The Cat-Tribe
30-04-2005, 08:10
It needed to be said.
I just got back from seeing him speak.
Hilarious, of course.
But he is also such a nice man.
He was plugging a book, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074327394X/103-0345811-1703011?v=glance) that is a collect of his favorite stories he has put together for charity.
The charity is 826NYC (http://www.826nyc.org/), which is is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. 826NYC is modeled after 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing lab and tutoring center located in San Francisco’s Mission District. Founded by writer Dave Eggers.
Anyway, after reading various stuff for 2 hours, Mr. Sedaris plugged the book -- hard -- because the entire cost of the book - $15 - went to the charity.
I purchased a presigned copy. I was standing looking at the line for autographs in despair. (People left the speech early to get in line. :rolleyes: ) When I heard someone say, "Thank you for buying that." It was Mr. Sedaris! I babbled something like "No, thank you" as he shook my hand and continued to the autograph table. Completely gratuitous niceness on his part.
He also happened to mention another charity, Helping Hands (http://www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org/). Very cool.
Helping Hands is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for quadriplegic individuals by training capuchin monkeys to assist them with daily activities.
Although Mr. Sedaris humorously referred to the monkeys as "slaves," he was effusive in his praise for Helping Hands's work. And if you donate, you get a card hand made by a monkey. ;)
Anyway, I felt the need to ramble about the great evening.
I just got back from seeing him speak.
Hilarious, of course.
But he is also such a nice man.
He was plugging a book, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074327394X/103-0345811-1703011?v=glance) that is a collect of his favorite stories he has put together for charity.
The charity is 826NYC (http://www.826nyc.org/), which is is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. 826NYC is modeled after 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing lab and tutoring center located in San Francisco’s Mission District. Founded by writer Dave Eggers.
Anyway, after reading various stuff for 2 hours, Mr. Sedaris plugged the book -- hard -- because the entire cost of the book - $15 - went to the charity.
I purchased a presigned copy. I was standing looking at the line for autographs in despair. (People left the speech early to get in line. :rolleyes: ) When I heard someone say, "Thank you for buying that." It was Mr. Sedaris! I babbled something like "No, thank you" as he shook my hand and continued to the autograph table. Completely gratuitous niceness on his part.
He also happened to mention another charity, Helping Hands (http://www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org/). Very cool.
Helping Hands is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for quadriplegic individuals by training capuchin monkeys to assist them with daily activities.
Although Mr. Sedaris humorously referred to the monkeys as "slaves," he was effusive in his praise for Helping Hands's work. And if you donate, you get a card hand made by a monkey. ;)
Anyway, I felt the need to ramble about the great evening.