Last post today, I promise

Ocean 2010 is out and full of wonderful images and words about the ocean. Some are scientific and some are more interpretive. I have a short story in there that falls in the latter category. This is the first publication from my series of mermaid short stories, so I'm excited for that. When I wrote the story, "Swim Back," I was thinking about love and music--the story heavily involves Arvo Pärt's "Tabula Rasa"--but Ocean's editor, Diane Buccheri, was creative and saw ecological meaning in the story as well. I think that came naturally from my love of the ocean.

While I'm on the subject of the ocean, Oceana.  I can't afford charitable donations as often as I'd like. but I do give something to Oceana when I can. If you're an ocean-lover and have a few dollars to spare, that's a good place for your dollars to go.

Perhaps there's all this ocean in this post because I. miss. the. ocean. Thinking about Oceana reminds me of last spring, when I was teaching at Salem State College and also working in Quincy, MA, making for long, long drives. On the drive to and from Salem, I would pass the ocean, and it would always take my breath away, even though I was sleep-deprived and it was early and I was always looking at it through dirty auto glass. Sometimes, usually on especially good or especially bad days (It's funny how they're interchangeable to a certain extent), I'd stop for as long as I could without being late. There weren't any beaches on the route, but there was a pier, and I'd park at the ubiquitous Dunkin Donuts and walk to the pier to commune a bit with the water.  I think during those months, I was more glad for the ocean than ever.