Looking ahead, looking back

Before I get to my personal news, something bigger and more important.

I don't think anyone who lives in Oklahoma can let this day go by without taking notice.

Sixteen years ago I was an assistant city editor at the Tulsa World newspaper, and was called to the phone by a friend at 9 a.m. and told to turn on the television. I watched for fifteen minutes, threw on some clothes, and rushed to the newsroom. I, and many others, worked for eleven days straight, editing stories, making phone calls, grieving and in a state of shock.

Sometime later that spring -- the date escapes me -- a fellow editor and I decided we should drive to Oklahoma City to see the Murrah Building with our own eyes, before its ruins were demolished.

Years later, I visited the memorial and the museum, and cried all over again.

One hundred and sixty eight people died that day, including nineteen children. Six hundred eighty more were injured. The events of that day touched me only from a distance, but I will never forget.

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It's official -- I get to furlough from my university teaching job this summer and spend it being the mom and writing! Hope to have some really exciting news to announce on the writing front shortly!

Also, I'm also told that I get to teach Creative Writing again in the spring semester of 2012, after creating an online version last summer.