Last week I described my trip home with the few words “on Monday I drove home”; however, as I said in the previous sentence, I wrote that on Sunday night. As it turned out, the trip back was not so easy; when I tried to start my truck in Shreveport after returning the rental I had taken to New Orleans, it behaved as though it was out of gas despite having nearly a full tank. None of Grace’s suggestions resulted in any change, so I found a garage which was willing to take me immediately; unfortunately AAA took so long to arrive there was no way they could fix it that day, so I was stuck overnight. Needless to say, I was not happy; I get very upset when my plans are disrupted, especially by machines. I resolved to lessen the impact as much as possible by finding a new garage 100 miles closer to home and using my maximum towing allowance, so as to shorten my trip the next day; luckily, the tow truck driver and manager were both very sweet and helpful, and by the time we arrived I was in a much better mood than when we left. I also think my professionalism had a lot to do with it; long years in sex work trained me to bury bad moods instantly when in the presence of strangers, so that I can be a charming and interesting companion and conversationalist. Anyhow, the problem turned out to be a bad fuel pump (we had only changed it in September) and as soon as that was replaced, I was on my way and got home Tuesday afternoon. At some point that same day, this article by Nathan Goodman was published on the blog of the Center for a Stateless Society; it’ll give you an idea of what I spoke about in New Orleans and how it was received by the audience.
Anyhow, I spent the rest of the week trying to get ahead on my work, but unfortunately other concerns got in my way (losing a whole day didn’t help, either). One nice break from all that was the arrival of a birthday present from Kevin Wilson, namely a copy of Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark” with new illustrations by Mahendra Singh. Thank you, Kevin! Today I’m on my way to Kansas City, from which I’ll depart on a train tomorrow morning to speak at Loyola University in Chicago tomorrow night. Then Thursday afternoon I’ll be boarding another train which will take me to Seattle, where I’ll be appearing Sunday night at the Foundation for Sex-Positive Culture. I’ll tell you all about that next week!
