Devon Goes to Chicago! (Part I)

In the fine tradition of Franky Goes to Hollywood, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Tarzan Goes to India, Juan Tamad Goes to Malacañang, and I could go on if this joke didn’t seem to be dying in mid-sentence...

Devon’s flight to Chicago went well, though it was marred by lack of sleep and a lost journal. She left the journal on her plane, and realized the loss only after she had reached the baggage carousel. A severe storm the night before had grounded and delayed many flights, and so lines were long, tempers were high, and airport employees were exhausted. After several hours, she filled out a lost-and-found form and made her way to downtown via the Blue Line. I tried to be kind and consoled her as best as I could - any English major can sympathize with the deep loss attached to a misplaced journal. We stowed her baggage in my car, and I immediately fed her (she had comforting tomato soup at Cosí) and led her to a sunny park where she could sit and relax.

Devon’s wit and conversation skills never cease to amaze me. Even on two and a half hours of sleep, she out-thought me through all of our chats. It makes me wonder. She has always been more clever than me, but it seems that my wits have dulled since my last time with her. Has my close association with engineers, or my blatantly corporate job, blunted my skills? I feel as though something vital inside of me is fading.

Throughout the afternoon, we spotted little groups of girls with black shirts and red ribbons tied in their hair, clutching sizable hardback books and emitting regular squeals as they walked along Michigan Avenue. It appeared that we were not the only ones haunting the immediate area of the Harris Theater, waiting for the doors to open. Dev and I immediately started our low, cynical chuckling, and did not stop until the entire night was over. For several hours, we were surrounded by dewy-eyed fan-girls (and a few guys) who had been won over by the writing skills of Stephenie Meyer, and we just couldn’t help ourselves.

The Breaking Dawn concert followed an interesting format, something between a coffee shop open-mic night and a radio interview. Adolescent girls, with "Team Jacob" and "Team Edward" emblazoned across their t-shirts (and, in a few cases, their buttocks), screamed with delight as each book series title lit up to signal the beginning of the concert, and cooed during the moody, tortured songs of Blue October’s Justin Furstenfeld. (Devon and I concluded that if the Twilight series spawned its own music sub-genre, "vampire rock" – in the fine tradition of wizard wrock – would not be in keeping with the lovey-dovey, tortured romance theme. "Vampire crooning", however, would seem to fit the bill perfectly.)

Meyer herself appeared midway through the show, answering questions submitted by the audience before the show. She seemed pretty comfortable on stage, and gave detailed answers whenever possible, to the delight of the audience. As you have probably gathered if you’ve read any of Meyer’s books, or read Devon’s blog in the past year, Meyer’s a big fan of happy endings all around. My favorite moment of the night: Meyer was asked (via notecard) how Nessie (vampire) and Jacob (werewolf) would live happily ever after, since Jacob was not immortal. She replied that since Nessie was a vampire, Jacob would always be stimulated to turn into a werewolf, thus rejuvenating his life force, and as long as they were together, they would live forever (to explain fully would require pages of pseudo-lore). Meyer seemed so pleased with herself at thinking up such a tidy solution that I couldn’t help turning to Dev and making a bow-tying gesture with my hands, causing Dev to nearly choke on her bottled water. Still, it was interesting to hear an author discuss her own work.

And, I must admit, I’ve read all of her books and enjoyed the hours of escape they provided.

We laughed as we drove to Bourbonnais, and I remember thinking that I had never encountered such a rabid group of fans before, and wagering that I never would again.

Little did I know what would be coming the next day...

Part II coming soon, with pictures!