LIT 213C Participatory Literature

On Wednesday, November 30th 2022, I attended a cross media literary event at Pace, presented by the Pace Board club. It took place at One Pace Plaza in the student center. More people attended than I thought would! It filled pretty much the entire student center. The event was a moderated Q&A with the author of The Summer I Turned Pretty and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han, as well as the actor who plays Conrad in the television adaptation of The Summer I Turned Pretty. When I heard about the event, I was beyond excited. I watched the TV show with my mom over the summer when it first came out, and I went on to read the books because I had loved the show so much. I love Jenny’s writing, and I knew I had to go. 

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a YA trilogy written by Jenny Han. The first book came out in 2009, and was supposed to become a movie or TV show a while ago, but it just never happened. Finally, this June, the TV adaptation was released on Amazon Prime Video. The series had just become popular again, which made it the perfect time to adapt it.

This semester I got my roommate, Sydney, into watching the show with me. I loved it so much that I just had to share it with her. She liked it too, although not as much as I did, and when the event was announced I made her get a ticket to come with me. I frantically FaceTimed her because I knew the tickets would go fast. The day of the event, I was so excited. We stood in the line outside of the student center to get checked in, and we got front row seats! Jenny Han and Christopher Briney walked right past me to get to the stage. I was so starstruck. I loved Jenny’s work and to see her in front of me was incredible. The room was full. Everyone there was just as starstruck as me. The moderator asked some really interesting questions, which of course elicited very interesting answers. One of the questions that really struck me was when she asked Jenny what advice she would give to aspiring writers (like me), and she said “The best piece of advice I could give would be to find your voice in your writing. And to never stop writing. The only way you can get better at writing is to keep writing.” I took her advice to heart. I’ve had struggles with depression for the past two years, and I have had a book planned out for two years but could never start it. This upcoming winter break I’m dedicating myself to writing it, doing exactly what Jenny said to do. 

Another really interesting question that was asked was about the plot of the books, and why it was changed for the show. The first book follows the main character Belly as she spends the summer at her family friends’ house, like she has done for her whole life. The first book is just about her being at the beach house, and her relationship with Conrad and Jeremiah, the family friends’ sons. There is no real plot, but for the show they added a debutante ball as the main event that the characters are working towards through the whole summer. I watched the show first, so when I read the books I was thinking to myself, “Where is the debutante ball?” I quickly learned that it was added for the show, and after reading the books I understood. There isn’t a real plot, a main event happening through the course of the book. They had to add something to the show. Of course, that’s not what Jenny said, but I also agree with her answer. The books were written a decade ago, and originally all of the main characters were white and straight. When they did the show, they changed not just the plot, but the characters to make them more relatable to today’s audience. The actress Lola Tung was cast to play Belly, an Asian-American actress. They also changed Jeremiah’s character by making him not straight. The show never specifies what his sexuality is, which would be unnecessary, but he has relationships with both girls and boys in the show. 

As a writer who plans on getting my work published, it was great for me to hear how Jenny got her start, and how her books translated to different forms of media (TV and movies). I loved hearing how much creative control she had in her TV show adaptation of The Summer I Turned Pretty, because I feel like that’s every author’s dream. To be able to see your work exactly as you imagined it come to life must be the most incredible thing. It was also great to hear Chris Briney’s perspective of the book to TV adaptation. He spoke about reading the books to get a real sense of his character’s entire arc, and his general experience as an actor. He also went to Pace, so it was cool to hear his experiences as a student here! 

This particular event relates back to our course because of the structure of the event. It was a moderated Q&A, which means that there was a moderator asking questions for the majority of the event, but then the audience was allowed to ask questions and actually participate in the event. Unfortunately, I wasn’t chosen to ask a question, but I was going to ask her how she felt about the changes that were made from book to TV, because basically the entire plot was changed for the show. I loved that we were able to ask questions, even though I didn’t get to ask one. It really made you a participant in the event. It also related to our class because of the content in the event. They talked a lot about changing the aspects of the book to portray a more inclusive cast. I think that has a lot to do with what we talked about in terms of changing the literary.

I really enjoyed this event from a literary standpoint, and as a big fan of the series and the author! I can’t wait to go to more literary events in the future, and now that I have taken this course, I will think about what participatory elements were present in the events I go to. 

I attended the 9^th Americas Poetry Festival of New York 2022. I listened to the Multilingual Poetry reading on Thursday, October 13 from 6-9pm. I watched this as a live stream on YouTube. This event is a festival organized by the City College of New York Division of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences with the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association; and Instituto Cervantes New York. Professors and writers Carlos Aguasaco, Yrene Santos, and Carlos Velásquez Torres put together this annual event. This event had local poets share one or two of their works in one to three languages. Many of these poets were from different countries all over the world. The Multilingual Poetry reading was a wonderful sharing of culture and poetry with other students and poetry enthusiasts.

The first poet was from Peru and read his poem first in Spanish. It was so beautiful and flowed like a song. I loved it even though I did not understand what he was saying. He then proceeded to read his poem translated into English. Even though I then understood the poem, I was surprised to realize I still preferred the poem in its original language. It was so beautiful to listen to this piece and the others that followed with various transitions. Afterward, this event made me more interested in practicing my French to be able to read French poetry in its original language.

This was an interactive literary event because of the many poets who read their works and audience members choosing to applaud and react. This demonstrates how literature should be shared and spoken, and I enjoyed listening to these works being read by their authors. This event was a platform for poets who are multilingual and want to share their languages. The audience still appreciated the poems in their different translations, even if they didn’t understand them. I thought that was so beautiful and shows our human nature to want to share our story with others.

This was an alternate form of sharing poetry, and it had a much more personal feeling because the author’s cultural identity was included in their presentation. I think this is such an important event for people to hear stories from many different cultures in their own language, other languages, as well as English. I am not exposed to works like these and often authors like these do not get their works appreciated in their mother tongue. Poets should be able to share their works in a positive environment with other people who are open-minded to other people’s stories and backgrounds.

This literary community surrounding this event is multicultural and allows for the space for others to share their language and identities. This fosters creativity and the spread of acceptance and understanding of other cultures. I felt honored to be able to hear about these poets’ nationalities and the multiple languages they know. There should be more events like this all over America to strengthen communities through the sharing of literature. Events like this that are platforms for underrepresented stories are important for reminding how America is a country rich with many cultures, which should be appreciated, not ignored.

Overall, this event was conducted by a university that was a space for people to share their cultures, languages, and works with a positive literary community. Sharing poetry with a live audience created an atmosphere of participation and provided authors with live feedback. This was also an alternative presentation of literature through the format of sharing one to three poems in multiple different language translations. The performance aspect of this event was wonderful and I would love to attend this event next year as well. This positive community for sharing culture and poetry allows for appreciation of other cultures and perspectives. Events like this are so important in combating ignorance and creating more opportunities for authors to share their identities along with their work.

 

On Thursday, October 13, 2022, I went to the New York City premiere of the movie, The School for Good and Evil. Following the premiere, there was a Q&A with the author, Soman Chainani, who had written the book that the movie was based on. The event was held at the Paris Theater in Manhattan. This theater is owned by Sheldon Solow but has been operated by Netflix since November 2019. It is Netflix’s flagship theater in New York City. There are special events and premieres held there are well as other screenings. This was one of those events. It was a nontraditional version of the literary event, but it still focused on a novel.

Finding any background information about this event has proven to be quite difficult. I did not have a lot of information about the event before I went and trying to find any information retroactively has not been successful. I presume the event was being hosted and paid for by Netflix since it was a Netflix movie and was hosted at the theater they use, but I could not find any information to either back up this claim or dispute it. I attended the event through a link I was sent by another Pace student where I had to fill out a form with my information and put my affiliation as Pace University. The day before the event I received an email that provided the time and date of the event, the address, and that the seats were first come first serve. It also mentioned that there would be a Q&A with the author that night. The next day, while I was waiting in line to go inside the event, a woman went around asking people if they had received an email from her about the event and providing wristbands to those who showed her their email. We were then told that people who had these wristbands could go right inside, and I remember being confused since most people in the line ahead of us did not move. I am not sure if these people in line were let in afterward, or how they knew about the event.

Once we were sat inside and other people began to come in, I noticed that the people who were attending varied vastly. There were people there who were involved with the book and/or movie. There were also a lot of Pace students who were there, presumably people who had also been sent the same link to sign up for the event. There was a woman in front of me who was there with her daughter who looked to be around 10 years old, the age range of the intended audience for this book, and was very excited to be there. One of the only things I could find about the event mentioned that superfans were also in attendance, but it is unclear how these superfans made it to the show and if they were invited or not. Before the movie began it was also mentioned that this was an “influencer event” and we were encouraged to post about the movie online and encourage others to go see it.

When entering the building to get to the theater they had a table set up with free nail polishes that people were able to pick one out, they featured the logo for the school on it and had names to match. Next to the nail polishes were piles of books being handed out to everyone. Then, through the next set of doors, they provided free popcorn and free drinks, which is something that does not happen at every event held here. Once inside the theater, there were sections and rows that had been blocked off and had the names of people who would be sitting there. They ended up being reserved for the author and his family, people who had been involved behind the scenes for both the book and the movie. There was also the teacher that had inspired one of the characters in the book. Finally, as a last-minute addition, there was a space for one of the two leads in the movie, Sophia Anne Caruso. They ended up putting her and her family in the seats behind me and my friends. Since she was right behind us, we asked if she would be willing to sign our books, and she wrote a different message for each of us.

The Q&A that followed the movie screening provided the most insight into the literature being highlighted. The author, Soman Chainani, was interviewed by a writer for a newspaper here in New York, and had been tutored by Soman in the past and while he was writing the book. This portion of the event began with him speaking about the book and seeing the world that he created come alive. He spoke about his inspirations to create these characters and the world and the way it felt surreal seeing it become real. He also spoke about the tutoring that he did up through the fourth book being published and said that there were two main reasons for this. One was that the children he was tutoring were the perfect people to bounce his ideas off of. They did not see him as cool, nor did they care that he already had New York Times best-selling books and they were not afraid of telling him the truth about the story. If they truly liked a chapter and were interacting with his work, then he knew that he was doing something right. His other reason was that having another job, and having a backup, gave him the freedom to write what he enjoys and not have to worry about being successful and making money off of his work. Lastly, he spoke about the fact that he originally wanted to be a filmmaker and that he had no interest in writing, it was just something that happened to him. Many people who end up becoming writers never intended to do so.

This event was attempting to create a community around this book and the movie, but it is not what we traditionally think of when we think of literary communities. The focus of this community is for people to market this story and get other people involved with it. It puts pressure on the attendees to get the word out about this story and get other people to interact with it. The presence of the book and nail polish given out, something that I haven’t seen at other events held at this theater, are reminiscent of PR packages used to promote brands. The audience was expected to participate in the marketing of this event and make it a successful movie for Netflix. The event also involved a certain level of interaction with people reacting to the story in real time with the author and one of the leads. They were in the crowd before and after the movie and people were able to interact with them and speak to them about the story. This class has shown that literature is not just the books that people read, although that is a part of it. It has evolved to include all different parts of technology and the different ways of finding and spreading these stories. Social media is a huge aspect of that, and this event was trying to capitalize off of that. It was creating a community of people to interact with the book and then using them to get others to do the same thing. It brings into question what a community truly is and if this manufactured community built to market this story is less valid than a community that is created organically by people simply enjoying the same thing.

On October 6th, two friends and I attended the annual Comic-Book and Video-Game expo Comic-Con, which has grown over the years to become the largest single fan event surrounding geek culture in the world. Comic-Con’s largest event remains their San-Diego expo, but New York Comic-Con has steadily risen to become the largest comic-con by attendance, a sign of the magnitude of the event on the pop culture landscape.

Arriving at roughly 11:00AM, the first thing you are greeted to – before even entering the great halls of the Javitz Center where the event is hosted – is a bonafide sea of people dressed up as characters ranging from zeitgeist prominent Harley Quinn, to the video game legend Cloud Strife, all the way to modern television’s current icons Homelander and The Deep of The Boys. My friends and I ourselves dressing up as the self-proclaimed ‘Supe’ killers Billy Butcher and Mother’s Milk, or ‘MM’ for short. Compared to the bombastic outfits of most of the superhero community we were surrounded by, our leather jackets and clad-boots were on the tamer side. Yet all the same, we reveled in being recognized every time we found a new supe to cross off of our list.

After a few hours of sheer exploration, my friend and I stumbled into perhaps the most interactive part of the expo itself. ‘Artist’s Alley’, where we had the honor of meeting a multitude of writers and artists of comic books ranging from New Yorkers, to international artists personally invited by the expo.
One interaction sticks with me above the rest. Meeting Reilly Brown. Allow me to paint a scene. My friend and I are walking through the table-ridden artist alley, stopping at and passing by various artists each displaying pieces of their work. And then something catches my eye. An artwork featuring Marvel Comic’s Deadpool, beside a hauntingly beautiful woman dressed in purple and black garb. I know that woman to be Shiklah, Queen of the Undead. I take my chance to strike.
“Hey man, incredible art! You drew this run?”
“Hey thank you. And yeah, from the start.”
“I grew up on this arc of Deadpool man. That’s insane. You did Cable & Deadpool too?”
“Yup.”
“Dude. Thank you for giving me and my brother the best childhood we could’ve asked for.”
“No problem man. That’s a part of why I do this thing.”
We continue talking, and being a writer, I cannot suppress my urge to prod Brown about how he managed to break into the industry.
“Expos like these man. I’d take my art to every one I could, and eventually people noticed.”

When I came to Comic-Con this year, my first Comic-Con ever, I really didn’t expect myself to be getting the kind of advice that could change my life. But that’s exactly what happened. In a way, I think that’s what Comic-Con has always been. An opportunity for the fan of literature to see its inner workings, meet its creators, take away motivation, so that one day the fan is sitting on the artist’s side of the table talking to new convention-goers at the next Comic-Con.

Comic-Con not only featured American comic books and publishing houses, but Japanese too. Shonen Jump, Japan’s biggest publishing house for teen action manga featured prominently at the convention, bringing their biggest IPs; Bleach; Naruto; One-Piece; and the father of all three, Dragon Ball. Yu-Gi-Oh! Tables were set up for fans to engage in the duel-based card game, and Nintendo set up a gaming space for any fans willing to endure the long lines to play the system’s newest titles.

It would be difficult to call everything at Comic-Con literature, but undeniably, the convention stands on the shoulders of storytelling itself, through every medium.

Eventually, my friend and I found the Game of Thrones table, something we joked might be akin to finding a unicorn amongst the various comic-books and video-games dominating the convention. We took extra time discussing the books with the woman behind that table. That’s the beauty of Comic-Con. It’s one of those very rare places where you’re not only allowed to, but encouraged to geek out about all of the fiction that’s shaped your life. It encourages participatory culture, challenging you to explore the ideas and themes of each written or playable work and find people who care about that literature just as much, to build a connection. It’s built on fan-culture.

By the end of the convention, my friends and I made that connection. Running into a man dressed as Rick Sanchez, we each bonded over the craft of each others costumes. Jay, the man’s name, offered me a swig of his Rick-accurate flask. And eventually, even introduced us to his wife of many years, Emma. I can’t say I would have had that exact same interaction with someone had we not shared a mutual love for the media we support. I can’t say I’d have come away from the experience refreshed and motivated had it not been an event built on the love of visual literature.

Overall, the experience was one I hope to repeat many times more, the highest honor I could give the convention. I only encourage anyone reading this to do the same. I can promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

On October 13th, I attended the Open Book Club event hosted by the New York Public Library. This book club is open to anyone who wants to take part. Rather than focusing on a specific book each month, attendees are welcome to discuss any book they have read recently. This event took place over Google Meets. Three participants from across New York City joined in on the discussion. The event was hosted by Eliza, a librarian who works at one of NYPL’s Brooklyn branches.

At the start of the event, Eliza reviewed how to use Google Meets. I appreciate that she took the time to make sure everyone had the tools they needed to participate in the event. Many modern forms of participatory literature are difficult to access for those who aren’t technologically literate. Making the event more accessible increased the number of people who could take part. This made it possible for me to talk to readers from many different backgrounds who may not have otherwise been able to attend.

After discussing Google Meets, Eliza encouraged everyone to share their plans for Halloween. None of the participants knew each other, so this helped break the ice and start a natural conversation. Once I knew a bit about the other participants, I was eager to share more about the books I’ve read recently. Creating a friendly space made it easier for me to participate in the event.

Once everyone had gotten to know each other, we transitioned into a conversation about what we had read recently. I shared my experience with She/He/They/Me by Robyn Ryle, a choose-your-own-adventure book about what it would be like if you experienced gender differently than you do in real life. The first page, for example, asks if you have been born into a society where gender exists. If you select “yes,” it proceeds to ask you how many genders exist in this society. With each prompt, it describes what things about gender are true in the society you inhabit. These descriptions are nonfictional, describing the ideas about gender that exist in societies across the world.

Another participant discussed The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart’s Masterpiece by Marianne Hardart and Lorraine Diehl. The Automat relays the history of its namesake, paying tribute to an important part of New York City’s history. The participant has lived in New York for decades and remembers a time when automats were still popular in the city. His discussion of this book opened up a conversation about the city’s history and how it’s changed in recent years. His book brought up a very different subject than mine. I enjoyed seeing how the varied perspectives of the participants made for a diverse conversation about different parts of the literary world.

These are just two examples of the books we discussed during the event. We also discussed Biased by Jennifer Eberheart, The Odyssey by Lara Williams, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, and The Chuckling Fingers by Mabel Celie. Each title sparked a new conversation, from political commentary in nonfiction to people’s thoughts on the thriller genre.

The Open Book Club encourages readers to discuss whatever literature they wish. In such an environment, readers are able to offer a literary perspective unique to their background and interests. This helps facilitate a diverse space where readers can learn more about literature that they would not otherwise be aware of.

If we had all come to discuss a limited range of literature, the conversation would have been much different; there may have been some pressure to focus our discussion on a particular theme. Some participants may not have attended because they didn’t have an interest in the topic at hand. By allowing the participants free range to shape the conversation, this event provided a platform that connected readers from diverse backgrounds with a wide variety of interests. In such a diverse space, I felt encouraged to reflect on ideas I’d never thought about before.

Modern-day participatory literature often forms in fandom spaces, where discussion focuses on a small number of books. Because fandoms generate involved discussions about a small selection of books, they often require an extensive knowledge of the work at hand to fully engage with the conversations at hand. The Open Book Club encourages readers to discuss whatever literature they wish. This invites a more diverse population of readers to take part than fandom spaces do. By creating a space that encourages people of many different backgrounds to contribute, the Open Book Club builds a platform for participatory literature that encourages diverse viewpoints seldom shared in the public, fandom-oriented participatory spaces that are common today.

LIT 213C – Literary Event Review Revision

Literary Event Review (Adam Baginski)

The bookend event that I attended was called Dual Perspectives on the festival’s website but it was also known as An evening with emerging writers and editors by the host. The main focus of the meeting was centered around 4 writing and editing fellows who discussed their experiences with literature and any questions from the audience. The host of the meeting was Megan Cummins, a writer/editor who currently edits A public space, a non-profit literary magazine located in Brooklyn. The fellows this meeting revolved around were Vivian Hu, Crawford Hunt, Taylor Michael, and Ruby Wang. Ruby and Taylor were the editing fellows while Vivian and Crawford were the writing fellows. 

A literary event is a gathering of writers and readers where they can discuss a shared love of literature typically discussing one form of literature and usually held over a series of days. The event will either be held in person or online which is what the organizer feel would be best for the audience. One example of a literary event located in New York would be the Brooklyn Book Festival. It was started by Martin Markowitz, Liz Koch, and Carolyn Greer to give voice to the authors located in Brooklyn. The festival lasts about one week with the main events on the first day and the last two days which are the first days of October. There are also bookend events which take place throughout the week either in person or online and located through out the city instead of just Brooklyn. My event was a bookend event and I think it was on a Tuesday.

The topic for the meeting revolved around the fellows’ experience in writing, their pasts, any other work they do that’s connected to literature, what they were doing when they found out about the fellowships, and read out loud anything they’ve written or edited. Let me tell about the work that the writers did for their fellowship. First, we had Crawford discuss what her experiences with writing literature has been. It’s turns out she works full time for TED Talks and likes to write in her spare time when she came across the fellowship. She mentioned that prior to the fellowship she mostly wrote on the subway instead of entering any sort of contest or event. She only decided to do it because she was intrigued by the idea where you write about something you wrote in addition to the writing itself. Another example would be Vivian discussing her experience when she admits that it was similar to Crawford. The difference was that she was in an MFA program at Cornell and she wanted to turn her idea into a novel. When she submitted it, she remarked how nice it felt to have her work validated by her peers. During the conversation, she read a piece of hers which was about a Chinese-American Texan widow whose children is helping her sort through her husband’s belongings and at the same time, she’s reminiscing on her own mother’s words about motherhood. 

Next we can get onto the editors. Normally when you think of literature discussions, you normally think about the writers who worked hard on their writing, not the editors. But as it turns our editing is important because you can catch mistakes in order to create a more cohesive story. Two of the fellows, Ruby and Taylor are both editors with different experiences. Taylor was a student in her MFA program along before she came to the realization that she enjoys editing as a writer. Even then, she admitted that with the fellowship, she wasn’t sure whether or not editing was something she could do and though it would be useful to help her get into New York’s publishing industry. Also she was in the program with Bridghette Hughes who is the public editor of A public space. The other fellow, Ruby, originally had no experience with editing or publishing but she admitted that she was an avid reader of A public space. When she submitted her piece for the fellowship, she included a cover letter which pays tribute to the magazine. Now she admitted that she’s having fun with her fellowship and is learning more than she did before. She also admitted she’s unsure about what career paths she interested in but she’s enjoying the chance to experience new things as part of the fellowship.

During the hour long meeting, I was trying to think about how this meeting related back to what we discussed in class. There was something Megan said where she recognized some of the names in the chat while also acknowledging the new ones she didn’t know. I don’t know why it reminded me of what we discussed during our first meeting together about analyzing literary communities. I was thinking of the literary communities we discussed in the tour during the first week was built to specific communities like the La America Ilustrada magazine, which catered to Latin speaking Americans. I also remembered how we were discussing Walt Whitman in the class from last week and how he was part of a group of writers known as the New York Bohemians. Even though they were in a time period where the people weren’t as educated, they still maintained a connection between writers in the city of New York. Obviously, there are more literary communities but it is interesting to see how New York has such a long and meaningful history when it comes to literature. I thought of the four fellows and how they use the fellowship as a way to help them learn more about publishing, writing, and editing than before.  

The meeting that I attended was important because it was a meeting between writers and editors. That’s important because when you write, there needs to be a editor to help the writer manage the story. This meeting was one of many events that related back to the Brooklyn Book Festival, which takes place in New York’s fall season ever since 2006. It’s a modern day example of a literary event because it helps people who enjoy literature communicate. While many people may be worried about the communication and whether or not their ideas may be received, I believe it is necessary to help those who want to bring their ideas onto paper.

Literary Event Review_ A Night at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

Literary event review 

It was just a few days ago. I bought my ticket at around one for a reading of The Laws of Creativity at around seven. I liked McNally Jackson and the stark, 30-dollar difference between a ticket to Mcnally Jackson and that of the strand brought me here.  I like to consider myself a creative, and somewhat of a law follower. So it seemed like a tailor-made experience for me. Like “Molly” had been etched in the top right corner, embroidered on the chest of a wool sweater.

It was 6:15pm, and my unfounded need to be usually and inappropriately early to everything was beginning to boil over. So I set off on my no more than ten-minute subway and walk commute. I arrived at 6:25, promptly. The wind was ferocious, turning my borrowed umbrella completely inside out and breaking a third of the metal clasps in the hood. My bangs stuck to my forehead like overcooked angel hair pasta. And I was the first one there. Dripping wet in the entryway. 

Upstairs, there was an array of about thirty to forty chairs, covering a majority of the left wing of the second floor. A warm yellow light cascaded through the room. Being the first one there, I felt rather out of place, so I walked around the shop, pretending to read different blurbs, sometimes opening the cover to pretend to read the first page. People funneled in slowly, a group of 4 thirty-ish-year-olds spoke to the author. Another man shook his hand. They talked about their most recent respective literary accomplishments. He introduced the man to the other group of four. And I suddenly became abundantly aware that I was the only one there who was not friends with the author. And I was probably ten years younger than all of them. Was this supposed to be an intimate event for them? Was this some kind of dinner party I was suddenly intruding on? Am I the elephant-sized third wheel in this room? I started to sweat. Nonetheless, though, I figured the author actually did want people to hear his work. And whether I was a bother or not, my five dollars was probably appreciated.

The reading was quiet and intimate, similar to the book itself, and the author, who I came to learn was named Joey Ciaffone. Later I found that along with being an author, he’s a designer, and a founder. And quite a successful one at that. Which was what initially started the slow crackle of my “I hate nonfiction” wall, which was usually impenetrable. I figured some guy with decades apon decads of successful creative work could maybe teach me a thing or two about creativity. 

It wasn’t churchy though. It wasn’t a droning lecture. It was sweet and personable. He spoke about what creativity is, and questioned why do we abandon it so often. Why are we as children artists? And as we grow why do we self-inflict these titles of uncreativeness apon ourselves? Though the book looked at creativity as a sort of scientific, analytical thing, it was presented in this sort of god-like, birds-eye view of art and creativity. Implying that it lives in all of us. That even in quietness creativity is there. When we make everyday choices, we are doing so with an essence of creativity. It deconstructed the idea that people are either creative or uncreative. And expressed that creativity is rather something you nurse and grow within yourself. This all-encompassing warmth brought from the text itself as well as the personality of the author completely melted my original anxiety. 

I left McNally  Jackson with this inexplicable feeling. It was that feeling behind your eyes when you look at a work of art. But it was like everything before me was art. In some way, I suppose it actually was.

I attended a reading for the launch of a new edition of Astra Magazine in McNally Jackson Seaport. Astra is an international, biannual magazine of literature that features everything from prose, poetry, comics, and cultural criticism. As of right now, there are only two issues, and each issue has an overarching theme to unite all the contributors. The first edition was themed ‘ecstasy,’ and the newest edition is themed ‘filth.’ The attendees were not unified in gender or age; I mean, I found a seat next to a native-Irish man in his late 60’s. Our vastly different backgrounds didn’t matter in that room, as we were all going to spend the next hour communally contemplating our experiences of guilt, shame, and filth.  

As an English major, I have always been fascinated by the power of language and word choice. As I was waiting for the event to start, I spent some time thinking about how apparent synonyms can have different connotations. Why did they choose the word ‘filth’ rather than ‘dirty’ or ‘nasty?’ I think dirty tends to be used to describe the objective condition of something, whereas filth is more closely associated with moral implications. Many of the contributors to this edition played with this idea of filth being tied to shame, secrecy, and sexuality. It featured many queer and minority writers who are bound by the experience of feeling that their very existence is morally wrong. 

I was drawn to this event because Elif Bautman, author of The Idiot (a favorite book of mine), was one of the speakers. I had the opportunity to meet her and get my copy of the book signed. Her piece was a critical analysis of the character “Pig-Pen” from Peanuts. She not only analyzed how his character represented the social climates of the United States from the 1950s-1990s, but also references theories of Carl Jung and Fyodor Dostoevsky to examine the duality of man his character embodies. I loved this piece so much because it reminded me what I love about contemporary journalism: the ability to shamelessly over-analyze a seemingly frivolous topic. Similarly, I love the freedom in essay writing, as the only thing that defines a ‘good claim’ is the ability to defend it. In other words, say whatever you want (within reason) so long as you can back it up. 

My favorite reading was an excerpt from Maggie Millner’s forthcoming book, Couplets. Couplets is a literary innovation by my definition, as it is a lesbian love story composed of a series of poems. It follows a female narrator in an exclusive, straight relationship as she abandons her stable life for a polyamorous romance with an enigmatic woman. The poetic structure of the book creates fantastic imagery and truly transports readers into the plot. I love Millner for her creativity and wit in creating this story, but also hate her for now making me wait until February to find out how the story unfolds. 

The final speaker, Brontez Purnell, assured that any audience member who may have been ready to call it a night would suddenly be glued to their chair. His story “Community Work” opens with the line, “I am rolling around naked on a Chinese rug from, like, the late 1800’s,” and only gets progressively worse (and by worse, I mean so much better). He is a queer author who manages to balance shedding light on queer issues while being incredibly hilarious. I appreciated his ability to do this because I’m tired of so much LGBTQA+ media being violent or depressing. It is so refreshing to hear someone simultaneously acknowledge the hardships of the gay experience, as well as the sense of community and joy that unites it. 

The indulgence of taboos and unapologetic obscenity from both the speakers, and the magazine itself, broke down any barriers between strangers of the audience. Whether it was a habit of biting nails, or an intrinsic part of one’s existence, we were all bound by our feelings of filth. For that brief time, we were not ashamed of these parts of ourselves, but rather retaliated through our celebration of them. After all, the mission statement of Astra is to connect authors and readers from all around the world. Their themed issues, like ecstasy and filth, remind us that the fundamental parts of the human experience are universal, which can be easily forgotten in our world of hyper-individualism. Though you can still access the issue online, I think the physical print serves as an emblem of this unification. It acts as a time capsule, as physical evidence of overlap between people divided in most other regards. To me, that is what makes literature such a powerful tool in fostering community. No matter how separated readers are geographically, we can all meet in the escapist worlds that literature transports us to.