I should really save this for later in the day, when I’m tired of the close, precise thinking that revision requires and want to crack my knuckles and speed through something on a straightaway. (Except ew, I would never crack my knuckles in a literal sense.)

The thing is, I just saw that Alison Bechdel was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and I am so happy that I had to express myself through all possible social mediums, immediately. If you don’t know, Bechdel is one of the most intellectually subtle writer/cartoonists working today. Her books attend to the human experience, replicating – through interwoven storylines, careful visuals, and a scrutinous unpicking of her personal fixations – the many-layered experience of the mind. I love her, and it was one of the great minor tragedies of my life (yes, it says “great minor” on purpose) that she got snowed out of an appearance – with Jeanette Winterson no less! – at AWP a couple of years ago.

Anyway, congratulations Alison Bechdel. Hearts and stars and all that.

In other news, you can read my story “The Boy with the Open Mind” in the new issue of storySouth, and I would love it if you did! As I’ve said elsewhere: come for the childhood memories, stay for the reverse mind reading.

In other OTHER news, it looks like I need surgery on my left ear, sometime in the next month. (I’ll know more after talking to the surgeon on Friday.) It’s a relief to know there’s an identifiable cause to the, oh, year and a half of non-stop ear infections I’ve experienced, and I’m grateful that I live in a time and place where this can be taken care of with relative ease. That said, I am also very unnerved by the idea of surgery on my head, even if it’s a minor surgery. Outpatient. Quick recovery. They’ll still be cutting into my bones.

Um, happy Wednesday?