Question of the Day

One of the great things about working at the bookstore that shall remain nameless is that I get to hang out at a lot of author readings. Now, not every author event is fun. Sometimes nobody shows up, sometimes the author is a dick, sometimes the audience is full of dicks, etc. But sometimes the author is cool and the audience is cool, and the event ends up being a total blast.

Such was the case when David Sedaris visited the store. For those who've never been to a David Sedaris event, they can get pretty wild (for a book event, at least), as Sedaris is prone to saying whatever the hell he feels like to pretty much everyone and anyone in attendance. At our event, he told one well-endowed female fan that he loved the way she had chosen to display her fabulous breasts. I've heard stories of him encouraging teenage fans to have sex with paralyzed people ("Do you know any paralyzed people?"..."No." "Well, maybe you can meet some. I recommend hanging out near ramps.") and telling a female fan that she was attractive enough to be a prostitute.

At our event, he had something else in store. He asked everyone who got a book signed (quite a few people) whether or not they thought Barack Obama was circumcised. The results are shown below:



As you can see, the vote was evenly split, with circumcised winning by a nose, which is kind of ironic, really. I'm not sure who voted "1/2" or what that could possibly mean, but I'm quite sure I never want to find out. Sedaris himself said he thought Obama wasn't circumcised, and he had some rationale for it. He thought that, while Obama's mother would probably have wanted him to fit in, she was decidedly a free spirit, which might've made her more inclined to buck tradition in this case. I'm voting uncircumcised, but I don't have a reason. Hell, that's how most people decide to vote for a president, so it ought to be reason enough here.

As Sedaris noted at the event, though, the reasons people gave for voting the way they did were truly, um, illuminating:

"Well, I know he's a Muslim, so..."
Really?
"Well, he was born in Africa..."
Um...

No opinions were offered on the state of John McCain's foreskin because, well, nobody wants to go there.