These first two weeks of November 2016 have been quite interesting and eye opening. We have entered into a new world overnight and the country will be in shock for quite a while. My experience with this election has been a strange one. The election came right before the beginning of the book tour I have been planning for a year. My attention has been split for many months as I organized and financed this trip.
The Argentinian author Antonia flew in three days before the election and went with me to vote. She was excited about the democratic process and believes voting is such an important right. Together with Vanessa we worriedly watched the polls come in on election night. The next morning we were worried as a hope had been crushed.
And here we are Antonia and I launching our book tour to share stories of Latina women and their experiences coming out as lesbian or bisexual. Our first two events were in New Orleans and were very interesting. These locations had a nice turnout likely because I live here and have connections. We had a dozen people in our first event and questions at the end to Antonia and to myself about the book, the women portrayed within, and the translation process.
Affecting and inspiring people is the most important part of this monumental effort. Both Antonia and I have expended countless hours to make this book in English and put much money into this trip. The trip is very long, totaling 35 days, with 13 cities and 16 book presentations. After the first few days more relaxed in my home, we have hit the road, or more accurately, the skies and flying across the country, Texas, California, later Midwest and East coast. Our girlfriends are both stressed too and annoyed with such long time apart, but they both support our effort and our goal.
We are keeping a blog so that we can record the uniqueness of each event, as different people come and share their stories and why they took time out of their lives to sit with us and hear about the book. We are touched by all of their contributions to our discussions, their attention and their interest in the book. People have been buying books both in Spanish, Mujeres al Borde de una Palabra and in English, Words of Fire! Women Loving Women in Latin America.
So far we are very pleased with the trip and this experience is truly amazing and one-of-a-kind. For me to get to know personally the author whose voice I translated for years is inspiring. Thank you to our hosts so far: New Orleans LGBT Community Center, Tulane University sponsors the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Newcomb College Institute, Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity, Spanish department, to Professor Houck, Professor Pavlovic, Professor Wolfe, also to Bookwoman in Austin, TGQ Social in Austin and Drifter Jack's Hostel in Austin.
The journey has only just begin. Follow Words of Fire trip details at www.wordsoffire2016.com and facebook.com/wordsoffirewomenlovingwomeninlatinamerica
