Just got back from El Paso. I spent a week there sniffing around for PLAYBOY. Nope, it wasn't about strippers or The Girls of UTEP. It was all about the strange peace that prevails in El Paso, while just across the river there have been thousands of murders in the last coupld of years. I had an amazing visit with the Byrds (publishers of Cinco Puntos Press) and all my pals old and new. Met the red-hot banda, Radio La Chusma. Made a new friend in Border Patrol supervisory agent Paul Wells. Hung out with Benjamin Alire Saenz (for you literature fans). And cruised around the hunted downtown with David Romo. I saw Pancho Villa's chopped off finger, wandered in the spooky wasteland behind the abandoned ruins of the ASARCO smelter, got creepy-crawled by bad guys on the other side of the river, ate fine food and sloppy burgers and deadly tacos, bought books, babysat a giant black cat, visited gay bars, went to dances, made Border Patrol guys give me the stink-eye by driving where I shouldn't have driven, went to concerts, and visited an abandoned graveyard where I heard the voices of women. Nobody else there. Oh yeah, man--a great trip.

Now, if I can just get the story worked out right, it ought to be in the November issue.

I'm doing book reviews and blurbs, meeting with my dear new movie pals on ITBN film version, and packing. Off to Vermont on Monday to teach at Bread Loaf. I wish I could give you more stories on this website, but time runs out.

Just wanted you to know I'm staying busy, rounding on Hummingbird II, and writing a LOT. (Five notebooks full in El Paso--way too much for the PLAYBOY story.) I try to keep up the flow over on twitter, so if you're interested in the latest, you can find me there at Urrealism.

I'm thinking of you, I'm dreaming about you, I'm whispering your name...

Luigi

# posted by Luis @ 11:51 AM