You have no idea how awsome it is to se an author you admire in the flesh. You fall in love with their words, with their images, their ideas. You construct their identities in you head. You know how they think, what they sound like, what they like to wear. Script on a page always gives the illusion of authority and truth and unbias. So, in a way, you idolize them. Then you see them. And the preconception is shattered 9 times out of 10. They are small, soft spoken, balding: just an ordinary person. But I don't find this discouraging. On the contrary, they are ordinary people, just like me.
So, as you've probably gathered, Salman Rushdie spoke tonight at Tufts. He's an amazing, sarcastically witty, socially conscious, little man and I loved him, albeit from afar. Below is my a list of tonight's highlights.
Paraphrases of Salman Rushdie's memorable quotes (tee hee):
It's great that you all would come listen to a writer speak. No writer should ever be allowed to do that, by the way.
About the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, it's important to note that ... one of us is dead. What's that saying? The pen is mightier than the sword? The lesson is, don't mess with a writer.
I think the reason there is so much tension between politicians and writers is because they are fighting for the same power: the power to describe the world to people.
People accuse me of writing fantasy or magical realism. But in truth, I tone down reality in my novels. Reality is actually much stranger than anything that can be made up. In what we consider to be ordinary life, there are these strange growths that cannot be figured out. What shall I call them? Bushes?
Girl: Earlier you read a passage suggesting that truth and integrity often come in conflict with one another and that in such situations integrity is given precident, do you think our present government values integrity over truth?
Rushdie: Well, I was being satirical. That is what us writers call a joke. Of course, I don't really think that integrity should be valued over truth.
As a fiction writer people often assume that what one is writing is an autobiography in disguise. All of my main characters, I think, have been very different from one another and yet people always assume that they are me. Which means, I must have led a very interesting life.
He also talked about more relevant things, such as his facination with boundaries and the ways in which they simultaneously include some people and exculde others, the ways in which power works, the importance of free speech, where the line should be drawn for censorship, religion, gender, etc. You'll have to excuse me, I am so in aspiring writer's heaven right now.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Catch-up
August 22nd: I packed up my things and moved out of the place I had been subletting all summer. I had to leave my stuff there for a few days thouigh, because I wasn't allowed to move into my dorm until the 26th and Reslife wouldn't let me drop off my belongings until the 24th.
August 24th: Having been told by Reslife that all I needed to do in order to move in was pick up the keys to my dorm between 9am and 5pm in the facilities building and then put my things in my room, my boyfriend's housemate dropped my bf and I off at Tufts around 4pm. However, upon arriving at the facilities building, I found out that I would be expected to return the keys before 5pm. Knowing this was highly unlikely, I accepted the keys. My bf and I then walked the 5 or 6 blocks to the nearest UHaul and rented a van. Then we drove to the place I had been subletting during the summer and brought my things down from the second floor and put them in the van. This was harder than it sounds, because the stairwells in the house are steeper than necessary. Before we leave, the girls returning to house for the school year remind me that I owe utilities for the entire summer, not because I neglected to pay them, but because this is the first time they've informed me of how much and whom to pay. After this lovely bit of news, my bf and I manuever the huge UHaul van down the steep hill on which the house is located and slowly (trying not to send any of my belongings crashing into each other) drive the short distance to my new dorm. When we arrive, it's at least 4:30pm. By the time we finish bringing everything I own up three flights of stairs to my room, it's nearly six. I figure since I'll be returning to campus on the 26th, it'll be fine if I just hold onto my keys for two days. We return the UHaul, grab something to eat at Dunkin Donuts, and await a ride back to Revere where I've been spending the time between "sublet move out" and "dorm move in" with my boyfriend in his new apartment.
August 26th: My bf and his housemate drive me back to Tufts. The first thing I do is go to facilities to retrieve my ID (because they held my it in exchange for my dorm keys on the 24th). I tell the girl what happened, she looks annoyed. She doesn't give me my ID, but instead takes down my number and says she'll have her supervisor call me when she returns to the office. This is irritating because I'd wanted to wash clothes, but I needed my ID to do that. So, after this small defeat, my merry band of three heads over to my dorm. However, my keys aren't working. None of the four doors will open. After about 15 minutes of waiting for someone to come out of the building so we could sneak in, I call TUPD. They tell me they'll send someone over in a few minutes to let me in. After about 15 more minutes, some other people try getting into the building and also fail, disproving my theory that the facilities people disabled by keys out of spite. These peoplel also call TUPD and immediately the doors open. I'm thinking "motherbitches." Why couldn't they just do that the first time I called. Of course by this time, both my bf and his housemate are thoroughly annoyed and I feel bad. Still, before leaving, my bf helps me arrange the furniture in my room. He's great. Then they peace out and I start setting up my room.
August 27th - 30th: OSA training: icebreakers, teambuilders, a few serious discussions, amazing chocolate cake, campfire & smores, very clear sky with a beautiful view of the stars, playstation KAREOKE (yes, we were sober and yes, it was amazing), softball, training the newsies, take-out food, good laughs.
September 3rd & 4th: Went with my best friend to one of his family friend's summer spots on Lake Winepesaki (NH). Ate mussels, played bocci, had a candle light dinner with a bunch of old(er) people, swam in the lake, motorboated across the lake, had some delicious ice cream, saw The Brother's Grimm, minigolfed (right next to a fireworks show which kept showering us with debris), played arcade games.
Aside from that...working, classes, homework, spending time with my bf. Now you are caught-up. Feel good about yourself.
August 24th: Having been told by Reslife that all I needed to do in order to move in was pick up the keys to my dorm between 9am and 5pm in the facilities building and then put my things in my room, my boyfriend's housemate dropped my bf and I off at Tufts around 4pm. However, upon arriving at the facilities building, I found out that I would be expected to return the keys before 5pm. Knowing this was highly unlikely, I accepted the keys. My bf and I then walked the 5 or 6 blocks to the nearest UHaul and rented a van. Then we drove to the place I had been subletting during the summer and brought my things down from the second floor and put them in the van. This was harder than it sounds, because the stairwells in the house are steeper than necessary. Before we leave, the girls returning to house for the school year remind me that I owe utilities for the entire summer, not because I neglected to pay them, but because this is the first time they've informed me of how much and whom to pay. After this lovely bit of news, my bf and I manuever the huge UHaul van down the steep hill on which the house is located and slowly (trying not to send any of my belongings crashing into each other) drive the short distance to my new dorm. When we arrive, it's at least 4:30pm. By the time we finish bringing everything I own up three flights of stairs to my room, it's nearly six. I figure since I'll be returning to campus on the 26th, it'll be fine if I just hold onto my keys for two days. We return the UHaul, grab something to eat at Dunkin Donuts, and await a ride back to Revere where I've been spending the time between "sublet move out" and "dorm move in" with my boyfriend in his new apartment.
August 26th: My bf and his housemate drive me back to Tufts. The first thing I do is go to facilities to retrieve my ID (because they held my it in exchange for my dorm keys on the 24th). I tell the girl what happened, she looks annoyed. She doesn't give me my ID, but instead takes down my number and says she'll have her supervisor call me when she returns to the office. This is irritating because I'd wanted to wash clothes, but I needed my ID to do that. So, after this small defeat, my merry band of three heads over to my dorm. However, my keys aren't working. None of the four doors will open. After about 15 minutes of waiting for someone to come out of the building so we could sneak in, I call TUPD. They tell me they'll send someone over in a few minutes to let me in. After about 15 more minutes, some other people try getting into the building and also fail, disproving my theory that the facilities people disabled by keys out of spite. These peoplel also call TUPD and immediately the doors open. I'm thinking "motherbitches." Why couldn't they just do that the first time I called. Of course by this time, both my bf and his housemate are thoroughly annoyed and I feel bad. Still, before leaving, my bf helps me arrange the furniture in my room. He's great. Then they peace out and I start setting up my room.
August 27th - 30th: OSA training: icebreakers, teambuilders, a few serious discussions, amazing chocolate cake, campfire & smores, very clear sky with a beautiful view of the stars, playstation KAREOKE (yes, we were sober and yes, it was amazing), softball, training the newsies, take-out food, good laughs.
September 3rd & 4th: Went with my best friend to one of his family friend's summer spots on Lake Winepesaki (NH). Ate mussels, played bocci, had a candle light dinner with a bunch of old(er) people, swam in the lake, motorboated across the lake, had some delicious ice cream, saw The Brother's Grimm, minigolfed (right next to a fireworks show which kept showering us with debris), played arcade games.
Aside from that...working, classes, homework, spending time with my bf. Now you are caught-up. Feel good about yourself.
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