Installment Three: Christeen Amburgey

In the early 2000s, Mickey Hess taught creative writing at a community college in New Albany, Indiana. “Interviews with my Former Students” finds Mickey tracking down his old students nearly a decade later, to see if they still write and to find out if they learned anything.

New Albany, Indiana

Interviews With My Former Students

Installment Three: Christeen Amburgey

Christeen: There are a few stories that stick with me from our writing classes. Some because they were good, others not. I remember that annotated story by the kid in the Fiction Writing class. He had gotten off work and went to this freaky party, where I think the Incredible Hulk was in attendance. And he has these amazing footnotes and references throughout the story.

And there was also this story about this girl who started turning Japanese. I couldn’t wrap my head around that as the plot of a story. But her whole story was seriously about how when she woke up that morning she had a slight accent/problem with her “r’s” and at the end of the day she was carrying around a Sanyo purse with long black hair. Very strange. I learned a lot from you about how to keep a straight face when giving feedback.

Mickey: How do I not remember that? The Incredible Hulk party sounds only vaguely familiar, but awesome. How did I forget it? It sounds a lot like Barthelme’s “The Party,” where King Kong shows up. I remember the turning Japanese one, but not who wrote it. I liked that one. Are you saying the Sanyo purse had long black hair?

I remember your Rommel story, and the one about your daughter Rhiannon as a little girl in the back yard. The Rommel one is an all-time favorite. The one about your working at the blood bank too, the relationship story.

What kind of stuff are you writing these days?

Christeen: I wish I were saying that the Sanyo purse had long black hair. I think that would have made it a much better story. And remember the one where Chuck E. Cheese was trying to mow down the narrator?

I’ve always been a little stumped about what made you like the Rommel story so much. I’m glad you do. But that one I just banged out from memory for your creative nonfiction class. I love that you think the story about the little girl in the backyard was about Rhiannon! That was an abused quasi-evil kid who calmly finger-painted in the blood from her mother’s miscarriage.

I wrote a story, a few weeks ago, from the perspective of the gunman on the Apache helicopter that killed those Reuters journalists. I also have some creative nonfiction stuff that I wrote about my grandmother. She’d had a stroke and I was trying to make sense of it. I think it’s some pretty good stuff because I couldn’t find anyone to really talk to at the time.

I saw that you wrote a Hip Hop Encyclopedia! Occasionally I stalk you on the Internet. Benevolently. I also stalk Dr. Zorn sometimes.

Mickey: Hmmm. Obviously I misremembered that story! I remember all the detail about the little girl in the backyard, but nothing about the evilness or the blood.

Glad to hear you’re still writing. How are you paying the bills?

Christeen: That story was my first ever attempt at a story. Lots of thesaurus words. You helped me to see the pretentiousness of using the word “glissade” from a kid’s perspective.

I’m an administrative coordinator in corporate America. I’m still pretty fascinated by how bizarre corporate culture is.

Mickey: Were you in a class with a guy who often tried to discuss stories without having read them?

Christeen: Hmm. I’m not entirely sure. I remember a guy in the Intro to Fiction class who was very assertive with his opinions and you could not get it through his head that he wasn’t there to correct grammar.

And remember that guy who wrote really well, but his stories sometimes tended to venture into erotica? He would read a passage from his piece, and the lights would dim, and “Let’s Get it On” would start playing, and he would talk about making love very smoothly? You told him he should read Native Son? I think that’s how I knew that you thought someone was good, when you helped them to identify a great writer that they were like.

Mickey: Wow, we have very different memories of those classes. I’ve never even read Native Son. Now I’m picturing it full of very smooth sex scenes. Is it?

Christeen: Noooooo. No smooth sex scenes in Native Son.

(Photo Via: QuarriesandBeyond)

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Posted by Mickey Hess on February 10 2011. Filed under Interviews With Old Students. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry