Off to Louisville Soon!

At this time last year, I was both excited and quite anxious about leaving for my first AP reading. I was the proverbial acorn. I wasn't sure what to expect. I can recall writing at that time that I had no idea if I would measure up, whether I was going to be the dumbest person in the room. I'm happy to say my fears were unfounded--there were lots of people dumber than me!


This year, I'm no longer an acorn, but I am a little sapling. Despite having done this before, I still worry that I'll slow down my table or I'll be the bane of my table leader's existence as she'll have to constantly remediate me. Last year, especially by the end of the week, my table leader, an angel named Joyce Herr, said I was more than holding my own. But, me being me, I still worry. What if I don't get along as well with my new table leader as I did with Joyce? I mean she's a tough act to follow. What if my fellow readers and I just don't jibe? I guess it's not that important in the grand scheme, though, since we spend the vast majority of our time with our faces in books of essays.

This will be my nightly view!

The main thing I'm excited about is getting to spend the week in one of my favorite cities. I hear people complaining about Louisville not being as nice or as big as some other cities where they could do the reading. First of all, for a guy from a true small town, Louisville is plenty big enough for me. And besides, how much can you do when you're busy the entire day with the reading and half brain-dead every evening? I go for runs along the riverfront and to a baseball game (AAA baseball is the best entertainment value going in my opinion--I got a front-row seat for $10 last year) and I'll have a room that's basically a luxury apartment with gorgeous views of the river. It's within walking distance of great restaurants, museums, night clubs--you name it and you can literally walk to it in under half an hour. Why would anyone think that's not enough?

So as the week goes on, I'll post pictures and reflections on my time there. Check back often!

This is the river boat that anchors right outside our hotel.