Another Saturday Night 4
Sometimes I feel like I want this blog to be much more honest. And yet. "And yet" as a full sentence is something I "borrowed" from Nicole Krauss.
I think I'll always remember how Nicole engaged me in conversation before signing The History Of Love, despite the long line behind me, so that she could personalize the signature. Then she inscribed it "For Neil With Luck + Hope."
When I saw Hal Sirowitz read he was still a special ed teacher and I asked him to dedicate his signing of Mother Said with the words "From one poet/teacher to another." Then I asked him to sign the sequel (My Therapist Said). He introduced that signature with his own idea, something that really touched my heart: "To Neil, Glad you're a teacher. I could sense you're a good one."
Dana Gioia, a highly esteemed figure, took it in when I told him how struck I was by his short poem Unsaid. Above his signature in my copy of Interrogations At Noon he wrote, "For Neil Fleischmann with best wishes said and unsaid."
Cynthia Kaplan is honest in a sassy way. Hers is the only inscription I have which contains mild reproach (based on my question to her about what it takes to get published). The front of my copy of Why I'm Like This reads "For Neil, A Fellow writer - Good Luck - but that's only half of it. All the best."
Cynthia's friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal inscribed my free copy of her Encyclopedia of An Ordinary Life (which I won by being one of the first 100 fans to email her that I'd recommended the book to 10 friends) with the well thought out words "Wishes, to Neil with buckets of good," followed by a tiny, hand drawn piece sign, Jewish star, and heart. Awww, for real. A beautiful inscription to a beautiful book from a beautiful person.
I lent that book to a fellow teacher who told me that she loved it. Since then, she's moved up to the very front of the plane and I can't imagine ever again lending her a book like this, hearing her tell me she was moved by it. Sad, for real.
Saturday Night's Alright For Blogging. I think a lot of bloggers and blog fans lurk the sites on Saturday night. I f you're out there let me know.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 10:02 PM
6 Comments:
Neil,
You are the best. I never fail to come awy uplifted by you and what you write. There is so much I would like to add, but not here. May you inspire and uplift your talmidim as much as you inspire and uplift me.
Pesach
Wow. That really got me. Glad I was up to get it hot off the press.
Thank YOU.
May we all be blessed to not get sucked in.
I remember learning a lesson about gift-giving when I gave a houseguest a precious signed copy of a book I loved. She looked at the book, perplexed, having never heard of it or the author. I realized then I had just given away something special to me that had little value to her. And, on a deeper level, I saw that I had mistakenly imputed friendship from a visit.
I've done better since at holding on to signed books and original art. I have unpublished works of small-town authors that I'll save forever. The work of someone's spirit is very significant, valuable.
We are friends, come stay.
We have so much in common.
We're so - who are you?
Miriam - really liked the writing and content in this comment. You touch on many points that strike me:
Unless the person is seeing me write it and insists that I write in the book itself I enclose a card to decrease the awkwardness for everyone when it ends up on the ninety-nine cent rack at Strand.
I have several books that I bought at a reduced price or got for free that have personal inscriptions not written for me. One reads - To Megan, With All Best Wishes. Another lists the names of all the members of a family following the word dear and says - Accept this with all my love.
It is a soul thing, when someone inscribes - something meant to keep, I think. (Though my personal organizer says that only the sentiment is meant to keep but the object need not be kept forever. And I hear that, when physical space starts to overflow.)
It's amazing how much something can mean to us and mean little to someone else. I think we like like to give people pieces of ourselves, but they want us to give them a piece of themself.
Jill Sobule sings love is never equal. I wonder if this is true in friendship. I guess things can't be exactly even. Sad when one is oblivious and one into it.
It's nice to have things you cherish. I have things that bring me great comfort.
Thanks for prompting lots of thought for me.
Kishke -
Sometimes we get it
another's situation
feel it in our gut
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