On Mercury, ice is nice. If only we weren’t losing ours.

The urban-rural divide in U.S. politics. 

I enjoyed my time at the University of Washington’s MFA program. I finished writing a book, which is kind of the whole point of going to an MFA program, and the university paid for my travel to a couple of conferences in California and New York City where I had a blast. But I’m am sad about one thing: none of my professors ever gave me an assignment as fun or as potentially useful as this one, by Kurt Vonnegut.

Teaching a young girl the rudiments of chess was a bright time in an otherwise gloomy week. She didn’t beat me in her first real game, but I showed her this sketch to remind of her of the chance that a less skilled player has against an expert:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu3OG9qhvhM&w=420&h=315]

Go get that weekend you’ve been working for.

Later.