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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > June > 13 > Entry
Writer lays ‘Bare’ his past as a student
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ever wonder about the odd jobs your co-workers had prior to occupying the cubicle near you? Well, in our case, after his new book arrived at Buzz Central this week, we no longer have to wonder about former AJC pop music critic Craig Seymour.
Next week, Seymour, now an English professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, will be in Atlanta to sign copies of his new memoir, “All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C.” (Atria Books, $23).
As a graduate student at the University of Maryland in the 1990s, Seymour started frequenting the strip clubs in the nation’s capital while writing his master’s thesis: “Desire and Dollar Bills: An Ethnography of a Gay Male Striptease Club.” Later, while studying for his doctorate, Seymour opted to try a first-person perspective.
Of the racy memoir, Seymour told us Friday: “I was looking for a topic for my second book, and I remember saying to my editor, ‘Well, you know, I used to be a stripper.’ That’s all I really had to say! I knew how important my experiences were to who I became, but I also knew it was a great story.”
Before the publication of “Bare,” Seymour had to send out a few advance manuscripts. His parents weren’t exactly clued in to how he put himself through school.
“They knew I studied stripping in grad school, but I had to explain it in more detail to them last Thanksgiving. Especially since the kind of stripping I did was so kind of, well, hands on. They’ve actually both been really supportive. My mom actually thanked me for lying to her back then!”
As for the former classmates and co-workers who will no doubt raise an eyebrow or two when they stumble across “Bare” when it hits stores Tuesday, Seymour says he isn’t concerned.
“People don’t come a la carte,” he said. “Like anyone, I’ve got good qualities and I’ve got annoying qualities. You’re either going to like me or you don’t. All I can do is be honest and tell my truth.”
Seymour will sign copies of “All I Could Bare” at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Outwrite Books in Midtown.
H&M HYSTERIA
Surely there were other things Kris Aper could have been doing at 2 p.m. Thursday, but she couldn’t think of anything other than standing in line for almost 24 hours to wait for Hennes & Mauritz to open in Atlantic Station.
“I thought the line would be longer,” said Aper, 16, of Newnan. “It’s the first H&M I’ve been to.” Aper mistakenly thought being first in line would entitle her to the $500 gift card, one of 300 cards of varying value that the popular cheap, trendy clothing retailer was giving away at Friday’s noon opening.
Aper ended up with $75, which was much better than some of her fellow shoppers, who by morning had spread like chickenpox into a line that wrapped the entire perimeter of the building and then doubled back.
Truett Dietz, 20, tried to keep things in order by circulating an unofficial sign-up sheet, but when it was time to hand out the gift cards it seemed a few of the 292 people on Dietz’s list had forgotten to count their friends who showed up late and cut in line.
It’s never a good thing to mix hunger, 90-degree heat and B.O., which may explain the outbreak of altercations in the line. It may also be why H&M officials ejected at least one person from the ranks.
Saima Zuberi, 22, finally snapped when the gift cards ran out just before she got one. “That sucks,” said Zuberi, who had traveled from Norcross with her sister. Luckily, she had already scored $100 when the first Atlanta area H&M opened at North Point Mall in May. “I’m not gonna be greedy,” she said.
When the doors finally opened, the cravers of cheap chic were greeted with a Soul Train of dancing, clapping H&M employees.
It was a lot to take in, as Dietz quickly learned. “I can’t even concentrate on anything right now,” he said, looking dazed in the men’s department. “I may leave and come back later. This is too much.”
OVERSCENE
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC lunching with two friends at NEO at the Mansion on Peachtree in Buckhead. Chilli enjoyed executive chef Eric Chopin’s Atlantic salmon with lentils, gemolata and shallots, and the mushroom risotto with porcini oil.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Saturday: Actor Gene Barry is 89. Actress Marla Gibbs is 77. Businessman-TV personality Donald Trump is 62.
Sunday: Actress Helen Hunt is 45. Actress Courteney Cox (“Dirt”) is 44. Actress Leah Remini (“King of Queens”) is 38. Actor Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”) is 35. Guitarist Billy Martin of Good Charlotte is 27.
HIGH FIVE
Music
Top-selling albums this week at Decatur CD:
1. My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges”
2. Emmylou Harris, “All I Intended to Be”
3. Fleet Foxes, “Fleet Foxes”
4. The Homemade Jamz Blues Band, “Pay Me No Mind”
5. Lil Wayne, “Tha Carter III”
Courtesy: Decatur CD
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“A threesome.”
— Star 94 Morning Mess co-host Marco Orem on air Friday, discussing what he told his girlfriend, Melissa, what he’d like to receive Sunday for his first Father’s Day as a dad.
Contributing: Nedra Rhone and news services.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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