2 day teaching conference under my belt. feeling supremely confident in my insecurity as i begin to teach class next week. 

An untitled study for “Son of Gone Fishin,” by Donald Judd. (1981. Watercolor on paper.)

nonfiction

this telling the truth business is refreshing as anything. 

no fear of anyone calling your bluff, because you aren't bluffing. 

if they do call, you shove the cards down their throat. 

on second thought, it seems that nonfiction doesn't help with those tendencies toward sporadic violence. 

ah, the bittersweet kiss of rejection has--wait, something's off about that...

oh, right. nothing sweet about it. 

well then, the bitter kiss of rejection has struck again. 

learn to live with it, not to love it, but to deal. 

notes on fabrication, pt. 1

- don't go with prefab. stale old lies, even those that have worked in previous situations, are easy to spot. always go with fresh on-the-spot inventions. 

- the more inflammatory, the better. your opponent will be less likely to call your bluff if your lies seem impossibly outrageous. you can go too far with this, though, so be sure to test the waters of credulity before you go big. 

- mix a bit of truth with that escargot. this is a long-standing principle, as seen in children's games such as "two truths and a lie." you will find it is harder to spot a lie when artfully blended with fragments that really happened. 

- believe it, fervently. the easier it is for you to buy your own words, the sooner others will follow suit. 

- never, ever reveal what is or isn't true. like a magician, true practitioners of the art don't spill the secret workings of their tricks.