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Wednesday, September 29, 2004 Operation Ohio Day 2 It would be a lie to say I wasn't disappointed by the first day's turnout, but lies are what get people elected and I'm not above telling them. Three hundred people came out to hear Dave Eggers, Anthony Swofford, Rick Moody, Vendela Vida, Julie Orringer, Jim Shepard, and myself. We each read for eight to ten minutes. Here is the good news. The good news is that the reading went well. People were funny. Swofford read an amazing essay about his first time voting that he had written specifically for the event. Eggers read a piece from the perspective of a man explaining to his eleven year old daughter how he and his wife had saved the world and how every time they did something great, like end hunger or genocide, his wife would get horny and want to have sex. Jim Shepard read a story written from the perspective of John Ashcroft. The good news is we signed up a hundred students to receive reminder phone calls on election day. A reporter from the New York Times is traveling with us and when her story comes out on Saturday a lot more people will register to receive phone calls by visiting the website. And the list is all that matters. In truth, the registration readings are just a publicity stunt to raise awareness for the list. Because the list, which is a list of students in Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio, who have requested phone calls from authors on election day reminding them to vote, the list is what matters. And in terms of getting the word out about the list the events have already been a smashing success. James Harding was there, a friend of mine from the campaign bus. He said he's been door knocking for the last few days around Ohio. He says there's a lot more undecided voters than people think. James is British, so if things get really bad he can leave. The rest of us have to make do with what we have. Here's the bad news. I stopped in a composition class during the day. There were twenty-five students. One of them was a girl with a deep tan and a rope necklace so tight around her neck I couldn't imagine how she could breathe. I asked the class who their favorite author was. My guess was that their favorite author was probably on the list of authors making phone calls. One student said "Kerouac" so I amended it to living author. Another student said he preferred movies. A third student said John Grisham. At which point I changed the subject. But here's some more good news. After the reading we all went out for dinner at the Blue Danube and the hamburgers were only $2.75, which is why I love Ohio. I said that Operation Ohio would pick up the tab. There were more than ten of us in the group including Robert Olmstead and Ryan Harty who are reading in the coming days and when the bill came it was just under a hundred dollars. But that's not the good news. The good news is the reporter from the New York Times picked up the check. She said she would expense it. And I remember Nedra Pickler's famous advice to me in the Iowa firehouse back in December at a John Kerry rally when John Kerry was getting beat badly by Howard Dean and there was a table lined with various cold meats and mayonaise salads. She said, "Don't eat from that table. You'll compromise yourself." And I said, "I don't mind being compromised. This whole election is about compromise. I'm a compromise-ahololic." I loaded up my white plate and John Kerry went on to win Iowa. And did I let the New York Times buy our dinner last night? You bet your sweet ass I did. posted by Stephen Elliott 7:53 AM | link | |
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"Any true love story, if told with the urgency and animal intelligence of love, isn't for the fainthearted. On every page of this profound, distilled work of art, Stephen Elliott wrestles with the unknown and unspoken essences of love, and articulates that unknown so beautifully, with such clear-eyed fearlessness... Imagine a glass of pure water with one drop of blood hanging in its center, about to dissolve... Then drink it and be transformed." -Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City "There's an emotional courage to these stories, and a sense of urgency, that are thrilling to encounter. Elliott writes as if his life depended on each sentence. It is not overstating the case to say that he does for the BDSM community in this book what Denis Johnson did for lost druggies in Jesus' Son." - Steve Almond, The Believer Magazine Best of the year: Salon.com, San Francisco Chronicle Reviews: Salon.com, LA Weekly, The Believer Excerpts: My Stripper Year, Just Always Be Good Purchase from Amazon, Powells, Cleis, and your local bookstore 
"Happy Baby is surely the most intelligent and beautiful book ever written about juvenile detention centers, sadomasochism, and drugs." - Curtis Sittenfeld, The New York Times Book Review Best of the year: Village Voice, Salon.com, Chicago New City, The Journal News Awards: Finalist Young Lions Award, Silver Medal California Book Award Reviews: The New York Times, Salon.com, Village Voice Excerpts: Stalking Gracie Part 3 Purchase from Amazon, Powell's, and your local bookstore 
"Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer, Richard Ben Cramer: the great, all-American genre of the political campaign in extenso (and in extremis) has had its Homers and Boswells. To that list we can now add Stephen Elliott. Hilarious, strange, electrifyingly written, and heart-pumpingly idealistic, Looking Forward to It wins every literary caucus and primary in a landslide." -Tom Bissell, author of Chasing the Sea Best of the year: Village Voice Reviews: New York Magazine, New York Times Excerpts: The Dennis Kucinich Polka, A John Edwards Almanac Purchase from Amazon, Powell's (cheap!), and your local bookstore 
"A Life Without Consequences was harrowing, hard as nails, brutal, and soaring. Stephen Elliott has to be watched, because he knows things almost no one else could." - Dave Eggers, author of A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius and What Is The What Excerpt: Adlai Stevenson House Reviews: Austin American Statesman Purchase from Amazon |
