Elliott was there when I put together my Write Bloody manuscript last year; in fact, it was she who suggested using Hillel's, Adrienne Rich's and my quotes to frame the book. She uses the same set of quotes - including mine! - in her chavurah, which is pretty cool.
Anyway, this was the first time Elliott and I met in person, in the top-floor apartment of a building that looks like a castle. See? I'm not kidding!
The castle is inhabited by a trio of sweet hosts with largely Jewish names, and they were happy to host a reading of my and Elliott's work. I arrived with a fierce bout of the sniffles (I think I'm allergic to Philadelphia!), and one of them immediately began treating me with an assortment of teas and tinctures.
A pot of hot, spicy soup bubbled on the stove, and people brought bread, cheese, and fruit to go with it. Elliott and I talked about midrash, and read some of our midrashic poetry to this very smart crowd of eight women, who also had their own things to say about midrash - how cool is it that Judaism's response to a changing world is to say "Well, change the tradition!"
I mean, from a literary perspective, at least. I'm still waiting for certain movements (ahem) to catch up with the whole women-as-equals thing. And maybe for some others to figure out that nationalism is not equivalent to religion, and doesn't belong in a synagogue. But, y'know, there's time for the tradition to change.
Tomorrow night, I get to read at a bookstore! I love that this tour encompasses all kinds of readings - the quiet salon-style midrash reading, the rowdy slam feature, the bookstore, coffee shops, libraries - it's really amazing to get to read to all these different kinds of venues.
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