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October 13th, 2006

I never should have tempted fate by saying Toronto this morning was my worst airport experience to date. It’s midnight, and I just got home from Chicago an hour ago. I spent eight and a half hours in O’Hare. I woke up to leave Toronto at 6:30 this morning. Forget driving–I could have walked from Ontario to Burlington in that time.

The worst thing—apart from having my flight get pushed later and then canceled, and then having the next flight pushed later and later, and the airport wifi being down, and the squatting on the floor next to outlets to charge my phone and laptop, and the endless double takes in the ladies’ room, and the small fortune I spent on disgusting food—the worst thing was that the reason the whole airport was bollixed up was because Bush flew into Chicago today. There was some weather problem too, but I prefer to blame that bastard.

On the upside, I saw tons of lesbians.

So I landed in Burlington and hiked out to my car and started it up, and the guy on the radio was just announcing the next piece. Philip Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi. Life out of balance.

the big book ban

October 12th, 2006

Thank you so much, everyone, for all your posts on the progress of the Marshall Public Library situation. This is getting even more complex than the Michigan Womyn’s fest trans policy posts.

It sounds like the latest development is some kind of procedural stall, temporarily removing the books (Fun Home, and Craig Thompson’s Blankets) until the library develops a collections policy. Whatever.
But look! The Marshall Democrat-News is quoting folks from this blog in their coverage of the issue. Pretty sweet. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Airport Whine

October 12th, 2006

Worst airport experience to date: Toronto. I arrived there at 7:30am this morning, which seemed excessively early for a 10am flight. But when I got inside the terminal, the line for check-in was so long it spilled out of the staked-off corral for what seemed like hundreds of yards. Read the rest of this entry »

“This is Not A Reading,” Toronto

October 12th, 2006

I did a really fun event last night with Ivan Coyote in Toronto. This great indy bookstore Pages produces something called the “Not A Reading” series. I think the idea is, it’s not just people reading from books but doing some element of performance as well. Which I qualified for with my powerpoint show. It was held in the bar of a groovy hotel, and the audience was very hip and jaded. The place was packed, with people sitting on the floor and standing in the back and spilling beer. The brilliant comedian Elvira Kurt emceed. Ivan did not read from her just-out first novel Bow Grip, but performed three amazing stories. Then there was a break, then Elvira performed more—a very funny bit about now nice it would be if adults could get carried around in those baby slings—then I read.

I don’t know what it is about Toronto, but for some reason I’m like a rock star here. I mean, people like me well enough in the States, I’m not complaining. But in Toronto I get a subtly different response—there’s an actual thrill in the air. It’s great, but I never know quite what to do with it. Like, afterward, some of the people who came up to get their books signed were so flustered to meet me they couldn’t speak clearly. Rock star!

It was a great evening. But it sucked the last drop of life out of me, after a day spent traveling from Michigan and doing an intense interview with the editor of the magazine Exclaim! and going to bookstores and signing stuff. I got 5 hours of sleep before starting out on my journey home.

I’d show you pictures, but I left my camera in Toronto. I’ve been doing so well keeping track of all my electronic devices and chargers and batteries on my travels—I think forgetting the camera is a sign that I’m finally starting to unravel.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

October 11th, 2006

I got quite a cardiovascular workout at the University of Michigan yesterday. Breakfast at 7 with Gabe from the Office of LGBT Affairs. Then at 8, the awe-inspiring cartoonist Phoebe Gloeckner picked me up at 8 and drove me to the School of Art and Design, where I spoke to her graphic novel class for an hour. Then I was whisked back to the Office of LGBT Affairs (love that name) where I met with the infamous Holly Hughes and some of her grad students from the School of Art and Design. Then I did a brown bag lunch discussion, for which I felt somewhat ill-prepared. I need to work on my extemporaneous speaking skills

After that, I talked one-on-one with some flabbergastingly smart and directed students. Then I went back to my room and lapsed into a coma for an hour and a half. Then I woke up and finished preparing my powerpoint thing for the evening. Then I had dinner with a bunch of folks from the O of LGBT A. Then we rushed across campus and set up for my presentation. Then I talked about DTWOF and read from Fun Home to a delightful crowd. Then I signed a slew of books. One of the people in line turned out to be an elementary school chum, Becky Foster, so after signing more books for the bookstore and posing for pictures with the O of LGBT A people, Becky and I went out for a drink. I had more human interaction in those fifteen hours than I’ve had in the past five years.

I was much too frenzied to think about taking pictures of all this. But here’s a shot from the extremely pleasurable dinner I had the previous night with Holly Hughes and her partner Esther Newton, who both teach at U Mich.

And here’s a shot from the booksigning kindly shared by Garrett of Daddy Zine.

update on the potential book ban

October 6th, 2006

Media Bistro has a nice little post about the effort to ban my book Fun Home and Craig Thompson’s Blankets from the Marshall, Missouri Public Library. The board of trustees met Wednesday night and tabled the final decision until next week.

Oberlin College, Oberlin OH

October 4th, 2006

I had a great time today at Oberlin, my alma mater. Here I am wandering about nostalgically.

Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cleveland OH

October 4th, 2006

The august Harvey Pekar introduced me at my reading last night. That felt a little wrong, sort of like the Grateful Dead opening for Phish. But it was very lovely. Harvey’s wife Joyce Brabner came too. There wasn’t a huge crowd, but the bookstore had an amazing technical setup, with a nice big screen so everyone could see. That’s often such a problem. I’m getting a little travel-worn, I’m afraid, and spaced out about taking any photos. But fortunately Christine Hahn of the Cleveland Gay People’s Chronicle came to the rescue and supplied me with this shot of Harvey and me. Check out Christine’s blog and sketch diary. She’s apparently as fascinated with drawing Crocs as I am.

Banned in Missouri?

October 3rd, 2006

Cool. From the Marshall Democrat-News:

Louise Mills of Marshall (Missouri) is requesting that two graphic novels — “Fun Home,” by Alison Bechdel and “Blankets,” by Craig Thompson — be removed from the library because she feels that the books are inappropriate. Mills has filed forms with the library to request the removal of the books. Mills could not be reached for comment Tuesday, Oct. 3.

DTWOF episode 496

October 3rd, 2006

Here ya go. Read the rest of this entry »