Picture of the Day - My Steynberg Address

This was the scene earlier this eveningat Steynberg Gallery in San Luis Obispo right before the readings of the winners of Cuesta College's annual Tellus literary journal contest in which I won 2nd place in the short story category for "Mein Klau". My entry was so long I had to abbreviate it.  During my reading I started feeling an anxiety attack coming on and I further abbreviated my presentation which was frustrating. This occurred for a cocktail of reasons. I was thrown off a bit by my having to figure out what to read and what to not read unlike any other presenter, I had not had enough sleep the night before, I was over-caffeinated, and fatigued from the school and recent rock show chairmanship duties, stressed and distracted about some drama with mom, felt self-conscious about my work in the context of a room filled with 40-50 mostly strangers. Despite this mixed bag of a success and set-back I was getting a great reception from the crowd and received the most effusive crowd reaction of any presenter which seemed to love the edgy social observation in my work. My beloved English professor Dr. Roland Finger is at left.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).