It would be impossibly rude to blog before returning some seriously overdue emails, so, in the interim period wherein I attend to a few other more pressing matters before posting my full account of Cali, join me in breathlessly awaiting updates from other, most definitely more adventurous treks: Jami Attenberg is in Montana and promising daily photo updates, and, after a noticeable absence, Cory Bush posted his first notes on Thailand.
I've really been enjoying travel writing lately - I love that idea, of finding a sense of place somewhere wholly unfamiliar, and how surprisingly easy and challenging that can be at the same time - and I wish I'd taken notes on my trip to Martha's Vineyard exactly one year ago with one of my favorite people in the whole world, Claire. Recently done with less-than-stellar work experiences, she and I explored the whole of the island while also spending hours sketching out in broad strokes how exactly we'd transform our lives, if only we weren't so burned out and disillusioned.
It's a year later, and I can honestly say that my life is wholly transformed, although I can't say I did much real planning then, besides picking up cigarettes when we ran errands in town and driving an extra few minutes to the cheap liquor store. At one point, we did have some discussion about how to get to Nantucket (the ferry wasn't running yet and taking the car off-island verboten). I couldn't believe how badly I wanted to see the Sailors' Valentines at the Whaling Museum. We quite sarcastically floated the idea over dinner with visiting friends of using our only possible resource, the canoe under the deck, to traverse the fifteen or twenty miles of open sea. Surprisingly, we received several excruciatingly thoughtful replies on why that might not be such a good idea. Always from men, darling. Claire's in Ecuador at the moment, and I can't wait to hear all about every single thing when she returns. Same goes for my dear brother, traveling in Costa Rica with college friends this week.
Related from the LL archives: Andre on politics in Zimbabwe and cafes and Jozi hipsters in South Africa, and Luke on working underground in Paris.
Recommended: Paul Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China, Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel, and Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger (who has an essay about being asked to tour universities in China excerpted* in The Guardian this week [via The Elegant Variation].)
*David Foster Wallace-style multi-layered, intricately contextual footnote: the essay is from Bookmark Now, the new anthology on writing edited by Kevin Smokler. Kevin is a friend and a client whose event at Galapagos next Tuesday I'm working to publicize. Around The Bloc author Stephanie Elizondo Griest, as well as other New York-based Bookmark Now contributors, including Elizabeth Spiers and Hipster Handbook author Robert Landham, will be reading from their contributions to the book. It's actually my birthday on the 7th, so, if you find yourself in New York next week, please do come out and join us for what promises to be a fabulous, no-cover evening of words, drinks, and giveaways.
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