Well it's been about 100 years

Maybe not quite that long, but I tend toward hyperbole. I often say things like, "I must have a million things to do today!" or "I will never get off this couch." Makes things interesting.

I've noticed a few shifts occurring in Pittsburgh with regard to poetry. First of all, Gist Street is closing it's doors this Friday. What a sad event; Gist is such an amazing reading series. I want to go but I fear I must get there hours early and wait in the cold. Maybe if I can find a lawn chair of some kind. And play UNO on the street.

But at least two reading series have popped up to fill the void (interestingly I typed "voice" there by accident...). There is the new reading series Speaking of...Pittsburgh and also the MFA folks at Chatham (gotta represent) have been doing a monthly reading in conjunction with Unblurred. Perhaps I'm too immersed, but I've felt at seismic shift in that people are talking about poetry and planning events. Stacey Waite's book release event is this Saturday it's sponsored by not one, but four Pittsburgh organizations. Terrance Hayes won the National Book Award for Lighthead (reviewed here on the Weave website).  It's just an excellent time to be in Pittsburgh and be a writer.

Speaking of Weave, our fifth issue is currently at the printer or possibly on its way to my front door. I'm just about bursting with excitement. I love when a new issue arrives and I get to open the boxes and hold the collective work of poets and writers from around the globe in my little hands. I have to say, the new Weave staff really outdid themselves. We have an amazing issue. You should buy one.

With all that is going on in Pittsburgh, I have to say it is bittersweet. Plans are in the making for my departure to another city with a huge literary history and community. Next summer I will be moving to San Francisco in the hopes of beginning my life there with my partner and establishing myself within that community, perhaps even creating some new ones. Pittsburgh will always be my home. Weave will stay here but also set up camp in the city by the bay. Weave will be a bi-coastal journal and hopefully I can plan an event with all our west coast contributors.

It's really an excellent time to be a writer; It's also an excellent time to be Laura. I'm working on my thesis and sending out my strongest work yet. I'm feeling like I'm narrowing in on this process of becoming something I always thought I was. Someone I always knew I had the potential to be. I'm sure I'll be constantly changing the goal, always in the process of becoming, but it feels good to be getting warmer each day.