Robert Bal works
to restructure
city government
Page 17
Portland, Oregon
FREE
Talk of the town
Speaking well
of David Sedaris
by
M arc A cito
’ve interviewed some people so reluc
tant to speak I wanted to reach across
the table and tear the words right out of
their throats. Writer David Sedaris is
not one of those people.
Considering the 43-year-old humorist is
best known for his regular appearances on
National Public Radio and Public Radio
International’s This American Life, it came
as no surprise to me that he is a good talker.
What did surprise me, however, is that the
man who Publishers Weekly referred to as
“Garrison Keillor’s evil twin” and whose wit
often is called “razor-sharp” and “acid” is so
completely, unfailingly nice.
I got to have coffee with the best-selling
author last month while he was in
Portland to promote the
paperback release of his
latest collection of hilar
ious autobiographical
essays, Me Talk Pretty
One Day. A whopping
350 fans crammed
into Twenty-Third
Avenue Books to hear
him read, and another
200 waited on the side-
David Sedaris
walk! For ou,r interview
we sat outside the
Heathman Hotel so Sedaris could smoke,
and he told me why he thought it was
important to be cordial to his fans.
“I went to a signing once—it was Sandra
Bernhard—and she had a friend with her
and she talked to her friend the whole
time,” he says, incredulous. “All any of us
wanted was a kind word or some eye con
tact even.. .had she given it to any of us we
would have been there when her next book
came out.”
Continued on Page 36
I
The Rural Organizing Project
has been pulling together
people from every corner of
Oregon for 10 years
Page 26
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