AUBURN - Sarah Vowell may have a speaking voice that gets you work as an animated heroine, but her talk Wednesday at East Middle School displayed the humor and smarts of a historian who can communicate with any kind of audience.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Sgt. Brandon Goldsberry kisses his wife, Evelyn, as she holds their son, Maddox , 2, just after the 222nd Military Police Company returned to the Auburn National Guard Armory Tuesday after two months of training and one year serving in Iraq.
Sgt. Brandon Goldsberry kisses his wife, Evelyn, as she holds their son, Maddox , 2, just after the 222nd Military Police Company returned to the Auburn National Guard Armory Tuesday after two months of training and one year serving in Iraq.
Vowell, a favorite of young people, has been a guest on the David Letterman and John Stewart shows. Part of that is because she is a commentator for National Public Radio, another because she was the voice of teenager Violet Parr in the 2004 animated film “The Incredibles.”
Last night wasn't her first visit to Auburn. For research into her latest novel, “Assassination Vacation,” Vowell researched the attempt on the life of Auburn favorite son, William H. Seward.
Her return was a fun occasion for both the lecturer and audience. The auditorium frequently rocked with laughter as Vowell charmed a crowd of nearly 500, whether she was reading passages from her book or displaying an amazingly quick wit answering questions.
Asked whether her light-hearted book on presidential assassination attempts was perhaps a “bizzaro” view of history, Vowell said “I'd like to think of it as fun-filled.” She described her work as “folksy stories, yarns.”
Peter Wisbey, Seward House executive director, introduced Vowell.
“I'm very, very pleased to be back here and go to the Seward House and to talk with the people who are there, who are really into Seward,” Vowell said. “Like, I'm into Seward, but they are downright Sewardy.”
She then read excerpts from “Assassination Vacation.”
“Going to Ford's Theater to watch a play is like going to Hooters for the food,” said Vowell, who was there for �,” a musical about the Declaration of Independence, “where the Founding Fathers break into song.” Vowell thought she'd probably leave after the first act. But she stayed.
Two other presidential assassins also have ties to Central New York, Vowell noted. Many Auburnians know the story of Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who shot William McKinley in 1901 as the president was shaking hands during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Two months later, Czolgosz was strapped into the electric chair at Auburn prison.
“He was executed on Old Sparky. And I just learned, Old Sparky - or its replica - was a long-standing fixture at a local watering hole. Sounds incredibly classy,” said Vowell, referring to an electric chair at Swaby's on South Street.
Vowell also talked of a person few in Auburn might be familiar with, Charles Guiteau who joined the infamous Oneida Community in 1860. Founded by John Humphrey Noyes, it was a hippie commune for its day - every man was married to every woman, a rule Noyes termed “complex marriage.”
A failed journalist, Guiteau assassinated President James Garfield in 1881 and was hanged in June 1882.
After talking about Lincoln, Vowell then said it was Seward's turn. “Here's your guy,” she yelled.
Seward, then secretary of state, was nearly killed by Lewis Powell on April 14, 1865 - the same evening Lincoln was gunned down by one of Powell's co-conspirators, John Wilkes Booth, at Ford's Theatre. Seward was living at a house on LaFayette Square in Washington, D.C., huddled in bed trying to recover from a carriage accident.
Powell, armed with a handgun and a Bowie knife, attacked Seward with the knife, including one severe wound that went through Seward's right cheek. In all, five people were injured in the home invasion, but none were killed. Amazingly, Seward would live another seven years after the attack, dying at the age of 71. His wife, Fanny, died just weeks after her husband's assassination attempt, though.
“Blood, blood, my thoughts seemed drenched in it. It was on everything,” said Vowell, reciting one of Fanny Seward's last diary entries.
This is the second notable lecture sponsored by the Seward House in the last two years. In April 2006, author James L. Swanson spoke at East Middle School on a similar topic as Vowell, recounting passages from his well-received non-fiction book entitled “Man Hunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killers.”
A few years prior, noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was in Auburn to discuss her work on the political in-fighting between Seward, Lincoln and others.
There was a small number of children and teenagers in the overflow crowd Wednesday, and Vowell did some wishful thinking as she finished her talk.
“I wish I were in sixth grade at this beautiful school,” said Vowell, still looking a little like an inquisitive child herself.
Soon after, she got a standing ovation.
Last night wasn't her first visit to Auburn. For research into her latest novel, “Assassination Vacation,” Vowell researched the attempt on the life of Auburn favorite son, William H. Seward.
Her return was a fun occasion for both the lecturer and audience. The auditorium frequently rocked with laughter as Vowell charmed a crowd of nearly 500, whether she was reading passages from her book or displaying an amazingly quick wit answering questions.
Asked whether her light-hearted book on presidential assassination attempts was perhaps a “bizzaro” view of history, Vowell said “I'd like to think of it as fun-filled.” She described her work as “folksy stories, yarns.”
Peter Wisbey, Seward House executive director, introduced Vowell.
“I'm very, very pleased to be back here and go to the Seward House and to talk with the people who are there, who are really into Seward,” Vowell said. “Like, I'm into Seward, but they are downright Sewardy.”
She then read excerpts from “Assassination Vacation.”
“Going to Ford's Theater to watch a play is like going to Hooters for the food,” said Vowell, who was there for �,” a musical about the Declaration of Independence, “where the Founding Fathers break into song.” Vowell thought she'd probably leave after the first act. But she stayed.
Two other presidential assassins also have ties to Central New York, Vowell noted. Many Auburnians know the story of Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who shot William McKinley in 1901 as the president was shaking hands during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Two months later, Czolgosz was strapped into the electric chair at Auburn prison.
“He was executed on Old Sparky. And I just learned, Old Sparky - or its replica - was a long-standing fixture at a local watering hole. Sounds incredibly classy,” said Vowell, referring to an electric chair at Swaby's on South Street.
Vowell also talked of a person few in Auburn might be familiar with, Charles Guiteau who joined the infamous Oneida Community in 1860. Founded by John Humphrey Noyes, it was a hippie commune for its day - every man was married to every woman, a rule Noyes termed “complex marriage.”
A failed journalist, Guiteau assassinated President James Garfield in 1881 and was hanged in June 1882.
After talking about Lincoln, Vowell then said it was Seward's turn. “Here's your guy,” she yelled.
Seward, then secretary of state, was nearly killed by Lewis Powell on April 14, 1865 - the same evening Lincoln was gunned down by one of Powell's co-conspirators, John Wilkes Booth, at Ford's Theatre. Seward was living at a house on LaFayette Square in Washington, D.C., huddled in bed trying to recover from a carriage accident.
Powell, armed with a handgun and a Bowie knife, attacked Seward with the knife, including one severe wound that went through Seward's right cheek. In all, five people were injured in the home invasion, but none were killed. Amazingly, Seward would live another seven years after the attack, dying at the age of 71. His wife, Fanny, died just weeks after her husband's assassination attempt, though.
“Blood, blood, my thoughts seemed drenched in it. It was on everything,” said Vowell, reciting one of Fanny Seward's last diary entries.
This is the second notable lecture sponsored by the Seward House in the last two years. In April 2006, author James L. Swanson spoke at East Middle School on a similar topic as Vowell, recounting passages from his well-received non-fiction book entitled “Man Hunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killers.”
A few years prior, noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was in Auburn to discuss her work on the political in-fighting between Seward, Lincoln and others.
There was a small number of children and teenagers in the overflow crowd Wednesday, and Vowell did some wishful thinking as she finished her talk.
“I wish I were in sixth grade at this beautiful school,” said Vowell, still looking a little like an inquisitive child herself.
Soon after, she got a standing ovation.
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