Most Popular
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Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
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Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
Step back in time — to a spooky old carriage barn with a monster chicken-fried steak
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Barack Obama and Me (247)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Save Lobo: A Siberian Husky Mix is Sentenced to Die (28)
Why? Because he's big and intimidating and because one family complained about him over and over again
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (13)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (6)
All This Useless Beauty
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Rotten to the Corps: A Question of Justice at Texas A&M (140)
Thanks to A& M and a district attorney, two cadets escape punishment for beating in a student's face
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"CSI: The Experience"
Exhibit inspired by CBS series puts you behind the evidence
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Lisa Landolt and Jo Barrett
Two law-school-grads-turned-chick-lit-authors show us amore might be the death of us yet
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Michael Winslow
The man with ten thousand noises comes to Houston
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Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade
Watch downtown turn into cowpoke heaven
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Free First Sundays: Family Flicks
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston hosts four kid-friendly films
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Over the Weekend: Fotos, Dogs and Sausage. And Hannah Montana Too.
08:50AM 03/10/08 -
Last Night: Hannah Montana at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
10:42AM 03/10/08 -
Aeros Win Two More, Thanks to Barry Brust, Ryan Hamilton, Steve Kelly, Benoit Pouliot...a Lot of Guys, Actually
08:58AM 03/10/08 -
Sausage Fest: Bangers and Mash at Red Lion Pub
11:40AM 03/08/08
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Recent Articles By Dylan Otto Krider
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Con Man
John Simons takes pity on the D&D crowd and hosts Midnight Con
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They've Got Spirit, Yes They Do
A group in Spring investigates the paranormal
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Alien-ated Youth
They're the next step in human evolution. But they're just like everybody else.
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Poetic Partnership
Two writers reflect on growing up gay in the burbs
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Writes Love, Not War
Vietnam isn't Tim O'Brien's only subject
National Features
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SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
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Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
ZZ Tops
Young author ZZ Packer is the real thing (and so is her name)
By Dylan Otto Krider
Published: April 3, 2003The name ZZ Packer sounds like the kind of pseudonym you'd find on the poetry slam circuit, and the title of her collection of short stories, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, does little to change that impression. But as it turns out, the name's no gimmick. "My real name is Zuwena, but my family always called me ZZ," Packer says.
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Marion Ettlinger
Literary "it" girl ZZ Packer
Where:
Details:
Subject(s): ZZ Packer reads from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Drinking Coffee is Packer's first book, but the literary world has been buzzing about her for some time. Packer published her first story in Seventeen magazine at the age of 19 and appeared in the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop anthology, Twenty-Five and Under, before even earning her writing degree. Then one of her stories was selected for The New Yorker's Debut Fiction issue, making Packer perhaps the most talked-about writer without a book.
Now that Drinking Coffee is finally out, you can see what all the fuss is about. The short story "Brownies" deals with a black Brownie troop that plans to beat up some white girls over a perceived racial slur -- that is, before they discover that the girls are retarded. And "Our Lady of Peace" recounts how a frustrated teacher ends up running over some of her students.
Packer is working on a novel, which is, of course, considered essential to a successful writing career. But she feels more at home with short stories. "A novel is more of a long ride," she says, "but a short story, that's a roller coaster, and it's got a lot of emotion that I really enjoy."
The author has avoided being labeled an "ethnic" writer by focusing on universal themes. "My characters are dealing with problems we all have," says Packer, even if the stories happen to deal with race, too.
And Packer has done her own part to keep from getting pigeonholed. "If I see a few copies [of my book] in the African-American section in a bookstore," says Packer, "I'll refile one in the literature section."
