I am in Texas. My parents do not have wireless internet and their computer is the second biggest piece of shit on the planet, next to Karl Rove. It’s maddening. I am relegated to constantly checking my Facebook on my iPhone. Oh, the humanity.

My last few days in LA were fun. Gleason and I got some more work done and I saw some people. Like Lucas. I hadn’t seen Lucas in several years. Apparently: he was recently on a few episodes of Jeopardy. He won. A couple of times. And then: he lost.

G and Darryl and I went to a really good restaurant my last night in town.

We all enjoyed some sangria. The food was good but our server was terrible.

Yesterday I flew into Dallas and my brother picked me up at the airport. We went to the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science before starting the never-ending less-than-scenic drive to Kilgore. Upon arrival: mexican food. Thank God.

My parents have a lot of animals. Here are some of them:

Ginny:

Cami:

Rallo:

Stanley:

Today, I did a photo shoot for SLAB out at the property where my mother’s side of the family has their family reunion every summer. This is what I sort of imagine the house might have looked like that the main character, Tiger, grew up in:

Inside there was this:

I hadn’t been inside this house for many years. Nobody has lived in it for decades.

Later, we went out to the farm, where my mother grew up, to visit Buck and Wanda. Buck asked if I had a boyfriend yet. Then, I went out to the Hickory Grove Cemetery where my grandparents, uncle, and a lot of other white people are buried, to take pictures of the “colored” section, which is hidden behind the rest of the cemetery. The white portion is very well maintained, but the separate cemetery for African Americans is terribly unkempt. It is  overgrown and several trees have fallen on headstones and graves. There are graves from the early 20th century all the way into the 90s, so it’s hard to believe that there are no families causing a ruckus about the lack of maintenance.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. I am told that my mother’s Republican cousin and his Republican wife will be joining us for dinner. I am told not to mention politics, guns, or the construct of race. I cannot promise things will go well.

But I’ll do what I can.

Wish me luck, won’t you?