COLUMNS
Talk Show 4 with T Cooper, Lisa Selin Davis, Ellen Litman, Elissa Schappell, and Amanda Eyre Ward
/ Jaime Clarke
11.01.07
––If you could say something to him/her now, what would it be?
Cooper: I think I kind of already tried to say something to him a few times in recent years... On page 241 of my first novel, a "fictional character" goes on and on about how handsome and generally excellent Alan Alda is, and shortly after the book came out in 2002, I might've sent a copy of it to him through his agent in New York. (No, I didn't hear back, and further didn't even get a signed photo in return. But it's okay, because in Never Have Your Dog Stuffed and Other Things I've Learned, I found out that around the time my book would've arrived, Alda had been going through a life altering, near-death experience with a mechanical intestinal obstruction while shooting Scientific American Frontiers in Chile, and shortly thereafter decided to go on anti-depressants. So it was a hectic time for the guy.) Furthermore, M*A*S*H is also mentioned in a short story of mine that appeared in a recent issue of The New Yorker, and secretly, I've been thinking that out of all of the publications out there, I think of Alan Alda as someone who probably has a subscription to and reads The New Yorker regularly, so I've been quietly hoping that he by chance came across my story and saw the reference, and that a letter to me is on its way through my agent right this very moment. It could happen. And when it does, I'll totally be sending him a signed photo in return.
Davis: I suppose I’m curious to know if she felt she was furthering the feminist cause somehow. She and her TV powerful/beautiful sisters: were they busting doors down for the next generation, allowing us the freedom to be strong, tough, calm in all weathers? Or were they saying: you have to do everything men do, and as well, but wearing makeup and heels (like the Ginger Rogers quote)? Maybe that was the beginning of the superwoman phenomenon (perhaps we should have called it Wonder Woman phenomenon), whereby you were “free” to have both families and careers, but slowly women have been finding that it’s a hell of a lot of work to have both. Most of still want to be powerful and domestic. I haven’t figured out how.
Litman: If I could go back in time? Maybe I’d say, Hey, Samantha, I’ve been living in America for fifteen years now, and this whole TV business is totally insipid, you know? You’re better off treating sick animals. Though, let’s face, the girl was photogenic as hell and clearly meant for public life. So who am I kidding? Maybe instead I could tell her how it would end – not the plane crash, but the whole Soviet saga, the Cold War, and everything that would follow. On the other hand, that’s a lot to tell, and I tend to get self-conscious and tongue-tied, especially around people of importance. Maybe I could just tell her not to get on that plane.
Schappell: Oh Kate, you were yar. And you were right, “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”
Ward: Nelson, who was your childhood hero?
Jaime Clarke is the author of the novel WE’RE SO FAMOUS, editor of DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME: CONTEMPORARY WRITERS ON THE FILMS OF JOHN HUGHES, and co-founder of POST ROAD, a national literary magazine based out of New York and Boston.
Cooper: I think I kind of already tried to say something to him a few times in recent years... On page 241 of my first novel, a "fictional character" goes on and on about how handsome and generally excellent Alan Alda is, and shortly after the book came out in 2002, I might've sent a copy of it to him through his agent in New York. (No, I didn't hear back, and further didn't even get a signed photo in return. But it's okay, because in Never Have Your Dog Stuffed and Other Things I've Learned, I found out that around the time my book would've arrived, Alda had been going through a life altering, near-death experience with a mechanical intestinal obstruction while shooting Scientific American Frontiers in Chile, and shortly thereafter decided to go on anti-depressants. So it was a hectic time for the guy.) Furthermore, M*A*S*H is also mentioned in a short story of mine that appeared in a recent issue of The New Yorker, and secretly, I've been thinking that out of all of the publications out there, I think of Alan Alda as someone who probably has a subscription to and reads The New Yorker regularly, so I've been quietly hoping that he by chance came across my story and saw the reference, and that a letter to me is on its way through my agent right this very moment. It could happen. And when it does, I'll totally be sending him a signed photo in return.
Davis: I suppose I’m curious to know if she felt she was furthering the feminist cause somehow. She and her TV powerful/beautiful sisters: were they busting doors down for the next generation, allowing us the freedom to be strong, tough, calm in all weathers? Or were they saying: you have to do everything men do, and as well, but wearing makeup and heels (like the Ginger Rogers quote)? Maybe that was the beginning of the superwoman phenomenon (perhaps we should have called it Wonder Woman phenomenon), whereby you were “free” to have both families and careers, but slowly women have been finding that it’s a hell of a lot of work to have both. Most of still want to be powerful and domestic. I haven’t figured out how.
Litman: If I could go back in time? Maybe I’d say, Hey, Samantha, I’ve been living in America for fifteen years now, and this whole TV business is totally insipid, you know? You’re better off treating sick animals. Though, let’s face, the girl was photogenic as hell and clearly meant for public life. So who am I kidding? Maybe instead I could tell her how it would end – not the plane crash, but the whole Soviet saga, the Cold War, and everything that would follow. On the other hand, that’s a lot to tell, and I tend to get self-conscious and tongue-tied, especially around people of importance. Maybe I could just tell her not to get on that plane.
Schappell: Oh Kate, you were yar. And you were right, “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”
Ward: Nelson, who was your childhood hero?
Jaime Clarke is the author of the novel WE’RE SO FAMOUS, editor of DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME: CONTEMPORARY WRITERS ON THE FILMS OF JOHN HUGHES, and co-founder of POST ROAD, a national literary magazine based out of New York and Boston.