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Some thoughts (and many thank yous) regarding the 10th anniversary of Vermin on the Mount.

I’m still trying to get my mind around the fact that Vermin on the Mount turned ten years old this month. A decade. That’s a lot of stories, essays, poems and drunken rants. During those 10 years I grew a beard, got married, moved to San Diego, got sober, shaved my beard, etc. A lot of living because ten years is a long time, but in the arts 10 years is a lifetime.

Humans, there’s a term you better learn if you want to continue your domination of planet earth: “anthropogenic destruction.” Otherwise, it’s our turn.

Certain animals and geographic regions have been hit hardest. The largest animals—”megafauna” in biologist lingo—such as elephants, rhinoceroses, polar bears, and other mammals, have slow reproductive rates and require large habitats.

Take the big animals out of the food chain, and what are you left with?

Rats.

New developments in my quest to create an immortal legion of vermin.

Two-year-old mice were given a compound over a week, moving back the key indicators of ageing to that of a six-month-old mouse. Researchers said this was the equivalent of making a 60-year-old person feel like a 20-year-old.

Don’t be bitten.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Vermin on the Mount in Los Angeles and San Diego last weekend. We had a gang of magnificent readers, great turnout, and we gave away a ton of merchandise in the world-famous Vermin raffle. In Los Angeles, two amazing things happened.

Shortly before the reading was getting ready to start, a woman approached me and asked if my name was Jim Ruland. When I told her it was, she handed me a contract. It seems that Vanessa Place — a poet, performance artist and lawyer — had leased her reading spot to another poet, Kim Calder. They’d drawn up a contract, signed it, and presented it to me the day of the show. (You can read the terms and conditions of the contract above.) Although I joked about leaving a bad Yelp review of Vanessa Place’s poetry corporation, I thought this was a marvelous stunt. Kim read a short series of poems, including the gorgeous, “The Secret Index to the Past,” which you can read at Joyland Poetry and encourage you to do so.

The second amazing thing concerns longtime supporter of VOTM and Legion of Vermin member Carolyn Kellogg. Carolyn has been coming to Vermin events for ten years and although she doesn’t come around as often as she used to, when she does, she always seems to win something in the raffle. So when I was giving away the last prize of the night, I made a prediction that Carolyn would win.

And she did. Again. We need to go shopping for lottery tickets or go eat a plate of shrimp.

Thanks for reading. I’ll post some photos of the events soon. The next Vermin on the Mount will be held on Friday April 18 at 7:30pm at Book Show in Frogtown.

VOTM: What’s the strangest experience you’ve ever had at a literary event?

YOUNGER: At one of the first TV appearances I’ve done in promoting the book, the host introduced me not as “award-winning journalist” or “author” like other have (cue the author bio), but as “Disaster Expert Sandra Millers Younger.” Who knew?

Journalist SANDRA MILLERS YOUNGER is the author of The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California’s Epic Cedar Fire. Sandra’s writing credits range from academic journals to Seventeen magazine. Drawn to journalism by the opportunity to explore diverse subjects, meet fascinating people, and ask endless questions, she has written about everything from garden mulch to bionics. During 10 years spent researching and writing “The Fire Outside My Window,” she did more than 100 interviews with subject experts, first responders, fire survivors, and families of victims. For the past ten years, Bob, Sandra and their Newfoundland dogs have lived in Wildcat Canyon, where 12 of the Cedar Fire’s 15 victims died.

Come see Younger read at 3rdSpace on Saturday, August 24 at 7pm.

If you’re looking for a place to write in San Diego, look no further. Every Tuesday from 1pm to 5pm come to 3rd Space and write alongside like-minded creative people. Whether you’re looking for inspiration for a new project or finishing your work-in-project, Writer’s Block provides the time and space.

Writer’s Block convenes in the conference room but you’re free to work anywhere in the facility. If you’ve been to a Vermin on the Mount event in San Diego, you know how inspiring 3rd Space can be.

For more details, send a message to Pete McConnell.

Did you know 826LA Echo Park is in the running for $100,000?

That’s a good thing because since spring of 2012 826LA Echo Park has hosted Vermin on the Mount at no cost.

You can show your gratitude and support the great work that they do in LA by voting for them.

It only takes a minute and you can register through Facebook. And if you de-select the “send me email” box you won’t hear from them ever again.

But hurry — the voting ends Wednesday, April 17 at 12pm (Echo Park time).