It Takes a Village...to validate my existence
Fortunately, for everyone, I'm not my dad.
My dad will be sitting in the chair occupied by John McCain (don't care), Fareed Zakaria (better), Nancy Pelosi (most awkward 15 minutes of my life, can't imagine what it felt like for her), Calvin Trillin (be still my heart), and most recently BEN AFFLECK.
My dad's butt will be where Ben Affleck's butt was.
Tonight my father will be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about his new book. It's on at 11, and if you are too old to stay up that late, you can catch it again on Friday. I command you to watch.
I'm going to need an afternoon nap to be able to make it until 11 myself. Though I claim to be anti-social and even socially awkward, I seem to be spending a lot of time OUT and having a fantastic time. It is possible that this fact is related to the amount of red wine I've consumed at these various gatherings, but never mind.
This not-a-blog business is good for people like me in that it gives me something to do with my excess energy, it channels my creative impulses in a way that is not, usually, harmful to the general public, and it gives me the illusion of belonging to a community without ever leaving my house.
A funny thing happened along the way. The illusion of belonging to a community turned into the reality of belonging to a community. Sitting around the table at Wednesday Spaghetti (now forever in my mind renamed as Wednesday spaghetti and red wine and cannoli), I found myself in the midst of people who expressed concern about a friend of mine and offered help, people who'd heard about my dad's appearance tonight on Jon Stewart and were excited on my behalf, people telling a story about me and my romance with Nutmeg to a newcomer, people who encouraged me to travel with them to Chicago this summer, and people with whom I happily (drunkenly) engaged in a debate about who has the worst boobs.
If you look at what we write and do and look like and where we come from, you might struggle to be able to draw a line connecting our disparate dots. But our dots do connect. Emily wrote today about her impressions of the evening, and I'm not going to try to summarize or reiterate, because I would never do it justice. Here though, is a bit of it, please please please go read the whole thing:
"Last night I attended the second meeting of the Philly Bloggers. Suffice it to say that it didn’t take long for our polite, I-have-never-met-you conversation to spiral into the pit of TMI which we all embrace on a daily basis. And just before we left, I do believe there was a smack down as to who had the worst boobs. Had the adorable little son of our hostess not been in the room, I’m sure shirts would have come off."
Em went on to say that it was an unusual circumstance for her to be in the same room with people who are so like her and who challenged her sense of her own uniqueness. I think I'm getting that right, but like I said, go read what she wrote, she's much better at this than I am.
What I appreciate most about what Em wrote is that I had the same experience, but bizarro style. What I like least about myself in social situations is the way I suddenly can't shut up when I'm in them. My, admittedly limited to begin with, edit function shuts down completely. Add the red wine and oh my stinkin' heck (yeah, buddy, I said it) I annoy myself to no end.
Being in a room full of people who are all like me in that Jump Right In and Shout it Out and Also Pass that Bottle Over Here is such a relief. I feel like I'm surrounded by people who get me and that, maybe that night, I won't be sitting in the car on the way home, smacking myself in the forehead and wondering which of my outrageous utterances or behaviors of the evening I'll regret most. And for the record, I would NOT have taken off my shirt even if the totally yummy Jakezilla hadn't been in the room.
I wonder all the time why I persist with this not-a-bloggy business. I'm not getting rich, I'm not getting famous, I'm not jumpstarting a career in writing, and I get a little panicky when I re-read what I've written and think, "What kind of egomaniac thinks that anyone wants to hear about her trivial shit?" and then realize that the egomaniac in question is me. Turns out that this is unnecessary panic. Why I do this is that it puts me in the heart of a larger community where I am happily, successfully, occasionally crazily able to be just me.
So, tribe and purveyors of fine food, drink, hospitality, laughs, and good spirit, thanks.
The Tribe - a partial list
Mothers of Brothers
Gwen Alison Wonderland
Babs Peapod Disco Bubbles
I Am Bossy
Simply Nutmeg
A Child is Born
Yellaphant
MemeGrl
Jakezilla/Wednesday Spaghetti
The New Girl
Keeping My Head Above Water
Lemonade and Kidneys
Domestic Goddess
Categories: WRH
Tags: Jon Stewart Wednesday spaghetti Daily Show bloggers Richard Beeman Philly bloggers
thank you so much for coming over last night. you crack me up. i like you lots. i wish you didn't have a job that required you to filter your brain here so i could get a little bit of what you offered every single day of my life.
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So, so sorry I missed the festivities. Damn side business.
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saw Josh's status, became excited for you immediately. I'll watch it via You Tube at some point and be taken back to the Am. Rev with Prof. Beeman at Penn.
And I have those 'smack the head' moments all too often. Oh well..
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Last night was so fabulous and I can't wait to do it again.
But DUDE--why are you not at the taping with him?! Talk about stilling my heart. Talking to Steven Colbert was thrilling enough but made me want more. If it weren't already 4-something and physically impossible to get to NY in time for the taping, I would be going up there and claiming to be you. Really.
Can he bring the dog or is that too much?
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Your dad and his ass: very exciting.
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For the first time since leaving Philly seven years ago I am sad. And jealous. But proud of you none-the-less!
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I have a total crush on Jon Stewart not to mention a little girl crush on the WRH. Watch out, Nutmeg.
I will definitely tune in tonight.
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Can we do that every week? It's the only time I ever feel normal. And have fun.
For the record: I'll show everyone my bewbs. Honest.
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Dude, you were still lit when you sent me that email, weren't you. I'm pretty sure the group would be opposed to "The Charmin Test."
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For the record, and so that nobody thinks that I've made some lewd suggestion to our friend Clayjack, the email said that if he lived here, we'd make him a Philly blogger. He offered to judge the contest all by his little old self - apparently he misread and missed the fact that it was a WORST boob contest.
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I was wondering if I could get a rise out of you for that one.
Now I know.
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Well well well, your whole family is just making their way onto the television these days! When will it be your turn?
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I love how you call it a tribe! Now at the next get together we need to create our dance. Because every good tribe has a tribal dance. I foresee a lot of boobie shaking.
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I hope to catch your dad on tonight's showing. How exciting! It was great meeting you and I am serious about joining any bookclub you have going. I too do the head smacking and self kicking, so what you wrote about being relieved, I can relate. What a great group of women!
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I had a great time Wednesday night too, and I was also blown away (though not surprised when I thought about the fact that we all have blogs so clearly are comfortable sharing our thoughts) with how quickly things went from conversation to voice levels rising higher and higher as we all worked to make sure our thoughts and ideas were heard.
It was so nice seeing you again!
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I DVR'd your Dad and watched the interview this morning while I got ready for work.
He is very charismatic and made an already-interesting story even moreso. His students are indeed very lucky.
What I really liked most was how he talked about these old people from a period of time that I can hardly even conceptualize -- his reflections on why they could accomplish what they did, and why it's so hard for our Congress to have the same brand of effectiveness (damn media and blackberries!(. He made it all so relevant ... I wanted to run out and sign up for his class, then head to a department store to buy Dave a bow tie.
He was great, and your family has a lot to be proud of. .... babspeapod
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Found you through Bossy, and I have to say, I'm very entertained by your trivial sh!t. I'm putting you in my reader. Keep it up.
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I kind of wish I lived in Philadelphia.
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