Standing By

by David Sedaris

Fear, loathing, flying.

Short story by David Sedaris published in the New Yorker.

Genres: Humor

ebook

First published August 9, 2010

About the author

David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, his Greek heritage, homosexuality, jobs, education, drug use, and obsessive behaviors, as well as his life in France, London, New York, and the South Downs in England. He is the brother and writing collaborator of actress Amy Sedaris.
In 2019, Sedaris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Blakepatterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some funny jokes here, but Sedaris feels very conscious of his jokes as he writes. As a result, the piece comes across as someone who knows they are being clever with their choices.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

Since I’ve listened to Sedaris read some of his own books I can summon his notable voice and heard it in this article. I can’t complain about Sedaris’ complaints as I agree with them. I am also of the opinion that one should dress nicely while traveling. I am less bothered about waiting in an airport but understand the frustration and potential derailment. Sometimes a little acerbic for my taste, but still cathartic to experience.
This was a good set up:

When I asked another flight attendant, this one male, how he dealt with a plane full of belligerent passengers, he said, “Oh, we have our ways. The next time you’re flying and it comes time to land, listen closely as we make our final pass down the aisle.”

When he talked about Hitler being paged it reminded me that I had read somewhere that it was illegal to name someone Adolf Hitler, but that’s only true in certain countries. The name is illegal in Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, and New Zealand.

“We’ve got to take our country back,” the man with the mustache said. “That’s the long and short of it, and if votes won’t do the trick then maybe we need to use force.”

What struck me with him, and with many of the conservatives I’d heard since the election, was his overblown, almost egocentric take on political outrage, his certainty that no one else had quite experienced it before. What, then, had I felt during the Bush-Cheney years?

Reading that felt a little more meaningful to me then perhaps if I had read this when it was published in 2010.


“Your trash. You’re trash. Your family’s trash.”

[Do Your Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

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