If you haven’t yet, take a second to read Bethany Jean Clement’s hilarious interview with Fran Lebowitz, who appears at Benaroya Hall tomorrow night with Dan Savage (tickets still available). It begins:
How are you today?
Compared to who?There is one thing you should know before you take the stage with Dan Savage: He hates cigarettes.
Yes, well, this puts him in the vast majority of middle-class householders. I don’t expect to be able to smoke on the stage, so he has no concerns.In Seattle, we have no subways, cabs drive excruciatingly slow, people are unfailingly polite, it’s really hard to find a good deli sandwich, and smoking is tantamount to murder.
This smoking thing—the suburbs have won. It’s a suburban idea, though this idea has extended all over the country, and not just this country.Are you aware of polar fleece? We have a lot of that here.
I am aware of it, because certainly, you must be aware that the ideas of places like Seattle have spread. Okay? What’s wrong with New York is Seattle.People here are very invested in snow sports…
Yes, I know, I saw the people who died the other day in an avalanche. This has not dissuaded them, apparently. This is not dangerous, but sitting next to someone in a bar who smokes is dangerous. So clearly, it’s not danger that people fear.
