Cowardly Lion Links

• Another Bush lackey finds his balls five years too late.
• Republicans starring in The Champions of Unreason.
• What makes a woman a woman? Apparently the answer is crucial when the woman is a talented athlete.
• After five years in DC, I'm happy to finally have voting representatives in the U.S. government. But would I trade in one of my senators for the secret prize behind Door #2? In an instant. The Wonk Room is tracking Senator Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) attempts to withhold affordable healthcare from the American people.

Version #4: MacDowell at the Movies

I transferred my Netflix address to MacDowell in what started as a way to both conduct research for my book and take away some of the silence from the nightly solitude of my studio.

On my list were movies set and made during the late 1950s and early 1960s. I wanted to hone my sense of how fantasy and fear were represented in entertainment of that period; I'd eventually branch out to television shows. My plans, however, quickly changed.

Colony Hall has a great space for watching movies, including comfortable leather couches, decent speakers, and a projector. Why would I watch movies on a 15-inch computer monitor when I could see them on a big screen?

It took me about a week to find the right night to share the first movie on my list, Rebel Without a Cause. I didn't want to show it if another artist was presenting his or her

work or if the weather was really nice. Fortunately, the weather turned to shit and there was a lull in presentations. And so began The MacDowell Classic Movie Club.

We made popcorn, poured wine, watched films, and often discussed them at length afterward. I've long been disappointed in my movie vocabulary, and many late nights at the colony helped me to change that. My Netflix queue quickly shifted from

novel research to general entertainment and edification, and in the end this was for the best. I discovered that my obsession with research had been strangling my writing. The moment I let go -- both of film and book research -- was the moment the book began to blossom. So although our little club kept me up until 2 and 3 in the morning, it helped me to simply enjoy my imagination when I got to work the next day.

Rebel Without a Cause

Sunset Boulevard

All About Eve

A Streetcar Named Desire

Chinatown

Showgirls

Network

L'atalante

Daily Dilemmas

Almost finished moving in to my new apartment and will post pictures and related thoughts later, but for now...

Each day in town I've been presented with a new dilemma. Two days ago it was, Do I ignore my hatred of Walmart because I have no money and can't afford eggs? Yesterday it was: Sure I can afford eggs, now do I fork over 60 bucks for the co-op? Today: What should my hair look like?

Now, Elizabeth McCracken is offering a fiction seminar on how to workshop novels. It sounds spectacular, but I told myself I didn't want to share my book until the first draft was finished. So do I sign up for the class and buck up? Do I email her and ask to be a non-workshopping participant? Or do I go for Edward Carey's sweet-sounding seminar on fairytales? Decisions decisions...

The Great Big Move Across America, Part I

This is where I live. The square footage of my apartment is down to about 12.

Final day in DC. Tonight is The Last Supper with Mark, Matt, Rachel, and Jen. I'm fairly certain that my emotions are waiting for 2 Amy's so I can bawl uncontrollably in a public place.

Michael Fauver Is on Twitter

Hillary Swank (see below) got me going on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/WIWRWYW

Ruckus

Twinster Jeff, known by many as Flicka, Sonic The Hedgehog, and/or Hillary Swank, has started a theater company in Chicago with his uber-talented friends. It's called The Ruckus Theater. And check out their blog.

The Post-Colony Funk

I've been away from MacDowell for over two weeks, and I haven't written a word. With The Great Big Move Across America looming, the process of grieving a month's worth of goodbyes, and Mark focusing on the bar, I've had no time or energy to look at WIWRWYW. The whole situation makes me wonder how other colonists cope with the return home. Do they immediately go back to their prior writing habits? Do they try to shuffle their life around to be as productive as they were in paradise? Is there such a thing as a smooth transition? I feel like some artists--especially the ones who've been to colonies many times--have no trouble at all, but ultimately all of us handle it differently. Me, I seem to live in the past. It's probably just a way of coping with all this damn change.

Sitting, wine bottle in hand, I especially miss the spontaneous dance parties in Colony Hall. Here's to my dance buddies. I miss you guys!

Mark's mom came to DC for two days to help pack. Pam: You are amazing. I don't think we could move without you.

We arrive in Iowa City August 2 and should be unpacked by August 4 thanks to generous help from my dad, brother, and sister. Then a quick trip to Chicago, followed by a month of working on the book. My goal: two more chapters, for a total of six before classes start.