Monday... Monday

Well, Robin is off on her yearly trip to Yosemite. So I am left to my own devices to be fruitful in the office.

I had an interview today with Janice Steinberg from the San Diego Union Tribune. A follow up to the move to our new space. Its been six months so the paper is doing a sort of progress report. As usual, I probably said too much.

I think the epitath on my gravestone will be, "Do you want to know what I really think?"

I always take people at their word when they ask my opinion on something. And if they ask my opinion, then the least that I can do is makes sure that I give it in as clear and honest a way as possible.

I don't like playing games, particularly with people. So the whole game of seducing patrons or trying to influence people is not something that I do.

Ah,
I just got an e-mail asking me if i want to go to Disneyland tomorrow! So I am off to the House of Mouse!



On with the summer reading! If you haven't already become acquainted with the king of the modern biographical essays say hello to David Sedaris.



Mr. Sedaris is well known for his sharply written essays about his family, childhood years, life working in New York. The most well known of his stories deals with one particular Christmas when he decided to take a job as one of Santa's elves at Macy's. We learn the ins and outs of "elfdom" from the viewpoint of Crumpet (all the elves need to take on elf names). From his flirtations with Snowball ( the tramp elf) to his ministering to the African American mother who felt that the black Santa wasn't "black enough." The Santaland Diaries can all be found in...



The highpoint of the next collection is also the title of the book. The final chapter entitled "Naked" deals with Sedaris' visit to a nudist colony for the purposes of writing a story. Rather than have any sort of titilating content or quality, the chapter is an interesting essay on comfort, discomfort and just how much "hiding" is ingrained in us by our society.



Finally, Me Talk Pretty One Day is broken up into two sections. The first section is a series of essays much like those found in Naked (or Barrel Fever or Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy, two books not discussed here). The second section is all about Sedaris' escapades while living as an expatriate in France. The title refers to a translation of his halting response to what he wished to get out of a french class for non-french speakers in Paris.



Named "humorist of the year" in 2001, by Time and a Thurber Prize winner, Sedaris is a frequent contributor to NPR's This American Life, as well as Esquire and The New Yorker.

Whenever I "hear' his voice when I read his essays, the timber, speed, connections all sound like my "generation' talking. A smart version of my generation, but my generation none the less.