Emily St. John Mandel

Logged off of Twitter

A long, unusually photogenic day: I left Chicago before sunrise and when I got to Los Angeles I took a train in lieu of a connecting flight to Santa Barbara, because I will go to great lengths to avoid flying United and also because train travel is obviously superior in every respect. I’ve never lived in California, but my father’s family was in and around Ventura County for four generations and I love coming back here so much. The last picture is the ocean from the window of the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, near Ventura, with a dog on the beach.

Hollins University at 8am this morning.

“Where are you from?” “Well, I’m from British Columbia, Canada, but I’ve lived in New York City for about fifteen years.” “Is British Columbia a big city like New York?”

Standing desk, hotel-room style.

Also in Lexington: a nightmare cyborg rabbit.

In Lexington, VA. The city takes an expansive view of which local citizens deserve a commemorative stone on Main Street.

Sunrise over Knoxville through a foggy window.

The gorgeous pipe organ at in the University of Tennessee auditorium where I’m speaking this afternoon.

Station Eleven-inspired student artwork at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

“You know what else is inflammatory? LIBERALS.”

I just came across this wonderful gallery of the Un Aller Retour Dans Le Noir festival in Pau. I love Maryan Harrington’s work.