Ellen Gilchrist, MLK, and Victoria's Secret

This past weekend, the Center for the Study of Southern Culture helped host the Oxford Conference for the Book. I must admit that I did not participate in the conference, neither as a presenter nor a participant. I did, however, volunteer with registration and monitoring a panel discussion one afternoon. Someone bribed me to take one of the authors, Ellen Gilchrist, to the airport in Memphis today. Now I know the name Ellen Gilchrist, but for the life of me I have no idea why. Last night after I got home from work, I googled her but to no avail. I still know her name, but I don't recognize any of her work. Oh well. In googling her I discovered that Ms. Gilchrist writes both novels and short stories, and she was born in Mississippi in 1935. Let me just tell you, I'm not a literature person. I also do not interact with people over the age of 40 on a regular basis except when working and then it's only to serve them gyros. I was a little worried about the drive to Memphis. Afterall, it's an hour away and I didn't know what we would talk about. Fortunately that was not a problem. Ms. Gilchrist traveled in my car without a hitch. She was easy to talk to and quite a character. (Anal sex came up in conversation, and I was not the one who brought it up.)

The adventures didn't end with Ms. Gilchrist. I accidentally happened upon the Civil Rights Museum during commemoration festivities for the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination. I should have stopped, but I didn't. I did however go to Victoria's Secret where the sales associate gave me the number to her personal bra specialist because alas my boobs are enormous. Not as large as the sales associate's mind you, but still too large for the average bra store. Oh yeah, one more random tidbit for the day - I was promoted at work. I'm now the newest manager at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Woohoo.