Who am I when I'm gone?

During five months of travel through Southern India, people often asked where my family was. It’s unusual to see a woman navigating life alone, and surprised locals always wanted to pin me down.

“Where is your husband?” is a question I faced constantly.

When I answered that I am not married, the natural follow-up was, “Where are your parents?”

I’d answer that they are both in America, but they do not live together.

“Which do you live with?”

“Neither. I live by myself.”

Shock. “By yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Brothers? Sisters?”

“No, I’m an only child.”

“Just you?” This was always said in a tone of disbelief. What parent could ever be happy with such a slim offering?

“Just me.”

Further questions about religion (none), occupation (none), and my travel route (totally unplanned) yielded similarly unsatisfactory answers.

At first, I found their surprise amusing, but after awhile, the constant repetition of these unanswerable questions began to make me feel I didn't quite exist. In India, a person without a family, a home, a job, a faith, or a goal is no one at all.

But I am still here.

More true confessions

In last week's Sacramento News&Review, I admitted in print that I'm living with my parents. I guess that wasn't enough of an ego boost, so I followed it up with this week's short essay, which my editor titled "Real-life bottom of the employment barrel?" It's about one of my many part-time jobs, handing out free samples in supermarkets.

Standing in public interacting with everyone who passes has its hazards. One customer repeatedly snuck up behind me to “test my reflexes.” Creepy men offer to warm me up when I shiver in the ice-cream aisle. I hear about everybody’s dietary restrictions. Gas, diabetes, indigestion—nothing’s too personal for the coupon girl.

And nothing's too personal for you! Read all about it here. There's also a great cover story by Ted Cox about Sacramento's homeless. It made me tear up a bit. Be grateful for your roof, everybody.

Summertime fun in newsprint

The Sacramento News&Review Summer Guide is on the stands this week, chock-full of fabulous entertainment ideas to make your summer the most exciting to date!

And then there's my essay on reliving summer in my childhood home, 20 years after I thought I'd left it behind. It offers no entertainment ideas whatsoever. I didn't want to pressure anyone.

To this day, when I hear Alice Cooper announce that “school’s been blown to pieces” or John Travolta sigh over those summer nights, I feel a shiver of the anticipation I felt on the last day of school. When Justin Timberlake insists what we share “just can’t be summer love,” I want to believe him. I want to believe life can seem boundless again, even though I’m an adult with three part-time jobs and the annoying habit of falling asleep before 10 p.m.

Intrigued? Bored at work? Click here for more. Or pick up a hard copy and enjoy the added bonus of dozens of coupons. There are free hamburgers in there, plus an actual coupon for a gram of medical marijuana. Yes, really. Check it out.