Anything about Montpelier, Vermont

A (Not So) Lazy Sunday

What a Day

A River Runs Through it…Okay, a CREEK Runs Through it.

 

After a few days of temperatures in the single digits—and down to sub-zero temps at night (yikes!)—today was a balmy 34 degrees. This meant that it was the perfect day for a long hike through Sabin’s Pasture, the nature area behind VCFA.

 

The “Cloud-guy” at work.

 

 

 

 

I was under the impression that the pasture would be next to impossible to navigate with snow on the ground. I have come to the conclusion that I was very much mistaken. It is, in fact, easier to navigate in winter than it is in the fall.  The waist high brush that obscured the paths then, lies fallow at this time of year. As a result, you can see where you’re going. You can make for spots in the distance instead of following meandering paths and hoping that you’ll get where you want to go. The views are unobscured, as well. You can see off into the distance, where “the cloud guy” (as my friend in the West calls the hand of nature in the skies) has been hard at work. It really is quite painterly and gorgeous.

Fellow Walkers, Strollers and Hikers

Parnell

There are children, adults, and other dogs on the path on this cloudy Sunday. We’re all out to get some fresh air before the work and school week starts. You can take a walk in this town on almost any day of the week and come across dogs: small dogs, big dogs, white dogs, black dogs and red dogs like my own. Happy dogs, and happy owners. Last summer, as I was preparing to make the cross-country move from the West Coast to the East, I did several Google searches for dog parks in and around Montpelier. I found none, which made me worry. My dog, Parnell, is an emotional service animal and I need him to function. But HE needs a place to run wild and commune with other doggos.

Doggos in the Meadow

What ever were we going to do?

But then we got to Montpelier and found that the whole place is a dog park! (especially around the college, where there are lots of green spaces) So, prospective students, if you have to leave the family dog with the family when you come to VCFA, know that you will still have plenty of doggy energy to keep you happy! Locals joke that there are more dogs than people in Montpelier, and it often seems that they are right!

Parnell and George

Happenings at School

We’re in our second module now, Amahl has gone home to Berlin. We will miss him, and he us (from the horses mouth!) Jericho Parms is teaching a craft module on incorporating joy into your writing. Considering the shape of the world these days, it’s a great subject matter. We could all use a little more joy, both in our lives and in our writing.

Award winning Vermont author Sean Prentiss is also teaching two classes this module, one on Environmental writing and one on Thesis Planning and Mapping.

We had a Professional Development class with agents Jeff Kleinman and Sonali Chanchani, of Folio Literary agency. They also had a question-and-answer session at last Friday’s Cafe Anna reading. Due to bad weather, the crowds were slight, which made for an intimate setting, and lots of answered questions.

The next in the reading series will take place on Friday, February 28th from 5:30-7:30pm in the College Hall Chapel. It will feature Faculty member Jericho Parms, Visiting Writers Stephen Aubrey and Diana Norma Szokolyai, and Visiting Composer Dennis Shafer (who will accompany Szokolyai’s poetry). Please join us.

Post Script

(Or, When Monday was *Sun*day)

The Cloud-Guy took Part of the day off, but the Sunbeam-Guy covered for him.

It was so beautiful out on Monday, with sunshine and clear blue skies that I decided to take the same hike as the day before. And then some. I met a neighbor–and her dog, of course–and she asked me if I wanted to join her in

College Hall and Camel’s Hump

hiking “the loop”. I am so glad I did. Not only did I get to know her a little better, I also saw some gorgeous scenery, like this shot of College Hall with Camel’s Hump in the background. Stunning!

 

And, of course, the dog loved running in the sunshine too!

Flying Parnell

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We’re Baaaaacckkk!

Home Again, Home Again

Winter break is over and we students are convening again, returning from far-flung locations like Nigeria, as well as closer locales like Chicago, Los Angeles, and NYC. One student went to Florida, another to Iowa. A few of us stayed here, in town, and in the dorms. Orientation for the Spring semester felt like a meeting of long-lost friends, and that is indeed what we’ve become, we Writing & Publishing students, good friends for life.

Now we’re busy settling in. First-year students are holed up in their rooms, writing, writing and writing, in preparation for the Multi-Genre Workshop taught by Justin Bigos. (If the first class is any indication, it’s going to be a fabulous class). Second-year students are a little different. You can find them wandering around with beatific as well as bemused looks on their faces, for this is their semester, the period of time when everything they’ve learned and practiced will coalesce into a publishable work of art. I’m guessing that “terrified and excited” might sum up the range of their feelings. (Personally, I can’t wait to read their work!)

The snow keeps falling, followed by rain, then sun, then snow again. The winter walks are as delightful as the summer walks, and the views may just be more inspiring. It’s wonderful as a writer to be in a place as varied and beautiful as Montpelier. Whenever I get stuck on something, stumble over a bit of writer’s block, I amble outside for some fresh air and exercise to get my thoughts flowing again.  We’re lucky to be here!

While We Were Out

The school hasn’t been empty while everyone was gone, not in the least. Several of the low-residency programs have been on campus: The MFA in Writing Residency was here from December 28th to January 8th, followed by the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults Residency from January 9th through the 21st.  At present, the MFA in Visual Art Residency is on campus and will be until February 2nd, followed February 7th through 16th by the MFA in Music Composition. Lectures, readings, exhibitions and more are all open to Writing & Publishing students. What a treat!

Coming Up

This Friday’s Professional Development Seminar is being led by playwright Amahl Khouri https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/amahl-khouri/. Amahl is delightful. One of my jobs as the Hospitality Fellow here at VCFA is to meet and greet visiting faculty. The night Amahl arrived was snowy, so snowy that my car couldn’t make it to the airport, and so snowy that the cab with studded tires couldn’t make it up the hill to campus. Amahl took it all with grace and charm. I met him midway up the hill, pulling his rolling bag through the snow, and we walked the rest of the way to the dorms together. Even after all that, after cancelled and delayed flights, after waiting in an airport for hours, after traveling all the way from Berlin, Amahl was full of smiles and happiness. We talked all the way up the hill. We’ve been running into each other around campus since that night, and we always have a fun and interesting chat. So sweet! (Also, the students who are taking his module tell me that he rocks as a teacher. I can’t wait till Friday).

Cafe Anna’s Friday Night Reading Series swings back into action on February 7th, featuring, wait for it…Amahl Khouri! He will be joined by Folio Literary Agents Jeff Kleinman & Sonali Chanchani for a Q & A.

Well, that’s it for now. I have a story to work on, so I think I’ll take a walk in the lovely night air to get my mind on fiction. see you next time!

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The Vermont Book Award Gala

We’ve been busy here at VCFA for the past few weeks: classes, readings, modules, mixers, and most notably, the 5th Annual Vermont Book Award Gala, held Saturday, November 9th in Alumnx Hall. The Gala has become a go-t0 event for literati in the Montpelier area since it’s inception:

The inaugural Vermont Book Award was given in 2015. Vermont College of Fine Arts created the award to continue its mission of promoting emerging and established artists, especially those with deep connections to the state of Vermont–and to draw attention to a state uniquely suited for creative enterprise.

The annual Book Award Gala is a celebratory evening honoring these talented artists and the rich literary community that surrounds them.

–from the 2019 program

 

The Gala

Amara & Nina

To say that a good time was had by all is an understatement. To have such a special event that is centered around literature and the arts was good for the souls of all in attendance. Writing & Publishing students got the chance to rub elbows not just with faculty and staff, but also with the community at large. It was a “fancy” event, meaning we could dress to the nines if we so desired, and, pretty much everyone did.

Virginia & Rebecca

Bianca & Ukamaka

Especially the students. The attire was cocktail or formal, and as you can see, we did our best to “blend.”

 

Okay, maybe not blend as much as SHINE!

Nina, Hassan & Amara

 

The Award

But, as much fun as dressing to the nines and posing for pictures was, that’s not really what the Gala is all about. The Gala is about the Vermont Book Award, and we were treated to some amazing writers, nine in all, sharing their work. When asked if the author I wanted to win was conferred the honor, I had to say that I didn’t really have a winner in mind. They were all fantastic.

First we heard Poetry from Sue Burton’s 2018 collection Box. Sue is an alum of VCFA’s own MFA in Writing program and lives in Burlington.

Michael Collier was next. The author of seven poetry collections has won several important prizes. He teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland.

Poet and fiction writer Anna Maria Hong followed. She has work in fifty+ anthologies and journals and teaches at Bennington College. Ms. Hong couldn’t attend, but past VBA recipient Kerrin McCadden read from Hong’s book Age Of Glass.

Next came another VCFA Alum, this time from the Writing for Children & Young Adults program. Daphne Kalmar read to us from her debut novel  A Stitch in Time. (I have to admit that, when asked which author I wanted the award to go to, Ms. Kalmar was a strong contender, and most of my classmates agreed. Her book cover rocked as well.)

 

Another Alum, Kekla Magoon (Writing for Children and Young Adults) followed, as did Rebekka Makkai,

 

 

Rounding out the readings were Leath Tonino and Tony Whedon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, However

The winner of this years Vermont Book Award, Jason Lutes blew us all away with his graphic novel Berlin. Lutes has been working on this graphic novel for over twenty years. A work of historical fiction that describes the fall of the Weimar Republic and rise of facism/Nazism in late 1920’s, early 1930’s Germany, this series of 22 magazines has been complied first into 3 books, and most recently into one complete book. The work has won high praise over the years, being called “one of the great epics of the comics medium,” and landing on Rolling Stones “50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels”.

When Mr. Lutes took to the podium he commented that he didn’t have a speech prepared, since he didn’t think it was possible that a graphic novel could possibly win the award. He shouldn’t have been so surprised. The book is amazing, and he well deserves the honor.

and then…

The snow has been blanketing the ground here in Montpelier, stuck in its current cycle of snow/melt–snow/melt. There’s the Thanksgiving break followed by the last three weeks of the semester and the long winter break. Time has flown here at VCFA. It’s a great place to be.

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Life in Montpelier, VT

I’ll probably always start these posts with something about the beauty of Vermont, and what a special place Montpelier is. It’s a gorgeous place, and the people are friendly and quirky and cool. I feel lucky to be here.

The leaves have fallen from many of the trees now. Clumps of gold and soft rust hang on the bottom branches of skeleton forms. Other leaves have just started the jettison process. When people and dogs walk through the fallen leaf-litter they make soft crunching and shooshing sounds, an early reminder of the near-inaudible underfoot crunch of the snow that’s yet to come. The locals tell me that the Fall colors haven’t been as outstanding as in previous years, due to having a drier than normal September, but the leaves have been vibrant enough to make this California girl’s heart go pitter-pat.

Small Town Life with a City Vibe

California and Vermont have many similarities: stunning vistas, sophisticated cities with lots of liberal, artsy folks. Cities in Vermont are smaller, of course. Montpelier, for example, is the nation’s smallest state capital, with nearly eight-thousand people. Eight-thousand people would be a town in California, not a city. There’s no doubt, however that Montpelier is a city. It’s downtown area bustles during the day, with locals, those with business at the Statehouse, and tourists.

There are bookstores, clothing shops, pet stores, florists, chocolatiers, vintage clothing and record stores (check out Buch Spieler Records for some choice vinyl), movie theaters (the Capitol Showplace, a first-run theater, and The Savoy, our art-house film theater, which has strong ties to VCFA), and more. Restaurants run the gamut from quick and cheap Three Penny Taproom to sophisticated and delicious Kismet, with many options in between. (Maple syrup on Mexican food? Really?But it’s good!) There are brew pubs and bars that extend their hours into the night, with live music to boot. Yep, it’s definitely a city, just on a smaller scale.

Scale is the thing that most differentiates California and Vermont. In California you have to drive hours and miles to get from cool, eclectic cities, to engaging vistas and forested paths, then another few miles to get from the ‘burbs to the next sophisticated urban area. In Vermont it’s a short walk. From campus it’s a fifteen or twenty-minute walk to either downtown, with all its delights, or several local nature areas.

The Slate Quarry

This easy hike begins just steps outside of the back door  of the Glover dorms and takes you through a grassy area called The Meadow (where all the town dogs love to play.) From there it’s down through Sabin’s Pasture and into the woods. With the crossing of a creek or two and a couple of slight inclines you’re there. Despite some recent tagging it  has an ancient or otherworldly feel, with slate walls forming a tall and narrow canyon. It’s quiet and peaceful, and a great place to meditate, or write, or even just sit. It feels as though there’s no one around for a hundred miles, and yet…you can be back downtown in less than a half an hour!

 

Hubbard Park

There’s also Hubbard Park, known for its 54’ Stone Tower, set on a hilltop above the capitol building. As with everything in this area the tower looks ancient. I’d thought it was a Revolutionary War relic, only to find that it was built between 1915 and 1930. (That’s still old enough to warrant its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.) The park was established in 1899 with the bequeathing of its original 134 acres. The tower sits on land that was deeded to the city in 1911, at the very summit of Capitol Hill.  Not only could you see all around the countryside from that summit, the tower stood out like a beacon to those downtown and at the Capitol Building. The hope was that seeing the tower on the hill would draw visitors up to the park.That worked until 1961 when the pines planted on the previously clear-cut pastureland grew tall enough to block the view.
It’s a pity to lose the view. But, as a local asked when met on part of the seven miles worth of trails in the park: “What’s Vermont without trees?”

–Darla Hitchcock, MFA in Writing & Publishing Candidate at VCFA

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A New Home for New MFA in Writing & Publishing Students feat. Literary Readings & Film Screenings

The leaves have started to change: a spot of scarlet here and there, a clump of crimson among a sea of green. Last week and the week before it was pure green with no red to mark the change. Now, however, the crimson grows with each day while the green, like the sea, recedes. I’m looking forward to the New England color show, as are my fellow out of state students. We come from across the country and across the world, with two from California, two from Oregon (one of them by way of North Carolina), two students from the South (Virginia and Georgia),  one from the rust belt state of Pennsylvania, another from Massachusetts, from neighboring counties, and from as far away as Nigeria. We’re  a diverse bunch,  just getting used to Montpelier, to the dorms and the school, and we are beginning to form friendships with fellow writers that could last for the rest of our lives.

There’s plenty besides settling in to keep us busy here at VCFA. There’s classwork, of course, and readings, game nights and even craft nights at Café Anna, the school’s café and coffee house named after VCFA’s own ghost. An open house was held last weekend for prospective students; two films have been screened: Marshawn Lynch: a History by Nonfiction Faculty David Shields about Oakland, CA football player Marshawn Lynch, and Arming Sisters, a poignant and powerful documentary by VCFA alum Brian Heck about indigenous women and the battle against sexual abuse and violence in the Northern Plains. See this movie if you ever get the chance!

One

of the things that most delights me about VCFA is the immersion into all things writing. Coming from a commuter school in California, I rarely got a chance to spend time with fellow writers. (I usually had to forego events and readings due to my long drive home). Not so here.  Living on campus surrounded by fellow students is inspiring. We haven’t yet begun our discussions of what we’re each working on, but we have been telling each other what we’re reading.

One student told me her synopsis of Goldfinch, which I notice is playing in movie form at the Capitol Showplace downtown. Another told me that he’s reading faculty member David Shields’s book. David Shields wasfeatured at the first of the years reading series held at Café Anna on 9/11. He ended the night with bits of humorous wisdom—vignettes that had us in hysterics, including one in which he listed what he had in common with George W. Bush (I wish now that I would’ve been able to take his class this semester. Oh well, maybe next semester).

 

 

 

 

 

The reading began with our Nonfiction Faculty Frances Cannon who read poems from her book Uranian Fruit.

Bookended by these two was our Director of Writing & Publishing Rita Banerjee. She read, appropriately for the date, an excerpt from “Birth of Cool,” an essay published in the Power & Silence Issue of Hunger Mountain, which explores her familial connection to the Twin Towers and of witnessing them fall on that fateful day.  Quite a compelling way to spend the eighteenth anniversary of that event.

We’re now a bit more than a month into the semester, the first module has ended and the second will end soon, our semester long classes are rolling along, we are all getting more and more used to Vermont and VCFA. As the weather cools to crisp, clear Autumn nights, we students dig into our studies and look forward to everything our new lives have to offer.Nike sneakers | Vans Shoes That Change Color in the Sun: UV Era Ink Stacked & More – Fitforhealth News

A Visit to May Day Press, Your Friendly Neighborhood Letterpress Studio

Kelly McMahon first fell in love with the fine art of letterpress when she was in San Francisco attending the California College of the Arts for Creative Writing. She had set out to work on her poetry, but this centuries-old craft—once a necessity for the printed word, now an art form—called to her. “I was lucky enough to choose an art school that had an established printmaking program,” she said. “The grad programs were all interdisciplinary. I took a seminar on book arts and loved printing. I loved making text tangible.”

About ten years ago, she co-founded May Day Press with two artist friends here in Montpelier, Vermont. The 1st of May is her birthday—but it is also Beltane, the Gaelic May Day festival. “I’m not a real birthday person,” she said, “but in Celtic folklore, it’s the day when the fairies come out to dance.”

At May Day Press, McMahon designs wedding invitations, business cards, letterheads and envelopes, as well as the occasional concert poster. (Behind the rows of cabinets is a room full of musical instruments; local bands rehearse in the space on weekends.) She hosts events for the community to illuminate the art of letterpress. For the past three years, students from VCFA’s Writing and Publishing program have interned with her; this past year, Program Director Miciah Bay Gault reached out to McMahon and asked if she would be interested in teaching a course for the Spring 2018 semester.

So far, she’s enjoyed spreading the art form. Seven VCFA students took the course, and they read about artist’s books, studied the typography of the printed word, and dove into the form and function of intricate machinery. They even carved rubber stamps to learn relief printmaking. When I visited, they were finishing up a book sample and about to start on their final project: a class chapbook.

According to McMahon, there is a thriving printmaking culture in New England; in Western Massachusetts there is a clearinghouse, run by a former printmaker himself, who takes in old equipment when print shops close. He refurbishes them and sells them for what McMahon calls “a functional price tag.” That’s how she was able to acquire her Chandler & Price press, made in 1911 in Cleveland, Ohio, which she has owned since the studio was founded; with two hands free, one can print small pieces quickly. “Not a beginner press,” she said. For larger works, up to 14×18 inches, there’s the newest machine in the shop: a Vandercook proof press, built in 1968. With multiple rollers, she said, it provides plenty of coverage across these larger surfaces. And it’s much easier for beginners to get into the ink.

To dive into the ink is a tactile experience. Behind are racks and racks of cabinets, each cabinet holding cases, each case holding type, each type containing not just letters but also dingbats, ellipses, blackletters, and fun symbols. They are meticulously organized: some in baby food jars, most in soft wooden wooden drawers that squeak when you open them. Their metal is cool to the touch, tarnished by ink and the oil from one’s fingertips. The metal clanks together in the machine, and when the worn metal lever is pulled, actual, shiny wet ink is laid down on the paper right before your eyes. For a class that usually types on computers and merely hits “Print,” this is what McMahon was eager to show us: the text, made tangible.

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What I’ve Learned About Montpelier, After Being Here for a Total of Three Weeks

Montpelier is a tiny blip of a town, just one sign on the freeway; blink on Interstate 89, barreling toward Montreal, and you’ll miss your exit. Its charming brick-façade downtown could fold up and fit in a cardboard box. It maintains all the vitals to a functioning society: a Thai restaurant, a dimly-lit coffee shop, a hip brunch place with bottomless mimosas, a tiny pet store with a trio of dreadlocked Bergamasco sheepdogs that loaf around like sentient low-energy mops. All the Subaru drivers stop for you at crosswalks. All the bars are empty by 10:30. (There is no happy hour.) Montpelier also happens to be the state capital, because state capitals are never in the cities you expect. And it is a fine place to host an MFA program.

The Writing and Publishing Program’s Class of 2019, which started its first class this Tuesday, just contributed 18 more people to Montpelier’s population (7,800).

Some of us came from out west. Some from New York City, which may as well be a different planet. Some came from Africa, Europe, the Middle East. Hey, why not? This is still America, for now. And some of us are coming home, because no matter how hard we try to resist, we tend to come back to where we grew up. Your humble chronicler, who hails from nearby Massachusetts, found himself downsizing across the country, moving to smaller and smaller cities. After two years in this program, who knows? Some of us might even stay in Montpelier.

Most of us arrived on August 21, giving us plenty of time to explore Montpelier. An hour later, we saw everything.

What’s been fascinating about this place is how intimately familiar it all becomes, and how quickly: it is a quiet place, imbued with modesty, all tree-lined neighborhoods and old Victorian buildings facing the streets, along the steep hills, where stray cats come out to greet you for head scratches. I walked past a trio of kids banging on ukuleles and guitars, listlessly shouting and laughing, a bowler hat placed upturned on the ground as a gesture. I walked past my landlady’s two dogs, play-fighting in the street, and petted them. I walked past an old Chevy van with a pair of kayaks on the roof and a back window covered in national parks stickers: Acadia, Yosemite, Zion. An older couple waved from the porch. By now, I already made it to downtown, where the streets were empty. Above the buildings, against the sunset, the golden dome of the State Capitol gleamed.

There are a lot of Bernie Sanders bumper stickers. I expected this.

There are a lot more surfboards mounted to the tops of Subaru wagons. I did not expect this.

Vermont, somewhat famously, if you’re into matters of pub trivia, is the only state that banned billboards. The same might apply to chains: the only chain restaurant in town, for example, is a Subway, which like all Subway franchises perpetually looks like it’s about to go out of business. (This one doesn’t even grant us the satiation of a fresh bread smell.) Drive a bit out and you can get your craving of McDonald’s, and Panera Bread, and KFC—which is good, because you should never underestimate the allure of an 8-Piece Bucket. Still, chains are so scant in this entire state that it puts some things into perspective. The nearest Bank of America ATM, part of the second-largest financial institution in America, is an hour and a half away. The nearest Apple Store is at the Mall of New Hampshire, in another state. The nearest IKEA is in another country.

But nobody yells at you about Vermont Pride, thankfully, since I’ve lived in all of these places that are so self-absorbed, and imbue that into their emigrants. Flags do not hang limply from every lamppost. Lifted Jeeps are devoid of outlines of the state of Vermont, filled in with a gun, and there are no slogans like God Bless Vermont, Don’t Mess With Vermont Women. You Can Go To Hell, And I Will Go To Vermont. I Wasn’t Born In Montpelier, But I Came Here As Fast As I Could. Remember Fort Bennington. SECEDE.

The leaves are already starting to change, splotches of orange and yellow that shout from the green spaces. Already our class is talking excitedly about all what fall will bring: apple cider! Haunted hayrides! Pick your own pumpkin from a pumpkin patch! Maybe a corn maze to get lost in and immediately regret! If writers are the lonesome, introspective sort to always seek out that proverbial cabin in the woods, then Montpelier is essentially that: a series of cabins, surrounded by deep and dark and foreboding woods. And just wait another few weeks, we tell ourselves—the whole forest will be ablaze.

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Rauner Special Collections Library

As part of Trinie Dalton’s Fairy Tale class, we took a field-trip to the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth to view some old, kick-ass illustrated books. Above is a collage of some of my favorites. I have a bit of an obsession with both libraries (my mom was a children’s librarian; I’ve done 5 years of work-study and fellowships in libraries) and illustrations (I was a design major). I wouldn’t quite call it a fetish, but it’s getting close. So, this field-trip was basically perfect for me.

We got to spend all day in a beautiful library looking at beautiful books (with a break for lunch at a little diner), which was the perfect form of comfort right after the elections.

 

 

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Halloween in Vermont

Or, Everywhere is Haunted and You Should Know About It
Or, The Median Age is Under Fifty After All
Or, How strong did you make this Russian drink?

Montpelier is very into Halloween, and there’re all sorts of stories about hauntings in the area, including our very own Anna. It’s also the only time of year where I’m convinced that there are actually children here—so many children. One of my cohort, C.J., has an apartment right off campus that is the prime spot for candy-giving, and every year (I say this as though we’ve been here for more than two) we go over to her place, dressed up and just as excited as the kids. There’s pounds and pounds of candy and bottles and bottles of wine (and vodka), as well as Cards Against Humanity and C.J.’s extensive CD collection.

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Our first Halloween here was the first time my cohort truly came together, let all of our barriers down, and got over our awkwardness. This year, it was exciting to have the new kids there too, to have our cohorts commingle. Costumes included Wednesday Adams, April O’Neil, Santa Clause On a Budget, Pearl and Rose Quartz (from Steven Universe), Lars and his Real Girl (very method), and (briefly) Tim Kirkman in a borrowed, skimpy witch’s outfit.spy offers | 2021 New adidas YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 “Ash Stone” GW0089 , Ietp