I was browsing Abby’s blog and was so surprised to randomly stumble across these photos of an old friend on there, someone with whom I used to teach at USC: Salvador Plascencia. Sal wrote an amazing book called The People of Paper; it was published by McSweeney’s a few years ago. Experimental, mythic, reminiscent of magical realism–it’s very difficult to describe. The jacket copy reads: “Part memoir, part lies, this is a book about the wounds inflicted by first love and sharp objects.” Of course, it’s much more.
Apparently this was part of a student project, “Experimental Typography,” in which the pinata has been stuffed with a series of paper cards, each tied in distinct ways to a newspaper version of the book. Seems appropriate.
How funny and how nice to stumble upon old friends like this!
P.S. Fun story: Zooey Deschanel (love her) showed up at one of Sal’s readings and came out to a restaurant with us afterward. I think I may have smiled across the table, but that was about it. Playing it cool.
(Photos by Ara Devejian via coucou jolie)
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