Lots of us took various trains to Brooklyn last night to The Old Stone House in Park Slope. I came from downtown on the #3. Kristina, Jim, and Charlie came in from New Jersey. Sarah came from the Upper West Side, the sister of mom-blogger KAL from Austim Twins came to represent their family, and lots of other folks as well.
Brooklyn has been a destination for quite some time, but last night it was a destination for autism moms and dads thanks to the hospitality of Louise Crawford, who runs Brooklyn Reading Works and blogs at Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.
Originally Fathersvox and I planned on going with Sweet M, with the two of them working as my sweet roadies to sell my book. But at the last minute, as I was going over what I was going to be reading aloud that evening, I had second thoughts. How would Sweet M feel to hear me reading to a room full of people about her episode in the St. Thomas airport? How would she feel hearing me read about her troubles with enuresis and my troubles with oughtism?
In the end we decided that Fathersvox and Sweet M would stay home. Our excuse to ourselves was that it was a school night and she wouldn't be home until 11 from the 8-10 reading, but the real reason was that I didn't want her to be embarassed or feel she was being made a spectacle. Of course this raises the questions that so many of us think about — about the privacy of our families and especially our children.
Then when Kristina arrived with Jim and Charlie, I momentarily thought I'd made a mistake. I was wishing Fathersvox and Sweet M were with me. Wishing that Sweet M and Charlie could go for a walk with their dads. Wouldn't that be so much fun?!?!
What Kristina read, among them one of my personal favoritess, The Wages of Autism, and Sappho's new poem and translating Charlie wouldn't have been any source of embarassment for Charlie. Her language remains so eloquent and constant in its theme of infinite affection and gratitude for her sweet boy not in spite of his autism, but with all of him. Very moving, as ever, and a model for me of how to live on the other side of hopes — the full instead of the less.
More on the fullness of the reading in the days to come — it was a wonderful and affirming evening for me — and hopefully a podcast courtesy of a wonderful little device from Belkin* that converted Sweet M's iPod into a digital recorder for the evening and Kristina's tech person, who will teach us how to upload audioclips!
*as usual, full disclosure, this site does not receive any support for product endorsements. If and when it ever does, you will be the first to know!
