The reading went well. I read from Freedom's Sisters, and people seemed interested. Lots of people came, which is always a huge relief; I have read to an audience of two, but I felt kind of silly, especially since they'd both read the book I was reading from. (That time, I went ahead and read because I was hoping to attract other people at the bookstore over, but no dice. I read for about ten minutes, and then one friend split, and the other went out for cheesecake with me. So at least it ended well.)

hilarymoonmurph told me afterwards that her daughter, Cassie, had wanted to come to the reading. Cassie is six and a half. When Hilary had said no, Cassie said, "But Mom! I KNOW Naomi. And I LIKE her. And you have to admit, I have a VERY long attention span." How Hilary still turned her down after that argument, I'm not sure.

While chatting after the reading, I discovered that hilarymoonmurph and several of the others at the table were unfamiliar with the Flying Spaghetti Monster. For Hilary's convenience (and for the convenience of anyone else who's blinking at the screen right now thinking, "...flying what?" here is a link to the official site: Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

This church was founded by a guy named Bobby Henderson. When Kansas passed a law requiring "Intelligent Design" to be given equal time with the Theory of Evolution, he started sending out letters that started out like this:

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

It goes on from there. And gets better. There are posters. And t-shirts. And stick-on Flying Spaghetti Monsters for your car. There are tracts you can print and hand out. A developing think tank "devoted to proving our a priori assumption that He exists using whatever specious arguments and circular logic available to do so." Oh, and if you're a devout adherent, you're supposed to dress as a pirate. Arrrrrrrrrrr!