Last night we had our first closed-door reading in preparation for the Seattle version of Cringe, which we have to call something else (and Mortified is already taken!). Here’s the idea in a nutshell: people read embarrassing selections from old diaries in front of an audience.

It was fucking awesome. Highlights included readings about the Iran Contra hearings (”Ollie North has sad eyes”), pop star dreams, acid trips, and bad zine-publishing boyfriends. I read an eighth grade wallow about how dumb I was, which included descriptions of how my value to the planet was less than that of a parasite in a retching horse’s stomach.

The weirdest moment was when I read from my 1992 diary, where-in I described my first Internet date. As I started, two attendees realized that they knew my date. Seattle really is a small town.

All in all, the evening was thoroughly enjoyable. It was in preparation for what will be a public reading in October, but honestly just hanging out, drinking wine, and reading together in my rec room was the height of entertainment. I want to do it all the time and call it the Salon of Shame.