No on ever told me there’d be days like this. When you want to be 5 places at once… and you manage to make it to 3. But everyone has them now. Especially those like me with Creative ADD.
The day like that this year was September 21st, Peace Day, which for months I’d been planning to lead a Zumba-inspired movement-based community meditation and reading of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But at the promo video shoot, both cameras recorded backwards (off when we thought they were on), and the Peace Festival I helped get on the map didn’t pick up what I was putting down. (In fact, people walked out of the room when I started talking. It happens.)
The bright side was now I only had two places to be at once instead of three. And one of them was Ocean Beach on a perfect, sparkling fall day—with thirty other women and some men in vintage bathing suits and sashes. We recreated this 1925 photo of Bathing Beauties on the Boardwalk:
Ta-dah!
Oh, and while I was there, I couldn’t resist making a statement. I was missing a climate protest somewhere…. and was running numbers in the back of my mind…
I dipped into the bathroom of the Beach Chalet for a quick costume change, said goodbye to the fabulous people who were dressed just like in the Diego Rivera Murals there, and darted down the road to the Hyatt in Burlingame for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Fall Book Discovery Show. Because this year, my book is in the market!
Conference highlights included meeting human embodiments of my characters… in the form of a tiny lady with big feet and a larger-than-life famous drag queen! I met a bunch of great bookstore owners and hope to do more readings in the new year.
On the way to and from and around and back, a trunk full of costume changes and stacks of books, I managed to call long lost friends and bring back dinner for movie night.
Between human rights, historic preservation, climate calming, and literary goodness, I hope I made a difference.
Links:
- Every Man, Woman and Child Human Rights Music Project
- Climate Back to 1929 – a resource for Time Travelers
- The Souls of Her Feet – have you read it yet? Thanks for your review!
- Drag Queen Story Time – meet Mutha Chucka
