Writers seem to have a thing for cake. Chocolate cake, miniature jelly roll cake, and chocolate rum cake were some of the assorted desserts to be found at Saskatchewan Book Awards Shortlist Brunch. It was held in the elegant ballroom of the stately Hotel Saskatchewan . The readers today were Sandra Birdsell, Maggie Siggins, Kathleen Wall, and John Chaput. They were wonderful, amusing and enjoyable. (The rest of the food was great too!)

While researching my history essay topic–ancient women’s health–I found myself gravitating toward the poetry section of the bookstore. Sure, I know I won’t find much about Ancient Egyptian medicine in the local bookstore, but the searching is ritualistic, an impassioned quest for something surreal, abstract or concrete. Essays make me want to read poetry. Instead of finding ancient women, I found someone modern and real.

I’m pondering the meaning of DeLillo’s line from The Body Artist. It’s an assignment from a professor. What I’m doing instead is wondering about Hitchcock. Somehow I think there’s a connection.