Dogs On Main Street Talk
My wonderful, Sabres-loving, heavy-metal listening, PHD-getting cousin, Kristin, has been inviting me, over the last couple of years to visit her college classes.
At the onset of the semester her students get a copy of “Dogs On Main Street” and by the end of the semester I show up to talk about it.
It’s great fun!
Now, I chose Dogs as the go-to-Book for students studying social interactions and mental instability because all of those characters were a tad off.
Here are some of the highlights:
1). Everyone looks so young!!!
2). I begin the talk by presenting how and why I became an author. You should see their faces when I mention that I had to write it long-hand, then buy a typewriter, and then learn how to two-finger type it in.
If mistakes were made, it was all about white-out or tearing up the page.
3). “Okay, raise your hands if you like Springsteen!” I said.
The young, some-black, some-white, some-Hispanic faces looked back. Some of them smiled.
“Nobody?? Who you like? Drake? Lil’ Wayne?”
They all laughed.
4). “Who was your favorite character?”
This was my favorite question and answer because I expected a chorus of “Rolando!” Because he was written as a funny guy...
...a couple of people mentioned him, but there were just as many likes for every other character.
5). Then a shocker!
A young girl raised her hand and asked, “What do you think Springsteen was writing about when he wrote ‘The Promised Land’ because I looked it up and it’s really good.”
I told them about seeing Springsteen on Broadway and how Bruce explained the song, and then I surprised myself because I began to recite the lyrics.
“There’s a dark storm rising from the desert floor.”
He was talking about going straight into the storm.
“Blow away the dreams that year you apart.
Blow away the dreams that break your heart.
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken-hearted.
The dogs on Main Street howl cause they understand.”
6). What is always something is that I can’t actually remember the book all that well until people start talking about it. I have to shift back into that frame of mind.
“Ahh, Joseph, Mary, Adam and Layla!”
“How you’d come up with Layla?” One young girl asked me.
“I’ve been married a long time,” I said. “I wanted to give my main character a much younger love interest.”
It got the laugh I was looking for.
In fact, there were a lot of laughs.
The kids were engaged and they came up with some great questions.
One young lady asked about Mary and her motivations. Her insight actually surprised me.
“I didn’t think about that,” I said. “But now that you mention it, it does make sense.”
We talked about the earlier books.
We discussed “Counting On A Miracle.”
7). “It’s been fun,” I said. “Nothing else I’d rather do than read and write and talk about writing. Find something you love that much.”
They just stared back at me...
...an old guy dishing out advice.
“I’d have written them all for free,” I said. “Doing it right and making a story that people like to read.”
I paused for a long time.
“It’s been a great time.”
At the onset of the semester her students get a copy of “Dogs On Main Street” and by the end of the semester I show up to talk about it.
It’s great fun!
Now, I chose Dogs as the go-to-Book for students studying social interactions and mental instability because all of those characters were a tad off.
Here are some of the highlights:
1). Everyone looks so young!!!
2). I begin the talk by presenting how and why I became an author. You should see their faces when I mention that I had to write it long-hand, then buy a typewriter, and then learn how to two-finger type it in.
If mistakes were made, it was all about white-out or tearing up the page.
3). “Okay, raise your hands if you like Springsteen!” I said.
The young, some-black, some-white, some-Hispanic faces looked back. Some of them smiled.
“Nobody?? Who you like? Drake? Lil’ Wayne?”
They all laughed.
4). “Who was your favorite character?”
This was my favorite question and answer because I expected a chorus of “Rolando!” Because he was written as a funny guy...
...a couple of people mentioned him, but there were just as many likes for every other character.
5). Then a shocker!
A young girl raised her hand and asked, “What do you think Springsteen was writing about when he wrote ‘The Promised Land’ because I looked it up and it’s really good.”
I told them about seeing Springsteen on Broadway and how Bruce explained the song, and then I surprised myself because I began to recite the lyrics.
“There’s a dark storm rising from the desert floor.”
He was talking about going straight into the storm.
“Blow away the dreams that year you apart.
Blow away the dreams that break your heart.
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken-hearted.
The dogs on Main Street howl cause they understand.”
6). What is always something is that I can’t actually remember the book all that well until people start talking about it. I have to shift back into that frame of mind.
“Ahh, Joseph, Mary, Adam and Layla!”
“How you’d come up with Layla?” One young girl asked me.
“I’ve been married a long time,” I said. “I wanted to give my main character a much younger love interest.”
It got the laugh I was looking for.
In fact, there were a lot of laughs.
The kids were engaged and they came up with some great questions.
One young lady asked about Mary and her motivations. Her insight actually surprised me.
“I didn’t think about that,” I said. “But now that you mention it, it does make sense.”
We talked about the earlier books.
We discussed “Counting On A Miracle.”
7). “It’s been fun,” I said. “Nothing else I’d rather do than read and write and talk about writing. Find something you love that much.”
They just stared back at me...
...an old guy dishing out advice.
“I’d have written them all for free,” I said. “Doing it right and making a story that people like to read.”
I paused for a long time.
“It’s been a great time.”
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