and I’m so glad I was wrong.
Sometimes, Facebook memories bring smiles and laughter and nostalgia. Sometimes, they are a series of stings and grief and unwanted reminders. Usually, they’re somewhere in-between, living in the nuance, as most things do.
Always, they are a revelation.
On June 17th, 2022, I didn’t know what my life was going to be like. I was transitioning away from my career in academia and tentatively exploring possibilities. I went to a reading at the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative, featuring Katherine E. Standefer reading from her book, Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life. As is often the case at the NGBC, the turnout was small, but that gave those of us in attendance a lot of time to talk with Kati about her book. It also was the start of finding my community. That night, Allison Cruse and Al Stone were there, and we went out to eat with Kati afterwards. I felt inspired, connected, and nourished in a way I hadn’t felt since reading poems at open mic nights with the Red Dirt Poets in OKC.
The connecting and nourishment didn’t stop there. Since that night, I regularly interact with Kati on social media, and I’ve taken two writing classes with her: Writing the Scene, and Writing Trauma without Breaking Yourself. Both were illuminating and enriching, and have helped me as I work on my memoir. (if you want to learn more about Kati, check out her website: https://www.katherinestandefer.com/)
Al Stone started a monthly story slam that same year, she attended some of my writing workshops, and we even went to the Mountain Words Festival together in Crested Butte this year. She constantly encourages me to write, to teach, and to try for opportunities I might shy away from on my own. Plus, she got me interested in collage.
Allison Cruse, who was then the manager of the NGBC, swiftly became a book buddy, a person who reads more than I do, and who just lives creativity and learning in every aspect of her life. She invited me to become more involved in the bookstore, and then to become more involved in her music life (she’s the guitarist in Alamosa’s hottest band, The Fuzzy Nuggets).
These connections, from that one night, led to many others, and my life has taken on a shape I didn’t expect: punk shows, metal bands, open mics, interviews with artists, co-hosting downtown events through the bookstore on First Fridays, planning reading parties for Pride, collaborating with the public library for events… it’s all so much more expansive than my life as an academic would have been.
I never imagined it for myself, when I chose to quit the life I had planned out, as a college professor and aspiring scholar.
I’m glad that, for once, my imagination was more boring than reality.