March-April 1995. I was a year out of college and working at my first real job when this story was published, but this story was written in that awful space between college graduation and first real job. Many of my friends had secured their jobs before they graduated because they earned STEM degrees, but not I. With an English B.A. in hand, I feared the worst — slinging fries at McDonald’s. Misplaced fear, of course, since I had never worked in food services (still haven’t, knock on wood — I have nothing but the hugest respect for those who work in the very tough restaurant business).
The thing that stands out with this story is that it’s written in the second person — the “you” voice. Which I have often called a bastardized “I” voice, because that’s its eventual function, to put you into the story so you see it from my point of view.
Here’s the lovely cover that my story appeared in.
InterText was one of the first online lit magazines. It ran from 1991 to 2004! Holy cow, that is like a hundred years in internet time.
And speaking of time, it’s recommendation time! Another Philip Roth classic, The Plot Against America, read once again by Ron Silver.
I wish I didn’t have to say this is timely reading/listening, but it is. A miniseries was made by HBO and shown during the pandemic, which I have not seen, but I think the book will be more than enough.
