Carrying mother on my back
Just for a joke.
Three steps: then weeping—
She's so light.
--Ishikawa Takuboku
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Week 8
Class Ground Rules
Read all the assignments before class.
Keep yourself on mute unless called on.
Raise your hands electronically.
Focus your comments only on the question at hand rather than straying to other parts of the story.
Refrain from offering a review of the whole story or jumping to the end.
Try to support your comments by referring to details from the text.
Listen to and respond to others with respect.
READ (at least twice): Bryan Washington - "Palaver," (published in McSweeney's Quarterly, Winter 2020). PDF posted below.
A son and mother converse to learn about each other.
Think About:
The characters of the mother and son. Who are they and how do they relate to each other?
The way the story is revealed through dialog.
The stories the son tells the mother.
The stories the mother tells the son.
The stories the mother thinks but does not tell the son.
Click on the top right corner of the story to expand.
Bryan Washington - Palaver.pdfPurely Optional - Listen to a reading of Bryan Washington's "Palaver"
Start listening at 21:38 by moving the slider (vertical line) in the audio file below. Stop at 47:27.
Photo: Dailey Hubbard
Bryan Washington Biography
Bryan Washington Biography
Bryan Washington describes himself as a writer from Houston, but it might be more accurate to say he’s a writer of Houston. His work not only observes the city, it seems to create it anew. According to Washington, "There’s an unknowability to Houston because of the sprawl and the diversity, and there’s a chaos, too, but one that’s warm. The multiplicity of experiences you can have here makes Harris County crazy-good fodder for anyone looking to write about it."
Born in Kentucky in 1993, Bryan Washington has lived in Houston since his family moved to the city in the mid-1990s. He knew he was gay at a young age but did not formally come out, fearing stigmatization. He graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in English, and continued his education at the University of New Orleans where he earned an MFA. He is currently an assistant professor of creative writing at Rice University. Read more...
Link to Week 8 class recording: brandeis.zoom.us/rec/play/Uz1BWF1LvCoLY-K-_elANEWBWl3n38aguqn06kHmYp_T-I_wjv_n2peU7ml-b1h11pAgkz1ETrRes932.KyTH5X8YIQ0FjIOm
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