What am I thankful for this year? First and foremost, the ability to re-enroll in school, to pursue my dream of connecting my life to writing, books, and teaching. Jill keeps asking me if graduate school is what I wanted, and, while there are some aspects of it that I do not care for, on the most part, I'm quite happy to be where I am. I feel quite excited to be writing again, both fiction and essays, something that I was neglecting before, and that is quite important to me. (Of course, I should note that I often forget that First Impressions is as much writing as anything else I do, but I often discount it, mainly because it seems to me a conversation with people. But then, the best writing is.)

I am thankful to be on the East Coast of America, where I have already had several opportunities to reconnect with some old friends, including Pat Cadigan (signing her new novel, Tea from an Empty Cup, in Alexandria, VA) and Bruce Sterling, Walter Jon Williams, Gardner Dozois, and Susan Casper (all at Philadelphia's annual SF convention).

I am thankful to be in a large town with several excellent restaurants (although, sometimes, quite expensive) and opportunities for the arts. We have seen two productions at American University this semester, including a spirited version of Neil Simon's Sweet Charity and a new play be Caleen Simpson Jennings (who I happen to be taking a course in playwriting from), as well as an interesting production called Freedomland.

And, finally, I am thankful for all the readers and correspondents of First Impressions. As I said above, I view this as a conversation, initially with myself, but ultimately with many of you. Some of these discussion threads last for weeks and months. As anyone who has followed these things for awhile knows, I do change--what I read and think about this month is quite different from my reading and thinking two or three years ago, and it is mainly due to the ongoing conversations that these installments bring to my email box. I appreciate it all.