. . . to bring you yet another variation on the “Ten Things” meme.
Here are 10 things I got to do because I was a reporter:
1) Went on a rattlesnake round-up with a man named Butch. “We” caught 17 snakes.
2) Was selected as an alternate for “American Gladiator.”
3) Got into a shouting match with George W. Bush, who was campaigning for his father — and resented being contradicted on his utterly false statements about the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project.
4) Was hugged by Boris Yeltsin, who believed I was a member of his welcoming party.
5) Reported and wrote an 800-word page one story for the Evening Sun — in less than 15 minutes.
6) Interviewed Martin Amis, Erica Jong, Oscar Hijeulos, Doris Lessing, Richard Ford, Christopher Hitchens, Elizabeth Arthur, Walter Mosley, Robert Crais, Anne Lamott, Susan Isaacs, Russell Banks, George Pelecanos, Molly Ivins, Madison Smartt Bell, Stephen Dixon, Brett Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, Scott Turow, Melissa Bank, Robert Ward, Laura Zigman, Paul Auster, David Guterson, Russell Baker, Bernard Lefkowitz, James Lee Burke, Arundhati Roy, Edward Ball, Lois Duncan, James Ellroy, Scott Adams, Neil Simon, Richard Russo, Mark Leyner and probably a bunch of people I’m missing; the Sun archive is very fussy today.
7) Got a mash note from one of the above.
8) Took my dog to a Major League baseball game.
9) Covered three national political conventions — one with my dad.
10) Listened to Allen Ginsburg read “Howl” outside a federal appellate court. And was conscious, at that moment, of what a wonderful job I had.
You got a mash note from Anne Lamott!?!?! I’m SO jealous sweetie!
Oh. Okay. As long as it wasn’t Brett Easton Ellis. THAT would bother me.
RE: #2 — What would your Gladiator name have been?
RE: #6 — I wonder how many of these people listed “interviewed by Laura Lippman.”
Andi — I remember that conversation well.
Rosemary, was that the DQ on the north side of Waco? My DQ love (that is, my peanut buster parfait love) came post-Waco, so I know the Health Camp “on the circle” better.
And Berger’s cookies . . . mmmmmmmmmmmm.
I was going to compete under the name “Medea.”
My hunch is that very few of those folks remember me — except for one I didn’t mention, about whom I was snarky. And I don’t believe in snark, but this guy was impossible, rude and obnoxious. And the book was soooooo bad. But, in general, everyone was charming.
One of the nicest stories — several months after writing about Mosley, I met him at Monterey Bouchercon. He was amazed to see me there, for I hadn’t mentioned the fact that I was publishing mysteries. And he rewarded my professional reticence by taking me, Sujata Massey, and another friend to dinner. He said many journalists asked for his help, brought him manuscripts, tried to get to his agent or editor, so it was a relief to find out how I hadn’t try to prevail on him. Walter and I remain on a very friendly basis to this day.
Lamott was great — although mildly appalled that I’d dug out a photograph of her from the Goucher College yearbook.
10 cool things I got to do because of my last job (not in any order):
10. Went to Sacre-Couer in Paris.
9. Talked to Elvis Costello at the registration desk of the Beverly Hills Hotel.
8. Was on Oprah for 6 seconds talking about Philadelphia being the fattest city in America.
7. Hooked up two friends who married and then went onto adopt a gorgeous son.
6. Started practicing meditation.
5. Went to a Dairy Queen in Waco, Texas – alas, they did not have Frito Pie.
4. Made a joke about Donald Trump while he was in the audience of a luncheon at which I was introducing Rudy Guiliani.
3. Went to see an exhibit of Magritte paintings in Tokyo.
2. Discovered Berger’s cookies.
1. Wrote essays that made people cry.
Nice NICE story about Walter who always has come across as spacy and not remembering MOI when we’ve met over the years.
I do EXcellent snark, but I tend to keep it private. Reading and commenting on slush pile manuscripts is a great place to polish one’s snarking.
And re #6, and being “interviewed by LL” I’ll say this. I have a file on the computer called “egoboo”, the word used in science fiction for “when folks say nice stuff” or ego-boosting. In it is a n excerpt from a post by you in December of 1998 where you talked about what a great year ’98 was and listed as one of your “top 10 mystery-related pleasures” the following: “Hearing Andi Shechter’s voice on the phone.”
And that STILL makes me cry. It’s one of the most amazing wonderful things I’ve ever read. So there.