Ending SeltzetopiaLive! 2019 with a BANG in Michigan

Ending SeltzetopiaLive! 2019 with a BANG in Michigan

This weekend saw SeltzertopiaLive! 24 (yes, two dozen presentations since the book launched in October 2018!). What a fantastic way to wrap-up an such an effervescent year.

The joy of seltzer was welcomed by Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, hosted by the Center for Jewish Studies, and partnering with campus Hillel and local soda business Faygo.

Would Michigan show up for seltzer? Attendance without RSVP can ALWAYS be a tricky guess. We didn’t know if the students at this commuter-campus would come for a Saturday event (both Jewish and gentile), and whether its Jewish students (20 members, I’m told, in the Hillel on this 20,000 student campus) would show up. And while nostalgia can drive an east coast aging audience to a seltzer talk, would mid-west Jews feel the carbonated passion?

The Saturday evening opening to the Hanukah season proved quite the event, packing the room, leading to my most diverse speaking event of the year! A hearty percentage of the room were students, from a range of backgrounds (who identified as too young to be millennials but too old to be Gen Z). And the “Schmucks” showed up in force, a group of aging “alter cockers who get together to eat trayf and watch old comedies”. From college student to seniors, from all backgrounds, Ypsilanti showed up in force to welcome Seltzertopia into their lives. It was glorious!

Don’t they look great!
Students from Hillel opened the evening, symbolically lighting the menorah, and telling tales of attending their sorority Christmas party and wondering who hid the latkes.
We had a delightful blind seltzer tasting competition. They were all game! 5 secret flavors, 5 contestants. Chuck brought his own salami (as a palette cleanser).
Alexander responding to what turned out to be a coconut flavor.
The seltzer was donated by local soda brand Faygo! It’s just fun to say. Try it yourself. Right now! Faygo! To their standard faire of lemon-line and orange we added some outliers, like coconut and cucumber from competing brands.
We had a nice book-signing afterwards. Here I am with event organizer Martin B. Shichtman, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and Professor in the Department of English Eastern Michigan University, founding members of the Schmucks.
Here’s Chuck, the contestant with the salami, and another one of the Schmucks, with his event-specific dreidel tie…
… and how Chuck asked me to inscribe his copy of the book.
The weather was good.
I tried to catch a tornado in a seltzer bottle.
They generously took me out to dinner beforehand.
It’s fun to travel the country and learn regional brands.
Cole helped with logistics – lugging all the seltzer, and taking all these photos – and was awesome.

See all the photos here.

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