Themes so far: Birds, Gates

Tomorrow morning, more about Chang-Rae Lee, Lorrie "American Idol" Moore, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Franzen, and Star Question Girl of the Night. These themes have emerged: birds (my glass bird earrings from Catbird, Birds of America, "My Bird Problem," a lot of birds and undoubtedly some blokes sighing over Jonathan Franzen's fuckable shame spiral), and Gates, as in Christo and Jeanne-Claude. As my astute friend Tiffany pointed out at Zadie and Jonathan Go to White Castle, the New Yorker Festival bags, resplendently orange for fall, look just like old Central Park sculptures retooled into handy squares. And then Franzen mentioned those very Gates in his essay! Plus birds! It was a night full of serendipity, especially since it turns out that Lorrie Moore lives on my sister's street. And my sister's house is covered in orange trim. Gates orange. Now where's Jonathan Saffron Foer to complete the picture?