As part of the requirement to complete my MFA, graduating cohorts have to do a public reading of their thesis. The program had changed the timing. With only 10 minutes, weeks before I traveled to Tampa for this last writing residency and my commencement, I practiced several pieces before deciding on one scene.
I worked out that I would dress up for this. I am a budding cosplayer (costume player at a scifi/fantasy/horror/comic/anime convention) and because this residency would be my last, I decided I would dress as the time period of my historical fiction, the early 1930s.
We were split into two teams of eight. I would be in the second team and the third in line. On Day 4 of the residency, June 21st, I did my first public reading.
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| Photo courtesy of friend/classmate Tina |
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Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Shelia
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My costume consisted of clothing I already had in my closet. I wore a matching vest and slacks my mother had sewn for me several years before. I wore a pair of J.G. Hook shoes I had purchased many years ago. My dress shirt one of a set I bought from Steve and Barry's about six-seven years ago. Also, in honor of Father's Day, I wore one of my father's messenger caps, pin-striped as my outfit.
[Part Two in next post...]
