“Lips” by James McSherry appeared in Issue 31 and can be read here.
We’d love to hear more about this essay.
This piece is actually the first chapter of my newly completed memoir: The Stories We Tell Each Other. The themes of mental illness and addiction inform much of this book. I was inspired to tell these stories because too often these subjects are stigmatized and I wanted beautiful, tragically flawed human beings like my mother and brother to be represented. I kept thinking about their struggles to overcome these life-long afflictions with love, dignity and hope – and still failing. Madness has its own truth, more potent than reality. In “Lips” I encounter two more people admitting their loved ones in the psychiatric emergency room and we tell each other our stories. Serendipitously, this became the leitmotif of the rest of the book and it all began, almost accidentally with the first chapter.
What was the most difficult part of writing this piece?
The most difficult part of writing this chapter was paying honest attention to the details that are so close, that as writers, we often tend to overlook. And of course revisiting the pain and suffering of the people you love the most but still are unable to save.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I recently read A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. It’s a wonderful book that was inspired by a Russian Lit class that Saunders has been teaching for years. But it is as much about the writing process itself and what makes a story great, as it is about Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and the other Russian greats. It should be mandatory reading for every writer, at any level. And of course, because it’s about writing, it’s also about life. It’s all about how one observes things and Saunders has an astute power of observation and his book focuses on that as well. It was a delight to read.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
I love so many writers and one that I would have loved to chat with – Oliver Sacks – just passed away. So, I thought long and hard because it’s such a rare thing to be able to chat up your literary heroes. I narrowed it down to Joan Didion and Patti Smith and I chose Patti. Her memoir Just Kids is a book I have read more than once and it’s so honest and beautifully written. She has the gift. I would love to sit with her and talk about her personal journey, her favorite books and of course, the bygone New York which cultivated so many great artists in music, fine art, photography and literature. Plus, she seems like such a cool person, no airs about her. Really down to earth.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I’m putting the finishing touches on my new memoir: The Stories We Tell Each Other. It is a sequel of sorts to my first book A Clean Street’s a Happy Street. The latter focuses mostly on my childhood and The Stories We Tell Each Other picks up chronologically where Clean Street left off. Although, there are echoes and childhood memories in The Stories We Tell Each Other, it is mostly about the decades of my twenties to my forties. I would like to do my life story in a trilogy, so one day in the future, write the last installment. Also, I have adapted my first book into a screenplay and have written a television series revolving around my teaching career in New York City high schools. Finally, I have a stack of books in my room that I want to read and I’m starting this summer with the The Peregrine by J.A. Baker. I read somewhere that “We love to buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them.” I hope so. I’m stacking books to my ceiling, so I’ll never die.
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James McSherry is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of the Arts. He is a writer, filmmaker and educator. Mr. McSherry’s first book, A Clean Street’s a Happy Street is being taught in New York City public schools. He was a contributing writer for MovieMaker Magazine and has covered film events both in the United States and Europe. Mr. McSherry has taught writing and film to high school students in the Bronx and to college students at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He currently teaches film at Mercy College and a memoir writing workshop to recent retirees with The New York City Department of Education. Mr. McSherry has just completed his latest book, The Stories We Tell Each Other and is developing a television series based on his experiences as a teacher in New York City. He is a devoted father and husband who currently resides in Westchester, New York.
