Whew! I’ve been seriously under the gun at school since World Fantasy. Things have come back to being manageable. I have the final draft of “Miss Pavlichenko” due on 11/23, an eleven page paper due on 11/29, an in-class exam 12/6, a twelve-page creative writing portfolio due 12/13, and a ten-page term paper due 12/15. That’s it for the semester. Only three weeks of class left.

Once again, whew.

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I’m reading Claire Messud’s The Hunters, primarily to study the short novel “A Simple Tale,” which is about a Ukrainian woman who survives WWII and becomes a maid. There are some characterization problems in “Miss Pavlichenko” and I asked my professor for a suggestion of a similar story to look at, and he pointed me to Messud.

That’s the way I like to work. I like to look at stories that I’m trying to aspire to and figuring out how “good” happens. After 50+ pages of my story, some people in class said they still didn’t get a good sense of Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s character. This is somewhat intentional as she’s supposed to be walling herself off, but it needs to be done differently. After only a few pages, I feel like I have good sense of who Maria Poniatowski, Messud’s main character in “A Simple Tale,” is all about. Now I need to look at all the little details that make Poniatowski come alive and see if I can work in the same kind of details about Pavlichenko to make her more three dimensional.

Right now, I consider myself a competent fiction writer, but who wants to settle for competence? A teacher in my high school had the words “All writing is in progress” painted in a script on the wall. The statement “All writers are in progress” could probably be up there as well.

I’ve listened to about half of In Cold Blood and I’m enjoying it. I zoned out a little during a long digression about Perry Smith (one of the killers) and his past, but otherwise I’ve been engrossed. I’m interested in doing a little research on homosexuality and this book because there’s a definite subtext here, and I understand Capote himself was openly gay. In Cold Blood is also interesting to read in the wake of Grapes of Wrath, in terms of “have’s” and “have nots.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but I need to pick an area of concentration for my PhD studies and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be 20th Century American fiction, as I find the years between 1900-and 1960 (or so) fascinating. It’s kind of odd because I originally thought it would be medieval European literature, and while I still find that gripping, I feel more emotionally connected to American literature. That and the fact that studying medieval literature (understandably) requires the mastery of a number of medieval languages. I’m not interested in that part so much, and I guess I’m content settling for translations.

It’s been an interesting year in English footie so far, hasn’t it? I didn’t expect Man Ure to be leading the pack after three months and enjoying a three-point lead and a healthy advantage in goal differential. I’m pleased as punch that the Ars* are running hot and cold and are now ten points off the top. Unfortunately, Spurs are running hot and cold, too; hot in Europe, cold in the league. Typical.

Not that you’d notice, but Major League Soccer implemented a new rule which basically opens the door for some big names to come over from Europe, by means of loosing restrictions on the salary cap and having the teams themselves (as opposed to the league) go after these players.

This is big. How big remains to be seen. I was skeptical that David Beckham would play in the US but this changes things. The question, however, is what this means for the league. It should be clear by now that a big name isn’t enough to change a team’s fortunes. The right core players in the right situation, however, can help a lot. The Chicago Fire did this right when they brought in Peter Nowak, Jerzy Podbrozny, Roman Kosecki, and Lubos Kubik. Not exactly household names, but these guys formed a strong core to build around and I believe the American players on that team—DaMarcus Beasley, Chris Armas, Carlos Bocanegra, CJ Brown, Jesse Marsch—learned a ton from those guys, and they all went on to have solid careers.

In many ways, getting a handful of competent, experienced players is better than getting one Beckham, one Figo, one Ronaldo; guys who want to pull an easy paycheck and be adored for past achievements. Of course, names allegedly fill the stands, but do they? I think fans would rather see good footie and a winning team than watching Goldenballs trot up and down the sidelines, occasionally getting whacked by Johnny Noname.

This is a pivotal test of general manager competence around the league, and also raises some concerning questions. Will Columbus, Kansas City, and Salt Lake be able to compete with Boston, Chicago, New York, and L.A. in luring star players? Only time will tell.

And as long as I’m mentioning US Soccer, will they announce Jürgen Klinsmann as the new national team coach already? The only surprise will be if they announce someone else, despite the repeated attempts at misdirection. If it’s not Klinsmann, we’re in trouble because he’s available (or made himself available) after the World Cup and the US job is vacant (or made vacant.) This is either going to be the worst kept secret of all time or a titanic failure on the part of US Soccer.

If you’ve read my About Me page, you could probably guess that Jürgen Klinsmann is my all-time favorite player. Just sayin’.

Current Mood: Relieved (and Tired) |
Currently Listening To – Cat Power – “You Are Free”