no cure for curiosity.

Traugher’s decision, part of a two-hour hearing, came after a legal challenge filed by the city arguing that the library cards met the criteria under a revised state voter law. As of Jan. 1, a photo ID card issued by a state or federal institution is required as proof of identity before a ballot can be cast – a driver’s license being the most likely option. Attorneys for the state told Traugher the city lacked legal authority to issue valid picture IDs for voters, according to media reports.

A lawsuit had been expected almost from the first day – July 5 – the new library card initiative was rolled out in Memphis. The city’s library system, Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. said, is the very embodiment of a state institution. So there was no doubt the cards fit the requirements set down in the state law.

If you mean literally how did I sustain myself, it was a weird combination of taking good physical care of myself and drinking more than is perhaps strictly advisable. I don’t want to mythologize or glorify the difficulty of writing this book. Writing is just hard.

But this project was harder than the book about my father because I knew my mother would see it. And I knew there were other people waiting for it with certain expectations. No one was waiting for the book about my father, or expecting anything from it—I was completely free when I was writing Fun Home. But I had to write this second memoir with a huge boulder strapped to my back.