lunch with a famous author

One of the perks of teaching at a community college in Spokane is that there are local authors who publish great books here and who agree to come speak to our students. Such is the case with Jess Walters this week. He was hilarious, kind, and shared inspiring words with students Wednesday morning. Afterwards, some of the English faculty took him out to lunch at Orlando's, the student culinary academy restaurant on campus. (They make really delicious, fancy dishes, like eggplant tart with a tomato sauce -- which is described more poetically in the menu than I just did. And creme brulee for dessert. And with drizzles of sauces on the plate for decorative effect.)

Anyway, I tagged along last minute and delayed going to my magazine job. Seriously, I thought to myself, how many chances does one get to go to lunch with Jess Walters?! I sat at the end of the table; he was in the middle -- third from the end.


Since the English faculty held an "author salon" with Jess the previous Thursday evening at a fellow instructor's home, I had already warmed up to Jess...ya know, feeling pretty chummy as he chatted with us about Citizen Vince, his new book, his writing life, personal tidbits about his funny life, this and that. He drank red wine, as did the rest of us. (Slow down there, Ms. Dean of Arts and Sciences!)

Anyway, all this to explain why at lunch I suddenly felt compelled to share with Jess, and the other people present, about Brotherhood 2.0. The guy next to me brought up YouTube, and well...it just fit. And since Jess is so funny and often tells stories about his adventures with his brother, I thought it would be appropriate. He thought the "In Your Pants" rule for book titles was funny, and hadn't yet heard of it -- or of the Brotherhood video blogs. I'll have to e-mail him the pants clip. Jess and I also chatted a bit about EWU, where we both attended (him for his BA, me for my MFA -- hmmm, who's published and living life as a full-time writer and hasn't been to a "job" in 12 years?).

I don't think Jess's book titles fit the rule.

Citizen Vince in your pants? Hmmm....unless that's a "pet" name, maybe.

The Zero in your pants. Oooh, perhaps.

Ruby Ridge in your pants? Okay, maybe so after all.

The Land of the Blind in your pants? Naw. (Although, someone somewhere probably thinks that's kinda funny.)

(P.S. Tiffany, did you finish CV yet? I did. And I know you'll appreciate my sharing the humor of the brotherhood, which you first shared with me, w/ my new buddy Jess!)