Beautiful. Simple. Quiet brick. Mixed wood. Cushioned chairs. They offered us cookies and tea, but should we touch anything? Should we? The Matthews seem friendly with one another. Friendly enough to call them The Matthews. They sit close. Whisper and laugh, and we all whisper too. Why do we feel the need to tread so … Continue reading
The Tenderloin is a prison of dirty windows. It is pigeons pecking at the flesh of discarded chicken bones lying next to human feces on the sidewalk, hunger stretching its terrible limbs block after block, shooting up in doorways, and choking on the smoke of the cigarettes held by hookers, advertising sex as others walk … Continue reading
City Lights was filling up fast, but there was still one seat available, and it was sandwiched between me and a nice-enough-looking gentleman to my left. So far, I had watched people eye it longingly for a moment before settling for standing room, deciding that either the man or myself must have a guest with … Continue reading
(Nicole McFeely) In this January 2011 article, Why There Are Words won Litseen’s first (and only) award for Classiest Reading Series. For those of you who have never been to this monthly, Sausalito-based series, we’re not being sarcastic. Though, it’s true, Litseen doesn’t give out awards, (yet!) and I am sort of wary of using that word to describe … Continue reading
Featured Event: Saturday June 18th Ah, Saturday. As a day, we all know it’s usually one of the best. However, this Saturday is looking especially noteworthy thanks to two events. The first, Sixty New Beginnings, is a reading/auction/raffle/party with all proceeds benefitting one of the Bay Area’s most inspiring artists in her battle against cancer. Even if you … Continue reading
We all stumble, don’t we? Sometimes, there are things we can’t say, can’t do, can’t… feel? But what if we could? What if we did? What if? Perhaps, we would try to waste time better. We would write a book, a real book, about all of our little traits that make people cringe. Reality. And what if what … Continue reading
It only 6:15, and there’s already a line stretching down the block toward Mission Street. A guy walking by stops and looks up at the sign over the Makeout Room, then at me. “Who’s playing?” he asks. “Um. No one, really. It’s Writers With Drinks,” I reply, waiting for the inevitable confusion to ensue. “Who?” “No one. … Continue reading
We’ve all heard them: melo-dramatic poems written in the style of famous authors, exaggerated in-class essays, transparently autobiographical “short stories,” overly confident job applications with poor spelling… Chances are, all of us have written a few things we regret—writers or not. Things we look back on minutes or years later and shudder, run for our … Continue reading
“Thank you very much and welcome to Not So Fast. Uh, that is a title that we thought of. It’s caused a lot of controversy—a lot of people have been asking what it means.” [slight pause] “No. No one has asked,” Jack says. A few people shed their seriousness—begin to chuckle. “What does it mean!?” … Continue reading
I want to see Charlie Jane‘s pages. I’ve never gone to a reading where I’ve enjoyed the host’s introductions to the performers as much as the performers themselves. It would be a pretty unusual thing to expect, I believe. However, there are a lot of unusual things about the Writers With Drinks series hosted by Charlie Jane Anders. … Continue reading
