He talked to the teenagers about working for his high-school paper, a stint that sometimes got him action with girls in other cities ("I'm just saying there are side benefits to the writer's life that you may not have considered"), and about where his writing career has taken him ("And then I went to Amsterdam, where drugs are legal, but they're not legal here, so don't do them"), and then he read from the first piece in his book The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, "The Albania of My Existence," a parody of pompous NPR reportage. He read: "People here are beset by unwanted refugees, obscure diseases, and limited opportunities to express themselves through fashion..."
The students exhibited only a passive interest in Pollack's career in letters, but they were absolutely rapt at his description of his short-lived career in garage rock. After talking about the writing stuff, Pollack played two songs by his defunct band the Neal Pollack Invasion, and ended his talk by taking questions. The first two questions were "Where can I buy your CD?" and "Who else was in your band?"
Eventually, a student asked a question about writing--about why Pollack sometimes names his fictional narrators Neal Pollack. Pollack explained that he did it somewhat offhandedly, and that the trick "was fun while it lasted, but it gave birth to a lot of bad imitators." Another student asked, "Does it matter what you write?" Pollack said, "It doesn't matter what you write. But don't think that just because you wrote it that it's good." Then a student asked an impossibly complicated question about, essentially, why Pollack's career has been so complicated. Pollack said, "You're saying you have no idea who I am or what I'm doing. Let me tell you, I ask myself those questions too. It's amazing that I am able to support myself doing this crap." The student said, "So you're saying it's okay to be weird and random?" Pollack said, "Yes!" He added, "Remember, just be yourself," and smiled ironically.