Hi Jennis,
The event that I was referring to is the one in Casper, Wyoming on Oct. 19-21. However I did manage to go to the Annie Proulx lecture at the Davidson College in North Carolina. I arrived on Wed. the 13th, checked into my hotel, and drove to the campus and got acquainted with the map of the grounds. I walked around the Student Union Center and the Performance Hall where the lecture would be and also where they were planning to screen the movie. Knowing that the movie screening was open only to students, so I donned my baseball cap and sweatshirt and waited for the movie to start. They were not checking ID's, so I managed to get in...sat in the back, and enjoyed the movie...for the umpteenth time!
The following night was the lecture. Yes, tickets were not available. The auditorium was quite large, holding a few hundred, so I was surprised that it was sold out. Nonetheless, it was simulcast in the very same room that I screened the movie in the night before. I sat with many others who were unable to attain tickets. And there, we all listened and watched the marvelous Ms. Proulx speak.
She first spoke on a project she is currently working on, the Wild Horses of the Red Desert, a place now being decemated by methane gas extraction. She continued about the Spanish horses in 1900's America, how they came to be, and their unfortunate outcomes. More heartbreaking realities of horses used in and by the military during the wars.
Annie continued with fiction by reading her short story "The Blood Bay" form Close Range? She got quite a laugh at the end of that dark comedy. She then took questions. We couldn't hear the questions (in this screening room) but heard her responses. Someone asked something about BBM. She answered there were some parts she didn't like and parts they added that she did like, but overall she was pleased with how it turned out. She said that the film reached more people than the book, and changed some minds. She continued, "And I feel lucky it happened that way."
She was asked which of her stories and novels was the hardest for her to write. To my surprise she said BBM. She said it took her 6 months solid, much longer than expected for a short story. She said it was difficult for an elderly woman to get into the minds of two teenage boys who didn't even know the word gay, and then write their lives convincingly. And then she added, after she submitted it to her publisher, she tossed and turned the night before, that something wasn't right, and that she had to correct it before it was too late. The next morning she called her publisher and
changed the last line! Sadly, she didn't say, what the
original line was. Someone asked, how do you get into the minds of two gay cowboys? She answered, "We have some secrets." For a woman who writes such harsh stories, I was taken aback with her very delicate and elegant voice. I mean, remember "Blood on the Red Carpet?"
Directly after, people came pouring out of the performance hall for the reception. There were appetizers, beverages, flowers and one long line of people with books to sign. I got in line, and finally after 20-25 minutes got to meet her. Everything I prepared to say to her vanished in thin air. I said nothing memorable, but managed to get her to sign my copy of BBM. Her autograph is tiny, much like that of an introvert. She was gracious and patient, and allowed all questions and comments from those in line.
I met up with someone from another forum who convinced me to show Ms. Proulx my prop from the movie. I own the jack knife and little wooden horse Ennis is scene carving in the begining of the movie, and I brought it to show Truman, the other forum member. Well, I showed it to Annie and she said something like, "Oh my, it looks just like it". I told her that it was the actual prop from the movie. She said "that's great," and smiled, after which Truman snapped a picture. I will try to post it later.
Well it was a wonderful evening, well worth the miles travelled. Ms. Proulx was everthing I hoped she'd be, I felt so great I couldv'e
pawed the white out of the moon! Thank you again Jennis for without your information, I would never have had the opportunity.
Sincerely, Adrian.
