20 Under 40, live.

I'm taking a science writing class this semester, which I am very excited about. Each week we read a book, talk about it for the first hour, and then the second hour, the author comes and we get to ask him/her questions about writing the book, the book itself, the process, etc. Our first author came today. The book was on superstring theory and hidden dimensions and it all went over my head, but Rivka assured me this was the hardest book we'd read all semester.

Rivka is our teacher. She is one of the reasons I am so excited about the class. Besides her artist-hipster clothes that would look ridiculous on me but somehow fit together perfectly on her, she was picked as one of the The New Yorker's "20 Under 40" in 2010. Other people picked were Chris Adrian, Tea Obrecht, Nell Freudenberger, ZZ Packer, Karen Russell, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Dinaw Mengestu, and Wells Tower. Columbia MFA graduates accounted for a fifth of the people chosen, only surpassed by Iowa. I remember reading about Rivka in Time Out New York - she caught my eye because something about her father being Israeli maybe? I don't remember, but I do remember reading that not only did she have her MFA, but also her MD. Turns out she didn't really like medicine, but that's not my story to tell. I know they're all fiction writers, and they don't really do things like this for nonfiction writers, but goddamn, what an accomplishment, no? I remember getting off the phone with the person who called me to let me know I got into Columbia, running upstairs, and picking the book of the 20 Under 40 and thinking, holyshitholyshitholyshit. But anyway. Let me just say this: she is down to earth, very cool, but not untouchable cool. She was in school with Nellie, which is also neat. She is just one of those people whom I want to sit down and ask, how do you get this way? How do you pick out your clothes and combine them? Because I don't think I could pull it off. Her book is called Atmospheric Disturbances, and I know I read it years ago, but I need a refresher. I always like reading books that my teachers have written so I get a better sense of them.

For next week we have to read a graphic novel about Marie Curie, which should be very awesome. This is one of those classes where I realize how lucky and blessed I am, and how thankful I took this risk to be here.