As you know, I won’t be here tomorrow–I am, in fact, leaving town later today to fly down to Raleigh, N.C., to spend the weekend snarfing down barbecue and looking at Carolina Ballet–and since it happens that I’ll also be gone twice more after that, speechifying in Connecticut and St. Louis, I had the bright idea of inviting one of my faithful guest bloggers to run things on Fridays for the next three weeks.
To this end, I have handed the keys to Our Girl in Chicago. Beneath her cloak of pseudonymity, Our Girl (who lives, duh, in Chicago) is a sweet and lovely young thing, wise and good, who…but why listen to me? Here’s the Girl herself:
OGIC is a thirty-something dilettante (in the best sense of the word, she hopes) with experience as an editor, critic, graduate student, and teacher. Naturally drawn to the medium-hot centers of this world, she is a fierce advocate of her adopted Second City but still feels at home when she visits her one-time stomping grounds of Manhattan. A serious media addiction helps her keeps close tabs on the red-hot from her comfy but happening city by the lake. She worries she should shoulder more guilt about her guilty pleasures–which include pro hockey, cop and lawyer shows, Las Vegas, and the colorful adventures of Travis McGee–but they’re all just so damn pleasurable. More presentably, she’s into Romantic poetry, Henry James, landscape painting, modern dance (with and without shoes, if you know what she means), and Edward Gorey. But she’s not always sure she doesn’t have some of those items in the wrong column.
OGIC’s blogging may, how shall we say, somewhat leaven the mix here at “About Last Night” with more pop culture and specifically Buffy references–well, she’ll try to keep those under control. Besides the inevitable fluff, OGIC will blog a lot about literary topics: writing, reading, publishing, reviewing, history, reputations. She’s especially excited about using ABL as a venue for enthusing out loud about overlooked or forgotten books that she loves. That said, she’s certainly not above the occasional snipe (no, she’s not using that other s-word) when sniping is called for–and let’s face it, sometimes it really is called for.
See what I mean?
The rest of today’s posts are mine, but Our Girl in Chicago will be taking charge at 12:01 tonight, and all postings committed on Friday will be entirely her fault. (Aside from being more charmingly written than mine, OGIC’s postings will be signed “ourgirlinchicago,” just as mine are signed “terryteachout.”)
I’ll be back on Monday morning, slightly the worse for wear but as aesthetic as ever. In the meantime…you go, Girl!
Now for today’s topics, from tremulous to self-confident: (1) Fading photographs. (2) Ronald Reagan, man of letters. (3) Somebody else’s bag. (4) The latest almanac entry.
Over to you, OGIC! I’m out of here….