Scene: My office, yesterday afternoon. I’m making tea for my friend and collaborator Teddy after a short lunch at Veracruzana. Teddy [looking out window]: Uh oh. Someone spelled “CRYSTAL” out there on the soccer field. Amherst! Me: I guess it’s time to have the annual “Hitler’s Drug of Choice” conversation.
Entries Tagged as ‘dialogues’
January 6, 2009
Honoré de Balzac Used Coffee to Write La Comédie Humaine and That’s Good Enough For Me
April 22, 2008
Dear America: You’re Broke, Hungry, and Dying Young, Also Maybe On Fire But Not A Gasoline Fire Because You Can’t Afford That
Life expectancy in the US for women has dropped sharply, at its lowest since the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 As if sensing this, in the same time period, suicide rates jumped among children and young adults. Also, an average of 18 veterans a day commit suicide. That’s almost one every hour. People are hoarding [...]
March 1, 2008
In Which An International Student Describes My Country To Me
What follows is an excerpt from an alumni interview with a prospective student [easily, I might add, one of the most impressive young women I've ever met]. Me: Tell me about some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome while living here. Chinese International Student: Well, I think mostly, misconceptions. About China, about the US. [...]
February 22, 2008
In Which I Find A New Motto
6:10 PM lance: take the extra shot they always seem to ask at the airport bar…. I’ve always thought it was funny, make it a double for a dollar or two more. 6:11 PM so I’d say the new motto should be “take the extra shot” me: heh 6:12 PM lance: 6:14 PM me: I’ll [...]
February 19, 2008
I Don’t Know What To Call This, Because I’m So Appalled.
Scene: Chevy Chase, MD. A small suburban neighborhood. My sister is moving to California. It’s June. The movers are packing and as I eat lunch, I speak with one of the movers, a young woman in charge of packing the delicate items, who’s told me she’s earning money while in college. Me: We lost power [...]
February 2, 2008
Short Exchanges At The AWP: In The Bar At The Hilton
Scene: I go to the bar at the Hilton, to meet up with Aaron Hamburger and get a drink. There’s one chair. I sit down. We’re surrounded by 7500 writers on several floors, in New York for the Associated Writing Programs Conference. In the seat next to me, I recognize a woman from grad school. [...]
December 4, 2007
Ending Your Days Of Bachelor Loneliness With A Wild Husband
10:28 AM thiago: dude i need a BF 10:29 AM hooking up casually is exhausting haha me: it is why do you say that? 10:30 AM what happened? thiago: haha emotionally exhausting that is 10:31 AM nothing happened, im just bummed out that i liked the boy and i wont ever see him again me: [...]
November 12, 2007
The Deathless Robot Hookers of Myspace
6:32 PM me: You need to join facebook so we can play scrabulous. 6:33 PM Laura: what is it? me: online scrabble but not timed. Laura: and can it possibly be worth joining facebook? me: yes. plus you can play zombie wars. you know this will be fun. 6:34 PM Laura: how about zombie scrabble? [...]
August 30, 2007
Teeth-bleaching, check. Laser resurfacing, check. Sentences, check.
_______: So. . .[name withheld publisher] just asked to see a headshot of me while they consider my manuscript. Is that. . .? Me: Yeah, actually. I have a friend whose Italian and French publishers asked to see a body shot of her before they would bid on the book. And then we couldn’t decide [...]
