Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

As I'm back east, in the NYC home, and I decompress and process life on the left coast while running head first into a new semester here's a little meander from the land of corn.  Iowa, a week long stop before heading to the west coast for a month. Not every trip is a great festival of excursions and all night fun.  Yet, even on the most remote trip the balance of life and art are what really make the locale.  As life goes, research and work took me to Iowa.  Yes, Iowa.  Upon leaving I got many a side eye wondering why I was off to a seemingly banal place in the American Heartland.  As one friend rather loudly noted, “You go everywhere! But why  Iowa?! ” Jesting aside, as I sometimes pondered my choice in archives, I packed my bag, headed to the airport, and set out to conquer a state unknown to me.   Perhaps this is where I should provide you with a trite saying like “if you lower your expectations that the joy will increase.” Eh,...

A few months ago I found myself in Providence, RI.  This week I'm in Iowa City, IA for writing and work, and as I find myself continually lost among the corn stalks and melting under the sun's burning rays intensified in this open, almost barren, Midwest heat I leave you this.  In the 2002 movie The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Ashley Judd’s character flees home, family, and perhaps sanity as she escapes to a seaside hotel.   Awaking a day or so later, she learns from the hotel operator how much time has passed.   In that moment, the power of revitalization has taken over.   The viewer can almost see the sweet relief in her shoulders, even as she frantically calls her children.   Yet, the power and pressure of the young—and even more mature—mother is not the only narrative here.   Women, across the board, are all in need of that frantic night away.   The solitary night, in a bed you didn’t have to make, sheets you didn’t have to w...