COLUMNS
Talk Show 7: Julianna Baggott, Lisa Borders, Maria Flook, Antonya Nelson, Darin Strauss
/ Jaime Clarke
01.08.08
--What more would you like to know about the event?
Borders: Where do I begin? As a child, I always wanted to know how Suzanne Crough landed the role of Tracy; she hit that tambourine like she was on valium, her mouth hanging open and never, never on the beat, and I knew even at age seven that I could have done better. I'd like to know what happened to Simone, the dog who was the Partridges' pet for one season and then mysteriously, inexplicably vanished (much like Tiger from the Brady Bunch). I'd also like to know if Susan Dey really did turn orange from eating so many carrots in an anorexic quest for extreme thinness, as urban legend and at least one behind-the-scenes, made-for-TV movie have asserted. Finally, I'd like to know if David Cassidy remembers as I do that concert at the Garden State Arts Center in 1971, the little girl in the purple dress with front row seats who nearly went catatonic when he took the stage in his white fringe jumpsuit, a little girl who must have looked so wigged that he actually uttered into the mike, "Little girl in the purple dress, are you alright?" That little girl would never be alright again, for she was from that moment on conditioned to pretty much only be attracted to guys with guitars (the white fringe jumpsuits, not so much).
Flook: My sister went back to East Lansing, but I'd love to know what happened to the hitch hikers we spent three days with. Are they bankers? Walmart executives? or like me, did they choose literature or art, and like me did they become totally "bent" and try to live up to their potential. Although, thanks to the retainer, my teeth are beautifully straight.
Nelson: I feel like I don't ever want to know anymore about Watergate, but it keeps being delivered, unsolicited, to me. There's always some new information, extra tapes, more footage, etc. Maybe Watergate was also the beginning of TMI.
Strauss: Why I spent all my money on a leather/mesh-combo jacket and flood-water pants, and why I wasted the Summer of 1984 trying to perfect my frontward moonwalk.
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.
Borders: Where do I begin? As a child, I always wanted to know how Suzanne Crough landed the role of Tracy; she hit that tambourine like she was on valium, her mouth hanging open and never, never on the beat, and I knew even at age seven that I could have done better. I'd like to know what happened to Simone, the dog who was the Partridges' pet for one season and then mysteriously, inexplicably vanished (much like Tiger from the Brady Bunch). I'd also like to know if Susan Dey really did turn orange from eating so many carrots in an anorexic quest for extreme thinness, as urban legend and at least one behind-the-scenes, made-for-TV movie have asserted. Finally, I'd like to know if David Cassidy remembers as I do that concert at the Garden State Arts Center in 1971, the little girl in the purple dress with front row seats who nearly went catatonic when he took the stage in his white fringe jumpsuit, a little girl who must have looked so wigged that he actually uttered into the mike, "Little girl in the purple dress, are you alright?" That little girl would never be alright again, for she was from that moment on conditioned to pretty much only be attracted to guys with guitars (the white fringe jumpsuits, not so much).
Flook: My sister went back to East Lansing, but I'd love to know what happened to the hitch hikers we spent three days with. Are they bankers? Walmart executives? or like me, did they choose literature or art, and like me did they become totally "bent" and try to live up to their potential. Although, thanks to the retainer, my teeth are beautifully straight.
Nelson: I feel like I don't ever want to know anymore about Watergate, but it keeps being delivered, unsolicited, to me. There's always some new information, extra tapes, more footage, etc. Maybe Watergate was also the beginning of TMI.
Strauss: Why I spent all my money on a leather/mesh-combo jacket and flood-water pants, and why I wasted the Summer of 1984 trying to perfect my frontward moonwalk.
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.