Paul F. Olson

A Journal of Miscellany and Disorder

A video of the Gregory Maguire event that my daughters attended last month has now been posted at the spiffy Borders Media site. You get to see a pre-interview, the reading, the audience Q-and-A, and a few seconds of the book-signing. Oh yeah, you might catch a glimpse or two of the girls, as well.

To watch it, just click here: Gregory Maguire

While you’re at the site, you might want to check out a few of their other productions. The Ann Arbor Borders (Store 01) has hosted an awfully eclectic selection of authors and musicians. It’s nice to see their brief visits preserved as first-rate video productions.

As a fan of Christopher Moore, I’m kind of partial to this one.

Last weekend, my wife and I ventured downstate for our first visit with the girls since dropping them off at the University of Michigan in late August. It was a good time, and of course went by far too fast. It was reassuring to see them doing so well — mostly adjusted to dorm life, mostly settling into their classes, mostly well on their way into this new stage and this great adventure in their lives.

We had the grand tour, ate some wonderful food and saw a football game that was … well, not a good game, not precisely. In all honesty, Notre Dame looked as if they’d struggle to beat a decent high school football team. But after U of M’s rocky start, a win was a win.

On Tuesday, back home and back at work, I was very envious that the girls had the chance to attend a reading and signing with Gregory Maguire, who ranks right near the top of my personal “favorite writers” list. The author of Wicked, Son of a Witch, Lost, Mirror Mirror, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and a passel of children’s books, Maguire was visiting Borders’ flagship store in Ann Arbor to promote his newest, What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy.

I would have happily let a fairy, rogue or otherwise, take away a few of my own teeth for the chance to attend this event, but I’m so pleased that my daughters now have such great opportunities available to them, just moments away. A signed book is a marvelous keepsake, no doubt, but an evening spent listening to a world-class writer discuss his work is truly a lifetime gift.