October 6, 2002
Today is the day to party all night and rock all day...rock!
The Obligatory Shout-Outs Day, Disguised as an Essay About Internet Friendships
One thing I'm still not quite sure how to explain to people are the friends that I've met via email, Instant Messenger and messageboards through this Internet reading and writing life. I'll be telling a friend of mine at home some news about a writer friend, and they'll say, "Now wait, how do you know this guy/girl?" And I'll have to say, well, I actually haven't met this person per se, but I still care for them a lot nonetheless, which is hard to say without sounding like a weirdo.
Because of geography, it's just not that easy to meet many of these people, so it's an incredible treat when you get to meet face-to-face with these people, and realize that they're even cooler than you thought they would be (which is to say, pretty damn fantastic.)
My parents, before they used to take my brother and me to musicals as kids, would have us listen to the soundtrack repeatedly before we saw the show, so that when the time came to actually see it, we were familiar with the music and the visuals added to it. In a way, meeting people like this is somewhat similar to that scenario. You start contacting somebody remotely, and you get to know their personality well, maybe even better than you would if you had a face-to-face encounter. Then when the time comes to meet in person, you feel like you're meeting an old friend, for the first time.
That's why the Haypenny One-Year Anniversary was so much fun. Yes, it was a fantastic reading, but you know, I don't want to make you feel bad by telling you everything you missed. You'll just have to find out next time and see why everybody who went to it is so happy. But I got to meet (again), David Barringer, Elizabeth Ellen and Julia Lipman. I also got to meet, finally, Ben Brown, Steve Delahoyde and Lindsay Roberts*n (in alphabetical order), Haypenny editors Paul Fisher, Sam Forsyth, Dennis Proctor and Matt Tobey (and Matt and Dennis' lovely wives Jackie and Rhonda, plus the band Havilland), plus the added fun of comedian Jesse Popp and Kittenpants' Darci Ratliff and John Freeman.
It was so great--it was like summer camp, all in one evening, with the excitement, the uncertainty, the goofiness, the delirious exhaustion and then the bittersweet departure. Oh, and there were hot dogs and hugs, too.
In terms of the hot young literary movement, the focus these days is generally upon the East Coast, and I hope that organizers and writers like the kind seen on Saturday will serve to bring attention to other parts of the country as well, because all the people I've mentioned here deserve to be recognized.
Except for Lindsay Roberts*n, who is an admitted crack whore. But we adore her anyway.