Notes From Crew Quarters: Sauna Session

This week, Ethan Brightbill puts a UP twist on a common question: if you could spend an hour at a sauna with any famous writer, who would you choose and why? Points will be lost for mispronouncing sauna.

Alexander Clark, Associate Nonfiction Editor

Leslie Feinberg. We'd both be uncomfortable in our bathing suits and we could plan the trans revolution and talk solidarity politics

Colton Lindsey, Associate Fiction Editor

Ernest Hemingway, no question about it. I would give anything to sip whiskey and discuss literature with the master himself. He has always been my greatest influence when it comes to my writing. It would be glorious to pick his brain.

Jason Teal, Associate Fiction Editor

Samuel Beckett comes to mind. In the sauna, we'd stage an impromptu play, people uniformly donning black turtlenecks and whispering into the wet rocks like this. Both of us hate saunas and we'd need something else to occupy the hour, stave off conversation, waiting for the clock to run out. After the sauna, we'd resume writing.

Elisha Sheffer, Intern

George R.R. Martin. I'm not a fan of saunas, but if I get constant reassurance that winter is coming, it might be okay.