Zordani, Robert A.

English

Zordani, Robert

Eastern Illinois University

The Feature Writer\u27s Speech to the Newcomer

The Keep

Eastern Illinois UniversityThe KeepFaculty Research & Creative Activity EnglishJuly 1996The Feature Writer's Speech to the NewcomerRobert A. ZordaniEastern Illinois University, razordani@eiu.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/eng_facPart of the English Language and Literature CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Research & CreativeActivity by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact tabruns@eiu.edu.Recommended CitationZordani, Robert A., "The Feature Writer's Speech to the Newcomer" (1996). Faculty Research & Creative Activity. 60.http://thekeep.eiu.edu/eng_fac/60The Feature Writer's Speech to the Newcomer Just why our Jeannie quit the factory to come work here is anybody's guess. The Westside Lounge is not a happy place, though Jeannie's laugh can rise above the din of country hits and suicidal talk  to make a dismal patron's drink taste right  or stop two bums from starting up a fight when they're a little drunk and ornery and have a little rooster in the walk. Don't fool yourself, friend. That girl's a tigress! You get her mad, she'll kick you in the shin  or yank your beard or slap your pudgy face.  Last week, I swear to God, she broke a vase over that man's head. It was quite a sight. You'd think he'd never want to come back in, but there he is for all of us to see, a good bit humbler, now, I must confess, and more polite, and not so prone to gawk  at Jeannie's chest or swoop down like a hawk upon its prey. But Jeannie gives us space for impropriety and carelessness and merely chides us when we're impolite, provided we don't speak too vulgarly or beg her for a night of steamy sin  if we've been going heavy on cheap gin and slamming shots since noon, our endless squawk a stream of feckless incongruity  not fit to listen to. Jeannie's got grace,  real grace, and if I never come to write her story up, may I die penniless and alone in a place where friendliness does not exist, my raspy voice so thin not even dogs could hear it in the night. I mean it, friend. Most people here will balk at what I've said to you, but they don't trace the tangled weave of small-town history, distinguish fact from general mawkishness,  or paint the flight of folk like our Jeannie who circle the tailrace of our sweet chagrin.   	  

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The Feature Writer\u27s Speech to the Newcomer

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