Mid-Atlantic Radical Book Fair
Baltimore book fair table, originally uploaded by artnoose.
The eventful weekend in Baltimore began Friday morning, when M. and I awoke G. at 6:30 in the morning so we could drive to Baltimore in time for M. to show his video at the film fest the day before the book fair. It was pouring down rain the entire drive up until we rolled into town a little after noon to the church where the film fest and book fair were being held. While M. as checking in at the film fest, I took a little walk around the area and found a tiny diner that served at least 5 different nationalities of food (including a random veggie samosa) and then much to my surprise, a vegan restaurant just a few blocks down from the book fair site.
The Yabba Pot (2431 St Paul St.) deserves special attention because it is in my opinion the best thing in the city of Baltimore. It is a small vegan restaurant with a substantial (but not entirely) raw menu run by a woman who grew up in the Virgin Islands. In addition to wraps and veggie burgers, they have a "pay by the item" plate with hot food items like a phenomenal citrus ribz, an amazing chana masala, curry potatoes, and mashed yams. You can also get cold items (many but not all of them raw) like spinach salad, sea plant salad, and spicy okra. In addition, they have fresh-squeezed juices and smoothies, including a carrot-ginger juice blend that was one of the most gingery things I've ever tasted. The food is simple--- who knew that zucchini could taste so good?--- and the antithesis to the food one usually eats at a book fair, normally whatever is nearby. It's a bit on the pricey side and you can expect a wait, but it's totally worth it and our stay in Baltimore wouldn't have been the same without it.
But back to the film fest. Maybe it was the rain, but not many people came out for the film fest. M. was a little bummed that he woke up at 6:30 in the morning so he could show his movie to a half a dozen people. I went in the other room and watched a short film on Amsterdam squatters which I liked. The rest of the film fest was pretty ho-hum, and the only thing well-attended was a documentary on strip mining in West Virginia.
We (and two tablers from NYC) had been matched up by the housing folks on the book fair committee with this one guy who shares a loft-style warehouse space with some friends. It was a huge space, and by the time we got there we were all pretty tired--- M. and I additionally being sick--- so we set up our sleeping bags in the corner of the room and went to sleep. Just after 2 a.m. though, one of the housemates brought a dozen or so people home from the bar and they partied pretty belligerently until about 4, which was when we decided to pack up and get out of there. They were pretty confrontational with us about it, and I thought it might turn to fisticuffs, but we exited with mere mutual insults and drove the truck back to where the book fair was and slept in the back of the truck.
Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted Saturday at the book fair, which was also not very busy. I talked to one of the book fair organizers about our night, and for the rest of the weekend, the book fair people (including the guy whose house it was) were pretty apologetic, finding us another place to stay Saturday night. The best part about the book fair was of course, meeting and hanging out with people. I was very excited to see thearagorn and Ariel, and a bunch of other people. I only sold 2 zines though.
That night we slept at another place that was much more quiet. I think I fell asleep around 9:30 and slept for about 11 hours. I was therefore in a much better mood Sunday and did more hanging out. I also sold more zines and a cookbook! (I think I spent more money on this trip than I made, unfortunately.)
After a post-bookfair snack, we gave P. a ride back to Pittsburgh. Although I didn't get a chance to give him a tattoo before he headed back to Missouri this morning, I did get to have a Harry Potter geek-out fest. I'm excited to read the steampunk zine I got at the book fair.