Over at the Summer Tales project we’ve wrapped up a successful month-long discussion of Neil Gaiman’s short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties“! Students brought a lot of different experiences to this piece: some were sci-fi superfans and some were newbies, some could relate to the teenage protagonist’s feelings of of attraction and intimidation around the opposite sex and some found this experience as alien as the “girls” in the story.
Perhaps because everyone brought something different to the table, we wound up with a very robust and provocative discussion! In our online forums students talked about how a same-sex school might contribute to Enn’s fascination and terror around the “girls” he meets at the party, and explored how music (a recurring motif in the story) can both speak to us privately and create social “in” and “out” groups. In our live session, we unpacked the strange poetry of what the “girls” say to Enn, exploring how they talk about feeling like ill at ease in their own bodies — a familiar feeling for many teenagers, or anyone who’s been a stranger in a strange land.
We’ve already moved along to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s exploration of insomnia “Sleeping and Waking,” and the online discussion is in full swing. Next up is a Joyce Carol Oates story, and we have a special treat — a live event with the acclaimed author herself on Thursday, July 23nd at 4:30pm! Hope to see you there!
