Nick Flynn Honorarium

“Sometimes I’d see my father, walking past my building on his way to another nowhere. I could have given him a key, offered a piece of my floor. But if I let him inside the line between us would blur, my own slow-motion car wreck would speed up.” On December 8, 2006, the Outreach Van Project was pleased to celebrate its 10th anniversary by hosting a dinner where we were honored to present Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - a blend of poetry and prose memoir of his personal struggle to understand the homeless father he never knew as a child. The 2005 winner of the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir, read excerpts from his book, enthralling over 65 guests in attendance.

While the audience enjoyed a rich Thai dinner, generously donated by Amarin of Thailand, Nick discussed topics of great relevance to the Outreach Van Project’s mission. In addition to his candid discussion of his father’s homelessness and its impact on his own life, he also spoke about his experiences as a case worker at the Pine Street Inn. After reading several selections from his award-winning prose, Mr. Flynn set the stage for a casual question and answer session. Students and professionals alike offered thought provoking questions and insights. One student inquired as to whether Mr. Flynn’s father had ever read his book. Mr. Flynn answered that after he had given his father a copy, “…I think it was quite difficult for him, once he really got into it...but it didn’t seem to break our relationship, which I guess has happened with others. It’s a risk of writing memoirs actually.” Nick also discussed his experience reading his father’s own book, “One of the really troubling aspects of this book is I didn’t grow up with my father, I…had no connection with him at all and there were always times in my life where there were certain characteristics that I have [that would resemble his own]– even my handwriting is exactly like his…strange things like that.”

Upon closing this discussion, the night wound down as Mr. Flynn chatted with many of the attendees and signed copies of his book (made available by Barnes & Noble of Boston University). In addition to medical, graduate, public health and dental students, some notable attendees included Dr. Jose-Alberto Betances, our own frequent volunteer physician, Ms. Eileen O’Brien, Director of Elders Living at Home Program, Ms. Sarah Ciambrone, Director of the Barbara McGinnis House in Jamaica Plain, and Mr. Jim Greene, Director of the Emergency Shelter Commission of Boston. The event, made possible in part by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Catalyst Fund, was well received and we feel quite fortunate to have had such an interesting and approachable speaker visit to celebrate OVP’s 10th anniversary of service.