Miami marathon

March 15th, 2007

I just finished a two-day visit to Miami Dade College, sponsored by the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, during which I talked about Fun Home to a staggering array of classes, from Art to English to Human Growth and Development to The Graphic Novel. Plus the Gay Straight Alliance. And a stopoff at the Broward County Public Library.

The library reading last night was really interesting. It was a small crowd of mostly older gay men who are about the age my dad (the subject of my memoir Fun Home) would be. I’ve been getting kind of burnt out reading from my book over and over to people—it’s increasingly difficult to feel connected to what I’m saying. But reading to these guys last night, it felt very immediate again. The most moving part was meeting a lesbian about my age who’d come with her gay dad.

Here I am with Leidy and Xio Fuentes at the GSA meeting. We had a rousing discussion about Harriet the Spy, among other things.

Tomorrow I fly home to VT. Here’s a movie of a big bird flying around my Miami hotel balcony this afternoon. What kind is it?

Back in the Stacks

March 15th, 2007

The Marshall, Missouri Public Library Board of Trustees just voted to return both Fun Home and Craig Thompson’s graphic novel Blankets to the library’s shelves. Here’s an article about it in the Marshall Democrat-News.