OK, so Wendy was right. Actually, she was more than right. I very much enjoyed going to the readings Thursday night. And I enjoyed the interviews the next day even more. The trio of writers from New York were very interesting and I believe what made me enjoy them even more was how real and down to earth they all were. They seemed almost awe-inspired to be doing the readings in such a gorgeous house as the Galloway Mansion. The house was simply breathtaking. Between Thursday night's readings and Friday morning's interviews, I really got a sense of who these people were and how much they cared about what they wrote about.
Stacy Sullivan, author of Be Not Afraid For You Have Sons In America: How A Brooklyn Roofer Helped Lure The U.S. into the Kosovo War, spoke of her book and the scope of her involvement with the Albanians. I stepped away from her book and asked her last night about the lawsuit that she and New York Magazine were involved in. She laughed, thought to herself for a moment to make sure she wasn't violating any laws by talking about it, and told the audience about the self-appointed mercenary who was trying to pass himself off as U.S. Special Forces. I think she feels the way most people do about this creep. He is a talentless hack that has nothing better to do than go around suing people. Hope the judge dismisses his case and then throws him in jail for wasting the court's and Sullivan's and New York Magazine's time.
Then, there is Joshua Prager. Who knew a Wall Street Journal reporter could be so funny? I guess I have a preconceived notion of anyone at the WSJ as being just a bunch of "stuffed shirts." If Prager ever gets tired of being a reporter, he definitely has a career in stand-up comedy. My question for him today was whether or not he had ever received any negative comments or hate mail from people regarding his public uncovering of the truth behind the 1951 greatest moment in baseball history. He told us all that there were definitely people that were not pleased with his exposing the truth. But I think two people that were definitely grateful to him were the two men around which this fantastic moment centered, Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca.
Lastly, there is Christine Kenneally. An eloquent linguist who really knows her stuff. Her question was what her opinion of words like "jiggy" and "smackdown" being placed in Webster's Dictionary and the likelihood that it will eventually creep its way into just about everyone's vocabulary across the world. She was surprisingly supportive of the two jargony words, saying that as long as they are used in the right context and used appropriately where they should be used, then it is great these words are now part of our language.
Thanks Wendy, I had a wonderful time.
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I did attend the interview, but I left when the given chance was allowed those who had class to leave. Therefore, I did not get a chance to hear the questions being asked, but I did get something meaningful from everything I did get to hear. I did enjoy the interview. It's always a chance to hear authors speak and just understand the writing of their books.
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