Absentee-Minded on Halloween
October 31, 2006
Yesterday, on All Hallow’s Eve, I cast my absentee vote. Having this year’s election separated from Halloween by one week seems appropriate, because the political enviroment has become the thing of Horror movies.
I’m a democrat, but I’m not ridiculous about it. I don’t hate all republicans, and I refuse to capitalize either party’s name. What I do believe in is a system built on the idea of checks and balances. And the balance of power has shifted so far to one side, making it obvious that neither party should be in absolute control.
Also, I voted on whether the constitution should be ammended to ban gay marriage. Virginia, no doubt, will approve this. Can you imagine the pause it would have given some if the article had included the phrase, “and the state motto of “Virginia is for Lovers” should be changed to ‘Virginia is for Haters’”?
So here’s to hoping that things even out a little in one week’s time. If not, then I’ll just turn into a bat, and fly back to Transylvania, only to return from my coffin in 2008.
Positively,
Count Shawncula
The Roast of Dad
October 29, 2006
My mom decided to throw a big surprise birthday party for my dad, who turned 60 last Thursday. The day before, I had a message on my phone, “It would be really special if you did a reading…”
I clinched up.
A couple of weeks before I was in Barnes & Noble when Mom bought 50 copies of the book, which she has been giving away to friends and co-workers. And people who came to the C’ville (my hometown) book event from across the mountain who, as mom put it, “left empty handed” because the store had underordered.
I wasn’t down with hijacking Dad’s big day to pimp my book. Mom admitted she would be giving out to “a few select people”, but she assured me that this was going to be a Roast, that I would just kick things off with a reading about Dad. The week before this thing was going to be a costume party. I started to feel like I was being set up.
There’s one part of the book that a lot of people have commented on. My brother, Dad and I are waiting in the car for Mom to come out of the house one winter’s morning. Dad is cursing, ranting and raving… until Mom gets in the car, of course. I wanted to read that, but Mom reminded me that my niece and some elderly relatives would be there.
“You have to read that part,” Gwenn told me later, daringly.
We arrived and there were about 50 people there, two of which were dressed as pirates. The family friend of five or so years sadly asked me, “Why didn’t you dress up?” Fortunately, when Mom and Dad arrived they were dressed up as punkrockers. But only because Mom used that to trick Dad into believing he was going to a Halloween party.
After signing some books for people of various levels of familiarity, I took the mic to kick off the roast at Lynn’s Pancake House in Waynesboro, Virginia. I stated that if the audience were friends of the Decker’s, then their sensibilities had already been strained. Just chalk this up as one more event on that long list. (That got a hearty laugh. I knew I was home free.)
After my spirited minute-and-a-half reading, the open mic had it’s high and low moments, as is always the case. Mom enjoyed three trips into the spotlight, each one going down an increasingly darker path. Like how she and Dad used to fool around at Nanny’s (my grandmother, who was there) on Dad’s sister’s bed. “I hope you washed the sheets!”
It was totally absurd. But I laughed, realizing that Mom had out-vulgared her youngest son by an Augusta County mile. But that was fine by me, because at least I wasn’t dressed up as a pirate.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Book Tour Press/Stories
October 23, 2006
Shawn’s MY PET VIRUS Book Tour Photo Blog
(NOTE: Photos originally posted on this entry were on old web site, which is now defunct- my apologies for lack of photos on this entry! -SD)
Well the book tour is over. But thanks to digital photography, the memories will last forever. Or at least until my computer crashes again and I lose everything. Good thing I got MySpace here to back me up! (A bad joke.)
Here are a few of the highlights, not touched upon in previous entries, of a book tour that kicked off here in Charlottesville and took me to NYC, DC, San Fran, Albuquerque, LA, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Richmond, Philly and Rehoboth Beach. If you and I crossed paths on this tour, please post a comment and share a story, so long as it is a glowing one about the author of MY PET VIRUS, of course.
The first jolt came when the local Barnes & Noble put up a poster for the book event. Like cheeseballs, Gwenn and I took many pictures. And then returned to take more once I was displayed in the window. I wanted to go inside and put my hand on the glass, like on the book cover, but Gwenn convinced me that this was crossing the line.
After the grand send off at home and at the University of Virginia, Gwenn and I went to NYC. We crashed with our Supersnack NYC AIDSWalk teammates and friends, Zach and Angela, and met the mascot of team Supersnack and fundraising tool extraordinaire, Greta the Wonder Bunny. Another team Supersnacker and fellow Waynesborian, Ben, joined Gwenn and I before the book event, and Ben snapped a photo of yet another window display of MY PET VIRUS.
The editor and PR genius of the book, Ken Siman, was thrilled that more than six people came to the NYC event (about 50 were there, thanks guys!). I told him to never doubt a positoid again.
Oh, and check out Ken’s guns. (He’s single, fellas.)
Once NYC’s balls were officially rocked, Gwenn and I hopped a train to DC. It was so nice to travel that way, and I just listened to my iPod and took a long nap. Our friends Michael and Tom greeted us at the train station, we’d see them again at the end of the book tour in Rehoboth Beach, where they hosted a book event at their shop, Detail. At Olsson’s in DC, I read a passage from the chapter, Ric Flair & Me, about my childhood encounter with “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. This picture never gets old for me.
From there it was off to San Francisco, where I was honored to be the first ever book event at the recently opened Books Inc store. Here you can see me signing a book for yet another Supersnacker, in a photo that was definitely not staged.
San Fran was crazy busy. I read at the Athenian School, and there was another book event in the Ferry Building at Book Passage. Danny, you around? Post about what a great book event all the other lame SF’ers missed due to apathy.
While having lunch one day, I had a spooky moment when I saw what appeared to be John Lennon in my hot chocolate. This is particularly telling, since one of my Godparents.. a huge factor in MPV’s birth.. was among the first on the scene when JL was assasinated. I think this was John’s way of saying that I’d written a decent book.
A campus book tour appearance took us to the University of New Mexico, where Gwenn and I had condom demonstrations and played with fake penises with the greeks. While in Albu, Gwenn and I set up shop at a great place called the Flying Star Cafe. We had two meals there, both good.
Before we left town, I did a book event at Borders. By this point, I’d been asked about my as-yet-unanswered challenge of John Grisham at just about every appearance. When I snapped this photo of the mountains, I wondered if John Grisham was following me around the country, secretly keeping track of my every move?
I’m not sure where this picture was taken. At some hotel when we weren’t crashing with friends to save money so the tour could get us to more cities. This scene has been repeated hundreds of times since Gwenn and I started speaking at colleges through Campuspeak in 2000.
After Albuquerque it was off to LA. My book appearance there happened to fall on freakin’ Yom Kippur! So my substantial Jewish fanbase wasn’t able to flood the Borders to see me. On the plus side, I did get to see some characters (Jenny and Degen the writer) from the book, and Steve from the Hemo2Homo Connection blogged about my visit.
Steve and I also agreed to come out of retirement, and we’re going to be giving a Hemo2Homo Connection movie review of Running With Scissors. (Augusten Burroughs blurbed my book, and Hemo2Homo fans are wondering if I’ll be able to be impartial in my review of the movie. Stay tuned to find out!)
From LA it was on the red eye to Ann Arbor, the home base of Borders. When we got to the hotel, Gwenn grabbed a newspaper. “Hey, your book event is listed!” Then she said, “Oh, shit…” “What?”
Turned out Jim McGreevey, the former governor of New Jersey, was reading in Ann Arbor, too. The same night. At the same time. McGreevey was fresh off his appearance from Oprah. Even though I didn’t stand a chance, I wrote a rallying blog entitled “McGreevey VS. Decker in Ann Arbor… TONIGHT!”
I never posted the results. Until now.
In a shocking turn of events, I arrived at Borders to find none other than Jim McGreevey milling about. Of course, I had to get a photo with him for this blog. When I introduced myself, he said, “Oh, I know who you are!” He didn’t really, but my face was plastered all about Borders, and I think the store clued him in to the book event that was taking place. (He was signing some copies of his book for Borders, before going around the corner to where his reading was taking place.)
The photo here will undoubtedly start the beating of the drums for a McGreevey/Decker ticket in the 2008 presidential election.
Even though my Ann Arbor reading was a modest success, I had a little more juice left, so I gave an impromptu reading in Starbucks for a couple of pals who got lost on their way in from Detroit. (This is not just a staged photo, I read the whole book in a stirring, 13-hour performance.)
By this time, I think I was feeling a bit loopy, so Gwenn drove the whole way from Ann Arbor to Chicago (about 4 hours). I was obviously starting to fall off my game, as I confusedly signed Paul, a personable Borders employee. After we flew home, we drove to Richmond to speak at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). A professor saw the POZ with Gwenn and I on the cover, read the excerpt of MY PET VIRUS, and tracked us down. (She was stunned that we only lived an hour away, in Charlottesville!)
After a few days home, it was off to Philadelphia for a book event and to sign some MPV’s at the 58th Annual National Hemophilia conference. I wrote extensively about this appearance in my previous entry. Oh, here’s a photo of my thinblooded friend, Mark, who was chiefly responsible for my appearance at the conference.
From there, Gwenn and I drove to Rehoboth Beach to do an event sponsored by Camp Safe of Rehoboth and Lambda Rising. Our good friends hosted event at their shop, Detail, where I picked up a cool piece of artwork that says, “Please Groom Responsibly”. (I thought it was fitting advice for a thinblood like me.)
That’s Michael of Detail with Leave It To Beaver playing behind him on the TV. You can see Gwenn getting ready, with Gus the Boston Terrier looking on. Gus and his sister, Phoebe, have been pals for quite awhile, and they napped with me during my stay in Rehoboth, which was supposed to be the last event until a last minute visit to Sacred Heart University was arranged.
Gwenn and I had spoken there in 2003, and that is where we discovered TiVo. Allen, who works at SHU, gave Gwenn and a demonstration, and that fall in ’03 we asked for TiVo for Christmas. When I signed Allen’s book, I wrote, “To the Godfather of Little TiVo”. (In MPV, I refer to TiVo as Gwenn and I’s child.)
I hope to have dates and locations for future book events soon, but in the meantime I’ll probably start blogging about boring, everyday life stuff. As always, I love to hear what you think of the book, and I am still thrilled after one month of publication that it is really out there.
Positively Yours,
Shawn Decker
Some fun press links:
BOOK TOUR TOUR PRESS:
9/15/06 MY PET VIRUS gets a “B+” grade in Entertainment Weekly
9/17/06 Shawn Decker publicly challenges fellow Charlottesville, VA resident and author, John Grisham, to a reading.
9/21/06 Book hits stores nationwide, and is chosen as an Original Voices selection for Borders and a Fall Pick by Library Journal
9/25/06 Shawn defends Depeche Mode’s honor on the Leonard Lopate Show Listen Here
9/28/06 The San Francisco Chronicle luvs MPV
My Fellow Thinbloods
October 20, 2006
In writing MY PET VIRUS, the one group that I was most worried about in terms of how the book would be received was my fellow thinbloods. Wasn’t quite sure how they’d handle the whole “thinblood” title, even though I knew it was a huge step up from “bleeder”.
As a mild thinblood I make a lot of jokes about hemophilia, even though my childhood was in part shaped by my many visits to the hospital as a result. A somewhat experimental surgery at a young age made nosebleeds– my main dilemma– almost obsolete, which meant that my identity as someone with hemophilia shifted as the medical realities of life with the condition faded.
In junior high school, I remember how a couple of the lighter skinned African Americans were treated by their peers. Like they were a lesser member of their race. As my book release date approached, I was worried that my own community would treat me the same way, “Oh, you’re a mild hemophiliac?”
So when I was invited to be a part of the 58th Annual National Hemophilia Foundation conference, I was a little nervous. Mark, a friend of mine, works for American Home Federation, Inc, a company his uncle founded which provides prescription medications for the thinbloooded community. Mark thought it would be a good idea if they bought a bunch of books, and have me at their booth for signings. I half expected the deal to go south when I sent Mark a copy of MY PET VIRUS, and AHF had a chance to sink their teeth into the text.
Email from Shawn: “… well?”
Mark from AHF: “The book is great!”
Maybe part of me was hoping they’d bail, and spare me the arrows and daggers of my thinblooded brethren?
About a month before the 58th Annual National Hemophilia Conference in Philadelphia, my editor shot me an email and I couldn’t give him too many details, as I’d never been before. So I wrote, “I’m up for Best Nosebleed Award,” since having 58th Annual attached made me think of the Oscars.
Well, my editor included that in some of his emails to the press, and one reporter called the National Hemophilia Foundation, asking about the young author’s chances of snagging the award. I got an email from the NHF, which jokingly said, “The conference is a week away, and you’re already causing quite the stir!”
NHF laughed it off, and so did I… but I could just see my fellow thinbloods sharpening their blades, checking off their calendars and counting the days until they could carve themselves off a little bit of pre-Thanksgiving mild thinblood.
When I arrived at the conference, there was a line at the booth. The community was actually excited to see me, as there had been some mention in the conference materials about my visit. I signed books, I shook hands, I heard peoples’ personal stories and watched as kids ran around, enjoying a lot of the freebies that all the companies had to offer. The vibe was like a huge indoor picnic/circus, with lights blinking and even a big guy in an orange suit, who looked like Sesame Street’s Ernie on steroids.
I was supposed to be at the booth for an hour or so. But I stuck around until the conference closed. It was nice to be proven wrong, and of all the book events and all of the friends I got to see on the book tour, the most meaningful experience for me was going to this conference and getting in touch with my inner Thinblood.
And no, I didn’t win Best Nosebleed. But there’s always next year.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Back From the Book Tour
October 6, 2006
Though it probably wasn’t as exciting as a KISS tour circa ’78, the My Pet Virus book tour went off without a hitch. I met a lot of people– online friends from the forums and MySpace–, bookstore owners, old friends whom I haven’t seen in ages, Jim McGreevey (who was reading around the corner at the same time I was) and strangers who have read the book.
And now I’m back home after 11 days out, and I’m catching up on some sleep. Have I ever written about how much I love sleep? I think being able to do so easily is one of the reasons for my longevity. I think my next book will be The Art of Napping: A Pillowhead’s Guide to Dreamland.
Since I was lame and didn’t have my blogging info on the road, I am now left with the task of summarizing the experience all at once. So I’m going to use a word that I took great pains to keep out of the book: amazing. I went to NYC, DC, San Francisco, Albuquerque, LA, Ann Arbor and Chicago. The response has been more than I could have hoped for.
Along the way, a writer was explaining to me how the book brought back her own high school experience. The best part of this for me has been the wide array of reactions, and how many of them have nothing to do with my pet virus the entity. HIV’s role in my life has been immense, and I’ve definitely been shaped in ways I don’t even understand by my diagnosis at age 11.
But now, twenty years later at 31, I’m realizing that I could very well have been the same compassionate person without HIV, which I credit for opening my eyes up to discrimination at an early age based on what I went through (getting kicked out of school, not allowed to spend the night with certain friends anymore, etc). Those experiences with HIV are one of the reasons why I have no tolerance in my life or soul for homophobia and racism.
Still, a lot of my friends got there without the lightening rod of HIV. I like to think that perhaps I would have, too.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
life in photos
I am frightened by ceilings. A terrible phobia to have.
Today's assortment of treats: tea for Gwenn, a mocha for me and a cookie to share.
My buddy Sharanya preparing my mocha with just an extra dash of love.
Hanging on wall in our guest bedroom. Couldn't agree more!
Speaking About Sexual Health
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