Last Flights Day
I was asked at short notice to do a reading yesterday for an arts fair called Hidden Door — a maze-like, multi-floor affair that was pretty darned cool. I decided to read from Finitude, since that's the thing I figure I should still be actively promoting.
I didn't want to just drone away, though, reading a teaser from my book then asking people to buy it. So I decided to make a game of it.
In one section of the book, the characters are faced with something called "Last Flights Day": The International Climate Coalition Government has declared that air travel is too damaging to the environment (which, in the book's world, is already very precarious) and that a particular day will be the last opportunity for long-distance travel. On Last Flights Day, you have to choose: Where will you go, once and for all?
I handed out fake airline tickets I'd made, each stamped with a unique number, and asked the audience members to tell me where they'd choose to go and why, and I did a draw later, giving out a blank book I'd made and a copy of Finitude.
The whole thing became a lot more fun — on both sides, I think, as the audience was personally engaged with the central idea in the chapter I was about to read, plus we were playing back and forth, dismantling some of that "I am up here and you are listening to me" hierarchy.
People's responses surprised me: I thought they're be about family, but a lot of them were about place, where they'd want to spend the rest of their days.
Here's what they said:
#591088: New Zealand
Because you can only sensibly get there by flying; although apparently when you get there it looks just like Scotland and the weather's just as bad.
#591080: France
To live happily ever after in a château.
#591081: London
To find myself and make the films I love.
#591089: Moscow
To walk home through a tropical North Europe.
#591085: Boulder, Colorado
It is beautiful, liberal, and has great summers + winters.
#591086: Sydney
Then I'd be home, & to be stuck there would be 'no bad thing'.
#591091: Home
It's where I want to be and stay.
#591098: Australia
Fun & sun & surfing.
#591094: Sedona, Arizona
Sitting on top of a red rock mountain — place I was totally content. Could go every day!
#591092: Abu Dhabi
My birthplace, which I have no memory of. To see an oil state, post-oil. To race my girlfriend back to Scotland on foot.
#591100: New Zealand
To be present to people and place. To learn to love.
#591093: Wick
To be with my beloved in our nest. [Hmm. Who was that now?]
I should create some kind of open bulletin board, 'cause I'd love to read lots more of these! Feel free to send me your Last Flights Day destination.
I didn't want to just drone away, though, reading a teaser from my book then asking people to buy it. So I decided to make a game of it.
In one section of the book, the characters are faced with something called "Last Flights Day": The International Climate Coalition Government has declared that air travel is too damaging to the environment (which, in the book's world, is already very precarious) and that a particular day will be the last opportunity for long-distance travel. On Last Flights Day, you have to choose: Where will you go, once and for all?
I handed out fake airline tickets I'd made, each stamped with a unique number, and asked the audience members to tell me where they'd choose to go and why, and I did a draw later, giving out a blank book I'd made and a copy of Finitude.
The whole thing became a lot more fun — on both sides, I think, as the audience was personally engaged with the central idea in the chapter I was about to read, plus we were playing back and forth, dismantling some of that "I am up here and you are listening to me" hierarchy.
People's responses surprised me: I thought they're be about family, but a lot of them were about place, where they'd want to spend the rest of their days.
Here's what they said:
#591088: New Zealand
Because you can only sensibly get there by flying; although apparently when you get there it looks just like Scotland and the weather's just as bad.
#591080: France
To live happily ever after in a château.
#591081: London
To find myself and make the films I love.
#591089: Moscow
To walk home through a tropical North Europe.
#591085: Boulder, Colorado
It is beautiful, liberal, and has great summers + winters.
#591086: Sydney
Then I'd be home, & to be stuck there would be 'no bad thing'.
#591091: Home
It's where I want to be and stay.
#591098: Australia
Fun & sun & surfing.
#591094: Sedona, Arizona
Sitting on top of a red rock mountain — place I was totally content. Could go every day!
#591092: Abu Dhabi
My birthplace, which I have no memory of. To see an oil state, post-oil. To race my girlfriend back to Scotland on foot.
#591100: New Zealand
To be present to people and place. To learn to love.
#591093: Wick
To be with my beloved in our nest. [Hmm. Who was that now?]
I should create some kind of open bulletin board, 'cause I'd love to read lots more of these! Feel free to send me your Last Flights Day destination.
