So, there’s this college in Hackettstown called Centenary University. And guess who just spoke there?
I don’t do this kind of thing so often, although I would love to. I have given a writing class or two at conventions and spoken to a college class in Pennsylvania last year. But man, was this hour and a half just the bee’s knees for me! I spoke with/for/to the school’s Newspaper Production Studio, which produces the student newspaper, The Cyclone Chronicle.
And as old Mick would say, it was a “gas gas gas.”
I went wanting it to be less a lecture, surely not a class, and more a conversation. And it was.
I am probably more a fan of Mark Twain’s speaking appearances than I am of his writing….and I love his writing. But Twain made quite a name for himself and some sure money, touring stages giving forth his witticisms and stories. Akin to a rock star in his day, people came out in droves to see and hear Mark Twain, with him only adding to his already well-established reputation and growing popularity with these speaking engagements. I salivate over the possibility of managing more of the kind of experience I had the other day, because, um, like, I’m obviously a modern-day Mark Twain, right?
Beyond my egocentric idea of myself (and I really don’t see myself as a modern-day Mark Twain), I think what I engaged in at Centenary the other day thrills me for some very specific reasons:
Firstly, I do like to talk about writing. I don’t like talking so much about my writing per se (I’d rather get on with writing it…as my buddy Bob is so fond of saying ‘Writers write’), but I do like to talk about the process of what I do. And jawing with other writers is always fun, since we all share such a common world.
Secondly, I am a people person, through and through. Sitting in my garret all day, I plunk on my keyboard solo. I crave interaction with others since I am pretty much alone most of the day. Yes, my words bring me to far off worlds and wrestle me into weird situations, or I have the pleasure of interviewing folks infinitely more interesting than me. But for the most part, I don’t get out and about during the day so much. So, I like being among my fellow naked apes.
I also like colleges, classes, and all that. I have always fantasized about teaching a creative writing class or maybe even playwriting. So, there is a kernel of desire in my sensibilities that makes even an hour-and-a-half meetup in a school setting so thrilling.
And lastly, I am a performer. I do not coddle that fear so many have of public speaking, never did, never will. Guitar in hand or just a podium before me, I am down for the interaction.
Lastly, and as I hoped and certainly found at Centenary, the students were so, so great. So smart, so engaged and engaging, so nice, so informed, so, well…so everything! I also need to thank Janet Zatta, teacher extraordinaire, the advisor to the students I met, and who steered my talk so expertly, with such grace, subtly and wonderful questions of her own.
So, if you spin down near Hackettstown way, you might just see the pretty buildings of Centenary University tucked as it is there slightly off a few of the town’s few main streets. Just now that there is great stuff going on in those buildings (I found out that this college is tops for Equine Studies…go figure!), between some great people, students, teachers, and the occasional guest lecturer who was made to feel so welcome.
