"The diamond that cuts through illusion."

Absolut (Jill) McCorkle

Author Jill McCorkle read Tuesday night at Rutgers-Newark, and it was mentioned that she was once given the iconic vodka treatment. The above ad is from 1994 (per this awesome compendium), but other details seem to be scarce.

Reading From My Short Story "Beirut"

In the above videos I'm reading an excerpt from my short story "Beirut," which kicked off the spring semester of the Rutgers-Newark MFA reading series Tuesday night. (The venue was the Coffee Cave on Halsey Street, in the shadow of downtown.) The fall semester was my first, and "Beirut" is a product of my workshop with novelist and Rutgers professor Tayari Jones; this semester I'm working with MFA director Jayne Anne Phillips. It's an amazing program; I'm so grateful to be part of it.

Financial Prophylactic