Friday, April 4, 2008

Swallow the Ocean

My MFA buddy Laura Flynn came to La Sierra and gave a reading on Wednesday. It was a triumph. She read from her memoir Swallow the Ocean--which is a poignant book. Laura also talked with one of my classes and had dinner with senior English majors.

It was tremendous fun to play host. Here is my office. Here is my school. See all the students smiling at me in the hall. (Yeah, I know, they probably want to stab me with a shiv, but they do smile sweetly.) It was like a rhyming show and tell.

So listen up, Minnesota--it was a beautiful 70 degrees in Riverside, and it was snowing in Minneapolis. How's that? Now don't you want to come see me? Laura couldn't stay very long, but if she had, I could have taken her to the beach, to the Getty museum, to the spray tanning place down the street. In other words, it would have been a cultural extravaganza--and if you come visit, all this plasticy goodness awaits. (And don't believe those people who call Riverside the armpit of California.)

As you'll see from the pictures, Laura is 6 months pregnant with twins. She was a very good sport about what turned out to be a very full day. If you haven't read Swallow the Ocean yet, put it on your booklist. It's really good.



4 comments:

American_in_Cairo said...

Looks like a nice crowd for the reading!

Anonymous said...

I just came across that word, shiv, in the book I'm reading so I actually knew what it meant when I read your blog. Don't I feel smart! :-)

Anonymous said...

I can second that appraisal of Swallow The Ocean. It's really good–and I bought it in California, at the Borders in San Diego, where it was sunny and 60 in January. Please remind us of this post next January.

Shana said...

yes a good crowd! Laura is going to be in Iowa City today and I've done my best to drum up support! I sure hope we get a full room because I wouldn't want to drive 5 hours in the rain super pregnant with twins just to have Teal and I and a screaming baby in the audience! I can't wait to see her! It is a great book!