COLUMNS
Talk Show 9: with Jami Attenberg, Adam Braver, Nina de Gramont, Ann Hood, and Moon Unit Zappa
/ Jaime Clarke
03.02.08
TALK SHOW 9: Place You Would Never Visit
Jami Attenberg is the author of the story collection Instant Love and the novel The Kept Man. She has written for Jane, Print, Nerve, Nylon, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle and others. Visit her online at jamiattenberg.com.
Adam Braver is the author of Mr. Lincoln’s Wars, Divine Sarah, and Crows Over the Wheatfield. His work has appeared in journals such as Daedalus, Ontario Review, Cimarron Review, Water-Stone Review, West Branch, and Post Road. He teaches at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, and is a Writer-in-Residence at the NY State Summer Writers Institute. Visit Braver at www.adambraver.com.
Nina de Gramont is the author of a short story collection, Of Cats and Men, and the co-editor of an anthology, Choice. Her first novel, Gossip of the Starlings, is forthcoming in June, 2008. Her work has appeared in Isotope, Nerve, Exquisite Corpse, Post Road, Seventeen, and The Harvard Review. Visit de Gramont at www.choice-stories.com
Ann Hood is the author of seven novels, including The Knitting Circle and Somewhere off the Coast of Maine; a short story collection, An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life; and a memoir, Do Not Go Gentle: My Search for Miracles in a Cynical Time. Her latest book, Comfort: A Journey through Grief will be published in May. She lives in Providence, RI.
Moon Unit Zappa is the author of the novel America the Beautiful and has written for Details and Harper's Bazaar. She lives in L.A.
––Name a place you have no interest in visiting and why.
Attenberg: Thailand. First off it’s a super long flight and I know everyone says just take a sleeping pill and you’ll be fine, but I will NOT be fine. I can barely make it on a flight to the west coast without losing it. And I know a great deal of their economy is dependent on the tourist industry and that kind of environment usually does not appeal to me. I think the child prostitution problem there might depress the hell out of me as well.
Braver: Anywhere that involves camping and the outdoors—more specifically, I never want to be anywhere that isn’t within about thirty minutes of a metropolitan area. And by thirty minutes, I mean thirty minutes by car (although I suppose there could be an exception made if an emergency services vehicle could be on the scene during that same thirty minute window).
de Gramont: Israel. It's not that I have no interest in visiting Israel. How could I not want to visit Israel? I would dearly love to see Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, and pay my respects at Yad Vashem. I would love to spend a summer on a kibbutz; I see myself in a garden, wearing a kerchief, living off the earth in strength and cooperation with others. But every time I look at a map of the Middle East I see Israel––this teeny tiny country surrounded by enormous countries that hate it. The only protection is its fierce, well-organized army and its far away big brother, the U.S. Looking at a map of the Middle East makes me sad, and makes me think: I would never, ever go to Israel.
Hood: The night I met my future husband Lorne, he tried to impress me by describing his trekking in Nepal. After I listened to descriptions of the freezing temperatures, bad food, altitude sickness, stomach problems, and dirty accommodations, I said: "If that's your idea of fun, this will never work out." He then tried to tell me how easy it was, how beautiful the views were, how exhilarating an experience it was. But here's the truth, I don't hike, trek, or climb. Anything. Anywhere. I am so afraid of heights that I can't even climb the stairs in the Eiffel Tower. I admire Italy's Duomo's from the piazzas below. I don't mind rough travel, or exotic travel. In fact, I love exploring Cambodia, Peru, China, anywhere that does not require special equipment or extra oxygen. Since that night sixteen years ago, Lorne has climbed mountains in Africa, Russia, Japan, and Chile. Alone. Each time he invites me along and each time I say no. He has tried to convince me to go by talking about stopovers in Moscow or a Kenyan safari.
Zappa: I have several places I have no interest in ever visiting - India, Mexico, anywhere by car, plane or sea, a bad guy's lair, twister alley, anywhere flat, anywhere too switch-backy, jail, any courtroom where I would have to testify and my in-laws. But I think I’ll go with outer space as my top travel destination to avoid. Mainly because you’d be solely at the mercy of the government. The irony of that much space and no privacy. Nothing of comfort, nothing of any aesthetic value (besides a landscape you can’t really interact with without a mechanical device and an audience). Plus you’d wear diapers and asteroid/atmospheric turbulence seems like a motherfucker.
Jami Attenberg is the author of the story collection Instant Love and the novel The Kept Man. She has written for Jane, Print, Nerve, Nylon, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle and others. Visit her online at jamiattenberg.com.
Adam Braver is the author of Mr. Lincoln’s Wars, Divine Sarah, and Crows Over the Wheatfield. His work has appeared in journals such as Daedalus, Ontario Review, Cimarron Review, Water-Stone Review, West Branch, and Post Road. He teaches at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, and is a Writer-in-Residence at the NY State Summer Writers Institute. Visit Braver at www.adambraver.com.
Nina de Gramont is the author of a short story collection, Of Cats and Men, and the co-editor of an anthology, Choice. Her first novel, Gossip of the Starlings, is forthcoming in June, 2008. Her work has appeared in Isotope, Nerve, Exquisite Corpse, Post Road, Seventeen, and The Harvard Review. Visit de Gramont at www.choice-stories.com
Ann Hood is the author of seven novels, including The Knitting Circle and Somewhere off the Coast of Maine; a short story collection, An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life; and a memoir, Do Not Go Gentle: My Search for Miracles in a Cynical Time. Her latest book, Comfort: A Journey through Grief will be published in May. She lives in Providence, RI.
Moon Unit Zappa is the author of the novel America the Beautiful and has written for Details and Harper's Bazaar. She lives in L.A.
––Name a place you have no interest in visiting and why.
Attenberg: Thailand. First off it’s a super long flight and I know everyone says just take a sleeping pill and you’ll be fine, but I will NOT be fine. I can barely make it on a flight to the west coast without losing it. And I know a great deal of their economy is dependent on the tourist industry and that kind of environment usually does not appeal to me. I think the child prostitution problem there might depress the hell out of me as well.
Braver: Anywhere that involves camping and the outdoors—more specifically, I never want to be anywhere that isn’t within about thirty minutes of a metropolitan area. And by thirty minutes, I mean thirty minutes by car (although I suppose there could be an exception made if an emergency services vehicle could be on the scene during that same thirty minute window).
de Gramont: Israel. It's not that I have no interest in visiting Israel. How could I not want to visit Israel? I would dearly love to see Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, and pay my respects at Yad Vashem. I would love to spend a summer on a kibbutz; I see myself in a garden, wearing a kerchief, living off the earth in strength and cooperation with others. But every time I look at a map of the Middle East I see Israel––this teeny tiny country surrounded by enormous countries that hate it. The only protection is its fierce, well-organized army and its far away big brother, the U.S. Looking at a map of the Middle East makes me sad, and makes me think: I would never, ever go to Israel.
Hood: The night I met my future husband Lorne, he tried to impress me by describing his trekking in Nepal. After I listened to descriptions of the freezing temperatures, bad food, altitude sickness, stomach problems, and dirty accommodations, I said: "If that's your idea of fun, this will never work out." He then tried to tell me how easy it was, how beautiful the views were, how exhilarating an experience it was. But here's the truth, I don't hike, trek, or climb. Anything. Anywhere. I am so afraid of heights that I can't even climb the stairs in the Eiffel Tower. I admire Italy's Duomo's from the piazzas below. I don't mind rough travel, or exotic travel. In fact, I love exploring Cambodia, Peru, China, anywhere that does not require special equipment or extra oxygen. Since that night sixteen years ago, Lorne has climbed mountains in Africa, Russia, Japan, and Chile. Alone. Each time he invites me along and each time I say no. He has tried to convince me to go by talking about stopovers in Moscow or a Kenyan safari.
Zappa: I have several places I have no interest in ever visiting - India, Mexico, anywhere by car, plane or sea, a bad guy's lair, twister alley, anywhere flat, anywhere too switch-backy, jail, any courtroom where I would have to testify and my in-laws. But I think I’ll go with outer space as my top travel destination to avoid. Mainly because you’d be solely at the mercy of the government. The irony of that much space and no privacy. Nothing of comfort, nothing of any aesthetic value (besides a landscape you can’t really interact with without a mechanical device and an audience). Plus you’d wear diapers and asteroid/atmospheric turbulence seems like a motherfucker.