Category — Oral Performance

Four words: chemistry quiz tomorrow morning. That was all I was thinking about that night. I really need to stop procrastinating so that I can fully enjoy these events.

Anyways, I wasn’t expecting very much mainly because I had no idea what Symphony Space was. All I knew was that we were going to hear people tell stories and someone from Sleepless in Seattle (my mom’s and my favorite movie) was going to speak. But I was pleasantly surprised to see how interesting this food magazine was. It really made me want to buy a copy even though my cooking knowledge is limited to cooking rice, eggs, pasta and french toast.

My favorite story was the last one that David Cross recited about the cast-iron skillet. Actually, I didn’t particularly love the rest. Especially the dream one. That did not work at all for me.

How the person read the story made the biggest difference, too. How much feeling they put into the story, how they handled making mistakes. I personally loved when they made mistakes and made jokes from it.

I definitely would love to go to one of these things again, but maybe just not about food. It was a little harder to relate. And it seemed the audience is more grown up.

But seeing Mario Batalli was the highlight of the night–I finally see what my bio professor is channeling when he wears his orange crocs.

Our night at Symphony Space was an interesting event. I really enjoyed some of the stories, while others I did not care for as much. I was looking forward to going because David Cross would be there, and he is one of my favorite comedic actors. I knew he would deliver, and he really did. I think his readings along with Gaby Hoffman’s were the best of the bunch. I liked that the crowd was very casual and the mood was laid-back and welcoming. I think it’s just an interesting concept: having people read funny stories to a crowd. It’s like how people entertained each other before television and computers–just telling stories, jokes, and reciting poetry or singing. It’s a very simple, stress-free kind of joy, but you really have to be open to it.

I feel like most people in the class already disliked the idea of listening to stories without even having experienced it yet, which is closed-minded I think. Many of the people who wrote the stories are established and very funny writers, and I think you can only really appreciate that sort of thing with an open mind.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend our last trip at the Symphony Space. However, after listening to the discussion my classmates had in class, I inferred that the trip was not too good after all. I noticed that about two classmates enjoyed their time at the Symphony Space, listening to the authors read their pieces. The majority of the class felt that this trip was useless and many were put to sleep.

I am not sure if I would have enjoyed this trip. My classmates said that the authors were not professional readers and stuttered a lot when they read. They said that the stories, although interesting, were a bore to listen to. They said that they could have read the stories on their own rather than travel to the city to listen to a bunch of authors stuttering as they read their pieces.

I probably would have enjoyed this trip. I read a few pieces and listened to them online and really find it interesting that people spend their time producing creative writings that involve food. I also enjoy listening to people read as opposed to having read the pieces alone because when the author reads his/her piece, I tend to put a face to the work and analyze the author’s personality. I discover what propelled the author to write such a piece based on who and how the author presents his/her work.

Because I was not at the Symphony Space, I cannot say I would have definitely enjoyed the trip. But I can admit that I enjoy listening to people read stories and really get drawn in to stories that seem interesting. I found the stories that I read were creative and interesting!

Unfortunately, I must say that this was my least favorite event that we attended for this course. I just did not see the point in going to see people read articles out of a magazine that I could have picked up myself. The fact that I could have done this without the hassle and cost of traveling to the city just lessened my ability to appreciate the event. Since I am not a “foodie” some of the experience of the event was lost on me. I did not know many of the famous people who read to us, and I did not understand some of the jokes. Putting all of this aside, however, I did enjoy the articles that were read to me. They were very interesting and were not what I expected to come from a food magazine. Usually, food magazines have simple, easy to do recipes, restaurant reviews, and a few articles on culinary experiences. The Lucky Peach seems to be a very interesting perspective on the making and experience of food. Like the editors said, it also does not limit what recipes it includes based on level of difficulty. It has very unique themes, such as the apocalypse theme, and has articles that show the deeper meaning behind the experience of eating or dining. This was a very good marketing technique for the magazine because it really made me want to pick up a copy and read it! Although, I could have drawn all of this information from reading the magazine, I might not have known that this magazine existed if I had not gone to this event. However, if I were to really give an article my full attention, I would prefer to read it myself. I have different levels of comprehension when something is read to me and when I read something myself. When something is read to me, I might not be paying attention the entire time, and if I do not understand something, it might not always be possible for me to ask the reader to repeat the phrase several times. However, the person reading the passage might read it with a better interpretation than I would. When I read something to myself, I tend to comprehend things better. I can see how the words and punctuation are arranged in the sentence and I can reread a confusing phrase as many times as I wish. I can also annotate in the margins concerning things that I enjoy or dislike, which I would love to do with a physical copy of The Lucky Peach.