On the Edge of Homesickness
April 15, 2008
I've been very homesick lately, but Saturday night found me, unpredictably, experiencing a home away from home situation in Cleveland. Normally I play hobbyist-type board games with my boyfriend and some other new city friends on one night, and my boyfriend and I have a date of some sort on the other night, which are both fun, but this past weekend was fun in a different way. This past weekend, my friend Christopher Barzak arrived from Youngstown to do a live reading at the Suspect Thoughts Books in Cleveland.
The store is nestled in a building near Ohio City. Chris remarked that the neighborhood resembles Youngstown when he arrived with Brooke Slanina, pro-Youngstown cheerleader and president of the Oakland Center for the Arts with one hour to spare before the event began. He and Brooke and I and my boyfriend, Nevin, headed out to dinner at a small, delicious Italian place up the street and around a corner, and talked about how the place indeed seemed to echo Youngstown – right down to the amazing pasta and tiramisu.
Chris was reading with another author who resides in Cleveland, Catherynne Valente. She is the author of “The Orphan's Tales Vol 1: In the Night Garden” and its sequel, “The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice,” among other books. Nevin aptly described a previous reading of hers we attended as “an Arabian Nights/Canterbury Tales conceit of stories within stories.” Her readings are gripping.
When we arrived at the bookstore for the reading, Catherynne and several audience members were there, and we proceeded to chat and mingle with each other and the owners, Ian and Greg. The atmosphere was warm and cozy, and book-browsing and friendliness ensued to a soundtrack of happy talking and glad laughter. Then the authors began to read.
Chris has just begun to read aloud a story of his called “Born on the Edge of an Adjective” when the door opened and in walked four Youngstowners: Steven, Jessica, Terri and Andrew! There was a bit of a commotion as everyone greeted one another, and then Chris resumed reading his story, which took place in Youngstown and San Francisco (fitting because the owners of Suspect Thoughts had moved the store from San Francisco to the Rust Belt region.) The story was interestingly melancholy: a tale of two lovers, parted by distance and dreams. Catherynne followed him with a preview of her new book, so new, in fact, that she read from the manuscript on her laptop. The reading was fantastical, vivid, and sensual.
Their voices threaded through the small, rapt crowd and then there was more talking and then book-signing, and then almost everyone in attendance headed off to the Great Lakes Brewery for food and revelry. It was a bright spot in my week as my home and my current location ran headlong into one another, at a small, independent bookstore and at a table at the brewery. On nights like this one, I don’t always feel so far away.
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I wish I was out of Youngstown long enough to get homesick. I hate it here. Good you got out!!!!
I'm brewing with envy...
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