“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago This outfit was for Storyfort‘s launch party to introduce the Treefort exclusive theme and show by Story Story Night, EXPOSED: I Did What? Stories. Somehow, no matter how blindly, I always live out the theme, with every beat of my raw and real heart. True to form, and theme, this event made a live segment of channel 6 news tonight, exposing my mug during the one story I really just wanted to release to the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll ether of Treefort, for just the launch of Storyfort. But there’s no such thing as my own private Idaho. Because there are more than 2 sides to every story. Stories are a prism, reflected back. Pamela McCoy rock-and-roll black leather …

With themes based on 90’s movies, it’s been a blast from the recent past at Story Story Night this season. Like tonight was CLUELESS: Airhead & As If Stories. I usually exploit my outfit as my first joke/theme intro, and I really wanted to call this one “Cher from Clueless Becomes Hillary Clinton’s Stylist,” because no one rocks a matching, totes profesh two piece (slash pantsuit) like those two ladies. Unfortunately, though I searched most of the thrift stores in Boise at the last minute looking for a yellow plaid pantsuit (because, like, duh, perfect Cher/Clinton synergy), I only had a red plaid combo that Hillary would likely never be caught dead in (because Republican red state fashion bias) that I had to make into a Cher-style mini-skirt with safety pins and duct tape. Also my only knee highs are super weird and look like a wild animal clawed them up on the sides. My red Gucci bag is a definite knock-off. And since I don’t quite have Cher’s thigh gap, I had to sit down very carefully …

Red alert. A fire in Grimes Creek is filling the Treasure Valley with smoke. When you wake, it smells of a campfire built at midnight right outside your window. Downtown turns into a hazy wilderness. As does your mind. It reminds me of the end of “Smoke,” a short story by the Boise-based writer Alan Heathcock, from his brilliant collection Volt. I went to see the film adaptation this weekend at the Death Rattle Writers Festival in Nampa, Idaho. The ending line of this story, as the film ended too, never fails to bring hot, stinging tears to my eyes, unbidden: “All that smoke was now just the air we breathe.” And then that Billy Joel song rolls through my ignited tumbleweed mind: “We didn’t start the fire / It was always burning / Since the world’s been turning / No we didn’t light it / But we tried to fight it.” Diane Freis bohemian beaded silk flower print dress (vintage 1980s) – $30, Acquired Again Antiques | Handmade Custom Leatherworks plaid wool & leather vest – $5, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | Frye boots – $200 | Geode gold necklace …