Penny Stamps Speaker series presents: Françoise Mouly
In Love with Art …and Comics
Who: Françoise Mouly, art director for the New Yorker since 1993, will be giving a talk as a part of the Stamps speaker series
What: Come listen to someone speak about comics and art and the intersection they played in her life as well as the role they play in her current occupation.
Where: Michigan Theater
When: 5:10pm
Admission is free.
More info HERE
Elton John may prefer Saturdays, but the Residential College calls dibs on Friday. Yesterday, storytellers, logophiles, and those who just really love homemade brownies gathered in East Quad’s Benzinger Library for a live reading event hosted by Midwestern Gothic, a literary journal based in Ann Arbor. Established in Spring 2011 by Rob James Russell and Jeff Pfaller, the publication sets out to debunk the common perception that the Midwest is simply a sweet, innocent, ‘flyover’ region. We all know that this myth is far from the truth.
In order to showcase the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Midwest, Midwestern Gothic, which last year hosted a Midwestern literary festival in East Quad’s concourse, returned to the Residential College’s home for a live reading by Midwestern writers themselves. Contributors included U of M professor Julie Babcock; Ann Arbor News crime reporter John Counts; RC Creative Writing Professor Laura Thomas; Jared Yates Sexton, a Midwestern-turned-Georgia Southern University professor; and Rob James Russell, one half of Midwestern Gothic‘s team. Each read short excerpts of their own work that highlighted both the unusual and the everyday of Midwestern life.
John Counts kicked off the event with his piece found in Midwestern Gothic’s Summer Issue 14, a unique piece entitled “The Skull House,” that explores a girl’s unusual habit of collecting animal skulls. It ponders the existence of “roadside attractions” and the exploitation of individual lifestyles and quirks. His visceral language of “boiling the animal flesh” and the processes of cleaning the skulls was scientific to the bone, and yet made me twinge uncomfortably in my seat. A good storyteller, in my opinion, can utilize his/her words in such a way to make you squeamish at one moment, full of remorse the next, and lift you up with hope. Counts fits the category perfectly.
Next, Laura Thomas claimed that she “normally doesn’t steal story ideas from the newspaper headlines.” But one story from a year or two ago was stuck in her head, and she had to write a story about it. Her story, printed in Midwestern Gothic’s latest Issue 15, is called “Sole Suspect.” The plot follows a father whose daughter has been missing for 20 years, and he is the only one to have seen her the night she went missing. The mystery/crime short story, Thomas explained, was based on a story in South Dakota, where two girls, who had been missing for 20 years, were discovered in their submerged car after driving off a bridge. I was particularly interested in hearing Thomas read, as I have taken Creative Writing classes with her, and was curious if she uses her own helpful advice in her work. I was very satisfied to know that she loves a good adverb and extended metaphor as much as I do. Although she only read an excerpt of the short story, it was beautifully constructed and makes me want to read the rest!
Rob Russell followed up with a story from his forthcoming collection about “relationship, love, family and all that jazz.” His smart and nostalgic piece, “Rough and Tumble Sorts,” examined family dynamics in a small-rural Missouri setting, while walking his audience back in time with the memory of AOL chatrooms. “But how do you know that who you’re talking to is really the person you’re talking to?” one character asks, skeptically. “Why wouldn’t they be?” the other responds. “I don’t know.” (Oh, the innocence of the ’90’s.) Preceding his reading, Russell played the clamor of the AOL Dial-Up sound from his iPhone in the ultimate visual of clashing decades, “in case you young’ins in the audience have never heard it before.”
Julie Babcock, whose poetry collection “Autoplay” is forthcoming this month from MG Press, read her lyrical snapshots of youthfulness and Ohio-love. Each were beautiful on the surface, but their real beauty comes when you peel up the outer layer and delve into the “deeper meaning.” What I love about live readings is that you get to hear the story that inspired the author/poet to write that particular piece. Instead of just reading a poem out of context, we understand how Babcock came to title this one “Astronaut, Ohio” and that one “Pregnant Chad” and suddenly, the seams of the story come together a bit more.
Likewise, Jared Yates Sexton prefaced his reading with an in-depth story about his cat who drinks his water so vigorously that he instantly gets sick afterwards. Although irrelevant to his short story, it somehow drew me closer to the reading, like I shared this quirky piece of knowledge that only “insiders” would know about the author. Also, the short story that Sexton read would be a totally different piece if not read aloud by Sexton himself. The story was based on a true event with people from Sexton’s past. Therefore, with much dialogue, only Sexton could imitate the exact inflections of the character’s voice, pairing the words with their corresponding gestures that were not written in the story.
Just like a CD cannot do justice to the energy and spirit of a live performance, nor can reading a story in private provide the same experience as hearing the story as the author intended. I recommend to keep an eye and an ear out for author readings. If nothing else, you’ll probably hear a good cat story or two.
For more information on Midwestern Gothic, check out their website: http://midwestgothic.com.
In a typical week, Robot Supply and Repair in Ann Arbor, receives a number of people with Rumbas (robot vacuums) looking to have them repaired. Robot Supply and Repair is no robot repair shop but actually an extension of 826 National, a writing support group co-founded by Dave Eggers. Dave Eggers is the author of What is the What and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. The first is an autobiographical work about one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. The second is a memoir based off his own life and dealing with the passing of both his parents while he was in college, and the responsibility of raising his younger brother.
Dave Eggers is not only a good writer, but he is an eloquent speaker. He doesn’t speak with too many words, but he is eloquent and precise all the same. The story he told tonight is about the beginnings of 826 National. Dave Eggers and educator Ninive Calegari saw there was a need for a support system for teachers in San Francisco with the overwhelming number of students needing help with writing, so they decided to begin a writing tutoring group. The puzzle was that the space they were looking at was a retail space, so the logical reaction was that they needed to sell something. Initially they thought about selling hot dogs in the store front, and offering a writing lab space in the back. This idea was exchanged for a pirate supplies store, inspired by the ship like outer facade of the store. So 826 Valencia was born, its address in San Francisco giving it it’s namesake. They became the one and only pirate supplies store in the area. At first it was slow running, but today the nonprofit serves 6,000 students each year thanks to the help of 1,700 volunteers.
Other cities have wanted to share in the success of the idea, and now 826 has expanded to have locations across the country, each with a unique store front idea. For example, the Boston location operates under the store front ‘Boston’s Bigfoot Research Institute.’ And the local 826 Michigan in Ann Arbor features robot supplies. It is a clever idea which eliminates any stigma a student might associate with an after school writing tutoring center. The space hides the tables and tutoring in the back, clearly separated from the store. The space is meant a new community conduit, where educational workshops take place, poetry readings, publishing, along with writing tutoring. 826 also offers traveling tutoring services where schools can request a certain number of tutors to assist in the classroom. School tour groups are also are invited and given a very special opportunity to tell their own stories and get their work published. Kids write a story in the store, illustrate it themselves, and have it formally published all in the course of one event. It reminded me of when I was in kindergarten they published our first stories in a bound book. I felt proud bringing my book home to show my parents and dedicating the book to them. It is a validating experience for a young person to have their work published and is an innovative tool of encouragement.
Eggers idea for a nonprofit is something that crosses boundaries between tutoring spaces for young people and opening up to a unique form of community engagement through spatial appearances. The last half of the talk was dedicated to Eggers acting as moderator to a group of three panelists, each involved in starting their own nonprofits in Detroit. One was the founder of an elementary school, another was a founder of a jewelry-making business that employed women who have been in abusive relationships. The talk was very encouraging to hear not only because of all the current social change and engagement going around in the community and the successes they have, but also the new ways people are looking at social engagement and education. The audience’s resounding support made me excited for the ideas that are coming from future generations and the impacts they will have.
Buccaneers, Robots, Yetis and Other Agents of Social Change.
What: Dave Eggers, acclaimed author, founder of McSweeney’s literary website, cofounder of 826 National. He is coming to give a talk about social change and civic engagement are taking on new shapes. Eggers will be accompanied by a group of local Detroit urban leaders. Refreshments afterwards.
Where: Wayne State University’s Community Arts Auditorium
450 Reuther Mall, Detroit
When: Tuesday, Nov. 4 6pm (doors at 5:30pm)
Link to Dave Eggers in the Detroit Free Press.
Have you ever been in a writing class, received your red-marked paper back with critiques and underlines and “more sexual tension” here and “suspend reader disbelief” there, and wondered, “Gee, does my teacher practice what he/she preaches in his/her own writing?” Here’s your chance to find out!
What: A literary reading by five local authors, hosted by local publication, Midwestern Gothic
Who: Contributors include U-M English lecturer Julie Babcock, Ann Arbor News crime reporter John Counts, local authors Robert James Russell and Jared Yates Sexton, and the RC’s Laura Thomas.
When: Friday, November 7 at 5 pm
Where: Benzinger Library, East Quad
How Much?: Absolutely free!
To keep up on other creative writerly events in East Quad and around town, check out http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/rcwriters/.
SHORT FLIGHT/LONG DRIVE BOOKS is an independent, non-profit small press specializing in the publication of fiction. A division of Hobart, Short Flight/Long Drive Book was founded in 2006 with Elizabeth Ellen as editor. SF/LD has published Chelsea Martin’s Even Though I Don’t Miss You (2013), Chloe Caldwell’s Women (2014) and working on Mira Gonzalez’s forthcoming untitled book w/ Tao Lin.
