T, my housemate-to-be, was telling me about the intensive book tour he recently completed for his book on the history of sushi in America: four weeks of flying into cities, checking into hotels, signing books, giving readings, being taken out to restaurants (mainly sushi of course), interviewed for radio and newspaper and even television... It's an incredible high, he says. Even if only a few people come to your signing, you feel on top of the world. As people line up to get you to sign your newest book they say the nicest things - how much they loved your last book, how they love the way you write, how much they're looking forward to reading the next one.
And then, he said, they're all gone, and you're all alone in a strange city without friends.
Until the next day, when it all begins again.
It's emotionally wrenching. The stresses and strains, the highs and lows, of teaching and the academic life are nothing by comparison. (In particular I realize, hearing him talking, how grateful I am never to be entirely alone - always part of a school, a department, a discipline, an educational culture. Not to mention the students!)
T's in town for the taping of an episode of Iron Chef America tomorrow morning, where he will be a guest judge for a fish cook-off. I don't get cable (though I suspect I could get a tape of this!), but if you happen to you might catch him flying high!
