dave eggers = awesomebrilliantfunny [long!]

last night was the culminating event in my university's first ever literary festival, and this was a scheduled (FREE) reading/talk given by none other than one of my favorite authors and people in the world, dave eggers.

i first unwittingly ran across dave's work when i was a freshman in college because a cool lecturer of mine lent me all these old copies of this magazine he loved, called "might." i thought might was terribly clever. but at 18 i wasn't very clever and was blown away by the wittiness on display and felt overwhelmed by this ... i didn't know what to make of this genius stuff. then i had other work to do.

years later when i read dave's pulitzer prize-nominated memoir a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, i fell in love with dave, this time for real. er, well, as much as a devoted fan might. i fell in love with his voice, his earnest desire to share his stories and improve the lives of others. and he has this phenomenal sense of humor, christ. [maybe part of my love, too, was that i could see the potential father in him, in how he took care of his brother -- i'm sure young women reading that book fucking SWOONED.] i started reading mcsweeney's online around then (which, as some of you know, i still visit regularly and adore. i post links here from time to time to the ones i find particularly hilarious), too ... i keep hoping the muse will strike me and i'll write something horribly funny and cool and submit it and it will go online there, but so far this hasn't happened yet.

i'll skip ahead now ...

i heard dave was coming to read/speak here, and i LOVED LOVED LOVED his latest novel "what is the what: an autobiography of valentino achak deng" (about the life of one of sudan's "lost boys," from this boy's time both trekking across sudan as a child to the years he spent at refugee camps, to his eventual settlement in the U.S.) when i read it last december, so i HAD to figure out a way to to not only require my 150 students to attend the reading, but to also incorporate the novel in my classes. (click here for the NYT review of the book that encapsulates better than i can on why the book is so profoundly moving).

but the deal is this: i don't teach english anymore. i teach six labs (once-a-week, 2-hr section each) for an intro to human communications course. basically the labs are public speaking (we're working on new curriculum at the moment ... too bad i won't be here to see it go into effect) classes. how to make dave eggers and what is the what part of my public-speaking-human-communication lab???

well, the first part was done for me, incidentally. sort of. the course actually requires students do an "outside speaker critique" and write a paper on a speaker. this is kind of a dumb assignment since we do something better and smarter earlier on in the semester. sooooooo ... what WE did, in my sections, was read excerpts from the book (the preface, a middle part [very dramatic!], and the last chapter out loud in class. this was WAY more fun than it sounds, honestly. because it gave students the opportunity to practice (duh, really) oral skills (completely undervalued in my opinion, i'm not kidding at all), and it fed into our later discussion.

our discussion! these were UNBELIEVABLE in some sections, so-so in others ... the topics and questions we went over were my attempts to relate what is the what to public-speaking-human-communication. we started off with storytelling, what this is (after introductions in my classes, students do a "story speech"), what purpose it serves, why it exists and continues to exist. then we ventured into the "call to speak," and "speaking up/speaking out," and why some people (like valentino achak deng) felt compelled to speak up. we talked about what they, as students, felt compelled to speak up about (not much, sadly ... but there were some beautiful moments. a few religious martyrs and one young feminist i adored who said she would go to jail if that meant teenage girls in SC could get access to birth control! LOVE her.)

and then! seeing all my glorious students at the reading last night! i wanted to hug and kiss them all. (of course, they were required to be there, lol. but they seemed happy and every instance i was so tickled to see them outside the classroom ... it seemed kind of ... like they were, too ...).

but the best part is this: dave eggers' talk last night was perfect. he was smart. he was funny and self-deprecating. he spoke of sudan and what is the what and read from this briefly. but then to my great good fortune, he also spoke very passionately and eloquently about why he started all these writing centers around the U.S. to help young people (kids, really) improve their literacy. my students (ME, TOO, christ) learned some wonderful things and had plenty to write about on their handouts i gave them to take with them for the reading/talk. as i spoke with a few students when we were all filtering out of the big theater, they were animated and engaged -- possibly (hopefully!) even inspired to make the world a better place. i certainly was.

big HAPPY sigh. contented lecturer smile. :) i should stop here ...

[starstruck moment: the line for book signings after the reading was so long that my friends and i decided to bail and head straight to bar/restaurant where we knew dave was to show up later. i was sad to not get my book signed, but also RAVENOUS. (well, that's no contest, is it? i wonder if it would've taken kurt vonnegut risen from the dead signing books for me to have waited in that long line ...) anyhoo, after we'd eaten and dave had shown up at the bar and also eaten, i sort of sneaked over to his table (sort of. flounced? i was on drink #2) ... fortunately a cool english creative writing prof saw me sidling up and told dave my name and mentioned i sent 150 students to the reading, yada yada. then i quickly thrust out my copy of what is the what and jabbered about everything i did here: what-all about my communications classes reading parts of the book and our discussions and how moving they were and how grateful i was to him for speaking tonight and thanking him, profusely, for his talk and the need to speak up and out, and storytelling, inspiring others, him inspiring my students ... to my great relief he was incredibly nice and funny and not pissed i interrupted him and we chatted for a brief moment about these topics while he signed my book (like he must sign all others): "To Sylvia! Thanks so much for spreading the WORD! Your true friend, Dave Eggers."]

now. i must get to work on a mcsweeny's piece. seriously.