Tactical Error (almost)
Made the tactical error of casually walking over to the event at the last minute only to find out it was sold out. But it was a beautiful day in NJ mid 80?s beach day in May so there were a number of reservation no-shows. I got in on stand-by. Very entertaining. I had the opportunity to speak with Junot briefly both before and after. Grace, I did asked about other appearances in NJ area, particularly in South NJ/Philly area as I told him you lived near AC. You probably don?t want to hear what he said, ?Oh damn, I just was in Philly?. He does have some more NJ appearances but in North NJ. Check his website:
Junot Daz. Gabriela, there is a Contact link on his website and I would say based upon his openess to talking yesterday, I bet if you want to contact, he'd answer.
There were several pieces of the event. First was an interview of Junot by a NY newspaper writer. That was followed by Junot reading a short story he wrote on of all things, Dominican men?s infidelity, jeje. The narrative was hilarious at times. It?s been published; I believe it was title is ?Alma? (sp?). In listening to him answer questions and reading, I felt like I was ESL, he?s command of English vocabulary was humbling, but then again that is his job, wordsmith. He spoke about being the son of a military man serving under Trujillo. He spoke of Fascism in the house and around the world.
He talked about the fact that his first book,
Drown, a collection of interrelated short stories just flowed out of him in no time at all, while
Oscar Wao took over 11 years. He talked about some of the technical aspects of writing as there were several teachers and professors in the audience (about 50 in attendance). Hillbilly you might have enjoyed that part, was a little boring for this non-English major. One thing I missed in reading was how there were two timelines for the two stories; the life in NJ went forward in time as the background story of the families life in DR went backwards in time so you had two diverging timelines. I found that alittle difficult to follow in my first reading as apparently others as there was a lot of nodding heads when the narrator mentioned he had to read it twice. Also he talked about developing a main character indirectly through interaction with the other characters in the book. He was asked if it was autobiographical, i.e. was he Oscar or Junior? No, but his motivation in writing the book was he thought that there was this sub-demographic of smart nerdy (his words) children of immigrants living in the ghetto life but going to college. He thought their story was getting lost, even amongst those living that life and moving on.
Junot?s talk was followed up by viewing Freddy Vargas?s short film,
Hispaniola. In 12 minutes it told the story of Haitian immigrant laborers in DR and the conflict with Dominican society through the eyes of two young boys, one Haitian one Dominican who became friends and had a sad ending. The Dominican girl sitting next to me was wiping her eyes. This question was asked after "Is crying a common reaction for your audiences?" And, yes, Freddy said that his wife has seen it 1000 times and cries every time. The discussion afterwards largely centered around immigration issues globally. As Freddy said, ?Hell Dominicans are risking their life to get into the west side of PR. And of course what is happening in Arizona. He also spoke of the timing of his film and how several people backed out of support in DR when the subject of the film was apparent. ?Can?t talk about that here.? Had a chance to talk some with Freddy and his Dominican wife after as most people there lined up for Junot to sign their books. He talked about his next film which is already in the works; a documentary about a Dominican women who breast feed 20 Haitian children post earthquake.
What was really cool was both Junot and Freddy were interested in my perspective both as a Norte Americano in DR and with my contacts with Dominican immigrants and their children living in NJ. I told Freddy?s wife that I like to say we are in Cabarete but truth is my address is in Sosua, she laughed.
