Molly Sullivan

It's easy to imagine all pre-teen girls who have a kitty diary with "I love (insert name of the most popular twelve-year-old boy)" doodled in purple glitter pen all over it. Luckily for us, we are all now getting a peek inside these precious tomes and other personal stories at the "Oops" reading event at Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park. It's packed--finding an open seat proves to be a tough endeavor.

"Oops" was put together by Jaime Calder during internships with Featherproof Books and Make Magazine. "I wanted to ball together a bunch of things I liked," she explains. And Calder's ball turned into a reading of diaries, letters, poems and personal stories all based on being completely embarrassing for the writer to admit--like the woman who wrote about her seventh-grade love and the summer that, "his voice changed, he changed and I changed. And I love him more than ever."

While taking a page from David Sedaris' recorded readings, Calder created this "diary slam" just two weeks ago. With everything moving so quickly, the name "Oops" begins to make a little more sense. "I couldn't quite figure out what to call it and how to do it all...and I used to say `oops' a lot when I was younger," she says, shrugging her shoulders about how unknowingly perfect the name just might be.

Calder dives in headfirst as she reads from her foam kitty diary--one that proves it could keep secrets, as she had to bust the lock open since losing the key. As she travels back to a time when she "was interested in V.C. Andrews and Jane Austen, so you can see them battling it out in [her] 11-year-old psyche," it becomes clear that we all have our regrettable moments. And there are many bad moments that should be erased--like the time one reader wore Packer overalls with a Packer shirt and a Packer watch. Oops.

(2006-12-05)

Also by Molly Sullivan

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Macy Day
(2006-09-12)

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