Great Lakes, Great Times

That is pretty much how it felt to be in Michigan yesterday, so a big way-to-go to the people who came up with that slogan and put it on the "Welcome to Michigan" signs that greet you when you enter that state: The front left seat in the top deck of the double-decker Megabus is by far the most coveted, at least by me, and yesterday that was the seat I got, the better to take pictures out the window of Indiana, my dear: It looks perfectly healthy here, I know, but do not be fooled... ...this was one seriously unwell Megabus. The poor thing broke down six times--six! times!--on the way from Chicago to Ann Arbor, but that was cool because the driver happened also to be an amateur mechanic, so he would just do this damage control where the hose would break, the pressure would get low (so he explained; I had no idea what he was talking about), he'd slow the bus to about 20 mph, put on the hazards, and limp it over to the shoulder of the road where he'd do something to "fix" it before pulling back on the highway at top speed until he had to do it all again five more times before we finally made it to our destination, only about an hour and 20 minutes late. Hail to the bus driver.

At Shaman Drum, Kyle and I got a short but rousing joint intro from the poet Ray McDaniel, pictured here, leaning against the shiny tiled table that made it feel like maybe we should be doing a cooking show: We read with Dzanc Books' very own Dan Wickett, pictured here, coaster-faced on the left, and I stayed with Rose Metal Press' Elizabeth Ellen, pictured on the right: In addition to being an all-around chill and courteous host, Elizabeth has two small Boston Terriers who are incredibly adorable, but almost impossible to photograph: On the way from dinner to the reading, we ran across the following sign in downtown Ann Arbor, which I am including here because keeping a fart joke all to yourself is selfish: Elizabeth and Aaron Burch do a lot of cool things, but one of the coolest is publishing Hobart magazine and running Short Flight/Long Drive Books which just released The Sicily Papers by Michelle Orange and Big World by Mary Miller, pictured here in a small stack in this self-portrait in a borrowed bedroom mirror: Thanks to EE for having me, to Dan for reading with us, and to everyone at Shaman Drum who came to listen!