Bohemia
Authors and actors and artists and such
Never know nothing, and never know much.
Sculptors and singers and those of their kidney
Tell their affairs from Seattle to Sydney.
Playwrights and poets and such horses' necks
Start off from anywhere, end up at sex.
Diarists, critics, and similar roe
Never say nothing, and never say no.
People Who Do Things exceed my endurance;
God, for a man that solicits insurance!---Dorothy Parker
I kid. I kid 'cause I love. If I really meant what Mrs. Parker wrote in those lines, I'd be a pretty lonely girl. Not to mention bored out of my skull.
Below are the people who populate the Algonquin Roundtable of my life:
Scott: My mentor. Or, more accurately, my fairy Godfather. I first met Scott when I enrolled in his non-credit fiction-writing workshop. I still attend the class, but Scott has become so much more to me than an instructor. He's a dear friend. I owe him quite a bit. He wrote me a glowing recommendation when I was applying to University A. When I didn't get a TA position for my first year at University A, he got me a job teaching English for Engineers at University B. He hooked me up with the theater company that I now work with. He believes in me, even when I don't, and he champions me in just about anything and everything. I don't know what I have done to deserve a friend like him, but I'm glad I did it.
Scott writes novels (under another name), plays under his own, directs and produces theater here in Philly, and teaches at University B. He lives with his wife, Tracey, and his son, Kendall.
Erica: My roommate. I met Erica during my first semester in Scott's class (in fact, I met all of "The Writers" in Scott's class and most of us still attend). She's a Kindergarten teacher and a poet. Nice girl -- a little wacky -- but nice.
Pat: Pat writes mystery novels and works at a bouncer at one of Philadelphia's "beautiful people" bars. Pat's a South Philly guy (think Rocky but more intellectual). He's divorced, has an eight-year old son, and he carries a mighty big torch for Erica.
Derrick: Introverted, but brilliant, computer programmer and playwright. Dates Melody.
Melody: Short story writer and novelist. She's already got an M.A. in Creative Writing and will be with me at University A in the Fall, working on her doctorate in English Lit. Dates Derrick.
Eileen: What Eileen does for a living has never been made quite clear. Sometimes, she's arranging sumptuous dinner parties for large groups; sometimes, she's baking wedding cakes; sometimes, she's taking care of her neighbors' son; sometimes, she's escorting foreign dignitaries on tours of Philadelphia; sometimes, she's doing maintenance work on apartments. A veritable woman of mystery, Eileen is. One thing I do know: Eileen's "writing hook" is that she writes super-short short stories.
Sara: The most successful writer in our crowd. Sara's a publishing machine. I suppose it helps that she writes brilliantly. She just sold a collection of short stories. It's impossible to be jealous of the girl, though, since she's damn sweet on top of being talented.
Ian: A genetic scientist turned author, Ian is working on a thriller involving the world's food supply. His day job is engineering super fruits and vegetables, not cloning sheep. Ian is originally from England and just became an American citizen last year.
Nancy: Freelance proofreader and freespirit. Short story writer. Married to Tom.
Jessie and Stan: You hardly ever see one without the other. And when you do, you have to ask where the other one is. It's the law. Short story writers and GED instructors. The quintessential "sensitive new age guys." Let's put it this way: If you were to rent a movie with Jessie and Stan, you'd be watching a documentary about the plight of Cuban farmers. Dinner? Vegan. Footwear? Birkenstocks. Jessie's a bit more new age than Stan; Stan's a bit edgier. They're each Yin to the other's Yang.
Chad: Former corporate lawyer; now a John-Grisham wannabe. Left Philly for the sun and fun of Miami about a year ago. Resurfaces occasionally.
Sabrina and Sammy: Founders of Rose Theater, the theater company that I work with. Sabrina directs and Sammy choreographs, costumes, designs the sets, and acts. They're based in New York but they just did a project here in Philadelphia, which is how I got hooked up with them. The main focus of the company is to bring modern takes on Shakesperean and Jacobean works to the contemporary stage. Sabrina is an amazing woman -- assistant directed for the Royal Shakespeare company, teaches for a major acting program in NYC, and still is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you could meet. Sammy is just as terrific. He's at least a decade younger than Sabrina. They're quite a couple and they live together in New York.
Kendra: I met Kendra while assistant directing for Rose Theater's latest production. She played a Puritan woman who gets raped by the Devil. Kendra is amazingly beautiful and very talented. She's exactly the kind of girl that I have always hated on general principle (mostly because I figure that that kind of girl would have no use for me). But, Kendra and I, to my amazement, have bonded and she's a good friend.
Richard, Peter, Annabelle, Edward, Fenton, Carey, Carol, Jane, and Theseus: Actors involved with Rose Theater. Some live here in Philly; some in New York. All of them are lots of fun.
Estelle: My boss at University B, where I teach sections of the English for the Engineering Program course. Estelle is the head of the English for Engineers faculty team and can be pretty tough, despite her tendency to mother us.
Miles, Maria, Aaron, Fatma, Tricia, and Mike: The other members of the English for Engineers faculty. We teach a three-term long course in humanities for University B's Engineering Program. Scott is also a member of the team.
Carl: My manuscript advisor at University A. I meet with Carl once a week (when school is in session) to discuss whatever I happen to be working on at the moment. Carl is an accomplished novelist and essayist, and he gives killer, but still kind, feedback on my work. He also went to bat for me with the department administration and got me a TA position teaching Creative Writing next fall.
Gayle, Victor, and Charles: The three other creative writing professors at University A. Charles is the department head. Gayle is rumored to be one tough cookie (I guess I'll find out since I have her workshop next fall). And Victor is a successful science fiction writer who just joined the faculty last semester. I like Victor; don't really know Gayle, yet; and have struck a cordial peace with Charles, who doesn't seem to like me much more than I like him. There are other faculty that I work with but they're Ph.D./English Lit folks as opposed to Writing, so I won't bother with names until they become relevant.
Bobbi and Merry: The only two other female fiction writers in my year at University A. I didn't have class with them this year because somehow I got stuck in with all the second-year students, but I'm looking forward to being in Gayle's workshop with them this fall.
Mom and Dad: Pretty self explanatory, this one, don't you think? My parents. Married 31 years. Still live in the Northern New Jersey town where I grew up. Dad's an underwriter for an insurance company and Mom's a secretary in the guidance office at my old high school.
Holly: My sister. 28 years old. Holly works as an elementary school art teacher, but she really should be painting and sculpting full time. Still at home with Mom and Dad.
Frank: The baby of the family. 25 years old. I'm not quite sure what Frank does for a living right now -- he's the Traffic Coordinator for a pharmaceutical company and damned if I know what the hell that means -- but he's going to be applying to law school soon. Still at home, too.
Mabel and Puck: My dogs. They live with my parents and create trouble. Obviously, they take after their mother.
Severus: My cat. Named for the best Harry Potter character there is -- Severus Snape. Lives with me. Actually, he's technically Erica's cat, but she hardly ever buys him food and never cleans out his litterbox. I do. Besides, she named him after her dead boyfriend. So this cat's mine. She may not know it yet, but he is.
Helen: I see Helen for an hour each week. She's part of University A's Psychological Services Center. I imagine she gets pretty tired of my rambling. Lately, she's been trying to get me to see that life is about choices and that, ultimately, we don't do anything because we HAVE to, it's just that we CHOOSE to.
So, that's about it for the people I anticipate I'll be mentioning in these pages. Except for the following two who defy categorization, even though they match up pretty closely to two major players in Mrs. Parker's drama.
Teddy: Robert Benchley was Mrs. Parker's lifelong best friend. They met while working on Vanity Fair when they were both starting out and remained close for the rest of their lives. Teddy is my best friend of 12 years. We met during college and have been close ever since. We've had some rough going over the past year, but we're working things out. Most people never really understood Mrs. Parker's relationship with Robert Benchley, and I suspect that most people don't understand my friendship with Teddy. People see a man and woman who are close and they want to pigeonhole the relationship as romantic. Teddy and I have struggled with that issue and I've learned that romance is not something I want with him. Teddy lives in San Francisco, writes and directs plays, and works as an actuary.
Finally, last but certainly not least:
Holden: Yes, he's still around. As Mrs. Parker said about Alan Campbell after their second wedding, "What are you going to do when you love the son of a bitch?" Dot met Alan in the late 1920's and she loved him for the rest of her life, even though they endured several interruptions.
Holden and I started working for an entertainment magazine on the same day. We became close and fell in love. Moved in together. Recently, we went through a thoroughly hellacious couple of years (as anyone who used to read "If I Wrote You..." can testify to), which ended in our splitting up for about six months. He moved out. I moved to Center City. He finished school and got a job as a network consultant for a big time firm. Pulled himself together and got back to being the sweet, charming boy I fell in love with. We didn't take the decision to get back together lightly, but we're happier than we have ever been, so I'm glad we did. When he's not troubleshooting networking systems, Holden is an stand up comic. In everything he does, he's a wonderful man.