two nights ago me and sarah bowman of the bowmans and s.’s friend j. cruised the blue ridge parkway from Asheville to craggy gardens in j.’s green cutlass supreme, “GO green” as he described it, like traffic light green, with a white top that came down, it was chilly and foggy and even sprinkling a little, at least drops were shaking down from the trees which was so fun, to get wet in a car, like an amusement park ride, we were drinking cheap red wine from plastic cups and j. drove looking straight ahead while s. and I spoke rapid, inspired girl-talk.  someone should totally write a country song called “go green cutlass supreme,” I relinquish the title to whoever wants it, but please do a good job.  this is funny because the reason I was in Asheville was to teach a songwriting workshop at this beautiful camp the swannanoa gathering, and in one of my classes we were talking about clichés, how to identify them, how to avoid them, and we were doing this exercise where we took an idea like “freedom” and we all generated imagery that illustrated that idea, but first we ruled out some obvious clichés like birds and the sky, and lo and behold about half the class came up with driving imagery, especially motorcycle imagery, and I said, “well, I’m afraid riding a motorcycle might a cliché,” and this one woman, who I wouldn’t have pegged for a biker, said dreamily, “not when you’re DOING it…” and we all laughed and laughed, it was very sweet.
guys, I am going on an internet fast for the rest of the month of august.  catch you on the flip.  love anais.