Last night
I went to the Big Words reading series. Founded by Stacey Kahn and Jess
Martinez exactly three years ago, Big Words meets approximately once a month
with readers writing to a theme chosen by the audience at the previous Big
Words reading. Last night’s theme was All or Nothing.
I was one
of the readers (see Slice 11). When I started going to Big Words, it met in the
back of CultureFix, a bar on the far Lower East Side, a long walk from any
subway stops. Last summer it moved to Brooklyn, to a large upstairs event space
at another bar, 61 Local, at 61 Bergen Street (this one has a kitchen, and a
good one). I’d been to a couple of Big Words there and thought I knew the way.
So I didn’t make a Google map. My mistake.
Took the
subway to the Barclay Center, but when I looked at the neighborhood map in the
station, I couldn’t find Boerum Place, the street I usually walked down. But
there was Bergen Street just a couple of blocks away, so that’s where I headed.
But when I got to Bergen Street, the house numbers showed how far off I was.
The first one I saw was 413. Oh, dear. And Brooklyn blocks are long. It took me
25 minutes to get to 61 Local -- but at least there was no wind, like Monday,
it wasn’t very cold, and I could use the exercise. When my friend Stacie
arrived, she explained that I should have gotten off at Borough Hall – oh, it
was that B on the map that had thrown me off.
My reading
went well, there were many laughs, and I enjoyed my five minutes in the
metaphorical spotlight (no mike either). Looking forward to the next Big Words,
whose theme is Stories from Abroad.
