July 27, 2001 Camp Ferncliff, Little Rock AR It's my last day at camp. Always a difficult parting, even though it's been many years since I was young enough to still be a camper. Arguably, I'm the guy who went to camp as a kid and never came home. According to the legendary square dance caller Glenn Bannerman, there are more camps per square mile in Western North Carolina than anywhere else in the world. And there's still a part of me that feels like I'm going on vacation when I go back to those mountains, as I will tonight. This one's pretty unusual, though. All kids have difficulties to work through as they begin to define themselves and squirm through the chrysalis of adolscence, but these have had some extra burdens. They've all been impacted by school violence. These are the kids you've read about in the paper, and some from inner city communities in L.A. and St. Louis. Almost all of them have been shot at, and some know what it's like to have bullets in their bodies. That being said, though, this week is not what you might expect. At least, it's not what I expected. It's my third year here for a concert, and my first year teaching creative writing. The beautiful and amazing surprise here lies in the fact that these are just kids. Some acting out, some playing through the drama of exploring romance, almost all of them giggling and wanting attention. Normal kids. I prepared myself for really heavy writing experiences, and they wanted to write about Saturday morning cartoons. So we did, and they wrote well. We all have things to heal from, and though their experiences have had undeniable traumatic impact, they have healed and continue to heal, as we all do. I'm just getting ready to go teach my last class for the week, then head home. It's been a whole lot of fun. I'll fly home a day early in order to be there in time for a performance night at Malaprop's in Asheville, where folks from AHOPE, a street outreach center, will be presenting their writing. Songwriter Billy Jonas, poet Glenis Redmond and myself have been leading some creative writing classes there for the last couple of months. Some of these folks are living in shelters, some in low income housing and some on the street. All of them - ALL of them have written amazing stuff. Not just in terms of content, but also craft. I've been overwelmed and have learned a great deal about writing, even though I've only taught two classes so far. I look forward to more. I get to spend time with so many different people as I travel to play music, and teach an occasional class, and I'm deeply enriched by that. It's been good this summer to spend a little more time at home, too, and be a little closer to friends there. I realised recently that I've spent a little over a hundred days at home in each of the last two years, which makes me greatly appreciate that time when I get it. I appreciate the traveling, too, though, and I'm getting pretty excited about going back to Europe. The two-week German tour is looking great, thanks to my friend Kenny who has worked hard on setting that up. He's even lined up some great press, including an article in a national magazine called Soundcheck, which includes a CD sampler. The upcoming issue will feature an article on me and the CD will include my song Deadline. I'm starting to work on German, and really enjoying that, never having studied it before. I love languages, and it feels great to be studying. Kathy just lined up a show in London, and we're working on logisitics so that I can go to Belfast to do a Peacemaking Concert while I'm in the isles. Then back up to Denmark for a show before I come home - classic routing, huh? We've got two shows left to record for the live CD, one at the Grey Eagle August 24, and one at Six String Cafe August 10. Actually - two at Six String August 10. Each of the two shows I've done there so far has been standing room only, so we decided to go with two shows that night. We'll have an early, all ages show and a later over 21 show. We're still hoping to have the record out by Thanksgiving. For more details, check the calendar. Since my last update we've won another award for my movie "Unknown the Great, the Life and Times of Buddy Schmcghee." Kind of hard to believe, especially if you've seen it!! Paul and Joe and I all traveled to the Dahlonega International Film Festival in Georgia, and we walked away with the Audience Choice Award in the Feature Category! We shake our heads in disbelief. We had a blast screening it, though, and hanging at the festival. Paul and Joe had seen it on a big screen in Wyoming, but it was my first time. It was great fun. Such fun, in fact, that I'm doing it again. Thursday, August ninth at 9:30 pm we'll be screening the movie at Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, the local brew and view. It's a mere $3 cover, and should be a good giggle. By the way, we're back in VHS copies, after selling out of the first run. Thanks for checking in. I've got lots of running around coming up in the next few months, so hopefully we'll catch up somewhere along the line. And thanks for spreading the word. It's neat to get notes from folks saying they were told about my music by a friend. For us indies, that's the way it works, and I'm grateful that you find it worth talking about. Peace to you, David