Road Trip
Here’s a slightly crazy idea, which I would appreciate people’s feedback on.
I am seriously considering flying home to the USA, where I haven’t set foot in almost twelve years, getting into a rental vehicle with my friend Hugo Fernandez, who is a Professor of Photography, and driving across the country, talking to Americans about America and taking pictures of everything along the way.
The goal would be to paint a portrait of contemporary America, as other writers and photographers have done in the past, and publish the result as a book.
There are several reasons why this idea is slightly crazy and probably will not work.
For starters, I’m getting old, so I am not the same the gonzo-type road warrior I was back in the day. This journey, if it happened, would not be a mescaline-and-cocaine-fueled kamakazi nosedive into savage weirdness. Or, OK, maybe we could squeeze a peyote trip in somewhere out in the New Mexico desert, but mostly it would be two old geezers hanging out and talking to people about America.
And there’s the next reason why this idea is slightly crazy, i.e., people. Will they want to talk to me? I would want to talk to all kinds of different Americans from all across the political spectrum. Given how polarized the country is nowadays, I don’t know if that’s even possible. Honestly, based on the amount of hostility I’ve experienced over the course of the last five years, from people on both the “left” and the “right,” I am a little worried that someone might shoot me.
And then there’s money. I would try to hit my publisher up for some, of course, but a road trip like this would not be cheap, and I’m not an A-list literary big wig, so, odds are, I would have to raise some myself, and I have a sense that a lot of my readers are not rolling in disposable income these days. I just got finished urging (or pressuring) my Substack subscribers to purchase the new edition of my novel, and many of them donated to my “legal defense fund” last year, and, well, how often can you ask people for money before you come off as some kind of mooch?
So I think I would be looking for a few large sponsors, or patrons, people who could make serious contributions to the project, and who would of course get prominently acknowledged in the book, rather than trying to crowd-fund from working people on budgets who have already sent me more money than they probably should have.
One thing that might make this idea more attractive to my publisher is if I did a few readings and book-signings along the way. It might be a little too short-notice to set that up, though … I don’t know. I’m just spitballing here.
Anyway, that’s the basic idea. A road trip across the USA in September and October. Then a book about it, published sometime next year.
Here’s the kind of feedback I’m looking for.
Would you want to buy and read such a book?
Do you live in a city, town, or area that embodies a key aspect of contemporary America? If so, where? And what is that key aspect?
Would you be willing to meet and talk with me and appear in the book?
Is this a project you could support financially? Again, I realize a lot of folks are struggling, so this question is directed to those readers who are not struggling.
Do you know of a local bookstore or other such venue that might want to host a reading/book-signing event?
Would you promise not to shoot me?
As I mentioned in my previous post, there are over 34,000 of you (i.e., subscribers), and a fair number of non-subscribers read my essays, so I think that’s a pretty good sample from which to gauge people’s enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for this potential project.
I would be grateful for your thoughts (or even just a quick “do it”/“don’t do it”) in the Comments below. I’ll decide whether to go ahead based on the response.
Oh, and here’s one of Hugo’s old photos from back in our Coconut Grove days …
I'm going to pin a few notes to the top here, and I'll probably add to them as more feedback comes in. (1) Heartfelt thanks to everyone taking the time to share their thoughts, advice, offers, etc. I'm very grateful. (2) The thing about not shooting me was a joke, folks. I don't actually think anyone wants to shoot me. (3) A commenter, Dr. Jen, articulated my original idea for this project, which I failed to articulate ... "just sitting across from people, asking them what they believe in, what they have lost, what they still hope for, and capturing it without a filter." If this goes ahead, something along those lines is what I'm after. I would want to let people from all across the political/cultural spectrum express themselves, without judgment from me, and restrict my usual satirical shtick to narrating the journey itself and whatever (mis)adventures Hugo and I get into on the road. (4) Re filming, which a lot of people have suggested ... filming kills authentic interactions/conversations. Life becomes a "movie." People start performing. That's not the kind of portrait I'd want to paint.
YES, PLEASE!! And bring a documentary filmmaker along to capture the experience, posting them as YouTube videos (and at Substack, too, of course, but for additional popularity/revenue) along the way and then editing them into a feature-length documentary (or series) for posterity. There's no one I'd rather eavesdrop on as he embarks on a journey through the heart of America than you, CJ. You will be able to glean truths most would leave buried. Plus, it would get you out of Germany, which would be a great relief for all who are concerned about you. I do hope your wife can join you, though, so she isn't left behind enemy lines before the border closes.