Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
So this morning I'm having brunch with a friend at a local cafe, and to my surprise they're playing the theme song from Mahogany, which isn't what you'd usually expect them to be playing in a cafe in Istanbul, or anywhere in the year 2011. It really took me back to the days when I was an aspiring black designer from the slums of Chicago putting myself through fashion school in the hopes of becoming one of the world's top designers.
Or more accurately, it took me back to being a middle-class white kid in Seattle, because that's what and where I was when that song was big. What ever happened to J--- S----, I wondered? I realized with a bit of embarrassment that I had not even thought to look him up on Google in about 20 years, that's how completely I'd forgotten him.
So I came home and looked him up on Google. It looked as if he just didn't exist. I couldn't find any reference to him, except this one:
Washington Ultimate began its current existence in 1994 with a small group of young men known as the Huckin’ Fuskies (Actually, the program was originally founded by J---- S---- in 1989, but only lasted one season). ...
Was that the last known reference to him? Some more determined searching turned up this reference:
Here is my memory of that concert: I was in the sixth grade, riding home on the school bus, coming down Cherry Street to get on the freeway. On the sidewalk were many folks walking down the hill towards the Dome for the show ... including a classic rock-groupie chick. Bleached platinum feathered hair, black leather and Spandex, [expletive]-me shoes, teetering down the block. One of the older kids-- J---- S----. He was cool, he was in seventh or eighth grade--popped open the bus window. It was a gorgeously sunny fall afternoon. J---- stuck his head out the window and hollered, "The Stones RULE!"
And the rocker chick turned and smiled, flashed a hot trashy smile to this 14-year-old boy unfortunate enough to be on a big yellow bus, instead of going to see the Stones ...
... and fell right off the curb in her giant shoes.
Wow, yes! That must have been about two years before I met him. And that's just how I remember him! But according to the Internet, he's been frozen in aspic, still exactly the same age?
I did a bit more searching, and finally, I found this:
How many of you voted for my soon to be ex-husband for the Sailing World Hall of Fame? How many of you criticized me when the 30 Days in the Hole article came out on this website?
Who cares?Since a few of you decided to make his life public again, let me add to it. Wholeheartedly, of course.
I have been receiving $750/mo child support for 3 children since Sept. 19, 2003. Yeah, he moved for a decrease in child support, said he was on unemployment compensation (began receiving benefits while in jail ... imagine that...let's tell the worldwide jail population about that trick.) Anyway ... at that hearing I was NOT allowed to testify or present witnesses. Nope ... no testimony allowed about our son and the care I provide for him. No testimony about how I gave up my atty career to promote his sailing career ... go ahead, do a search on all that I posted about him to keep his name and sails alive in 2000/2001.
D---- S---...kiss off.
I went to law school for this very reason...so I would never be left with children and unable to care for them. I didn't count on a special needs child that I must personally care for each and every day. Imagine that.
Those of you who bought sails from Randy during this time of 'the S---- Team is closed so I can [expletive] my wife and kids." [Expletive] off. K-- W----, J--- S----, etc. Yeah, imagine that..I can say the words ... [Expletive] Off. You participated in helping my husband ... the father of my 3 children ages 6 and under, [expletive] them.
You know ... I'll be chastised for even airing this dirty laundry. What do I have to lose? Dignity? Nope, lost that when I waited in line for my Food Stamp and Medcaid Application. There is nothing any of you can take from me right now that the 'system' hasn't already. Call me crazy. Slander me left and right. Nothing can detract from the fact that R---- S-----'s wife and kids are on welfare ... food stamps, medicaid, waiting for HUD housing (public housing), etc.
I see.
So, this weekend's contest: Google an obscure lost love and compress the results into a short story, with reference to the author who would have written it.
In this case, my ex seems to have become a character in a Raymond Carver short story, but if yours became a character in a story written by Turgenev or Eugenia Welty, that's fine, too.
Edit out the names and other identifying details, but apart from that, you can't make anything up.
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Dec '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
I think this contest will skew in entrant demographics more toward the singles. I doubt my wife would smile on me Googling lost loves, even for a purely literary exercise... you should see her steam when she sees me get Facebook comments from any female who's not a relative.
P.S. In the world Google has made, any string of quoted text may serve as enough of a "partial print" to point straight back to the unredacted source material... so be very careful, y'all, when constructing your stories.
Oct '11
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
I was setting up an online account for a new credit card a few weeks ago. At one point you choose a question from a drop down menu to which you provide a secret answer. You know what I'm talking about. This is in case you forget your password. You answer the question and then a new password gets emailed to you. Usually it's, "What's the name of your childhood friend?" Or, "What was your first pet's name?" This particular account set up drop down menu included the gem, "Who was your first girlfriend/boyfriend?" I'm married so I went with my childhood friend's name as the question/answer.
And I was going to point out the same thing as Stuart, but he beat me to it, about Google and strings of words. Be careful.
Edited on Oct 28, 2011 at 6:24pmRe: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Okay, we'll expand the rules for married people: The subject can be anyone you haven't thought about in a long time. I suspect no one will be so interested in the results that it's essential to sanitize them as if a team of ace Chinese counter-intelligence officials will be combing over them, but use your best judgment.
Nov '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
I did this about 6 years ago (before my big interstate move from the Midwest to the South). Hmm. The guy I had had such a crush on in high school, my neighbor, had moved, like me, halfway across the country and lived about 15 minutes away from my then address.
That's all. I never did anything at all with that information. Now, presumably, we live halfway across the country from each other.
Nov '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Lucy Pevensie: I did this about 6 years ago (before my big interstate move from the Midwest to the South). Hmm. The guy I had had such a crush on in high school, my neighbor, had moved, like me, halfway across the country and lived about 15 minutes away from my then address.
That's all. I never did anything at all with that information. Now, presumably, we live halfway across the country from each other. · Oct 28 at 7:04pm
PS: My husband is pretty secure. I'm not worried about how he'll react to this information. Oh, and the former crush, like me, is apparently now a devout Christian. He also works in an industry related to my work. I'm sure I'll never hear another word about him, unless I get curious again in another 10 years or so.
Edited on Oct 28, 2011 at 7:21pmOct '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
I'm probably bending the rules here, but five-plus years ago my long-lost college friend, flame, and all that, had a disturbing dream about me. We lost touch shortly after graduating in 1983 and went very separate ways. The dream was upsetting enough that it compelled her to find me and make sure I was ok. Find me she did (not sure if she used Google), at a time when we both were in the throes of dying marriages.
That's us in the pic, today...and forevermore.
Apr '11
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Separate posts? Comments? Word limits?
Sep '11
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Yeah--
I'm with Albert and Stuart on this one. Claire--you might want to read Google's page about advanced searching. With a little effort, you can find out what happened to JS on June 12th. Must have been pretty exciting....
Sep '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
This thread reminds me of one of those stings that Troy Senik runs where he offers free televisions if you phone in....
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
John Murdoch: Yeah--
I'm with Albert and Stuart on this one. Claire--you might want to read Google's page about advanced searching. With a little effort, you can find out what happened to JS on June 12th. Must have been pretty exciting.... · Oct 28 at 8:32pm
I'm a bit shocked by the thought that anyone would want to.
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Well, 200 words, I suppose ... for literary discipline.
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
The object of the game isn't to share whatever-happened-to stories, it's to show how few words it takes to tell a story, to evoke a whole life, to find the detail that makes a person real, to evoke a moment in time ...
Oct '11
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
I'm a bit shocked by the thought that anyone would want to. · Oct 28 at 9:05pm
Humans are curious...
Sep '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
She said to me:
"You're so much more than you think you are."
And that's all I will say on the matter.
Oct '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Oops.
Dec '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Exercise caution folks. It took me fully 15 seconds to learn the identity of JS and all the other actors in this drama. In doing so I'm assuming that the source material is genuine and not made up as an exercise. I could find out but I've got to go watch a soccer game. If you are going to take part in this exercise it would be best to tell your story in your own original words and not lift anything verbatim form an existing source.
Dec '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
200 words? Why not the Hemmingway challenge?
For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.
Firstborn Chauvinist version:
The World is not a stage.
Nov '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
John Murdoch: Yeah--
I'm with Albert and Stuart on this one. Claire--you might want to read Google's page about advanced searching. With a little effort, you can find out what happened to JS on June 12th. Must have been pretty exciting.... · Oct 28 at 8:32pm
I'm a bit shocked by the thought that anyone would want to. · Oct 28 at 9:05pm
I sort of don't get why anyone would care. Any information that is google-able is pretty much out there for anyone who wants to know about it. It's not a matter of prying into anyone's private business, except insofar as the original person who put that material out there made an error.
Nov '10
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Oh well. I kind of like the whatever-happened-to stories. Otherwise, why not just make it a 200-word short story contest?
Apr '11
Re: Weekend Contest: Raymond Carver and the Theme Song from Mahogany
Cans
“Damn Ryan O’Brien” Bob thought. His fingers brushed the envelope in his pocket, as though it would help direct the curse to the letter’s author. It had arrived still sealed, inside a letter from Ryan’s sister (and forwarded by Bob’s niece). Ryan’s sister had found it in an unopened box of Ryan’s effects. It contained a girl’s face cut from a magazine—obviously Miss February 1968.
“Doesn’t she look like Paula?” Ryan’s note had crowed. “Can you send me her new address? And give her mine?” Google had found Paula’s address in Maupassant, an hour from where he was teaching.
===
The 40-year-old airmail paper felt as thin and dry as the skin of the 90-year-old woman in the house behind him.
“Paula used to joke she was an old-maid music teacher” Paula's mother had told him. “One day she was playing a piano accompaniment by Britten—La belle something d’amour—and said ‘That sounds really nice on guitar. I wonder what he’s doing nowadays.’
“A few weeks later his mother wrote back. He was killed in that big battle, a holiday . . . ?”
Bob already knew the answer. “Tet. January 1968.”
“That Spring she switched to the nuclear power plant. She was a maintenance project supervisor for 30 years. She really became an old maid. I couldn’t keep the pets, but those art pieces are hers. She gave a lot as gifts.”
====
Bob studied the shadow box in his other hand. He knew he was going to visit Ryan’s sister. Did she have his madcap charm? Was she married? Would she like a still life of river rocks and dried flowers that were not so much still, as paused just before stepping out on a wild and subtle journey?
Edited on Oct 30, 2011 at 7:16am