I got to know the airline employees who worked at the airport and the crews that worked flights from Indianapolis to various destinations. I developed systems and coping strategies.
A good work friend can be a saving grace, and Brian certainly was that for me.īeing on the road was fairly solitary, but the routine of travel became familiar over the years. We also talked about things that had nothing to do with work: travel, his garden, a great restaurant that recently opened and small town festivals we stumbled upon. population 72,000 - as openly queer people of color. We would talk about the program where we both taught and which he chaired, our own writing, campus politics, the challenges of living in Lafayette, Ind. I did, however, have my work friend Brian Leung, a wonderful writer and person. There were some old, bent bookshelves, a desk from the 1960s and a filing cabinet.
My last office was a desperately grim room that was filthy when I moved in. I had a day job as a creative writing professor for most of that time, but I was on campus only one or two days a week, and I did the rest of my work remotely. Since 2014, I have traveled almost constantly, touring the country and, sometimes, the world.
