This intro was recorded in Baltimore, MD because, throughout the month of October, horizontal does america. It’s just me, a Honda Civic, and a backpackful of recording equipment circling the United States together … and you can be a part of happening it.

Patreon.com is a platform for crowdsourcing patronage. Whereas in the olden days, an artist survived on the support of one single patron, now, you can support the horizontal arts with a monthly contribution of any amount whatsoever, from $1 on up. Rewards include handwritten postcards, tickets to the horizontal storytelling live show, behind-the-scenes videos and sensual photos, and having an episode curated to your chosen theme, amongst other perks! Go to Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila. I’m just a few dollars away from filming a video of the elaborate happy dance I do every time I get word of a new patron! This month, I’ll use your support for gasoline, the recording equipment I just bought, and horizontal storytelling, where the quickies are recorded.

You can get horizontal photos (I aim to take one in every city), video postcards, and missives from the road by signing up for the mailing list at horizontalwithlila.com - also check out the website if there are any vocabulary words we use that you don’t know yet - because it has a glossary.

Horizontal’s cross-country tour was sponsored in part by Lucid Studios, a New York-based production company. They’re meticulous and passionate people, and they truly care about how your work affects the audience. Find them on lucidstudiosnyc.com (not ny, as I said last week - oops!)

In this episode, I lie down with my housemate Zed. He’s a sound engineer who works mainly on musicals, and before he moved into the house, he worked on Broadway touring shows for seven years. Our relationship has been fraught in the past, especially during the early months of living together, which we share about in the second half of our episode. Our respect for each other has grown, though. Zed’s motto is, “Always leave it better than you found it.” He often lives up to that. And without Zed’s generosity, this podcast would probably not exist, as, up until two weeks ago, I was borrowing my sound equipment from him. He is fiercely dedicated to his work and our home, Hacienda Villa, a sex-positive intentional community in Bushwick, Brooklyn. To record this with me was a great act of bravery on his part, and I hope you feel that.

In the first part of our episode, we talk about the sex table, the “poly” house, outsiderness, and being a sex-positive germophobe. Come on. Come lie down with us.

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Horizontal’s sensuous cover art is by the illustrator Shana Shay - find her on 99 designs.com. My intro & outro music were created by Alan Markley, plasticcannons on Instagram. And every episode is mixed and mastered by Owen Muir, of Self-Disclosure Productions.

On the next episode of horizontal, you’ll hear the rest of my conversation with Zed, in which he allows me to read one of the hardest letters I’ve ever written, a letter that I wrote him.

Follow horizontal around the country by signing up on horizontalwithlila.com

The intro for this episode was recorded in Burlington, Vermont, because, for the entire month of October, horizontal does america.

Lila is circling the country on a big podcasty solo road trip which began in New York and heads up to Maine, down to Baltimore, across the northern states, down through California, back across the South, up the East Coast … and you can be a part of happening it.

Patreon.com is a platform for crowdsourcing patronage. Whereas in the olden days, an artist survived on the support of one patron, our global web allows everyone who believes in an artist’s work to have a hand in sustaining it. You can support horizontal endeavors with a monthly donation of any amount from $1 on up. There are rewards at every level, and the rewards just get more sumptuous. I cherish every Patreon supporter - each dollar means that you champion my mission of cultivating intimacy around the world. This month, I’ll use your support for gasoline to get across the country, recording equipment, and horizontal storytelling events, where we record our quickies.

If you can’t support horizontal financially just yet, you can still get sensual horizontal photos, video postcards, and missives from the road by signing up for the mailing list at horizontalwithlila.com

And if you know a particularly compelling human with fascinating, raw, vulnerable stories about sex, love, and relationships of all kinds, send me a message through Facebook or the website. I definitely want to know who you think I should lie down with next.

horizontal’s podcasting tour is sponsored in part by Lucid Studios, a New York-based production company that crafts video content, books talent, and produces live events. They are meticulous and passionate people who care deeply about the way your work affects an audience. For your production needs, contact them through the website.

In this quickie episode, recorded live at my podcast launch pajama party, I lie down with Alana Heiss. Alana is a Google product marketing manager … and a sex writer. She is probably the famous-est real-live unicorn - a term used for the (not as mythical and rare as one might think) person who has sex with couples. She wrote an excellent, titillating article about it for GQ entitled “Confessions of a Real-Life Unicorn.” She tells this quickie story at my request, because I wanted more about Unicorn Life. Alana calls herself a “fake gonzo journalist” at the beginning of her story, but I completely disagree. I think she’s a real gonzo journalist. You can find her work on alanaheiss.com.

So you know what you have to do, right? Come lie down with us.

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Horizontal’s saucy cover art is by the illustrator Shana Shay - find her on 99 designs.com. My intro & outro, complete with sex vox (did you know that heavy breathing, when it’s used as an effect in music, is called sex vox? I didn’t.), those were created by Alan Markley, plasticcannons on Instagram. And every episode is mixed and mastered by Owen Muir, who you heard at the beginning of this quickie, of Self-Disclosure Productions. You can find Owen on Twitter at @psychdisclosure