Stephanie Lessing Meets the Superheroes
When Stephanie Lessing told me she’d gotten tickets to the Brooklyn Superhero Company’s fashion show benefit for 826NYC at Symphony Space, I said of course I wanted a full report, because who doesn’t believe in “supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write,” right? It’s a swell organization which can still use your donations or your volunteer work–and not just in New York, but in any of the five other cities where the organization has built learning centers. Here’s what Stephanie had to say about the evening:
The evening kicked off with a live performance by the Hungry March Band followed by a brief fashion statement by fashion designer extraordinaire Edna Mode–via satellite–who made it very clear that cloaks, capes and ponchos–even the seemingly bullet proof variety– were nothing more than the fuel for fantasy and that in order to be truly “in fashion” one must have a firm grip on reality–particularly in terms of what’s needed to fund upcoming projects at 826NYC–the five day a week program drop-in program in Park Slope, Brooklyn that offers free tutoring, field trips and writing workshops to children ages 6-18.
Before the fashion show got underway, Rob Cordry of The Daily Show did a reading of a story by Jonathan Goldstein about his experience dating Lois Lane just after she broke up with Superman and how he was sure they were going to get back together as well as the circumstances that lead him to expose his fear of their reunion to his good friend Clark Kent.
Next up was Hodgman who explained why invisibility was a far greater super hero power than the ability to fly and equated anyone who chose flying over invisibility with the type of person who, if they had only one wish, would undoubtedly choose a really big swimming pool. It was a lot funnier when he said it.
And then came the fashion show.
21 October 2005 | guest authors |
Jerome Charyn’s Isaac Babel Shortlist
Jerome Charyn has long been one of my favorite novelists, and when I found out that he’d just published a biography of Isaac Babel—Savage Shorthand—I wondered if he might have some recommendations for readers who, like me, aren’t yet familiar with Babel’s stories. He very kindly sent the following note:
“Babel’s ‘Guy de Maupassant’ is my favorite story in the whole world; it’s funny and sad, and it’s the most telling story ever written about language and all its tricks and traps.
“My next best favorite is ‘The King,’ about the Odessa gangster Benya Krik and his magical orange pants.
“Readers should also look at ‘Di Grasso,’ a story about the mysteries and sometimes sordid magic of art.
“I would then suggest a look at Babel’s 1920 Diary, which is his own portrait of the artist as a young man, an artist under enemy fire.
“Now the reader is ready to look at Red Cavalry and its curious ride through Poland, with all the savagery and bump-bump of the human heart.
“And lastly, the reader should look at ‘Benya Krik,’ Babel’s screenplay about Benya, but from the point of view of a Soviet writer who has to wind his way through Soviet politics, which has already become a deadly maze.”
Charyn has also recently edited Inside the Hornet’s Head, which starts with his love for Saul Bellow’s Adventures of Augie March and goes on to include eightteen other great Jewish-American writers, ranging from Isaac Bashevis Singer to Leonard Cohen.
18 October 2005 | guest authors |
Our Endless and Proper Work is my new book with Belt Publishing about starting (and sticking to) a productive writing practice. 
