Birmingham is exploding with energy but jet-lagged me is not. Plus the computer I'm using—free e-mail terminals at the central library—is about to disconnect me. So all I can say right now is:

- Aisle seats seem like a good idea but on international flights but they're not, because everybody going by to the bathroom brushes against you or bangs your elbow and keeps you awake.

- Burton Hatlan, who used to edit Sagetrieb and is here in part to announce the rebirth of Paideuma as a magazine dedicated to modernist poetry generally and not just Ezra Pound, sat across the ailse from me and probably discovered the same thing.

- Ben Friedlander is also here and I hope to make his acquaintance.

- Barrett Watten is here and I plan to attend a panel that he's co-chairing.

- Birmingham is exciting and young and very cosmopolitan feeling. I look forward to exploring it.

- Did I mention the jet lag?

There you have it. More updates to follow.