My Own Personal Hotspot (Upcoming Readings)

For the past thirty years I have drawn the same face on napkins and in the margins of notebooks.  Why am I predisposed to the same doodle that reasserts itself on every available surface? I am fond of my doodle, which over the years has become a part of my signature. Recognizable. Part of me. I researched and found out that a doodled face indicates the mood or character of the person who created it.  Weird or ugly faces indicate a mistrustful person.

My faces fall into the weird although not necessarily ugly category, scrawled lines, hair wrapped in half-halos, breasts often starred with asterisk nipples. Does that mean I am mistrustful and need to be on drugs? Nineteen times out of twenty, my doodle is of a singular face, so I could be drawing some kind of mood ring that expresses my state of mind. Maybe I should draw my face first thing in the morning and bring it along with an arrow saying, “You Are Here.”  A nose that swirls next to an eyelid. A distended nostril. A single ear.

My doodle and I will be in the Bay Area for several weeks in May.  Here are some upcoming readings:

Wednesday, May 1, 7pm
Books Inc., 1344 Park Street
Alameda, California
Joined by Henry Leung, Open mike to follow

Friday, May 3, 6pm
Laurel Bookstore, 4100 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, California (next to a small ACE Hardware)
Joined by Grace Grafton, author of “Unruly Sonnets,” and many other wonderful books

Thursday, May 9, 7 to 9pm
Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Avenue
Piedmont, California (diagonally across from ACE Hardware)
Joined by Lucille Lang Day, author of “Married at Fourteen,” nominated for a Northern California Book Award

Friday, May 17, 7 to 9pm
Expressions Gallery, 2035 Ashby Avenue
Berkeley, California
Reading from “Cutting Down the Last Tree on Easter Island” and new work