New York, C-SPAN, I break into Academia...
New York last weekend was amazing. In addition to a very successful reading from THIS IS BURNING MAN and CHOICE: THE BEST OF REASON, I got to enjoy the absurd and cacophonous phenomenon of Chunk v. Chenguin in the streets of the Village. You see, there are these two characters, sort of sports mascot types, one a cross between a chicken and a penguin and one between a chicken and a skunk, and once a year (or so--I enjoyed all this as an unfolding mystery, not a journalist) they have public competitions in which they and mobs of fans, both prepared and those who just stumble upon the fun, take over streets and cheer them on and whoop and holler and become living parodies of sports and warfare and ideological side-choosing of all sorts and no matter what idea you try to attach to it, damn was it fun, even if Chenguin, damn him, "won" the socceresque game. Hell, the cops stared confused for nearly 10 minutes before driving their squad cars slowly through the crowd, dispersing us.
Doyle, a character in the book, was there and was wonderful to see him, and Silke Tudor, and all the people of my Burning Man Farceland camp crew who came to watch me read, especially my band mate and confidante George and the all too lovely and all too talented Lisa. (George and I went to a Chunk v. Chenguin afterparty in a cramped basement space, candlelit, old, overcrowded. I told George the possibility of fire was making me nervous. "Well," he said calmly, "at least we know all the asbestos won't burn.")
C-SPAN taped the reading, and will, it is hoped, actually air it at some point in the future. I will alert you when I know.
New York is a great city, even with their weird habit of having cold water pour down from the sky. Not sporting, fellows. I live in Los Angeles. I own neither overcoat nor umbrella.
Trey Conner, an english professor at Penn State, is teaching THIS IS BURNING MAN to his class, and in their course-required class blogs, all accessible off this page, is lots of interesting chatter related to the book and Burning Man from a bunch of bright folk who haven't ever experienced the event itself.
Doyle, a character in the book, was there and was wonderful to see him, and Silke Tudor, and all the people of my Burning Man Farceland camp crew who came to watch me read, especially my band mate and confidante George and the all too lovely and all too talented Lisa. (George and I went to a Chunk v. Chenguin afterparty in a cramped basement space, candlelit, old, overcrowded. I told George the possibility of fire was making me nervous. "Well," he said calmly, "at least we know all the asbestos won't burn.")
C-SPAN taped the reading, and will, it is hoped, actually air it at some point in the future. I will alert you when I know.
New York is a great city, even with their weird habit of having cold water pour down from the sky. Not sporting, fellows. I live in Los Angeles. I own neither overcoat nor umbrella.
Trey Conner, an english professor at Penn State, is teaching THIS IS BURNING MAN to his class, and in their course-required class blogs, all accessible off this page, is lots of interesting chatter related to the book and Burning Man from a bunch of bright folk who haven't ever experienced the event itself.
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