Time Travel 1

Artwork: Atsoupé Kpognon

Was trying to clean my inbox/procrasinating when i stumbled upon these emails i sent to a happy few while traveling the USA five years ago.

Vintage 2003 spelling mistakes included.


1. Once Upon a Time in America

I can hardly believe it's been two weeks since I've landed in New York.
Feels like I've been here for an eternity and at the same time feels like I've just arrived yesterday!

I had the brilliant idea of arriving a friday evening which meant that after a 11 hours journey, 2 planes, 5 hours time difference,
I found myself hopping from bars to lounges drinking Cosmopolitans...

A few hours sleep and by a bright saturday morning, I'm in Harlem for the African-American Book Fair.
In spite of the jetlag and the alcohol still in my system, I've managed to follow a couple of conferences on morality, self-abuse,
love and the future of my Brothers and Sisters (amen!).
I've even managed to takes notes (even though re-reading what i've scribbled, i can hardly make sense of it. must have been pretty hagard because all i've got is stuff along the lines of:
"I'm choosing my direction by making the right connections" what the hell that means...dont have a clue.. just sound really cheesy right now!).
Then, some more socialising and drinks and .... i collapsed. Spent the entire week sleeping! Something between 16 to 18 hours a day.
The rest of the time was spent getting some tan in the Park or watching TV ( my friend got 1032 channels. Whether the access to such an amount of channels is a sign of progress of technology, or of the decadence of a vain society that drown itself in a constant flow of images to escape its vacuity, is an other question... will have to come back on the subject later after more field work...).

Since Monday, after some deserved rest, I've set out to discover the Big Apple.
In practical terms, it means walking a lot (like a hell of a lot... miles and miles, blocks after blocks, from the lower est side to the Village, from Chinatown to Tribeca, around Brooklyn (where i live), just a lot of walking...).
It also means a lot of shopping .
Oh gosh a LOT... why are they having sales ?!
life's so unfair... how can i resist so much temptation ?? Well... i cant.
I thought i came for some serious soul searching but so far, seems like it's been some intense shopping experience althought i think
it's part of the therapy... some kinda comfort/compulsive shopping
(bought my 8th pair of red shoes), and I'm actually discovering my inner self: true: that girl buying and... wearing (yup!) mini dresses and mini-skirts is... me!

I like New York and its frenzy. I actually feel quite comfortable here.
The city smells of roasted nuts, garbage, fried onions and hot pavement.
New York is loud, and crowded, the people, rude, diverse, plain fascinating (it's all about the style baby!).

Need to be going now. More to come but I'm in a bit of hurry:
I'm off to Washington and Maryland for 2 weeks and
need to get some stuff done before I leave.


2. A poor lonesome cowgirl

Well, I've been really lazy lately and I feel like I owe some news...
Spent some time in Washington DC (will narrate my adventures in my next mail... word!) and instead of going back to New York, I changed my mind and decided to get a taste of the "real" America...
So here i am in the wild wild west, somewhere at an equal distance from LA and NYC.... Omaha Nebraska.
The good side of being in such a remote place is that i escaped the blackout on the East Coast.
Ah the midwest... the most interesting thing was the trip from DC which took me 27h, 3 different buses, screaming kinds and the most boring country side ever....
from Cleveland (check your maps people...) to Omaha, there're just cornfields... endlessly...
I dont ever, never want to see, eat, smell of cornbread, sweetcorn, popcorn, cornflakes... ever again.
The major feature of the landscape (exept corn field i mean) is.. american flags... here, there, everywhere... really spooky...
Now, the people... here in the middle of nowhere.. sorry America, they do look like they're coming straight out of a Jerry Springer show... I'can hardly undersand the accent of those folk, and even if I sound mean and narrow minded, when i do understand, i wish i didnt.
They're so suspicious of black people here that it's actually funny...
do I seriously look like a mugger, a crack add it or something?!?
Because people are always asking me, frowning and hands on the hips, what (the heck) i'm doing there, what (the heck) i'm looking for etc...

Might sound like I'm having a horrible time but actually it's all the contrary...
I came here to see my sister. The fact that my sister lives in Paris is totally irrelevant... we love that kind of meetings in the familly...
Between observing the exotic habits of the inhabitants of the area and the swimming pool... it's all good!

back to my rest chair now.