Wait, Did Something Happen to Heath Ledger?

Wait, is there a war in Iraq? Who cares about that; what does Mary Kate Ashley Brittany Olsen have to do with the death of this actor?

The reading went really well last night. They had it in Foster Auditorium in the Paterno Library and so the seats were arranged like theater in the round and it was a good turn-out, mostly because some students were required to attend. But Julie and Danny and Sherri and Sheila and Adam and Matt and Mary and Penny showed up so that was nice. Charlotte Holmes took me and to dinner at the Indian Pavilion and two grad students attended; both were great though it sounds like the MFA students of today aren't as big of alcoholics/drug addicts as we had in my day. Charlotte remembered everybody and remembered all the drama--the affairs, the broken windows, the blood-letting. Going to dinner was a good distraction from the nervousness so that by the time I got there, I was feeling okay, not too jittery. Charlotte gave a nice introduction and then I went up and read the first piece, "Words to Live By" and that seemed to go well and so I gave an introduction to the second piece, explaining how when I lived in Chicago, I basically spent most of my time wondering how I would be killed which is why I wrote, "Six Different Ways to Die in the Windy City!" I'm not sure I like that piece so much; it's kind of dull. Next was the story "Look at the Sky and Tell Me What You See" which has a line in it that reads "Fuck me. Fuck me now." I was a little leery about reading that, but it's a really conversational-sounding story told in the first-person and the voice is strong so it reads well, though it's not the deepest of tales. I was going to end there, but then the people in the audience asked me to read more so I read a few pages of "Wanted," ending at the part where she sees what might be the guy standing outside her building. Then I stopped. They clapped and I asked if there were any questions and one guy raised his hand and said, "Could you read more?" I said that I had paid him to ask that. Couple of other general questions like what my writing process is like and what writers I emulate, but nothing that was too difficult to respond to.

Afterwards, people bought the book and I got to sign a bunch of them and meet students who were shy and great. Mary said that she could hear me reading on This American Life, but I don't know how you get to do that. Do people send in tapes of their work? Don't know. Anyway, I'm relieved that it's over so I don't have to feel stressed about it, and I'm glad I didn't embarrass myself.