Saturday, December 24, 2011

West Winging It

Living in Washington, DC in the 90s was probably one of the only times in my life I ever achieved the double feat of Right Place and Right Time. After college, I moved to DC and began work near Capitol Hill.

Then the television show The West Wing aired.

Being young, smart, and a little bit geeky was suddenly cool. Not in a Hogwarts sort of way (though Harry Potter was arguably the harbinger of the Smart is Cool movement). No, it was an inside-the-beltway cool. Where walking down a hall speaking incredibly fast about policy and politics was simply what the popular kids did.  Wonk wasn't a bad word at all. 

The West Wing seemed to be perpetually ripped from the headlines. Scandals, political battles, even the people and organizations that popped on my screen on Wednesday nights were the fictionalized versions of what we read about every morning in the Washington Post.

I achieved another feat of Right Place and Right Time last week, when I finished reading Rob Lowe’s memoir Stories I Only Tell My Friends just a day or two before visiting the White House for a holiday reception.


I fully admit to elementary school crushes on St. Elmo’s Fire Rob Lowe and -- somewhat interchangeably -- all those Brat Pack guys. But whenever I picture Lowe, I see him as Sam Seaborn. So while it was fun reading about Lowe’s life before fame, or his string of Fabulously Famous girlfriends, I felt warm, fuzzy, and downright nostalgic reading his reminisces of his time on The West Wing.

I was full of this warm, fuzzy nostalgia when I took my son Sam to the White House for a holiday reception. I give plucky Sam lots of credit for trying to talk his way through a guarded partition towards the West Wing and the Oval Office. It didn’t work, but someday Sam will get his Right Place Right Time moment.

An interesting tidbit from Rob Lowe: White House staffers don’t really do the fast-paced talk and walk that was the epitome of West Wing-ness. Nowadays, if they find themselves walking the corridors, talking like Aaron Sorkin had scripted their dialogue, they high five each other and exclaim, “Hey, we just ‘West Winged!’”

Yes, indeed -- geeky is still cool. 

Happy Holidays, everyone! To celebrate the season, I leave you with one of my favorite holiday moments from The West Wing. Get those tissue boxes ready -- Leo gets me every time!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Hidden City

When I was 16 years old, my father let me tag along with him on a business trip to Greece. It was my first trip out of the United States, in fact, my first trip out of the South. I applied for my passport, bought a travel security belt, and learned how to say hello, goodbye, and bathroom in Greek.

Excitement. Adventure. I was ready. Bring it.

When my dad asked me where I wanted to visit, my answer was swift and sure.

Prison.

Listen, I never claimed I was a cool 16-year-old. In fact, I was a geeky, weird 16-year-old. The kind who wanted to visit prisons on her first trip abroad. But you see, I wanted to see Greece, the real Greece. I wanted to learn about how they treated the outcasts, the criminals, the least among them. Because that, I imagined, was how I would really get to understand the place.

My dad, he didn’t get it.

But you know who gets it? Marcus Sakey gets it.


                                                                                                                                     Credit: Frank Pinc

On December 6, crime novelist Marcus Sakey will begin his series Hidden City on the Travel Channel. Described as Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations meets Castle, Sakey’s new show promises to take us to the darkest corners of our favorite places. According to Sakey, “If you only see the tourist districts, Seattle is the same as Shanghai. The real stories are in the shadows—and shadowy stories are my business.”

From the comfort and safety of our sofas, we’ll join Sakey as he rappels with a SWAT team, hangs out with South Side gang members in L.A., and learns to rob an armored car in Boston.

In the first episode of Hidden City, Sakey tours Chicago -- and gets pepper sprayed so he can better understand the Democratic National Convention riots of 1968.

Because Sakey is a novelist (an accomplished one at that), we’ll be getting a writer’s perspective on each travel experience. As Sakey explains, “One thing I’ve learned writing fiction is that it’s the little details that make a world real.”


So when the pepper spray hits his eyes, his reaction isn’t ouch. Actually, his initial reaction is pretty colorful. But then he gives us this rather literary description of the panic, not just the pain, that sets in:
"And in that dark space, panic’s ragged edge was so close. It sucked and pulled at me. It teased and tempted. I knew it would only make things worse, but that didn’t lessen panic’s gravitational pull."
With a perspective like that, Sakey’s show is on my Gotta Watch List. And who knows, maybe he’ll get around to touring Greece. If he does, I highly recommend prison.

What about you? Which destination’s seedy underbelly do you most want to see? If Sakey came to your hometown, what dark corner would you recommend?

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Look at me, I'm a guest blogger!

Today I'm guest blogging at author Ken Hoss's Bloggers Corner.  I've written about my experience at the Backspace Writers' Conference last month in New York City.

Ken is a fantastic supporter of new authors, and a killer writer himself.  Thanks so much for hosting me, Ken!

Check it out!