Extra Credit -Daniel Alarcon(04/04/07)

This was my fifth time Copper Nickel reading meeting, on Wednesday, April 04, at 7 pm in the Recital Hall of the King Center of UCD. It was a great night for us, and Copper Nickel presented novelist and short-story writer Daniel Alarcon. When I was there, he was telling with other people. We could buy Daniel Alarcon’s new books, Lost City Radio and Wait By Candlelight outside the Recital Hall. Daniel was a famous writer, which I heart from my friend Fu Wang. I took over look the menu of the Lost City Radio, this book was very similar with Radio On The War, which I had read in China, but Radio On The War was telling the Chinese war, the Chinese soldiers fight against the Japanese soldier in the bad situation. It represented the Chinese soldiers’ bravery and selflessness.

There were about one hundred of audiences attend this reading meeting that I never saw before. First a lady introduced Mr. Alarcon, and then a bared-headed man made some jokes to the audiences. The opening was interesting and solemn. Mr. Alarcon introduced the story before he read, and he just picked two best sections for audiences. The first section is Norma and War; and Mr. Alarcon had a strong powerful sound in the interesting part-the soldier punched the young man’s face, before he got in the bus. This story described the life of soldiers and Norma in the war, and the soldier’s psychological activity in the war. I liked this story so much. Especially Mr. Alarcon’s reading style was so helpful for me, and I understood and followed the story well. He made the sound clear, and read the story by his heart. I could not listen to the second section’s title, but it was that describe the soldier’s life.

I compare Alarcon’s reading meeting with Danielle Dutton & Stephanie Young’s reading meeting. I found out Alarcon’s reading meeting was more interesting and helpful for me. Danielle Dutton & Stephanie Young’s reading meeting was not really interesting and too short, but I could learned more knowledge in the meeting. Any way, these two meeting were very good, and I hoped the students can attend this kind meeting. It will open your mind.

How to praise Alarcon’s success? I though I need to borrow Edward P. Jones’s praise, who is author of the Pulitzer Prize winner. "Daniel Alarcon’s stories are one of the reasons we go to storytellers — they present worlds we have only imagined or heard about in less truthful and poetic ways. And Mr. Alarcon, like the best storytellers, reveals to us that the world we have secreted in our hearts spins in a bigger universe with other hearts just as good and just as bad as our own. Long before you come to the poignant words, "I come see you, but instead meet your absence," you will know what I mean." After I read the Alarcon, I have become a fan of his.