I rarely have the heart to correct people when they confidently use the wrong names for things. Growing up, my best friend’s mother repeatedly referred to his Big Wheels as a “ring ding,” and the two of us would just blink. No matter how many times I tell my mother I hike up Joppenbergh Mountain, she insists on asking, “Did you hike up Jopplinberg this morning?” (That question is usually followed by one about whether I threw my hiking clothes in the dryer immediately when I got back, so as to kill any Lyme ticks I might have picked up. I had Lyme this year, for the second time. It sucked.) I find these malapropisms kind of endearing. So far be it from me to correct my friend and editor on the Rumpus, Stephen Elliott, when he gets the name of my column wrong. I am only too thrilled on the occasions he mentions it in his Daily Rumpus email, even though he calls it “Writers Braver Than Me,” when it is really called “Conversations With Writers Braver Than Me.” (I am also really happy that he has stopped calling me Sari Bottom, which he did for like the first three months he knew me. Being saddled with kind of a weird name, I usually just answer and don’t say anything when people get it wrong. But I finally corrected him on that one.) He goes with that abbreviated version of the column name again on this poster for Monday’s The Rumpus Loves New York event (at 7 pm at Public Assembly in Brooklyn). But I don’t care one bit. I know what he means, and now you do, too. So, let’s not say anything to him about it, okay? ;) All this to say, come! I’ll be doing a brief, live “Conversations With Writers Braver than Me” with Nick Flynn. Plus, there’ll be readings by Sam Lipsyte, Amber Tamblyn, Andrew McCarthy and Colson Whitehead; stand-up by Nato Green and Jeanine Brito; and music by K. Flay - all hosted by Stephen.  These rare Rumpus events in New York tend to sell out, so you might want to order tickets in advance… Hope to see you there.

I rarely have the heart to correct people when they confidently use the wrong names for things. Growing up, my best friend’s mother repeatedly referred to his Big Wheels as a “ring ding,” and the two of us would just blink. No matter how many times I tell my mother I hike up Joppenbergh Mountain, she insists on asking, “Did you hike up Jopplinberg this morning?” (That question is usually followed by one about whether I threw my hiking clothes in the dryer immediately when I got back, so as to kill any Lyme ticks I might have picked up. I had Lyme this year, for the second time. It sucked.)

I find these malapropisms kind of endearing. So far be it from me to correct my friend and editor on the Rumpus, Stephen Elliott, when he gets the name of my column wrong. I am only too thrilled on the occasions he mentions it in his Daily Rumpus email, even though he calls it “Writers Braver Than Me,” when it is really called “Conversations With Writers Braver Than Me.” (I am also really happy that he has stopped calling me Sari Bottom, which he did for like the first three months he knew me. Being saddled with kind of a weird name, I usually just answer and don’t say anything when people get it wrong. But I finally corrected him on that one.)

He goes with that abbreviated version of the column name again on this poster for Monday’s The Rumpus Loves New York event (at 7 pm at Public Assembly in Brooklyn). But I don’t care one bit. I know what he means, and now you do, too. So, let’s not say anything to him about it, okay? ;)

All this to say, come! I’ll be doing a brief, live “Conversations With Writers Braver than Me” with Nick Flynn. Plus, there’ll be readings by Sam Lipsyte, Amber Tamblyn, Andrew McCarthy and Colson Whitehead; stand-up by Nato Green and Jeanine Brito; and music by K. Flay - all hosted by Stephen. 

These rare Rumpus events in New York tend to sell out, so you might want to order tickets in advance…

Hope to see you there.