Guest Blog: Andrew Getman on Sherman Alexie @ the Warehouse Theater June 6th
For those of you not in the book world, starting on May 31 and going through June 1st is a little thing we like to call Book Expo America.
I, along with a good portion of the Olsson's staff, will be hanging out in New York for the best part of this week.
That does not mean that I am going to leave you hanging out there with no one to tell you what is going on. In fact, I am taking this chance to tell you about the handsome young man that manages our airport store, Andrew Getman!
Andrew has been nice enough to donate his time to writing a little bit about an upcoming event we are holding at the Warehouse Theater. It is going... why am I telling you about it? That is why we have Andrew.
Folks, Andrew Getman:
Sherman Alexie, "Flight"
Occasionally we come across books that remind us that we as Americans are no longer who we once were. Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" makes explicit reference to this change in our worldview, allows us to step momentarily out of our absorption with the current wartime preoccupations and reflect on the shock that set this all in motion. Sherman Alexie's Flight is another in this vein, and is worthy of consideration for another reason - it reminds us that there are teenagers growing up today who barely remember an era before 9/11, Columbine, the Unibomber, Waco, Virginia Tech, or Oklahoma City. These terrorist acts and the current war on terror are in the process of defining a generation, and Sherman Alexie brings this reality home.
Meet Zits, a more typical teenager than many of us imagine, an urban kid who has bounced from foster home to juvenile detainment center most of his youth. But while his circumstances are more rare, his alienation, frustrations, and preoccupations with violence and rebellion give voice to what many experience. He meets a mentor who seems to care, and then channels his disappointments into an act of aggression. Sound familiar?
The difference is that Zits suddenly finds himself inhabiting the bodies of people who lived through historical moments of great violence - Red River, Custer's Last Stand, an airplane about to be seized by a hijacker. As if this were a novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Alexie's character is trapped bouncing through time, forced to again and again commit violent acts or bear witness to them.
This is a simply told, but powerfully evocative book. It demands to be put on high school reading lists and be selected by book groups. Teenagers need to be exposed to these ideas, because they are living them, and adults need to be paying attention.
Join us when we hear Sherman Alexie speak, read the book for yourself, and pass it on to people young and old whom you care about.
-Andrew Getman, former teacher and store manager, Olsson's - National Airport
I, along with a good portion of the Olsson's staff, will be hanging out in New York for the best part of this week.
That does not mean that I am going to leave you hanging out there with no one to tell you what is going on. In fact, I am taking this chance to tell you about the handsome young man that manages our airport store, Andrew Getman!
Andrew has been nice enough to donate his time to writing a little bit about an upcoming event we are holding at the Warehouse Theater. It is going... why am I telling you about it? That is why we have Andrew.Folks, Andrew Getman:
Sherman Alexie, "Flight"
Occasionally we come across books that remind us that we as Americans are no longer who we once were. Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" makes explicit reference to this change in our worldview, allows us to step momentarily out of our absorption with the current wartime preoccupations and reflect on the shock that set this all in motion. Sherman Alexie's Flight is another in this vein, and is worthy of consideration for another reason - it reminds us that there are teenagers growing up today who barely remember an era before 9/11, Columbine, the Unibomber, Waco, Virginia Tech, or Oklahoma City. These terrorist acts and the current war on terror are in the process of defining a generation, and Sherman Alexie brings this reality home.Meet Zits, a more typical teenager than many of us imagine, an urban kid who has bounced from foster home to juvenile detainment center most of his youth. But while his circumstances are more rare, his alienation, frustrations, and preoccupations with violence and rebellion give voice to what many experience. He meets a mentor who seems to care, and then channels his disappointments into an act of aggression. Sound familiar?
The difference is that Zits suddenly finds himself inhabiting the bodies of people who lived through historical moments of great violence - Red River, Custer's Last Stand, an airplane about to be seized by a hijacker. As if this were a novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Alexie's character is trapped bouncing through time, forced to again and again commit violent acts or bear witness to them.
This is a simply told, but powerfully evocative book. It demands to be put on high school reading lists and be selected by book groups. Teenagers need to be exposed to these ideas, because they are living them, and adults need to be paying attention.
Join us when we hear Sherman Alexie speak, read the book for yourself, and pass it on to people young and old whom you care about.
-Andrew Getman, former teacher and store manager, Olsson's - National Airport
I am thinking of adding an extra day in the week. I know people have tried this before to little or no results, but I think my idea is different enough from the others that it just might take off. To start with let me ask you a question. How many weeks are in a year? 52, right? And how many days are in a week? 7. How many days are in a year? 365. (stop me if my math gets off) What is 52 times 7 then? If you are playing along in your head and can't do times tables past 6 (like me) just think if 7 times 2 makes any number ending with 5. So the real answer is 364 days a year.
In honor of "Billy", I promise to you, the loyal Olsson's event attendee, that I will schedule good events for you to attend on "Billy". We will not squander the "Billy" by sitting at our desks! We will not waste our "Billies" in front of the television! We will use our "Billies" to enrich our lives, to broaden our minds and stretch our horizons. "Billy" will now become the foundation on which we build our weekends. "Billy" will be just like Friday night, only deeper, richer and fuller. Alexis mentioned last week going on a Literary Bender and I say we kick that bender off on the smartest Day-ette of the whole week. That day, my friends, is "Billy"!
I can't make "Billy" happen alone. I am a very powerful and influential person, but inventing a new day is going to take some help. I am going to need you all to help me out and raise the awareness of Billy to your friends. Invite your friends and family out for Billy and show them how great Billy is. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's kind of mental and they won't take him seriously. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking up strangers and wishing them a happy "Billy". They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking up to strangers and wishing them a happy "Billy"? Friends they may thinks it's a movement. And that is exactly what it is. A movement. Together we shall forge "Billy" out of the dregs of Thursday Evening! 
Something about nice days just make me think of the Brady Bunch Kids and all the cool music they produced. Some of you will have no idea what I am talking about, but there is a group of you who know exactly what I am getting at. Those of you not in the loop, I recommend a trip to your local Music store (and I think you know the one I have in mind) for some remedial music training. 
Right. On to workish things. I am trying out a new format to the blog for a couple weeks to see if it helps and or changes things. I have talked to the Higher ups here at Olsson's and in their heads, my blog should talk more about events and less about what I ate for lunch or was thinking about while I was in the shower making a shampoo Mohawk. (You know you do it too and if you don't you should try it.)
Some event news if you are interested. My Garden Fresh Voices Series was picked up by the Book section of the Washington Post and got a special box of its own. If you haven't been paying attention, you will have to go back to see what the heck the Garden Fresh Voices Series is. In short it is a series of talks in the Dupont store with hand picked authors. We kicked off the the series last Monday night with Annie Choi and her new book Happy Birthday or Whatever. She was a very charming lady who read a small section of her memoir and stuck around to sign all the copies of the book I could dredge up. Annie is a Korean American and the first generation in her family to speak more English than Korean. She grew up in California and has a very American outlook on things. I imagine her parents are still a little "Old Country" as a friend of mine would say, and I can only imagine how hard that would be at family get-togethers. I struggle to get my parents to understand me and we speak the same language. We had a good turnout, I brought donuts and everyone had a good time. For proof, you will have to go to Annie's blog and see her thoughts. 
Well, that is all the interesting bits for this week. I am now going to put the cap on this 11+ hour Tuesday, go home and eat some veggies and perhaps get an hour on the treadmill so my butt doesn't get any bigger. 
Your Blackberry. Your PC. Your Cell phone, home security system, wireless network, ATM. GPS. All potential targets for disaster. These days, you'd have to work hard to get off the "grid" -- we're all so hopelessly connected and interdependent. When something goes wrong -- bad weather, faulty equipment, etc -- we tear our hair out and rave about the Stone Age, while mere seconds tick by. This is the hot new weakness of the new millennium (among significant others; global warming, anyone?). Apparently authors Michael Coumatos, William Scott, and William Birnes agree; they propose an attack on this weakness in their realistic fictional novel, Space Wars: the First Six Hours of World War III. When communications, reconnaissance, and weather satellites are jammed, the words "nuclear war" are passed around in whispers in all the right circles. 
But let's not gloss over the real debate here -- is what they're proposing that likely? Admittedly, I'm not so convinced. See, until recently I lived perfectly fine without a computer or cell phone. I pay with cash. So let's just say I don't feel that threatened by the idea of communication chaos and lack of data, malfunctioning or dead satellites. But then again, I still toy with the idea of moving to an isolated cabin in the woods and growing my own food (I actually debated whether I could either a) learn to grow and mill my own grains, raise my own cows for milk and cheese or b) learn to live without them). So now that you've got a good idea of my personal crazy-factor, I regress: what's the real probability of this happening? Do such space weapons designed to knock out commercial satellites actually exist? Who would be capable of building and using them? And what can we do about it? Join me at 7 p.m. for a talk and book signing with co-author William Scott on Friday, May 18 at our Arlington Courthouse store and find out. I'll obviously be the one in the back asking lots of questions.
Saturday is May 5th. That would be Cinco de Mayo, or Mexican Independence day. In honor of this great holiday, we are having an awesome event in Courthouse. The book is Mondo Lucha a Go-Go. It talks about how the wild world of Mexican wrestling has influenced huge portions of American culture. Without Luchadores, we wouldn't have Nacho Libre and we wouldn't have that great cartoon . 
The other thing I wanted to let you all in on happens on May 10th. It is not in a store, but it is still cool. Olsson's Books and our good friends at the Wonderland Ballroom have teamed up to host Irvine Welsh. You might remember Irvine from his first book, Trainspotting, made mildly famous by the Oscar Nominated film staring some guy named Obi-Wan. 
Welsh is coming over to the states from his frozen home in Scotland to tour for his newest book, Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. Given his writing style and the subject of his books, we are hosting him at the Wonderland Ballroom. If you haven't been to the Wonder', behind the bar they keep a framed copy of the Choose Life manifesto right from the book. They love Welsh. Not only do they like good books, they enjoy good beers and have footlong hotdogs on the menu. Not just the shorties, FOOT-longs! 
In other news. The Garden Fresh Voices series is off to a rough start. My opening act (Jo Barrett) had to cancel due to wacky travel plans, but we're not worried. Like all Gardens, sometimes the first crop isn't the best crop. We have moved the official start day to the 7th with Annie Choi. Two weeks of non-stop events in the Dupont store. We hope to see a few of you out there. If you are there and you do see me, fell free to say 'hi'. 