Can Writing Change the World?
Writers have a difficult time telling whether a fan is in love with them or their work. Being egoists, most of the time they choose themselves. Try it. Tell a writer, any writer, you’re a fan of their work. See if they don’t ask for your number. It helps if you mention one of their more obscure books, so obscure no one but you and the author have ever read it. If he or she doesn’t, wait five days for the Facebook friend request. Of…
You’ve Got Rhythm
I had a piano teacher for a couple of weeks in Ann Arbor one summer. I had always played the upright piano at my grandma’s house in Southfield, but these were generally my own compositions, which drove her crazy and made her yell from the next room, “Why don’t you play something?” So, with the help of a music teacher one other summer when I was ten, I learned how to read music, which appeased my grandma, but didn’t make me any more proficient at…
Lessons from My Dad
I think my dad is enjoying a literary renaissance. When I was growing up, the most he wrote was the occasional birthday card, but now, oh boy. I think it’s the internet age. Recently, an article he wrote with my uncle Mike about Let It Be ended up in PopMatters. Is this really my dad? This past couple of years he has published books, started a couple of websites, he even has a blog—if he weren’t writing about education issues, I would be afraid of…
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