Currently, in Providence it is overcast and cold, 39˚F, with the windchill at 33˚F. We have a flash flood watch for today and tonight and tomorrow, so there's rain coming. In Birmingham, it's currently 51˚F.
Yesterday was so evil a day that the less I say the better, certainly. But I have a one-way train ticket to Birmingham, if I choose to use it. The train would depart from Providence at 8:55 tomorrow morning. I just have to see how today goes. The ticket is refundable. It cost me $436, I think. Kathryn and I were planning to head down to my mom's sometime around Easter, but I may go on ahead, and she would drive down later. It's not the best scenario, but I need to get away from here.
I thought I was done with the South forever when I left Atlanta on May 31st, 2008, almost nine years ago now. But I have known since at least 2013 that I am not done with the South and neither is it done with me. It isn't about what I would like and what I would not like. The place is a part of me. The place is somehow integral to who I am, though I wish that were not the case. I'm an alien here. I've never much fit in well anywhere, but only by coming to Providence did I discover that I have a far deeper kinship with the land where I was raised than I'd suspected.
I think that Dear Sweet Filthy World shipped yesterday. So, if you preordered it, your book is on its way to you. If you didn't, there are still copies, and I wish that you would order a copy. I think it's a good collection.
I took the photo yesterday as we crossed over the Point Street Bridge, heading west, a view of April in Providence, with grey dunes hanging upside down from the sky.
Resistance, Peace, and Compassion,
Aunt Beast

10:21 a.m.