Maryville

I drove with Corinna to her event in Maryville. She'd have ridden there, but she had events in KC the day before and the day after, and Maryville is an honest day's ride. About 111 miles by a bicycle-able route.

We could have ridden to Maryville on Thursday, or back from Maryville, but not both.

We stopped to try and get some magic hour shots near there, and spotted a fantastic wind farm in the distance. Also stopped at a good thrift store near St. Joe, too, where I found a good pair of work pants and a really nice silk shirt.

The poetry event was great. Once we figured out how to turn off the TV in the student union, anyway.

Last winter, in Columbia, I judged* and there was a problem with poets not understanding the criteria they were being judged on.

This time, the poets were pretty much all on topic, or at least found ways to construe their poetry as being germane and relevant.

I was struck, and I guess it shouldn't surprise me, at how young college students have gotten. When I was in high school, I felt like I was an adult, and college students, they were even older and more mature than I thought I was.

Now these students all remind me of my own daughters. Three years isn't that much of an age gap. Don't get me wrong, it would be huge if we're talking some nineteen year old guy dating my sixteen year old daughter—that's an age gap that could prove fatal to a dude.

But anyway, the kids were great fun.

As was the Asia Project, an act booked to the same venue a couple hours after Corinna's event. She wanted to stick around for it and it sounded about as appealing as picking butt hairs to me, but I'm in love so I gave it a shot.

The part that impressed me more than anything, actually was Asia's response to a cell phone going off during his performance.

As if it were written into the poem, he looked at the offender and said, 'I hope it's Jesus.' Then he continued with his regularly scheduled program without missing a beat or a breath.

*Not unlike beer judging, a poetry judge has to evaluate the poet less on personal tastes and more on the target defined for the competition. And being a BJCP beer judge for around fifteen years, I entered the world of poetry open mics with more judicial experience than John Roberts had when he was made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.