I just finished a beast (in length at least) of a book copyediting job for the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno: The Basque Nation On-Screen: Cinema, Nationalism, and Political Violence by Santiago de Pablo, 548 pages in its manuscript form. A film study of how Basque culture and politics are conveyed on-screen, the book is a great read into fact, fiction, and myth in Basque Country history, particularly the period involving the democratic transition after Franco’s death and the various components of Basque Nationalism, especially ETA violence.

It’s amazing how much goes into the making of a film, and this book goes to show how, especially when politics are involved, films can take on all new meanings depending on the audience and the year they are viewed. Though many of the discussed films were box-office failures, I’ve marked a few for my Netflix queue.

It’s official. I start at AdventureSmith Explorations today as their new content & office manager! I’m excited to be back on a team, especially one that has such an exciting expertise: adventure travel. Maintaining and refreshing the AdventureSmith website is one of my primary tasks, so I’ll be deep in the SEO/web copy trenches again. While this is going to mean way less freelance work, I’ll still keep this blog updated with my side contract work, life, travel, crafting, and accomplishments at AdventureSmith. I’ve got quite a few editing gigs still in the queue this month, so it’s going to be a busy yet fun one!

A fun little proofreading project I did for Sierra Nevada Ad Partners (SNAP) last month has hit the streets. I love the design on this as it makes reading about trash collection and recycling entertaining. The center spread (top left) was like proofreading a maze. Find it in your mailbox if you’re a Truckee resident.

Last month I participated in a poetry slam at Bona Fide Books, for the opening of Benjamin Arnold’s exhibit “Breathing Rusted Rivets.” Us volunteer poets had to get up before an audience and judging panel, spouting out poems we created from words pulled from a hat in mere minutes.

Here are the words and the poems I created from them. Vernon Lee, whose back is pictured in the photo at left, crushed the competition to take first, but I ended up landing second place, just a point or two above two other fierce poets, Heather Kenison (pictured at right) and Janet Smith (pictured at left).

SOUL

(An ode to Erin Bechtol, Bona Fide’s editorial assistant who is leaving later this month for Seoul, Korea)

Seoul, Soul

Erin’s moving to Seoul,

the goddess of book fairs,

the queen of the Bona Fide knoll,

the heart, the

soul, soul,

Erin’s leaving for Seoul

for a canoli with kimchi,

for an adventure, for a new way to roll

with soul, soul,

Erin’s really leaving for Seoul

Erin, we’ll miss your soul!

SEX

(My rendition on this word is inspired by someone once telling me that pollen in the air was like watching flower sex. I might work on this poem to convey that more, but here it is as written/performed.)

Spring opens up her dewey arms

petals say yes to the light

my nostrils tingle

a stinging tear in my eye

a-a-a-choo!

The air’s thick with…

FLOWER SEX.

KNUCKLE

When my pen’s lazy

it snuggles with my knuckle.

Right on in there

between the bony joints

like a slothful cigarette

biding its time for the burn.

Oh how I try to coerce it

into that prolific

threesome with the thumb,

but it just wants to snuggle,

with the knuckle.

Read my piece “A Winter in Avalanche Country” in this month’s Moonshine Ink. It’s been a long time since I’ve done some real reporting, and this story had me in offices and on the phone with retailers, avalanche experts, and mountain guides digging up some cool statistics about this winter in Tahoe and the rising popularity of backcountry skiing.

I have a new set of stories out in Tahoe Quarterly‘s 2012 Mountain Home issue. Turn to pages 104 and 126 to see the articles I tackled on a Northstar remodel for a bachelor and his sons, “Y Chromos-Home,” and a remote, new build that is so inviting that Tony Bennett sang at its owners’ Christmas Party, “You’re Welcome.”

My favorite finds in the issue? Hirshy the acrylic deer head on page 100; the cozy bunk quarters on page 102; finally seeing inside Crystal Bay’s glass house on page 64; and spotting the ad I wrote back in my TQ editorial days (Lake Views Delivered) on page 145.

My March DiStill Life art column, “Art with Anke,” is out in Moonshine Ink! Anke Hass is one of my new favorite people… she is just so energetic, fun, and talented. I also reviewed Sugar Pine Cakery’s treats in the Quick Bites section, which was printed in both English and Spanish this month. Brush up on your postres by clicking the link.

I’ve had a busy and exciting past month. Work-wise, I’ve been using every corner of the old brain: copyediting for Clear Capital; writing ads for Smith + Jones; doing SEO work for Wolfsmith Media, Bona Fide Books, and Balance Bodyworks Tahoe in-home massage; copyediting a short story anthology and a current research book on violence and the media for the Center for Basque Studies; writing and proofreading for Moonshine Ink; proofreading for Tahoe Quarterly; continuing to manage the Tahoe Mountain Sports blog… wow, I’m dizzy just writing all that!

And to top of the madness, I had the privilege of joining the Bona Fide Books crew for the AWP annual publishing conference in Chicago. What a trip! We lived it up, and I plan to soon post a few topic-specific roundups, including my trip to the Art Institute, my Chicago dining recommendations, and of course the lowdown on AWP. I took the stormy Chicago skyline photo above from our hotel room at the Palmer House Hilton.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m a poet laureate. Of Wildflour Baking Company in Squaw Valley. Oh yes, it’s quite the honor, and I have the credentials to prove it (photo evidence above). Not sure what sorts of poems I’ll be required to write for the bakery, but I’m happy to do so! I won the Wildflour Favorite (adult) category in their annual Valentine’s poetry competition—not the grand prize (of a full season’s cookie pass), but somehow they deemed me worthy of poet laureate status.

Without further ado, I present to you my winning poem: