Après-Midi Recap
David Downie Nov 2020
Zoom has become our “meeting place” during confinement and while it’s not perfect, it sure beats being so far away from one another. It was the new “abnormal,” as one of my close friends called it —holding our monthly coffee gathering on Zoom instead of live and in-person upstairs at the Café de la Mairie as we have since 2003. This time, I never left home, barely left my desk chair, and there we were, more than 100 of our readers anxious to hear and see author David Downie on their computer screens, phones or other smart devices. What an amazing world we live in, if not “abnormal!”
David is a native San Franciscan who moved to Paris in the mid-1980s and now divides his time between France and Italy. His travel, food, and arts features have appeared in over 50 print magazines and newspapers worldwide and on dozens of websites. From his home in Italy, he talked about his last published novel, The Gardener of Eden, “A haunting and luminous novel that explores the dark secrets lurking beneath the stunning natural beauty of a dying timber town.” (Source: Good Reads) Having spoken at Après-Midi on many occasions in the past to present his books, of which there are many—15 (!)—he has a new novel scheduled to be on the bookstore shelves in May of 2021 to which we can look forward: Red Riviera.
The large turn-out, even with many on the West Coast of the U.S. who were on the meeting at 6 a.m., exemplifies the tremendous interest in hearing David speak about his work. He enlightened us all by reading a few passages of this new novel that takes a “sinister turn when he [James] and a local teenager make a gruesome discovery, which forces him to reckon with the ghosts of his past—and the dangers of the present.” (Source: Amazon) We saw a lot of familiar faces—friends of Après-Midi—and some fresh ones just discovering our monthly coffee gathering…this time without the coffee!
For those of you who missed the event, or if you want a replay, all is not lost. You can watch it in its entirety here on Vimeo.
In attendance, were…as best as we can surmise from their screen names…
Highlights
In attendance:
• Adrienne Walls-Brunner
• Aileen Grossberg
• Alan Basinger
• Alexis Sheehy
• Alice Rose
• Alice Campbell
• Allen Antone
• Angela Scipioni
• Angela Thevenot
• Anne Marie Fontaine
• Anthony Zielonka
• Audrey Riddle
• Barbara Chew
• Barbara Ness
• Barbara Tucker
• Becky Young
• Bernadette Balcom
• Beth OConnell
• Beth Anderson
• Beth Campbell
• Beth Mann
• L L
• Laray Kelly
• Laur Warnock
• Laura Figueroa
• Lea Featherstone
• Leslie Keller
• Lila Steiner
• Betsy Speck-kern
• Betsy Barker
• Bluerock Bluerock
• Caren Gafni
• Carolyn Maxwell
• Cate Bower
• Catherine Satterlee
• Catherine Bala
• Catherine Lucas
• Cathleen Mangan
• Charlie Melendres
• Cheri Hart
• Chris Markey
• Christine Koontz
• Christopher Stark
• Cindy Grossman
• CJ Phillips
• Clista Fischer
• Costanza Mollard
• Craig Ziegler
• Cynthia Voigt
• Dayle Doroshow
• Deb Hunt
• Debbie Logue
• Deborah Borrowdale-Cox
• Deborah Ball
• Deborah Yedziniak
• Dee Poth
• Delphine Briere
• Denise Grassart
• Diana Smith
• Diane Evans
• Diane Costello
• Dolores Lilley
• Donald Babisch
• Donnard Sturgis
• Doreen Sharabati
• Dvora Gross
• Ed Jennings
• Edith de Belleville
• Elaine McCarthy
• Elaine Lugo
• Eleanor Matthews
• Elisabeth Richard
• Elizabeth Diamond
• Elizabeth Raffaelli
• Ellen Lebelle
• Elizabeth Greet
• Ellyn Austin
• Erwin Petri
• Faith Dugan
• Frederick Gazzoli
• Gail Young
• Gloria Anderson
• Harriet Welty Rochefort
• Heather Wilson
• Helen Perin
• Hilary Kaiser
• Irene Gamboa
• Ivan Sherman
• Jacqueline Wish
• James Beeson
• James Kigin
• Jamie Miller
• Jane Hamblet
• Jane Hamrick
• Janet Hulstrand
• Janie Young
• Jean Hardginski
• Jeanie Meyer
• Jeanne Achille
• Jenna Hardy
• Jennifer Parrette
• Jim Anderson
• JL Burcham
• Joan Karp
• Jocelyn Shannon
• Joelle Gracia
• John Pearce
• Joy Weiner
• Joyce Roush
• Juan Jover
• Judy Ruck
• Julia Price
• Julie Rearick
• Julie Ogletree
• Julien Chameroy
• Juliette Lauber
• June Jacobs
• June Beard
• Karen Fawcett
• Kate Bernstein
• Kate Kemp-Griffin
• Kathy Masters
• Kathy Matthews
• Kimberley Brody
• Kimberly Willis
• Kimberly Davis
• Kristin Krueger
• Linda Williams
• Linda Belawich
• Lisa Anselmo
• Lisa Camargo
• Liz Anderson
• Liz Stuart
• Liz Rivera Goldstein
• Liza Conroy
• Loui Franke
• Lucille Boilard-Harkin
• Lydia Ganz
• Lyn Steyn
• Lynn Butler
• Lynn Frank
• Lynn Varney
• Lynn Redding
• Lynne Roberts
• M. Sinclair Deyoe-Wadsworth
• Marc Poussard
• Marcia Baldwin
• Margaret Cook
• Margie Ricks
• Maria Dowle
• Marianne (Nan) Cooper
• Mariellen Jacobson
• Marilee McClintock
• Marilyne Tron
• Marjorie Libertini
• Mark Stine
• Martha Hamrick
• Mary Duncan
• Mary Ann Grisham
• Maryann Burke
• Maureen Jenkins
• Melanie Curtis
• Melanie Price
• Melany Telleen
• Meredith Mullins
• Michael Warren
• Michelle Moggio
• Missy VanBuren
• MJ Pramik
• Nancy Marcon
• Nancy Caldwell
• Nancy Gilbert
• Nancy Kissock
• Nancy Davis
• Nancy Zuercher
• Nancy Jane Peirce
• Nora Brossard
• Norman Levy
• Pam Shuttlesworth
• Pat Hallam
• Pat Altomare
• Patricia Savino
• Patrick Malval
• Patti Ferris
• Patty SADAUSKAS
• Paula Wulff
• Penny Lundquist
• Pepper Provenzano
• Phyllis Mazzocchi
• R Freeman
• Ralph Rocchiccioli
• Rebecca DiPasquale
• Rebecca McGovern
• Renee Ozburn
• Richard Rabbito
• Richard Daley
• Richard Ungerer
• Robert Rutkauskas
• Roberta Monahan
• Robin Siegerman
• Roselyne Genin
• Ruth Palmer
• Salli swartz
• Sally Campbell
• Sally Bard
• Sara Kane
• Sarina Meones
• Sasa Southard
• Selene Castro
• Shari Ruvkun
• Sharon Gray
• Sharon Berg
• Sharon Shaughnessy
• Sharyn Peterson
• Shati Chakrabarti
• Shaula Ashkenazi
• Shawn Mathis
• Sheila Pastore
• Sonia Duffy
• Stacy Haller
• Stephen Lynch
• Steve Tomashefsky
• Steve Miller
• Sue Berke
• Susan Gordon
• Susan Sindlinger
• Susan Saycedo
• Susan Aurinko
• Susan Luten
• Susan Carter
• Suzanne Hurst
• Suzanne Burke
• Sylvia Schachter
• Tamara Vartanian
• Tami Bair
• Tee Dee
• Teresa Dalle
• Terry Schwartz
• Tim Koetting
• Tom Soyster
• Toni Kamins
• Vanda Mackenzie
• Walter Rosengarten
• Wendy Reilly
• William Steagall Jr
• William Hayworth
• Yael Ménassé Friedberg
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