“Rubber magnets… Highlights magazines with some doctor’s name on them… The snug saltbox houses at the end of the street that he loved so much… Charlotte’s web… Nobody said boo and we walked inside… Selling his record collection for a dollar a piece.”
Jessica Hendry Nelson was today’s speaker for the first “Young Artist Series” of the spring semester. She read from her book, a collection of essays, that will out next year. I enjoyed hearing the words read aloud because her emotion was weaved through the rhythmic beat of her tongue. The repetition, “It is year… He visits us… Here’s to… In New York,” pulsated the room, like an unusual heart beat. She said she enjoys writing personal essays because she likes that you can write about everything, and that you could break out into a rap song in the middle if you wanted. This, I thought to myself, is comradery of the arts. I found it interesting when she described how she has tangled herself in a web, since writing is her habit and most of her friends are writers, and that she can’t untangle herself. “But, it’s so fun,” she said.
Next YAS will be on April 4th – same time, same place (4:30pm in the Brush Art Gallery). Hope to see you all there!