Christine Allen-Yazzie

You Must Read THEIR DOGS CAME WITH THEM

2008-07-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

Oh, oh, oh. I've been all work and no play but I keep stealing time to read and reread from Helena Viramontes' THEIR DOGS CAME WITH THEM. From the first chapters, it's easy to see why she recently won a $50K grant for her brilliant work.

Back to School

2008-05-02T12:55:00.001-07:00

Happy to report I'll be in University of Utah's PhD program for creative writing. I love these degrees that don't necessarily have a place on the standard resume. I'm building a collection.

Strange

2008-04-11T00:13:00.000-07:00

If you've read my book: You know the fox scene? Last fall, I was stumbling around southwestern Utah about seven or so hours from home when I recognized a sign I put in my book. Near the sign, the character found a road-kill fox, not dead yet. You should know I wasn't having peace of mind at this time. Difficult, difficult days. So I see the sign, think, Hm, ----, there's the sign. Creepy enough, I think. (It is, after all, a creepy scene, to me.) Then I see the fox. Same place precisely, only this one's dead on arrival, flat as a nasty red pancake. My novel is at least in part dedicated to undermining meaning as a concept, so of course I had to dismiss the coincidence, even as it shook me (bad omen? no sense trying to saving this one, doesn't matter whether I appear to be worth eating or not). But several months later, and I'm chewing on that godawful fly-ridden pancake still. If you've read my book and have a decent, creative explanation, it's good for five dollars. Hell, I'll throw in a bottle of gin for fun, if it's legal to mail. A bonus dollar for this: what's a sinking spell? And how much would would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck should?

ZNH

2008-01-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Currently exploring tangents regarding the cruel abandonment and career slaughter of the lovely Zora Neale Hurston by her "friends" in the 1930s and 1940s. Any information, suggestions, disputes? Email christine.allenyazzie@gmail.com.

Gretta's Alternative Twelve Steps

2007-12-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

(my ambitagonist's stab at sobriety)

1. I conceded that I had long entertained the power of alcohol to console myself of the fact that life is by nature unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that this power of alcohol was not enough to restore me to sanity, or, alternatively, to suspend my concern about my sanity, or my doubt in that rhetorical category, sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn my will into adventure as I felt compelled to pursue it, since I understood that I understand little and have an insatiable need to understand all.

4. Made a searching (if fearful and incomplete) inventory of questions about who and what the fuck my “self” might be.

5. Admitted in a drunken stupor at the company Christmas party the inexact nature of my many shortfallings, including a short holiday fall off the wagon. Hopped back on the next day; apologized for telling a coworker his tie was too short.

6. Was entirely unconvinced that a deity—if one existed—could or would be interested in removing any of my defects of character. Decided I didn’t need convincing.

7. Humbly admitted I would have to remedy some or all of my defects my own damned self, and quick.

8. Made a list of all of the times I had put myself and my kids at risk and admitted to my shrink that I could have opted not to.

9. Amends: to put right; especially: to make emendations in (as a text); to change or modify for the better: IMPROVE ; to alter, especially: to alter formally by modification, deletion, or addition ; intransitive verb: to reform oneself.

10. Continued to warehouse an inventory of mostly irrelevant questions about the self, and when I deluded myself into answers, promptly admitted I was, in fact, delusional.

11. Sought through pottery classes and family picnics and even dreaded “play dates” (which were often not so dreadful after all—who knew?) to remain willfully conscious despite an urge to step in front of a truck. Sold sixteen pots so far.

12. Having posted these steps on my bedroom mirror, I was able to get through the day. And I will get through the day after that. And the day after that. And so on. And I will—until I don’t.

Do you think http://www.12step.org/ will be irritated with me?

Thank you...

2007-11-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

...Sam Weller's Bookstore (specifically, Sheri), Modern Times Bookstore, SF's Ecstatic Monkey (and Ana Ventura), Lee Austin at UPR, Joel at CityArt, Utah Arts Council, Utah Humanities Council, CEU English Dept, BYU English Dept, and John Alley at USU Press.