No Trees Felled, But a Terrific Evening

If you read this blog last week, you know that my story “The Art of Fiction” was read last Friday at Stories on Stage in Sacramento.  What a wonderful evening–and I’m not saying that just because my story was featured.  Of course that was a treat.  But what really made the evening special?

Interesting, friendly people gathered in a room on a warm valley night to be read aloud to.  Valerie Fioravanti welcoming us all as if to her own living room.  Terrific performances by Pam Metzger and Benjamin Ismail.  Meeting Julia Halprin Jackson, soon to graduate from the UC Davis graduate program in creative writing (where I studied sixteen years ago), and hearing Julia’s terrific story “Big Dog.”  Picking up some of Julia’s postcards with 100-word stories on them.  Reconnecting with a friend from college whom I hadn’t seen since 1984, who came to the event with her husband.  Meeting Tim Foley, editor of the literary magazine Farallon Review.  Dark chocolates with sea salt sprinkled on top.

On my way to I-80 west and home, I drove past sweet Victorian houses (complete with large trees and lawns) and fantasized about moving to midtown Sacramento.  Images of walking to story readings every month in a summer sundress floated through my mind.  Homemade lemonade anyone?  It’s amazing how quickly those grass-is-greener fantasies take root, isn’t it?  And yet nothing felt fantastical about the warmth and community spirit last Friday evening at the Sacramento Poetry Center–people who care about words gathered to celebrate the primal pleasure of hearing stories read aloud.  I drove home wearing a smile. Stories on Stage, thank you.

Click here to watch Pam Metzger read my story “The Art of Fiction.”