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July 05, 2005
Twenty-seven years. In America, that's a lifetime.
There are just some days that make me want to switch back to good ol' notepad so I wouldn't have to lose an entry when I accidentally close a tab in Firefox. Oh well. Last night's reading involved an all-star cast of short story writers at Cooper Union to benefit 826NYC.
The reading began with Sarah Vowell introducing David Sedaris and discussing what 826NYC does, David Egger's pet project. This isn't the first time I've donated to it nor will it be the last although I shudder everytime I look at 826NYC's volunteers bio page and see Jeff Koyen's name there. Vowell began by telling the audience about her request for a podium at Cooper Union. She requested either a simple podium good enough for a couple of hours or the one Abraham Lincoln used at Cooper Union to give one his many speeches in the 1860 presidential campaign against Douglas. She got the latter. Like Lincoln, she then started to espouse her opposition to slavery and its expansion into the West.
Next, David Sedaris came on and discussed the reasoning behind making an anthology of short stories instead of humor. I was disappointed when I found out Sedaris published an anthology of short stories since I never guessed he would be the type to be so well-versed in the subject. Whenever I think of short stories I always think of Hemmingway and my favorite story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Sedaris. Vowell. Oates. Baxter. Sharma. Not Hemmingway. Nevetheless, I listened and paid attention already disappointed.
The first reader was Charles Baxter and he read from his short story entitled "The Gryphon." Here's a sample:
"In higher mathematics, which you children do not yet understand, six times eleven can be considered to be sixty-eight." She laughed through her nose. "In higher mathematics numbers are... more fluid. The only thing a number does is contain a certain amount of something. Think of water. A cup is not the only way to measure a certain amount of water, is it?" We were staring, shaking our heads. "You could use saucepans or thimbles. In either case, the water would be the same. Perhaps," she started again, "it would be better for you to think that six times eleven is sixty-eight only when I am in the room."
I was hooked. It was about a substitute teacher and the outrageous "facts" she told her students. The story and Baxter's voice were hypnotic.
Second reader: Akhil Sharma read his own short story "Cosmopolitan" which has just been turned into a movie. Story was about a recently divorced Indian man and a slightly overweight nextdoor neighbor who's husband left her 10 years ago. Oddly enough his sentences reminded me of Hemmingway.
Third reader: Joyce Carol Oates read "The Girl with the Blackened Eye." Probably one of the best short stories I've ever heard. Keyword: heard. I've always thought Joyce Carol Oates was dead just because her name sounds like every other dead short story writer I've known. Thankfully, I found out last night she was alive and listened in as she recited a macabre story of a girl abducted by a serial killer/rapist and why he let her live.
Fourth reader: Lorrie Moore reading Richard Yates "Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired." If I was going to be disappointed, it would have been at the Moore reading. It sounds pretty vicious but I read Birds of America without feeling anything at all. I just wanted to be proven wrong. It seems like I'll have to wait since she read Yates instead of her own piece. This was the first time I've heard Yates and it sounded interesting. The story was about a second-rate sculptor mom with delusions of grandeur and her two children living in the village. Moore was reading from one of the children's point of view and it worked out well.
Fifth reader: Surprise guest Steve Buscemi, AKA Mr. Pink, reading Tobias Wolff's "Bullet in the Brain," a wry look at a bank robbery gone bad and the last thoughts in a man's head before he dies. Buscemi was dead on as Anders but then again I've yet to listen in on Tobias Wolff reading this story (nb: skip to the last 13 minutes to hear it).
Bonus: Listen in on yesterday's Leonard Lopate interview with David Sedaris and Lorrie Moore.
Posted by gopster at July 5, 2005 11:03 PM
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