My cryptic notes from listening to Junot Diaz last night:
Several questions to him were about books he likes or recommends: I wrote Buddha in the Attic and Negro Building. Those are two he is reading now. He recommends Dreaming in Cuban, the Bros. Hernandez; Love and Rockets, Death of Speedy. Mario Benetine, Mexican writer. (I am not at all sure of the spelling of these names) and Jorge Franco, Argentine (again not certain)
When asked about white supremacy, he noted that you don’t have to be white to be a white supremist. He says, “everybody’s got the boot on their neck, but some people seem to think it’s their own boot.”
About interpreting the meaning of his writing, he likes the readers to provide their answers. They have the answers, I don’t. He said. He loves that reading provokes the question “what does that mean?” making it a communication process. (The note men don’t get a chance to ask here…is my own comment to Mari, but that didn’t hold for long, everyone got a chance).
Asked about teaching enriching his art, he answered that he teaches more to give back to the community, to teach students to be critically minded and to model compassion. (I love that!)
A wonderful freshman student from West LACC stood, first gesturing back a row and said and my teacher is here, then asked the most important of questions, something to the effect of “ what inspires you in life to keep writing?”
The note I wrote from his answer is “ to leave my community some fucking art. They’ve worked so hard.”
Mari, Art and I waited in the snaking line for our moment to have him sign our books. Mari and Art brought their two books and I bought the new one“ This is How You Lose Her”. I feared it would be too dark and deep and sad. I sat down to let my daughter and Art wait in the line and started reading. I kept getting up to show them paragraphs that made me roar, that hit home, that were, of course, totally brilliant.
I couldn’t imagine anything I would have to say to him when I got to the front—“Good book!? What! Mari went first (she has already talked with him on Facebook, as so many of the crowd were young and wanted his mentorship. ) Art took pictures of them, and then had his moment. What I didn’t expect in my anxiousness about an intellectual moment, was that he would put his arm around me and give the sweetest little kiss and hug.
Crush Crush!!
