I'm huge in Oregon.

Y'all may or may not have heard about a Web site called Platial, "The People's Atlas," which uses Google Maps technology to allow people to create personalized maps of places that are important to them (it also allows people to set up community maps where random people can stop by and leave markers of their own). I heard about this on NPR a few weeks ago, and while I was bored one afternoon, I went by there and created a map of all the places I could remember being dumped or otherwise rejected in some way, just to give it a whirl. The list, rather unfortunately, turned out to be even longer than I expected, but . . . well.

Anyway, last week I got an e-mail from a reporter from The Oregonian in Portland, the city where Platial was created. He'd seen my map on Platial and I guess thought it was funny, and asked me about it for an article he was doing on the Platial phenomenon and what various people use it for. I sent him an e-mail back with some more stuff about me, and today . . . voilá.

Some other people might shy away from this kind of attention. Me, I say any publicity is good publicity, especially when they spell your name right. Plus this actually puts me in a better light than any of the newspaper coverage I've gotten here in Birmingham -- just ask any of my friends around here.


When I get elected president, they're going to print these out and sell them like "maps to the stars' homes" or some shit.