My kingdom for a replicant

Amazing visit with Joe on Friday. We poked around Windsor briefly, visited an excellent bookstore called Biblioasis, which also publishes small-press books, including Goran Simic's latest. Anyway, the guy at the cash, Dan, recognized me and said he's seen me read before. Joe was tickled being with such a celebrity. I picked up a nice hardback copy of Ashbery's Girls on the Run, and also Simic's book.

Joe then took me to Detroit for a few hours. It was eye-opening. I really had no idea. I mean, I thought it was a city with some bad areas. It's actually a city with a few good areas. The decay and devastation was astounding. The magnificent train station, unused for however long since the train stopped coming through, stands in a barren area, fenced in, most windows shattered. Neighbourhoods full of once-regal Victorian homes are now near-slums. The city is broke, Joe explains. There's no money to clean up the crumbling structures, or to revivify what's left. We stopped at a convenience store in a neighbourhood called Mexicantown. The guy at the cash was behind a bullet-proof window and we had to pay through a little slot and place our purchases on a turntable so he could access them.

The downtown is beautiful, though, and the waterfront features a great sculpture commemorating the Underground Railroad, and nearby is the Union Ring, an amazing tribute to labour and labourers, with quotes from Emma Goldman (!!!), Woody Guthrie, ML King, and others. You can read a bit about it here: http://retaildetroit.com/monuments/The_Union_Ring.htm

We went back to Windsor, had a few drinks in our "regular" bar, the Aard-vaark. Great place. A few hours of beer, some food, and chatting, and then Joe and I went our separate ways. We've agreed to make the Windsor meeting an annual event.

Oh, and I need a replicant because I have way too much to do. Just accepted a job from ECW, my first after more than a year and a bad falling-out. Like I've got time to do the thing. Couldn't turn it down, though. I need the work, and definitely wanted to renew my editing relationship with the press. Long as we keep things professional.

Meanwhile, I've promised big writing projects to Lichen and YYZ Zine.. And I've got prepare for Centauri. And finish a MS evaluation by Wednesday. And clean my disastrous apartment.

God, this is the most boring blog ever.

Over and out.