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The Mailer Review/Volume 5, 2011/From A Ticket to the Circus: Difference between revisions
The Mailer Review/Volume 5, 2011/From A Ticket to the Circus (view source)
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:From ''A Ticket to the Circus''}} | {{DISPLAYTITLE:From ''A Ticket to the Circus''}} | ||
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{{abstract | {{Byline|last=Mailer|first=Norris Church|abstract=Excerpts from Norris Church Mailer’s memoir.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr11mail}} | ||
==Thirteen== | ==Thirteen== | ||
An English teacher at Tech named Francis Irby Gwaltney (who wrote the memoir ''Idols and Axle Grease'' that I had illustrated) was a soldier in World War II with [[Norman Mailer]]. While I never had Francis (or Fig, as Norman called him) as a teacher, I was friends with him and his wife, Ecey (E. C., short for Emma Carol), another English teacher at Tech. Along with B. C. Hall and his wife, Daphna, we all subscribed to ''The New Yorker'' magazine and considered ourselves to be intellectuals — Russellville-style, anyhow. After I started teaching at the high school, we’d all get together once in a while to have a glass of wine (Russellville was in a dry county, so drinking wine was totally avant-garde — we had to drive thirty miles to buy it) and discuss literature and ''The New Yorker'' articles. We were big Walker Percy and Eudora Welty fans. | An English teacher at Tech named Francis Irby Gwaltney (who wrote the memoir ''Idols and Axle Grease'' that I had illustrated) was a soldier in World War II with [[Norman Mailer]]. While I never had Francis (or Fig, as Norman called him) as a teacher, I was friends with him and his wife, Ecey (E. C., short for Emma Carol), another English teacher at Tech. Along with B. C. Hall and his wife, Daphna, we all subscribed to ''The New Yorker'' magazine and considered ourselves to be intellectuals — Russellville-style, anyhow. After I started teaching at the high school, we’d all get together once in a while to have a glass of wine (Russellville was in a dry county, so drinking wine was totally avant-garde — we had to drive thirty miles to buy it) and discuss literature and ''The New Yorker'' articles. We were big Walker Percy and Eudora Welty fans. | ||
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It has been said that there are no coincidences in life, and I might just believe that. It was April 1975, and I had been divorced for more than a year. Frankly, dating a lot of different guys had begun to lose its charm, but I had no interest in getting serious about anyone. I liked having my own house and doing as I pleased. No man to clutter up my closets, no man to clean up after (except my big boy, Matt, of course). No man to tell me what to do, how to spend my money, what to cook. I was close to my parents, who adored Matthew and were thrilled to babysit for me while I worked. My life was pretty great. | It has been said that there are no coincidences in life, and I might just believe that. It was April 1975, and I had been divorced for more than a year. Frankly, dating a lot of different guys had begun to lose its charm, but I had no interest in getting serious about anyone. I liked having my own house and doing as I pleased. No man to clutter up my closets, no man to clean up after (except my big boy, Matt, of course). No man to tell me what to do, how to spend my money, what to cook. I was close to my parents, who adored Matthew and were thrilled to babysit for me while I worked. My life was pretty great. | ||
[[File:NCM-Ticket.jpeg|thumb]] | |||
Then I got a call from my friend Van Tyson, another teacher at Tech, who was having a film animation artist come speak to his class. He wondered if I wanted to bring my senior class over to the college to sit in. I was always up for something new to do with the kids, so we went, and it was interesting. But the most interesting bit of information I got that day was that Norman Mailer was next door in Francis’s class, and Francis and Ecey were giving him a cocktail party after school. To which I had ''not'' been invited. | Then I got a call from my friend Van Tyson, another teacher at Tech, who was having a film animation artist come speak to his class. He wondered if I wanted to bring my senior class over to the college to sit in. I was always up for something new to do with the kids, so we went, and it was interesting. But the most interesting bit of information I got that day was that Norman Mailer was next door in Francis’s class, and Francis and Ecey were giving him a cocktail party after school. To which I had ''not'' been invited. | ||
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{{Review|state=expanded}} | {{Review|state=expanded}} | ||
[[Category:Creative Works (MR)]] | [[Category:Creative Works (MR)]] | ||
[[Category:Excerpts (MR)]] | [[Category:Excerpts (MR)]] | ||