Starting backwards:
8. Heading home, it took me almost 30 minutes to drive down Van Ness and onto the freeway, and at every stop light I cracked open Marianne's book to read from her story, "American Milk."
7. In reviewing the drinks and tsismis portion of the afternoon, I am one with Barbara Jane: lips? Sealed.
6. Two (white!) gentlemen almost came to fisticuffs (I've always wanted to use that word) during the discussion portion of the event. Fisticuffs! I believe the parting zing was something like, "That is complete elitist bullshit!"
5. I'm happy to report that the man with the coffee, cookies, and rolling cart who so unmercilessly interrupted Patrick Rosal with his evil, excruciatingly squeaking wheels and other random noisiness lo those months ago, did much better today. Or perhaps it was just chance. Regardless, he was not disruptive.
4. Marianne read the title story of her collection Mayor of the Roses. May-lee Chai described it as one of the best short stories she's ever read, and I'm inclined to agree. Deeply moving, with a quality of disturbance that lingers. And lingers. And lingers.
3. May-lee read a portion of her story about a Cambodian family living in South Dakota (this from Gorgeous Asians). An engaging reader, both fierce and tender. If only she'd brought along copies of her book to sell!
2. These two women filled almost every seat! On a Sunday! And not just any Sunday, a sunny, bright, gorgeous San Francisco Sunday.
1. Why did I not know Barbara Jane had cut her hair? Quite fetching.
And now I'm gonna hop into bed and finish "American Milk."
4 comments:
ack! the time it took you to get to the freeway from van ness was about how long it took me to get to oakland on the bart train.
the fisticuffs! i forgot to mention the fisticuffs! gawd, how pointless was that, esp. that "elitist bullshit" part, which told me this guy didn't have a leg left to stand on, his argument was already so ... tangential to what was even being discussed in the 1st place.
anyway, i had fun. let's definitely do this again soon, and let everyone wish they were that fly on the wall for the tsismis.
:-)
I knew I shoulda taken BART...
And yes, another mini blogtail party after another event—soon!
Hey, you Glamorous Filipinas--to borrow from the title of May-lee's book (actually, wouldn't that make for a good title of a book of short stories?)-- I thoroughly had fun. Thank you for being there to share the "fisticuffs" (great word, Ver!) moment (ha ha ha). OK, so when's the next blogtail party? I am sooo there...
By the way, are either of you "Battlestar Galactica" fans??? I just discovered that May-lee and I are both BIG fans. Just wondering if perhaps that was the reason for the extraordinary vibe :-)
Marianne, between BJ and her comix and you and Battlestar Galactica, I feel like I must be missing out on something...
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