Comments on: David Sedaris, Comments in The Pilot, and Loneliness

By: baobabs727

baobabs727 — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:24:10 +0000

Jesse,

I was simply stating the facts: private clubs may, at their discretion, deny membership to anyone they so choose. I didn’t say that it was the “right thing” to do.

baobabs727

By: queeme

queeme — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:18:16 +0000

By: niccar

niccar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:57:24 +0000

I equally enjoyed the show, I love being part of “these people”. Those other people that were not there – are frankly boring, mostly because they think in a box – and not even a box they created.

I love the article and comments. :)

By: OneSmallKimbot

OneSmallKimbot — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:50:24 +0000

Oh, Jesse…..AGREE AGREE AGREE!!! I know you not at all but you just put a grin on my wee shriveled heart.

I left Chrysler Hall last night feeling all warm and fuzzy from a sense of community I unfortunately seldom experience. Unlike you, I have lived in Hampton Roads most of my life and I have become rather inured to the blind conservatism that undoubtedly rules this area. Accordingly, I suppose you could say I have developed a bizarre internal “Oh shit. Abort! Abort!” reflex in response to flaunted irreverance. If you knew me, you’d understand my resulting inner turmoil; I’m a big fan of irreverence. What I’m not a fan of is endless bouts of Irreverence vs. The Machine in an arena where The Machine always seems to prevail. Jaded, bitter…slap on whatever label suits your fancy. All I know is that a person gets tired of fighting, you know? Although I know that anyone who would purchase a ticket for a Davis Sedaris reading undoubtedly knows what they are in for, I nevertheless found myself reflexively tensing beneath my laughter early on last night as his subjects got stickier. I’m not proud of it, but I expected awkward silence or, worse, outright anger from the audience as Sedaris forced the image of Jesus as a Ron Jeremy look-a-like, swathed in “hair curtains” from his back to his “man titties” into our frontal lobes. I wish I could thank the the elderly gentleman three seats to my right for releasing me of my unwanted reflexive cringe. That tiny, gorgeous creature responded to the image of Ron Jesus with a giggle in a pitch previously unknown to man. After that, as if by magic, I recognized that I was among kindred folk (see: warm and fuzzy). Blah, blah….in short, it was a lovely and hope-reviving evening.

By: Jesse Scaccia

Jesse Scaccia — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:12:49 +0000

Hey Jim,

I’m only 30, but I have no idea how to deal with anonymous comments on the Internet. They make me feel crazy, old, sad, and like I’m living in the Matrix. Are they people’s *true* opinion, said from behind the safety of keypad walls? Or are they the opposite, people running their mouths and using all-caps to feel big, loud, and important?

I don’t know… but the ease with which people spew genuine hate on the Internet is as sure of a sign of the apocalypse as anything. The anonymity reminds me of masked bank robbers, the KKK, and any other bad guys that do brazenly horrible things with pride in public, yet hidden.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:00:28 +0000

Great stuff in the Sedaris half of this piece!

It’s important to note, though, in the second half that anonymous online comments from baobabs727, truthjustice, et al do not really constitute “open expression.”

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:38:18 +0000

I had to choose between Jon Stewart and David Sedaris. The cheaper price of the former beckoned me so last night I just put on the Me Talk Pretty One Day audio tape and pretended he was in the same room as me.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:15:02 +0000

Yep. I just always feel the need to point out the diversity in the military when I can.

That said, I still joke about how they had to enlist a new token liberal when I got out.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:21:29 +0000

(This is Jesse from another computer)

I hear you, April, and I wasn’t meaning to be anti-people in the military at large. I do think you know where I’m coming from.

By: April

April — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:07:26 +0000

I too was at the David Sedaris show last night. He’s one of my heroes and an inspiration to me as a writer of creative non-fiction.

However, when I looked around at the crowd, I was a little dismayed at the fact that I was surrounded with people like me — ONLY people like me.

While Jesse freely admits in his post that his perception of Hampton Roads is a bit stereotypical, I feel like I have to defend the military, and the pro-military bias here.

I spent nine years in the Navy and still work for the DoD. And inside these conservative-leaning institutions there are plenty of liberals who express their opinions freely. There are plenty of gay people too, for that matter.

The military is a cross-section of America, but too often it gets painted with the broad brush wielded by the very vocal but by no means representative contingent who drive F-150s, wear oversized belt buckles, and think Sarah Palin would make a good president if only she had a penis.

Still, I even appreciate those folks because without them the military and the Tidewater region would be too homogeneous. I don’t want us to be like Berkeley, Calif. It would be boring.

Could Norfolk use a few more independent coffee shops, theaters, newspapers and thinkers? Absolutely.

But we have some, even in a military town. After all, I got hooked on David Sedaris back in 2002. I was on deployment and everyone in my office was passing around Me Talk Pretty One Day. And we all laughed our asses.