So it occurs to me last night that until now I may have been going about this festival thing all wrong. It seems that if you talk to people instead of sitting in the back, wearing a poet hat, these main stage things can be a blast and not only because of the free cheese (by the way, they have an herby looking one this year. I didn’t try it, because I’m mostly a marble guy, but it looked tasty. Let me know).

You see, last night I finally spoke with some of the people around the festival and realized they aren’t all as blood thirsty as the afternoon book chat audiences. They’re actually pleasant people. I have photographic evidence.

These are three of the people I talked to last night. I like them. The one with the wicked witch of the west tights on is Chandra Mayor. She is wicked, but like in the 80’s. I’ve known her for a long time. She’s a writer and the most famous person I know. Buy her books.

Next to her is Clare. Clare I haven’t known for long. She sometimes wears cowboy shirts and works for the CBC. Both of these are really cool things. That’s why I like her.

And finally, the one on the end is Colin. I don’t know him well, but in my experience you need to stay on the good side of a quiet guy who chews on a toothpick. Hi Colin.

They let me sit with them. It was nice.

I also saw some people I used to work with at McNally Robinson. They were manning the book selling table. I though Megan and Lucas were cool until they started pretending they didn’t know me because I pointed out how they could be selling books faster. I used to sell books, I know things. Anyway here’s a picture of them even though they don’t deserve the press.

Oh, and you know who else is really nice? The other bloggers. I saw them last night too.

I thought I wouldn’t like the new guy cause of his cheese fetish, but he’s a beard guy like me (at least I think he had a beard. Maybe he was just scruffy. Well, I’m scruffy too, so either way, he’s alright).

Courtney I know from last year. She and Ariel are the ones that keep the blog a little more highbrow. Imagine what it’d be like if it were just me and the cheese guy running around. Charlene would not be happy. I don’t have a picture of them so here’s one of the receiving dept. of a bookstore. There’s a man in a hard hat.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Guess who I got to meet, George freakin Amabile. Ya, that’s right, he’s like a real big time poet and I met him. He even had a hat, just like in the pictures. It was beige and everything. It was so cool. And he had wine and he even said something and we were talking and I’m like I wish we were Facebook friends and….maybe I should stop writing about George Amabile now.

Anyway, last night was pretty great. I never really realized how much fun the main stage can be. I guess it’s not really about the cheese. There’s more. There’s the boxed wine. Take care. Talk to you soon.

J

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Jason Diaz is a Winnipeg-based writer and stay at home dad. His poetry and prose has been published in dark leisure magazine. Last year he joined the Thin Air collective and has been awaiting the festival’s arrival ever since. He has still only been interviewed by The Uniter once, and is sadly no longer licensed to drive forklift.