I am traveling to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with writers Chinelo Okparanta, Christopher Merrill, and Ann Hood and Kelly Bedeian of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Because of the long flights involved I’m leaving my beloved guide dog at home and will be getting around with my beat up old white cane. I confess to some blind anxiety–traveling is always exciting but with a vision impairment its also a bit tricky. I still remember almost getting run over in London about 8 years ago, again using the white cane. There’s a damn good reason blind people travel with dogs.
They are trained to prevent you from stepping into harm’s way. But I’m going. The opportunity to meet with poets and writers from central asia and travel with such excellent contemporaries is too much to pass up. So I’m packing my duds as Walt Whitman might say.
With any luck I will be posting from the silk road!
Planet of the Blind 