Daily, as an exercise in the process of learning to be a better writer, entertainer, and story-teller, I do some reading and note-taking. Finished Betsy Lerner's The Forest For The Trees, and so was prepared to select another book.
From my bookshelf in my studio I selected The Films Of Woody Allen, by Sam B. Girgus. It's a scholarly study; I've had it for years, found it at Barnes & Noble in the 90s.
499 times out of 500, I would not read the "Acknowledgments" page, but this time I did.
I like names -- (yes, I'm a bit weird; why am I fascinated by people's names? -- I like the different spellings of them -- "Madeleine"; "Madelyn"...what can I say? I'm easily amused -- and I am in the odd habit of reading a name and trying to imagine what kind of person that is...)
On the Acknowledgments page, first I was "sucked in" when I spotted the name "Schulz" spelled the same as a guy I work with -- Rick Schulz.
So I start reading the Acknowledgments right from the top, and I encounter a name I know - !
Cecelia Tichi: I took a creative writing class from her at BU a few presidential administrations ago.
It was just weird -- in a good way.
I never expect to read acknowledgments in a book and see the name of someone I knew personally. And if I may reiterate -- I would typically NOT read the acknowledgments page at all.
Coincidence! Oooooooh!
Upon reading her name and being Very Surprised, I remembered three things about Mrs. Tichi:
1. taking her class
2. typing a novel for her
3. she encouraged me: she said, "I really think you've got what it takes" (to be a writer).
Good night, Mrs. Tichi, wherever you are.
(..."Wherever you are" being just an expression -- I know where she is; according to internet, she's at Vanderbilt, and has published a body of work which I'm now excited to read....)
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