Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Take a Hint: Former Student in Print


In case you wonder where they go, what they do - here's one former student checking in.

excerpted from Flash Fiction Chronicles edited by Gay Degani:

Take A Hint: Jenn Alandy’s Long Walk to Print
by Jenn Alandy
I was twenty-four years old when I discovered Welcome to the Monkey House. A former writing teacher, Lisa Alvarez, deepened my appreciation for Kurt Vonnegut by introducing me to this short story collection. Some of the stories were familiar to me, while others – like unopened gifts – were brand new. One of these gifts was a particularly uncharacteristic Vonnegut story entitled “Long Walk to Forever.” In this peculiar and sentimental story, there is no dystopia, there are no Trafalmadorians, no United States Handicapper General, and no Suicide Parlor Hostesses. There are just two young adults named Catharine and Newt.

Catharine is on the verge of marrying another young man named Henry Stewart Chasens, but Newt shows up at her door unexpectedly to visit and notices that she’s clutching a bridal magazine, presumably dreaming of a fruitful, fairytale-esque future. Newt, ever present-minded and spontaneous, disrupts her daydream and asks her to take a walk:

“A walk?” said Catherine.

“One foot in front of the other,” said Newt, “through leaves, over bridges—“

You see, much like Catharine, many emerging writers tend to be farsighted and dream of the fanciful end results: a future book deal, a future six-figure advance, a future book tour. Instead of focusing on the present, writers dream about publication. But this is not why we should write, nor is it why I write...
To read the rest, click here.

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There's Jenn, along with other authors, at the book signing for Hint Fiction at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice story. I note that she is one of our students who come here after they've got a BA somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

I can respond to the query about the classroom in a plane. I believe you are probably referring to the flight attendant program they had at Saddleback in the late 60s/early 70s. They had a section of the interior of a plane (about 4 seats with overhead luggage compartment and exit window) in one of the portable classrooms on the lower campus. They used it for training purposes on how to exit in an emergency.

13 Stoploss said...

I hope, within the next 12 months, to have similar story. Turns out this journalist job of mine got in the way of finishing my "story."

Anonymous said...

Keep us posted Jason!

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...