I Finally Read a David Sedaris Book

While I was moving out recently, I came across a book my brother gave to my mom a few years ago, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I never knew much about the guy and would not have recognized his name had it not been for Amy Sedaris. I used to watch Strangers With Candy all the time and was saddened when Comedy Central prematurely cancelled the show. The show was so funny and they got away with a lot of politically incorrect stuff on those episodes. I can’t believe how many “B List” stars Raleigh has generated: Amy Sedaris (I know she’s from upstate NY but she grew up in NC), Michael Hall, Emily Procter, Clay Aiken and Evan Rachel Wood, to name a few.

I also saw that David Sedaris made it on the list at the website Stuff White People Like. Out of curiosity, I had to see what the big deal was about. The book was an easy read, and the fact that several of the anecdotes are set in Raleigh, a town I lived in for 14 years, drew my attention to the stories. For example, I’ve seen Silly P’s Vans going around town while I lived in Raleigh. Anyone w/ a pulse has heard of North Hills mall which has subsequently been torn down and rebuilt into a fancy shopping center. I’ve also heard of Sanderson High. We used to compete against them in swim meets when I was young and a swimmer.
One thing I thought was funny is how Knightdale gets no respect from David or me. In this blog, I’ve made a few wisecracks at Knightdale, and in Me Talk… David took a shot at Knightdale was well. I must say that if David really wanted to add to the comical effect when he was describing how his moving to a remote French village would be like a French person moving to Knightdale, he could have done better by referring to Lizard Lick instead. If you want to attention and a smile to an outsider from the NC area, talking about Lizard Lick will guarantee success for that effort.

One other thing to note is that both Dave’s mom and mine use the word ‘goddamnit’ a lot. When I tell someone a story about my mom and repeat it when she said the ‘g-d’ word, people will say “Your mom didn’t say that.” For my mom, the g-d word is like a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence meant to emphasize whatever point she was trying to make. Who knows, maybe there is something about the Raleigh environment compelling mothers to say the g-d word as freely as the yellow-green pine pollen in the heart of spring around there.