The Adventures of BB: 2015

CRAZY!

Many of you know that I have begun a small side career doing public speaking on the topic of Title IX. It's a pretty exciting opportunity that fulfills a dream. If it can help with paying off some student loan debt then that's even better!

Although I've presented my speech in multiple venues over the course of the last year (even winning an award for it at a conference) but this past week I had my first paying job at another institution...all the way in Arizona. I was hoping the first few jobs would be at someplace more local but apparently the public speaking powers that be had other plans. This past Sunday I woke up super early to head out west to visit the campus of Arizona Western College. Since I had never been to Arizona before and we have a friend who recently relocated there, I worked an extra buffer day into the travel to do some sightseeing. I'm so glad I did!

I flew into Phoenix and got my trusty rental steed without much incident along with a recommendation for the best breakfast burrito in town. I was thrilled that the rental car guy knew exactly the place: Los Mexican Friends. Let me tell you, that really was the best breakfast burrito.

So here's the thing about Arizona if you've never been out there: nothing seems to be close together. From the comfort of my office in VA one evening I made all my travel plans completely disregarding things such as miles, time, and distance. Not my best move but it certainly allowed me to explore the countryside. I stayed one night in Sahuarita with a friend. This small suburb of Tucson exposed me to pueblo style houses, saguaro cacti, and the (admittedly overblown) threat of scorpions around every corner.

Turns out, two major cities in a state are not conveniently located right next to each other.

That evening I mapped out my route to Yuma, AZ from Sahuarita, AZ. The map looked something like this:

This route looks awesome and totally doable.

The next morning I hopped in the car, plugged in the address and this is the route that popped out:

Notice the major difference between the last photo and this one. That's an hour detour all of the sudden.

It seems that overnight a road had been shut down. It also turns out that in the AZ countryside, one road makes a big difference. Boom, overnight I got the gift of another hour's worth of a drive. More cacti, more desert, and more brown to see.

At any rate, I made it to Yuma after a largely uneventful ride and lots of podcasts. The biggest issue I encountered along the way was the relentless sun. As I watched the temperature gauge in my rental car creep up to it's final destination of 105 degrees, I felt the sunburn forming on my left forearm and thigh. The only thing I can compare it to is standing too close to a hot oven. At one point, I literally draped paper napkins over my arm and leg to block the sun as much as possible. I think I managed to avoid a terrible burn but it certainly wasn't pleasant.

The people at the school were incredibly kind and gracious. They gave me a golf cart tour and I even got to see a little bit of the residence halls they have. The reslife geek in me really enjoyed that side of things. The show itself went well and some of the students seemed incredibly engaged.

In particular, I want to tell the story of a strong young lady about four rows back from the stage. I didn't get her name but her spirit emboldened me through the presentation. She had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting right in front of a pair of...jerks. That's the nicest way I can phrase it. These gentlemen were distracting and unfocused throughout. They were not engaged except the few times they emerged from their ambivalence to mock the topic at hand. In short, they were real winners. Now as a professional speaker (holy cow, I'm a professional speaker) I've learned to ignore the haters in the room. It's not worth my energy to try to connect with folks who aren't meeting you halfway so it's better for me to focus on the ones who are on the fence. Motivating the middle, if you will.

As I said, my new friend in the fourth row was unfortunately placed in front of the Tom & Jerry of Yuma, AZ and she largely ignored their provocations. Then, about 3/4 of the way through the presentation she got fed up. I watched as she turned to them and calmly explained where they could shove their feedback. I fought back the urge to cheer as she turned back having eviscerated their egos while also standing up for her own experience. I hope she caught my affirming smile. I pray she keeps that spirit throughout her life.

Overall, it was an awesome trip. I'm jet-lagged but thankful. I'm exhausted but energized. I'm behind on work but caught up in a movement. I'm itching to get back out there but incredibly excited to be home again.