Recently, I received an invite to attend a reading by Bev Stohl from her recently released memoir, Chomsky and Me. The memoir detailing her two-and-half decade stint as Chomsky's Office Manager, was published by OR Books, which placed this succinct blurb on the back of the volume:
Published with the approval of its subject and written with affection, insight and a gentle sense of humor, Chomsky and Me describes a relationship between two quite different people who, through the happenstance of work, form a bond that is both surprising and reciprocally rich.
Exactly right. It's an easy, breezy read, full of smarts and humor. Here is an example of how she begins:
The scene reminded me of a Saturday Night Live TV skit where God enters a waiting room and the receptionist asks, "And you would be " ?" "God." "And you would be here to talk about " ?" "Eternity." The receptionist tells him, "Have a seat with the others. He's running late." I worried that asking people to make an about-face and wait outside was discourteous, but our miniscule entryway was at the hub of our office suite..."
To me he was Noam, but to most of the world he was Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist, US media and social critic, political activist, cognitive scientist, and author..."
Noam met with presidents, activists, prime ministers, and ambassadors. He had discussions with mathematicians, mill workers, priests, physicists, teachers, and performers. These were his people. My, or more accurately our, people were those whose correspondence, a few dozen of the thousand communications we received each week, he asked me to intercept, either because I could better answer their logistical, factual, or lecture-related questions, or to keep him from drowning in the loquaciousness..."
Nice and easy. And I asked her about doings in my interview with her back in March:
Hawkins: How did your Catholicism and Noam's Jewishness meld? Catholics often aim for forgiveness and preparation, while persistence seems fairly characteristic of the Jewish worldview. Your description to Noam of The Act of Contrition was funny and quaint. How did your differences in approaches play out in your relationship with Noam? And who would single out in the public for needing an act of contrition?
Stohl: One of the things Noam and I disagreed on was which was worse, his mother's infliction of Jewish guilt or my mother's infliction of Catholic guilt. We dueled back and forth, upping the ante with each story. In the end we called it a draw. To answer your question, Noam is quite persistent and I can be as well, so we were a match there, although his persistence far outweighed mine. I was more likely to take a break for a walk, where he had to be reminded to take care of himself, then re-reminded, then forced"Who would I single out for contrition? I could say the obvious, He Who Shall Not Be Named. I won't give credence to the person who gave hateful people permission to spout venom and dedicate themselves to shredding hope for a democratic world.
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