On the road again we drove through endless gorgeous countryside, with wildflowers blooming everywhere. San Francisco offered moments of sanity after the hustle of LA.
The event at City Lights was one of the best of the whole tour — almost too much fun.
Hiya and Jonathan, Jen K, and Gordon were just a few of the friends I caught up with. The cheese posse from Rainbow gave us a cooler full of tasty food that lasted the rest of the journey; I was still eating the ginger cookies on the flight to the UK.
Portland – what can I say? There was a party at the 19th street house and I slouched on a sofa overwhelmed with nostalgia as I talked to Anna Ruby, Ana Helena, Stevie, and Marisa. People grabbed me and held on tight; I’ve missed the rampant physicality of these people more than I knew.
The event at Reading Frenzy was hugely fun, thanks to the beneficence of Chloe. During the Q&A I said all sorts of things I did not mean, with assistance from the rowdy crowd.
Stevie mischievously asked So Bee, why do you have cancer?
I replied Maybe a wheat allergy, or possibly negative thinking.
We laughed and laughed. I’m not sure if the audience got the joke.
The Seattle reading was always going to be the hardest: after all, the book alleges that the environmental toxins of my hometown poisoned my body. Saying so to an audience of locals was alarming, but at least my cousins didn’t show up.
I reminded myself that I moved away, on purpose. More than once. The anxiety I felt over being there was redeemed by the fact that I was able to see Jeffrey, Scott, Jenni, and Tizzy.
Onward to Olympia and the tender care of Stella and Al, who organized a really great event and then threw an excellent party. I talked to scores of people I didn’t know when we were all in college together.
Cliched but true: youth is wasted on the young.