I’m about to turn 52, but 2 years ago this guy Rob Trucks interviewed me for a book he was writing of interviews with people turning 50. The one he did with me just got published on Jezebel. He caught me in the middle of my menopausal insanity phase, which I’m happy to say has more or less passed.
Hol and I are on Cape Cod. On our way we stopped in at the Edward Gorey Museum.
Here I am with the sculpture of The Doubtful Guest.
A few days after this we trekked with friends out to see the seals who congregate on a quiet sandbar. There were hundreds of them lolling about in the sun.
A naturalist there explained that most of them were gray seals, and a few were harbor seals. The harbor seals are smaller and cuter, with “cocker spaniel faces,” while the gray seals can be distinguished by their Roman nose, or “horse face.” (photo below is not mine, I grabbed it from google image search.)
Holly was struck by the resemblance to The Doubtful Guest. And now we wonder if the seals were perhaps Gorey’s inspiration for that compelling character. He wrote TDG in 1957. I don’t know when he started coming to the Cape, or if he ever ventured out to look at seals. But it’s an interesting hypothesis.
How melancholy I would feel as a child when I sat down to watch The Brady Bunch or The Partridge Family, only to discover that the episode was a re-run. All hope and optimism drained out of me. Life suddenly seemed a stale, if not futile, proposition.
Of course I would watch the re-run anyway, and soon get caught up in the story all over again.
Yesterday I received the latest issue of Lesbian Connection in the mail. For some time now they have been reprinting old episodes of Dykes To Watch Out For. I have mixed feelings about this. I’m touched that they think the cartoons are still interesting. But mostly I feel mortified by these outdated and irrelevant strips seeing the light of day.
The episode in the latest issue is from 1989. It’s about Sparrow’s self-righteous friend Milkweed coming off the lesbian farm for a visit.
But just as I was rolling my eyes about this, Hol started reading me a letter on the preceding page of LC—a screed about the “animal industrial complex” by someone who lives on a queer vegan animal sanctuary in Southern Vermont.
Milkweed lives! I feel a flicker of hope.
This is my re-creation of the cover of Patricia Highsmith’s pseudonymous lesbian novel which came out in paperback in 1952 or 1953. (I drew this as one of my top ten books for the Unpacking My Library project that I blogged about two years ago.)
W.W. Norton has just re-issued the works of Highsmith as e-books. Check out their great website. You can “choose your Highsmith” by answering a branching list of funny questions about what exactly you’re in the mood to read. And you can see a 3 minute promotional video with people like Joanne Schenkar and Terry Castle and me (Alas,no! I did not get to meet the infamous Castle or the mysterious Schenkar…we were all interviewed separately.) talking about Highsmith’s work.
Patricia Highsmith – EBooks Now Available from WW Norton on Vimeo.
Hmmm. The phrase “westward ho” is kind of ruined forever…but I am heading westward this week to the San Diego Comic-Con. And although I am not exactly being paid for my favors, I am getting free travel, a hotel room, and a $50/day meal stipend. I’m not sure if that constitutes prostitution on my part or not.
I’ll be doing a bunch of things at Comic-Con, including a signing at the Prism booth on Thursday 7/12 from 4:30 to 6. I’ll also be at the 25th anniversary of the Gays in Comics panel. And I’ll be on the “No Straight Lines” panel with Justin Hall who just edited the massive anthology No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics for Fantagraphics.
Here is Dr. Winnicott a few weeks ago, soon after my return from Chicago, looking imploringly at me from my suitcase.
Irresistible Revolution: Confronting race, class and the assumptions of LGBT politics is coming out from Magnus Press in July! Here’s the synopsis:
From one of the nation’s best-known social justice leaders and community activists comes a strategic and informed argument about the pitfalls of limited political vision, and the benefits of an agenda that encompasses, yet moves beyond, equality.
Yeah!
Magnus is a small, independent press. Pre-orders help a lot in terms of the number of books each vendor orders from the publisher. Through these links you can order it from Women and Children First, Powells.com, Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble.
I just finished my teaching stint at the U of Chicago. Here are some of my wonderful students working on their minicomics at the end of the quarter.
I schlepped myself back home to VT last Saturday, but am out on the road briefly. I did a reading in Portsmouth NH last night, and tonight I will be in Western MA!
If you’re in the environs of South Hadley, come hear me read from my new book Are You My Mother? at The Odyssey Bookshop at 7pm.
And tomorrow, Saturday, 6/16 I will be in BTV! At the Amy Tarrant Gallery at the Flynn, 6pm.
Tuesday the 19th I’ll be at the Galaxy in Hardwick, 7pm.
And Tuesday the 26th all be at Bear Pond! Montpelier! 7pm.
I did it. A twelve city book tour in twelve days. Finishing up in Portlandia, a Powells sponsored event at the Bagdad Theater.
The Portland reading was kind of tame compared to last night’s event in Seattle. In Seattle I signed a dildo harness for the first time. Tomorrow I head back to Chicago, and teaching.
The awesome Nicole Georges was in the audience today. Afterward she gave me a copy of the galleys for her upcoming graphic memoir, Calling Dr. Laura.
And last night in Seattle I saw Ellen Forney and her mom. Ellen’s graphic memoir Marbles will be out this November.
I had two interesting encounters with Portland faucets today. Perhaps this is just hallucinatory fatigue, but they seem to have such beseeching expressions.
My Osprey suitcase saga has continued…more failure today, and much precious downtime spent on a futile repair effort.
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So tomorrow, back to Chicago. I have a signing on Wednesday the 16th at Women and Children First. And next weekend, I will be participating in this amazing conference at the U of Chicago that my co-teacher Hillary Chute is producing. Check it out, it’s kind of mind-blowing. Comics: Philosophy and Practice. Unfortunately the registration is full. But it seems like it’s going to be pretty wild.
On my 12-day cross country schlep, my new Osprey suitcase failed. The handle would come completely free from its shaft, then wouldn’t retract at crucial moments. Like when I was trying to shove it into the overhead compartment while blocking 75 annoyed people from getting to their seats. It was really stressful on top of everything else I’m managing on this trip.
I didn’t have any time to deal with it. I sort of got it to work occasionally, but it kept losing its shit at the most inopportune junctures. Finally today in LA I had time to call the company. It’s a new suitcase, I bought it in October. The customer service people did not say Dude, that so sucks, I’m sorry! But they did direct me unapologetically to a video on their website that would show you how to fix the problem with a phillips head screwdriver and some duct tape.
I called the front desk at the hotel and they immediately provided me with these items.
In a few short steps, I repaired the suitcase. One of the rails inside the shafts had come disconnected. A little tape did the trick.
This gave me a tremendous sense of satisfaction. But I am still kind of annoyed by the whole thing. After returning the tape and screwdriver to the front desk, I noticed this cryptic message as I got off the elevator.
I had a great time at the LA public library ALOUD series tonight. Lots of friends, including Eloise Klein Healy, Jack Halberstam, and my high school boyfriend were there.
Very refreshing indeed.
I am on day 10 of my book tour, heading today to LA.
Our blog pal June Thomas just put up a conversation with me about Are You My Mother? on her nonfiction books podcast over at Slate, The Afterword.