Last night, I attended the extra credit event and listened to many interesting stories from four acclaimed authors. First up, was a young and spunky John Pursely III. He told us that he had become very interested in old western films, and had become watching them. He read three poems, which he credited his wife, Sarah, for co-writing. He also mentioned his young daughter, Helen, and hoped that someday he would help him write as well. The first poem he read was "No One Reckoned the Snake," followed by "Like Quail in the Brush," and he finished with "The Tall Man Destined to come to a Mysterious End." I felt like he was very hard to follow, because he stuttered a lot and spoke very fast. I am a visual learner, so I better understand literature when I have it in front of my face to analyze, and cannot follow along solely with my ears. From what I could gather, there was no rhyme or organization to his poem (or this could just be the faultiness of my ears). He also spoke of how his poems were inspired by the "Apache Kid." Next up was my favorite reader, Lindsey Jones. She read a non-fiction, short-story, titled "Fall in Love with Ludny," that she had written a year ago. The story was written about her experience with fostering a young girl from Haiti, named Ludny (Not sure exactly how to spell the name, but we'll just go with that.) The story started out as a light-hearted story about the little girl, and her childish mind. However, the further that the story progressed, more challenges arose. For example, we learned that the little girl was there to fix her two clubbed feet. Jones spoke of how she had two pink casts on both of her legs which flared out toward the ankle, hiding screws that were exposed, superficial to the skin. She also spoke of how one cast was bent and the other straight, because the bones of her left leg had fused together. At this point, I felt completely hopeless for this poor little girl. The biggest problem of the story is their inability to communicate, because of the English-Creole language barrier. Ludny knew few words in English, and Jones knew few words in Creole. Because of this, the two primarily communicated through hand gestures and motions, and Jones felt that she was playing charades at all times. Yet again, another impending problem for Jones was the fact that Ludny was not actually her daughter. In a short few months, Ludny would have to return to her home in Haiti, and because of "childhood amnesia," she would soon forget all of her experiences with Jones in America, and hopefully she would even forget the horrid pink casts, and pain that the she once suffered. I sympathized with Jones for having to eventually leave Ludny, and for the pain that the helpless little girl suffered. I feel that I found her story the most interesting because it was non-fiction, and I could imagine the scenes playing out in my mind. Considering she only read a portion of her story, I would be interested in reading it in its entirety. Following Lindsey Jones was an eccentric Steve Katz. He started off by saying something about his hat and baloney, but I didn't quite catch exactly what he said. He read a few poems entitled "My Niece's Mind," "Z-Mail," "Me In Water," "Cab Driver Dreams," and "Avatars of Love." Of all of these, my favorite was "Z-Mail." This poem was written around the theme of technology, which I enjoy reading and analyzing. In this poem, "Z-Mail" is a type of electronic mail that takes thoughts from your mind and sends them out to others, with no physical effort involved. The main line in this poem, "Even when I sleep, never out of touch," was repeated several times. I thought this was very interesting, and maybe even a bit creepy, that even while he slept he was still communicating with the world. I found this quite interesting because many technologies have been invented to make our lives easier, and to help us to perform tasks without putting in much effort, much like "Z-Mail." Who knows, we could be using Z-Mail one day! While reading his poems, Katz seemed very unprepared and scatter-brained, but maybe that's just his personality. The last reader that I listened to, and probably the most entertaining, was Keith Lee Morris. He prefaced his story about his fiction writing class, and how his students are usually surprised by how hard it can actually be. He also noticed that many of their fiction stories were centered on their lives in college. He decided to write his own piece, entitled "My Roommate Kevin is Awesome." The story was wild and encompassed everything from fake ID's, acrobatics, sex, drugs, and the ghost of Ray Charles. The story begins with Keith and Kevin's search to cure their boredom. They want to be "cool" and obtain fake ID's, just for them to be taken when they try to get into a bar. Next, Kevin discovers his ability to perform acrobatics, and he performs for everyone in his dorm which makes him popular among them. Once they become popular, they begin to have parties, which included drugs and alcohol. During one of their intoxicated states, the ghost of Ray Charles appears. The apparition signs autographs, drinks with the boys, and even purchases them alcohol. During one of their parties, the food and alcohol turn into an apparition-like state, reappearing after they were eaten or drank. The story was filled with obscenities, which was expected in a story about college boys. At one point, the "right hand man of God" appears to speak to Keith and Kevin about their bad judgments. Keith and Kevin shrug the interaction of their shoulders, and continue to indulge in their bad ways. To be honest, the story was so scattered that it was hard to follow and interpret. Honestly, this story reminded me a lot of "The Crying of Lot 49," mainly because of the discrepancy of what really happened and what was imagined. I had to leave at the intermission due to an interview at 8:30, but I would have loved to stay and listen to the remaining readers because of how much I enjoyed the first four readers. I would love to attend this next year, and feel great that I donated to a great cause!
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