We attempt to interview ourselves...
Megan: So what are we going to talk about? Are you writing this down already?Stephen: (sitting down with the legal pad) Yes I am writing this down already--it's a good beginning.
M: Actually a very good beginning.
S: We could talk about the new layout.
M: I think it makes us look more like we're really up and running--no more training wheels. Much swankier.
S: Agreed. Feels more professional.
M: (looking around S's room, the SMACK! summer office) Why does everyone have Red Sox hats?
S: I don't know--I just like the Red Sox. But I don't think it's everyone. I think it's just everyone that you know that has a hat.
M: Well, I guess they're cool looking hats.
S: (back to business) Plus the new editorial format has shifted the emphasis of the magazine. SMACK! is trying to show off the best work--as always--of so many different creative people--in so many different mediums--this is a definitely a step for us...
M: A step towards publishing a wider variety of stuff this year. And with the class next spring--and the issues between now and then--there is going to be a lot happening with SMACK! this year.
S: So it looks like we are going to be around for awhile--or at least until you graduate and go off to be Ira Glass's lackey and I run off to Hollywood to make my start in the motion pictures.
M: (after the two make many jokes about S's future in LA) There's so much good stuff in this issue. Liz's essay is very sharp (in the Features section)--and we have another brilliant poem by one of my favorites, Ben Gocker.
S: I also really like the photoessay (also in Features) by Brad Causey. It's very unique--and shows some awesome work being done right here by University of Iowa students. (David Balsley enters the room.) And what about that piece by my brother, David?
M: Well, I will admit...when your brother is here, I smile more.
M: (getting tired of this) What do you call those purple flowers that grow on bushes and bloom in the springtime?
S: Lilacs (Pittsburgh accent).
M: Nice pronunciation, yins. Can I use "yins" in the singular?
S: Go Stillers!
S: (trying to wrap things up) So, what are you looking forward to in the coming year?
M: Mmmmmmmmm...I pass. No, just kidding. I don't know yet. What about you?
S: Fight Club.
M: Other than movies, Stephen. (Megan looks disapproving.)
S: Whole new X-Files season?
M: Other than TV.
S: School? Classes? The wild fun of the EPB?
M: I get to write my honors thesis on Gertrude Stein.
S: (smirking) "A rose is a rose is an onion."
M: That's not even that clever--and Hemingway was such a poser. Too macho, and at the same time, one of those, (dramatically) "I feel everything so deeply" kind of people.
S: I thought the Beastie Boys claimed to be the original posers.
M: This is so us... I'm thinking about Stein and Hemingway and you're thinking about the Beastie Boys.
S: (doing his best Beastie imitation) "You come and see me and you pay a fee--do what I do especially--to tell the truth I am exactly what I want to be."
M: Free Tibet!
S: (after a rousing rendition of ______) Happy to see the IWP is sticking around after that scare earlier this summer.
M: As am I, but who to thank for that?
S: Iowa City community?
M: And some people from the University.
S: Well--a lot of the support was arguments about the way the IWP contributes to the community of Iowa City.
M: True. And we are very pleased to see it stay.
S: What's up for the next issue?
M: More orange. I love orange. Or bright green again. Maybe dark purple? (bad French accent) Aubergine?
S: (mocking M's taste in colors) What about black and, say, a bright pink?
M: 1980s theme? Punk vs. metal essays? We could make it work...
(chuckle chuckle laugh laugh questioning looks silence.)
