"Retelling"

I.
Four hundred and fifty eight destinations cross
under glimmering neon signs
and the bass that thumps through your heart

II.
Stumble in.
We'll welcome you
into our bubbly room of swaying walls
and sloppy smiles.

III.
Look out the window.
The night closes in upon us,
slowly,
slowly.

June press roundup

I'm just catching up with blogging, so I thought I would share some of my interviews and "press clippings" (how fancy does that make me sound!) from the past month. 

For the Redmond centennial poetry project, mentioned here, one of our local newspapers (the Redmond Patch) did a feature story! You can check out the full interview (plus a cameo from yours truly) HERE!

The above image is a screenshot of an interview I did in preparation for the Digital Family Summit (see my recap of it here). You can read the full piece right HERE. And, as I mentioned in the last couple of lines...

yes, book #2 is being written as you read this. :) 

What have I been up to lately?

I realize I've been noticeably quiet for the past few months, and therefore it's necessary for me to check in on what I've been up to. I got involved in a project celebrating Redmond's centennial through poetry, and we worked on writing ekphrastic poetry through April and May. We had our final culminating event on June 9th at SoulFood Books in Redmond, which was a total blast!

after the event with Redmond poet laureate Rebecca Meredith

I re-started my Twitter page, which I abandoned back in 2009. I also wrapped up my freshman year of high school, and I'm happily enjoying my summer!

One of the first things I did to kick off my summer was catch up on sleep. Almost immediately afterwards, I started packing, and on Thursday we flew out to Philadelphia for Digital Family Summit. It was my first time in Philly, and I absolutely loved my time there! As I previously mentioned, I was a part of a three-person teen panel titled "Growing Up Digital" (the subject matter is pretty self-explanatory, I think!). Being a part of this panel and meeting such an incredible variety of people was such a treat!

View from our hotel room

Walking through downtown Philadelphia

Our wonderful panel!

The fabulous Stephanie Schwab (one of 3 hardworking organizers!)

The stage in the gorgeous Sheraton ballroom