Tavish drawls again

["l. harnish" <indigoebony@yahoo.com>]

for those old school listies in the know, T. Woode was a rambling,
drawling rascal of a fellow who briefly graced the digest with his minced
wisdom and constant contractions in the winter of '97 and '98.

of course, I've never been good at keeping secrets, and quickly revealed
that dear Tavish was, regrettably, not a fifty-something ex-cowboy with
sloppy clothes and a wanderlust, but myself, then a teenage girl stuck in
smalltown Pennsylvania.

this confession made Tavish a defunct personality on the digest, but I
daresay the man lived on in my heart and mind (scary, yes?). I, on
occasion, would find I looked at parts of my world through his
perspective. his tastes would flavour crumbs of my world. I would see a
likeness to him in strangers, a resemblance to him in friends.

weird.

so, this year, after much procrastination, I enrolled again in college
after four years of studying wifedom, amateur armchair poetics, and rabbit
care 101. in my composition class, I was told to write an essay about a
person of significance who had altered my life in some way. I was too
disgruntled to write about my parents. I sing praises of my husband's
significance and virtues practically every day, so this topic is neither
new nor challenging. to amuse myself, I wrote the essay about T. Woode, as
though he had been a real figure in my life for years, rather than a
character I had invented. I have been blessed to have had a lot of
wonderful people involved in through my years--in retrospect, I should
have just told the truth about all of them, rather than wadding up their
contributions under a fictitious figure....

but the long and short of it--the essay was written. got an a. the teacher
liked it so much she made an entire lesson plan for two classes out of it.
encouraged me to submit it into a campus writing contest.

I have never won a writing contest before.
I've never won a dime for my writing before.

until today.

I got an e-mail.
I won the contest.

it'll be put in the school paper, posted on campus, and submitted for a
more significant contest.

all of which, I find to be pretty stinkin' cool.
  and I thought some of you guys would find that cool too.




__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/
---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/OtR/