Not so Minor Details: What I'm Reading & Said Shaiye - The Man Who Spat Fire and Sat Me Back in My Seat
- Fenyx Quinn
- Feb 13
- 3 min read
This has been an eventful week. Nothin' weak about this weak, lemme tell ya. It was bookend with my class and me interacting with a man who openly bears his thoughts on paper, film, and tape to anyone brave enough to step into his conversations for a spell. Somehow during the week I somehow found time to also pour over and melt though a book for my Contemporary Global Literatures in English class that was masterfully written, but tore my soul out thrashed it around like a ragdoll. The book was Minor Detail by Adania Shibli broken up in two parts; the first part covering a travesty that happened in 1949 in the newly formed nation-state of Israel, the second part covering a neurodivergent Palestinian who obsessively insists to investigate the travesty of the first half and changing the POV from 3rd in the first section to 1st in the second. I don't want to give too much away if you haven't read it, and if you haven't, I highly recommend it, but don't read the back cover before you read it. Go in blind, investigate as you go, rememberin g that details matter, especially the little ones. Let me know what you think.
Now, for the main event. Last week our Creative Writers Series class workshopped with Said Shaiye via zoom. We had the honor of hearing a snippet of the new sci-fi he is writing and to ask him about his life and work and we talked about his experimental memoir, Are You Borg Now? which we have been reading in class. The memoir is a conversation between Said and his younger self tackling his life in a way I've never seen done before. It is a very easy read with tough subject matter at times, but nothing that one should shy away from. Reading this book will make you a better human, at the very least it you will feel like you had front-row tickets to Said's journey to self-discovery. You might even discover something about yourself too.
Last night I had the honor of hosting WSU's opening night of the 2025 Visiting Writers Series with Said Shaiye. What an amazing time. The man did not disappoint, showcasing essays and poems as well a video poem and a segment he recorded for PBS. I also hosted the Q&A with him afterward. He shared his influence of NAS on his life and work, marking music as a particularly high muse for him. He also answered questions from the YouTube audience that dealt with his teaching, his ADHD, and touched on his Star Trek influence. My personal question to him that I had him answer at the end of the Q&A was: What seven words describe his life? His response:
"It has been beautiful, but also painful."
Said's works, from "Mango Mush", "Kodak Black Man Reads Poetry", and “James Baldwin Smoking Cocoa Puffs with Larry Levis at the End of the Universe, High on Stolen Fish” to Are You Borg Now? to our brief conversations have all inspired me to keep writing. He said in the workshop a week ago, that writing is "a road, not a destination," for writers to "write what you love," and to focus on the connection for the written words to the reader's eyes, asking: How deep is that connection each time you write? Because "Words, now more than ever, have the power to keep us going. he said, keep finding the reason to keep you going and use the deep connections words can give us to connect with our audience, whether it be ourselves, peers or strangers. And especially, don't ignore that urge to write when it hurts too much not to write about something. You may find the thoughts trigger past pain, but it may also be the only way through that pain.
You can catch the whole reading and Q&A here:
Said's Website is here:
You can find Said's book, Are You Borg Now? on Amazon here (I get no money for this, only the satisfaction that you are supporting a deserving artist):
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