Joys Of Book Club At A Local Bookshop

Pictures Taken by Dreaming Ace

Picture #1 The sign from April 9th 

Picture #2 Their wonderful display of books including a bunch on autism and neurodivergence

Yesterday was the second meeting of the amazing Three Avenues Bookshop's book club. The first month we read The Toni Morrison Book Club. This month we read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Next month we are reading Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. 

This months book gave me lots to think about so I processed like I typically do in a poem (see below). I shared my poem with Three Avenues Bookshop and they then shared it with the wider book club by including it with the questions that were handed out to each table.

The book made me aware of all the not me(s) aka different versions of myself that could have occurred if small things in my life were different. This idea probably hit me harder than some because of my semi-recent self diagnose of autism and wondering who I would have become if I had known about that part of myself when I was a child in school, or even afterwards such as when I was in the Peace Corps or when I first moved here to Chicago.

It is amazing the joy that can be found via a book club at a local bookshop where the owners recognize you. Celebrate local bookshops. Note you can support Three Avenues Bookshop even if you don't live nearby via bookshop.org **

**So, if you're looking for the DePaul Pop Culture Conference Charity volumes, that contain my pieces you may purchase them here: Moana and the Importance of Female Support Networks, Silk, Superheroes, and Mental Health Journeys, Who Gets to Interpret a Character? Intersections of Asexuality in Sherlock Holmes and when it is available later this spring What's The Point Of Time Traveling If You're Not Having Fun? (An Exploration of Legends of Tomorrow, Doctor Who, and Hob Gadling) while supporting Three Avenues Bookshop.

4/15/23 a On Reading “Dark Matter”

A story of paths not taken

Of who those paths create

Been walking around Chicago

During an unseasonably warm

Day? Week? Some liminal time

Seeing multiples of me, possibilities

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of family?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of career?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of adventure?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of certainty?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of the heart?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of the mind?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of the spirit?

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of connection

Who would I be if I had followed

I had followed the path of possibilities

What if I was not who I am, I am

What if I was not who I am, Ace

What if I was not who I am, I am

What if I was not who I am, Autistic

What if I was not who I am, I am

What if I was not who I am, Creative

So many Not me(s),So many Not me(s)

So many Not me(s),So many Not me(s)

The question scares me. Who am I?

Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?

What have I done with my life,

What could have been?

What might be yet?

The question scares me. Who am I?

Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?

So many Not me(s),So many Not me(s)

So many Not me(s),So many Not me(s)

What If I was not a shadow of who I could be?

What If I was loving life like Hob Gadling?

What If I was one of the Endless Siblings?

What If I knew Wentworth Miller in Person

What If I knew Captain Cold in Person?

What If I truly knew who I was?

What If? What If? Who am I? What If? What If?

A story of paths not taken

Of who those paths create