm glad that ZZ stayed in touch and sent in some family photos to go with his life story.]
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