I am going to do a public reading of selected posts from this blog. I was asked out of the blue and said yes immediately, although I should not spend even more time on recreational writing. It is very exciting – my most important presentation ever, since this is the writing of mine I most stand by, and since it will be my very first presentation as myself.
However, there is the question of selection. I must select pieces and turn them into items to be read aloud, one flowing into the other, since that is how readings are. I am not sure where, or in what category to begin. Which themes and topics are the most interesting?
I know what you are going to ask. No, I am not coming out. People know I write a few experimental pieces and personal essays. They do not know and will not be told that these are selections from a blog, much less from this one.
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I was thinking that one interesting thread could be the Peru posts. I could start or end with the second part of this post. Have I influenced you too much already? If you have ideas, especially different ideas, l would love to know what you think.
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This semester is very strange because it is a good semester. Absolutely nothing bad is happening, at least not that I am aware of. That is very rare. The things that do happen tend to be good. It is the best semester in a long time and arguably ever. I am not used to it at all.
Could the phenomenon might be associated with Hurricane Gustav? Academically the semester of Hurricane Katrina was excellent. We all had terrible problems personally, and we struggled tooth and nail to make school a refuge. But Gustav did not give as many problems, and we are not having to struggle now to make the semester good.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
How do you pull this off, an anonymous public reading?
But I am so proud! And impressed! Good for you!!
I suggest something that’s a range. I love when you write about LA and about academia, but your travel and culture posts would flow well with those. I think you should pick a few topics and move among them.
This is great – yay PZ! 🙂
Gracias Redstar! I think you’re right. All o’ y’all tell me more.
How I pulled it off: the organizer knows I write these things but does not know they are in a blog, and I am not telling.
About half the audience for this will be academics, the majority of whom will be PhD candidates. So I might use this:
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/on-becoming-a-professor/
Peru posts, absolutely. The one about feeling strange after returning would be a great choice, too.
Dear Professor Z,
The Peru posts would be great!
It would be interesting, however, to see the reactions to your conversations with the Whiteman.
Peace and best wishes,
Geoffrey
Yeah, that would be a good one.
Gracias all! Got it. And yes, I want to present da whiteman, and the organizer laughed and laughed, but isn’t sure how indiscreet it is or isn’t. Doesn’t think I should get myself in trouble just for a reading. However: I think at least some of them are abstract enough … and the ones that aren’t, are not about current events or events that took place here!
This one, Undine?
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/luxury-calm-and-voluptuousness/
Or this one (on feeling strange after coming back from Peru) … ?
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/1568/
I was thinking of the culture one, the second one, although the first one is good, too.
Gracias Undine – this is interesting. What’s hard about the reading is that the organizer doesn’t realize it’s a blog and so media oriented, and so interlaced / footnoted / hyperlinked. And since I don’t want the audience to realize it either, some of this is going to have to be rejigged. This is fine since it was what I was planning to do with it anyway, but I didn’t plan to have to do it so soon!
What a delicious conundrum. Read the ones that resonate most with you yourself. The ones that tell the truth you most want to disseminate. If this was going to be your only shot at being heard, which posts would you choose?
Good point, CS. – !GRACIAS! (See how I started thinking of audience before I started thinking of what I would like to say, myself?)
Wow, that is great!
I’m another fan of the Whiteman posts here.
(Oh, and maybe I’ve already missed the whole thing, but these were favorites of mine:
Why She Does Not Just Leave
<a href=”https://profacero.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/on-women-not-being-clear/”On Women Not Being Clear”
)
(Uh oh, I left a comment with links to two favorite posts from last year, and I think your robot zapped it.)
It came through! The second link got mangled and eventually I’ll fix it but in the meantime that post is linked from the first one. I appreciate these suggestions because I was trying to figure out how personal (or whatever) I should get … the ones like those, in which I am trying to figure out something, are the blog’s actual reason for being, but I never know whether they will interest anyone else.
Should I use a version of this new one?
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/on-conditioning-on-repression-first-choice/
I am thinking of putting it second to last so as to then end with the short second part of this:
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/reading-for-pleasure-wednesday-j-e-rivera/
I like both of those. It’s a nice contrast, one after the other like that.
GRACIAS Tom!
This one is actually quite good, too, full of life:
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/your-tour-guide-re-speaks/
And there is one on Santiago de Chuco that is a bulleted list which I need to turn into a Personal Narrative, it would be great. And I think I can do it pretty fast.
I think this is my best Whiteman post … do you?
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/esperpento/
People like this post:
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/why-i-teach/