Overgrown grave marker on the churchyard walls in Fernitz, Austria.… continued…
I was very much an “auslander” when I lived in Austria. An outlander. I have fine in-laws who are kind and generous, but I did not have friends here, and I spent huge amounts of time alone. During that time, I covered sections of the Enns Valley on foot, repeatedly. Outlander is a funny word for someone who developed such a personal relationship with the surface of the land.
It is spring, almost summer now and the meadows are so green.… continued…
I feel fairly certain that the reason I sit (somewhat unhappily due to a nasty bout of flu) in this lovely hotel is because I attended TBEX last year. In the lobby of the cramped New York hall where TBEX 10 took place, I met a delightful young woman, Teresa Faudon, from the Austria Tourism Board. We chatted for a while, and nearly a year later, she invited me to participate in this press trip. At that same event, I picked up an ill fated editorial gig that went south when the site owner said these kryptonite like words: “I’d like to go to a free model.”
TBEX 10 gave me the opportunity to express my love of narrative to a captive audience through a project I did with Mike Barish — we did a “best of” reading.… continued…
