A few short remarks to open "Monstrous Musings," Odessa College's Poetry and Storytelling Night

Thank you all for gathering here. Thank you all for your efforts promoting and building this event. The challenge is always the same: we've got to create third spaces not just for students, but for all of us. Life can't be a binary of work and home. It is so hard, in the classroom, to convey that necessity. I doubt a lot of people who should know better believe it is true.

We've got to wonder about what's really scary. I think what's hitting me most nowadays is neglect. We're not realizing when we're being neglected or neglecting others. It's a silent killer because you can't answer neglect with clinginess or panic. You can't just watch TV together. We have to think about what a good social experience entails, what kind of people we want to be around, and who we want to be.

I guess that opens up into another fear, a "monstrous musing" if you will. You mean to tell me we don't stop growing up? There isn't a point where we just know better? Yeah. It doesn't end. We might as well be the pumpkin Mom dressed us up for Halloween one year. The now more self-aware pumpkin, cognizant that a small Halloween gathering does a lot of good for all ages.