FULL STEAM AHEAD!

We had another death in the family last week. It’s a deep cut that, at least for me, alters the shape of our future. We are still experiencing great joy, still functioning, but there is a certain edge to our preparations to move out of our home of the last 18 months, out of Louisiana, with no clear idea when or if we will return to live here.

The Powers that Be are bound and determined to make our state, our country, our world less livable, if they can. I look at the cuts made to Federal programs and services—like NOAA for instance—and I wonder how anyone is supposed to live in Louisiana without the infrastructure to know what the weather is doing during hurricane season. I look at my experience in Hurricane Ida, how, my policy of staying in New Orleans for anything below a Category 3 storm suddenly became obsolete when Ida swiftly—too swiftly—upgraded from a 2 to a 4 in the space of a few hours.

My life is different now, but the stakes feel much higher now that I have someone to call home. The idea of taking my chances is a lot less tenable now that it’s not just me. I thought that having a partner was the exact same sort of bond—and maybe for other folx, it is, but not for me. Now that I’m married, it feels like playing at a different level. While I’m not the sort of old-fashioned guy who needs to be the Head and Protector of the household, but I do take seriously my membership in this team we’ve formed.

I know that Chicago is a target for the administration, and that moving there won’t solve all our problems, but that’s not what I’m hoping for. I’m hoping things will be just a bit easier. I’m hoping that engaging in a different community, studying and working will help launch us from our present plateau. I know stupid things happen there. I saw that the Chicago Sun Times ran a suggested reading article where almost all the books listed were “hallucinated” by AI. That sort of thing is galling to me not just as an author, but as a person forced to live in this era where so many people are enthusiastically determined to run in the stupidest direction they can find. What can we do about it except care as best we can for our family, friends, and loved ones?

At the rate I’m going, DEAD END BOYS will be ready to turn in by August. I’m still waiting to hear some specifics on what I’ll be doing over the summer, where I’ll be staying, but the book is a major priority. So is combatting the effects of all this anxiety and fear. Lately, Kechi and I have been swimming for an hour each day at a newly upgraded branch of the Baton Rouge YMCA. Before my current weight-loss journey, the time I felt best was when I was swimming for 90 minutes, three times a week, at the Dryades YMCA. When the Covid 19 lockdown began, I paused my membership and stopped swimming for fear of infection. I don’t know how much weight I lost during that period—I wasn’t weighing myself daily like I am now—but I know my body felt fantastic. It felt like it belonged to me, like I was in synch with it, pushing it into a new shape and becoming capable of more every day. I don’t remember how long that period lasted, but I know it was a turning point for me, and maybe without that experience I would have despaired when I fell ill instead of working to take my life back.

This weekend, I’ve got two fun events happening. Kechi and I will be on a Lafayette Comedy Festival show with Ariel Elias headlining. Ariel was a heavy hitter in the New Orleans comedy scene when I first started going up in 2012/2013, and I’ve kept an eye out for what she’s doing ever since. She moved to New York maybe 11 years ago, so I saw her a lot less, but she’s been blowing up, doing late night and booking a better class of gig since she had an onstage incident recorded and posted online. The whole thing went viral, and it was great to see her finally getting some of the attention she’s deserved for years. I know that to a lot of folx, Ariel looks like an overnight success, and honestly, her example has taught me a lot about that designation. Sure, sometimes people burst onto a level of attention without plugging away quietly for many years, but it’s a lot more rare than outsiders tend to think. I’ll be hosting the show, and that’s something I’ve been missing in my life for a while now.

The other thing I’m doing is teaching an SFF writing workshop on Saturday Afternoon at the Jones Creek branch of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library. I’m super-excited to engage with students and help them create or refine their approach to work in this field! I’ll let everybody know once the summer is nailed-down (or not). If I can leave you with anything, maybe it’s that we don’t have to play this stupid game. We don’t have to pretend that up is down, form is void, and lies are truth.

So, let’s not.