I had less than an hour yesterday to prepare to be interviewed for a local television news report about Toni Morrison, who is the subject of a year-long celebration throughout Ohio. I wasn't exactly dressed for the camera, but at least they didn't pan down to show my wacky socks. I'm pretty sure I said a whole lot of brilliant things about Toni Morrison's impact as a writer and editor, how she created psychologically rich characters and explored themes that resonate with readers, including issues of race and gender and identity formation and friendship and the way the past can haunt us, but in the news report they used what was probably the least important thing I said, about how Morrison's books often reflect her Ohio origins. That's it. I'm not going to comment on the news reader's delivery or the content of the report (which you can view here), but I will note that my very favorite thing about this brief video clip is that you can clearly see Twinkie the Kid smiling over my right shoulder.
For anyone who wonders why Twinkie the Kid sits in such a prominent place in my office--well, of course there's more to the story. For today, though, I'm delighted that I didn't make a total fool of myself on the local news, even if my voice sounds like it belongs to someone who's spent a life smoking three packs a day. (It's just sinus congestion. Lifetime non-smoker here.)
Anyway, my fifteen minutes of fame are over and now I need to get back to work, with the assistance of Twinkie the Kid.
2 comments:
You are being too kind by not mentioning the news anchor’s amazingly bad word salad introduction. She also called the Nobel Prize the noble prize…an awful mistake for anyone to make. Safe to say you were the only one that was coherent and provided worthwhile information during that segment. As for the anchor someone really does need to tell her that the prize may be noble, but it’s actually named for Alfred Nobel.
Yes, quite. The guy who actually conducted and filmed the interview was more coherent; he told me he majored in English but doesn't often get a chance to talk to interviewees about books. But the Parkersburg/Marietta television market is so small that the local station tends to be a training ground for emerging talent.
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