Recommended Reading: Amy Poehler’s New Yorker essay, “Take Your Licks,” on her summer job at an ice cream parlor. “If the style of the restaurant was old-fashioned, the parenting that went on there was distinctly modern. Moms and dads would patiently recite every item on the menu to their squirming five-year-olds, as if the many flavors of ice cream represented all the unique ways they were loved.” If this essay is any indication, her upcoming memoir is going to be great.
The Scoop on Amy Poehler
A Fine Art
“Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will.” It’s too bad more people haven’t had a chance to take a look at Carl Sagan’s 8-rule “Baloney Detection Kit.“
Valeria Luiselli on Writing Through the Pandemic
Valeria Luiselli on the importance of writers documenting this moment in time, at their own pace and within their own capacity.
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Smart Money
Colson Whitehead will be playing in next month’s World Series of Poker. He’s writing about it for Grantland, Bill Simmons‘ new ESPN affiliate. He’s also accepting sponsorships.
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Toni Morrison and Junot Díaz in Conversation
Recommended Viewing: Toni Morrison spoke with Junot Díaz at the New York Public Library last week, and the organizers were good enough to record the entire conversation and put it online. The talk begins at the 40:09 mark, so you can either fast forward or click this link right here.
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Book Drop
Doubleday pulled a Beyonce and published Colson Whitehead’s latest book, The Underground Railroad, a month early. Oprah chose Whitehead’s book for her book club, and Doubleday “secretly started shipping out 200,000 copies in anticipation of the announcement.” You can also read a review from Michiko Kakutani at the New York Times.
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I like Amy Poehler’s work and I think she is funny and intelligent. This essay, however, is mediocre at best. It’s neither funny nor insightful, and honestly it doesn’t seem to be trying very hard to be either. The best I can say for it, is that it’s informative. We do learn that the author had a not-particularly difficult summer job with customers who were mildly irritating and co-workers who were not very colorful. We also learn that nurses and teachers are somehow “blue collar.” (And really, I’m still trying to figure out how a town can be “filled” with teachers. Demographically speaking, Teacher Town doesn’t make much sense unless there’s a 1:1 student faculty ratio.)