Marc Acito is the author of the hysterical memoir How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater. The book has been called what would happen if John Hughes had directed a high school movie of bisexual self-discovery. It finds humor in high school with both the penis and the vagina sometimes interchangeable.
Buy How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater
Daniel Robert Epstein: How much of your book is autobiographical?
Marc Acito: In the words of Richard Nixon, I am not a crook. I did not embezzle my college tuition, but my family is actually stranger than fiction. I think my father would be very happy if I put it in print that he paid for college. What is taken closely from life are the friends. This book is really my loopy love letter to my nutty friends from high school. I really wanted to pay tribute to this world of magic and mischief I lived in.
DRE: I read on your website that you and your friends were into creative vandalism.
MA: The flash animation of the stealing the Buddha story is almost journalism. But the sex in the book is actually toned down from our high school experiences because people didnt think it was plausible that these teenagers could be so sexually sophisticated. In reality we were actually more.
DRE: What were the sex scenes like originally?
MA: There was more gay sex, more straight sex and just more sex [laughs]. None of us thought that was unusual back when we graduated in 1984. Its only when we got to college that we realized not everyone had been doing what we were doing. Interestingly its only recently that I realized that we were way ahead of our time. Ive had some critics take me to task by saying these kids were too sophisticated for 1984, but we were more!
DRE: In high school there was always a group of kids who had a lot of sex.
MA: Thats the thing I noticed with people reacting to the book. It is certainly salacious and subversive and Ive gone to readings where weve had rather buttoned down older people that would appear to not be part of the audience for this book. There was a woman in her 80s who asked me if I would be able to write another book before she dies. This is not someone you expect to be a fan of mine but I find that underneath the surface people are far more alternative than they appear. Its like when you go to the gym and some guy in a suit and tie shows up then takes off his clothes and he has one of his nipples pierced. That to me is kind of the metaphor. One of the reasons I talk so dirty is because it liberates other people to be who they are. My work gives people reason to be audacious and outrageous.
DRE: Growing up in New Jersey it seems like you found a good bunch of people to hang with especially since you knew were homosexual at a young age.
MA: I was on the buy now, gay later plan. I was very public about it. It was an absolute open secret in high school from the time I was 16.
DRE: Would it have been hard for you to hide?
MA: Its hard for me to have perspective. I wouldnt say I was swishy but theatrical. I was the kid in the Capezio dance shoes and the leg warmers with the Neutron bomber pants I bought in Greenwich Village and the Flock of Seagulls haircut with a skinny tie. Did you ever see the movie Edge of Seventeen?
DRE: Sure!
MA: I was that kid. In retrospect I had people say to me that they couldnt believe how ballsy I was to be so flamboyant in high school. But Im one of those people who has a hard time containing themselves. I dont have a lot of limits and my filter isnt very good. I always reveal too much.
DRE: Was creative vandalism something that was official like the Cacophony Society?
MA: Absolutely. We really did call ourselves the Creative Vandals. We really did think of it as a movement and I still do. With the advent of my book I wanted to reignite the Creative Vandals. On my website Ive been getting photographs from people around the country with their own bits of creative vandalism.
DRE: Is your book agent Edward Hibbert?
MA: Yes he is.
DRE: I was a big fan of Frasier.
MA: [laughs] So youre familiar with him?
DRE: Absolutely.
MA: Yes and he also reps Chuck Palahniuk who I owe my career to. He introduced me to Edward. Also Frasier actually played a part in the sale of my book. Joe Keenan, who was a head writer on Fraiser, wrote a book called Blue Heaven which was very influential in the writing of my book. Its a page turning PG Woodhouse-like farce which I read ten years ago. I asked Edward about Blue Heaven because I knew he would know Joe Keenan. What I didnt know was that Jerry Howard, Chucks editor at Random House, was also the editor of Blue Heaven. It was a very strange and serendipitous coincidence. This whole experience has been about finding like minded people, which is how it was sold as well, by word of mouth from nutty people.
DRE: Did you find it intimidating writing your first novel?
MA: It was inevitable. I used to be an opera singer and when I was singing I had this conversation with friends about what we would do if I had a year to live. I said that I would quit singing and write a novel. I thought that was sort of a revealing answer because maybe you should do the thing that you would do if you only had a year to live.
I was on an opera gig in Ireland making my European operatic debut. At that point I was starting to write short stories because I couldnt just interpret other peoples art any longer. I looked up at the clock and saw that I had to go to rehearsal and thought Damn time to go to work. That was a chilling moment for me because I felt that I could stay home and hate my job. I dont need to travel 6000 miles to do that. I walked away from my opera career, went home and got a day job so I could write. I ran a sign and graphics shop and became a business owner which was something I was very ill suited for. But it gave me the freedom to write even though I was working 60 hours a week. The irony of that is when I put my heart out on paper it comes out so exceedingly light that its shocking.
DRE: Some critics have referred to you as the gay Dave Barry.
MA: I prefer to think of him as the straight Marc Acito.
DRE: Will Harry Anderson ever play you in a sitcom?
MA: [laughs] Id hope theyd cast Robert Downey Jr.
DRE: I think Harry Anderson could pull it off.
MA: No offense to Harry Anderson but I think hes old enough to be my dad.
DRE: I read you sold the movie rights to the book. What are the chances of it being made?
MA: Its looking encouraging.
DRE: Is there a script yet?
MA: It was optioned by Laura Ziskin [producer of the Spider-Man movies] and theyve actually assigned screenwriters. She has an enormous amount of clout in Hollywood and she is not someone who buys things indiscriminately.
DRE: Who are the screenwriters?
MA: They assigned Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio the guys who did rewrites for Meet the Fockers. Its my understanding that it was their draft of Meet the Fockers that got the movie greenlit so as a result they are very hot in Hollywood.
DRE: Are you allowed to comment on their sexuality?
MA: I dont think they will mind when I say they are both straight. They are brothers in law and are very well suited to the task. They gave me a picture of themselves as a present. It one of these Sears portraits with them in pink terrycloth robes with their monograms on the breast pocket. They do seem to be suitably insane enough to do my movie.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater
Daniel Robert Epstein: How much of your book is autobiographical?
Marc Acito: In the words of Richard Nixon, I am not a crook. I did not embezzle my college tuition, but my family is actually stranger than fiction. I think my father would be very happy if I put it in print that he paid for college. What is taken closely from life are the friends. This book is really my loopy love letter to my nutty friends from high school. I really wanted to pay tribute to this world of magic and mischief I lived in.
DRE: I read on your website that you and your friends were into creative vandalism.
MA: The flash animation of the stealing the Buddha story is almost journalism. But the sex in the book is actually toned down from our high school experiences because people didnt think it was plausible that these teenagers could be so sexually sophisticated. In reality we were actually more.
DRE: What were the sex scenes like originally?
MA: There was more gay sex, more straight sex and just more sex [laughs]. None of us thought that was unusual back when we graduated in 1984. Its only when we got to college that we realized not everyone had been doing what we were doing. Interestingly its only recently that I realized that we were way ahead of our time. Ive had some critics take me to task by saying these kids were too sophisticated for 1984, but we were more!
DRE: In high school there was always a group of kids who had a lot of sex.
MA: Thats the thing I noticed with people reacting to the book. It is certainly salacious and subversive and Ive gone to readings where weve had rather buttoned down older people that would appear to not be part of the audience for this book. There was a woman in her 80s who asked me if I would be able to write another book before she dies. This is not someone you expect to be a fan of mine but I find that underneath the surface people are far more alternative than they appear. Its like when you go to the gym and some guy in a suit and tie shows up then takes off his clothes and he has one of his nipples pierced. That to me is kind of the metaphor. One of the reasons I talk so dirty is because it liberates other people to be who they are. My work gives people reason to be audacious and outrageous.
DRE: Growing up in New Jersey it seems like you found a good bunch of people to hang with especially since you knew were homosexual at a young age.
MA: I was on the buy now, gay later plan. I was very public about it. It was an absolute open secret in high school from the time I was 16.
DRE: Would it have been hard for you to hide?
MA: Its hard for me to have perspective. I wouldnt say I was swishy but theatrical. I was the kid in the Capezio dance shoes and the leg warmers with the Neutron bomber pants I bought in Greenwich Village and the Flock of Seagulls haircut with a skinny tie. Did you ever see the movie Edge of Seventeen?
DRE: Sure!
MA: I was that kid. In retrospect I had people say to me that they couldnt believe how ballsy I was to be so flamboyant in high school. But Im one of those people who has a hard time containing themselves. I dont have a lot of limits and my filter isnt very good. I always reveal too much.
DRE: Was creative vandalism something that was official like the Cacophony Society?
MA: Absolutely. We really did call ourselves the Creative Vandals. We really did think of it as a movement and I still do. With the advent of my book I wanted to reignite the Creative Vandals. On my website Ive been getting photographs from people around the country with their own bits of creative vandalism.
DRE: Is your book agent Edward Hibbert?
MA: Yes he is.
DRE: I was a big fan of Frasier.
MA: [laughs] So youre familiar with him?
DRE: Absolutely.
MA: Yes and he also reps Chuck Palahniuk who I owe my career to. He introduced me to Edward. Also Frasier actually played a part in the sale of my book. Joe Keenan, who was a head writer on Fraiser, wrote a book called Blue Heaven which was very influential in the writing of my book. Its a page turning PG Woodhouse-like farce which I read ten years ago. I asked Edward about Blue Heaven because I knew he would know Joe Keenan. What I didnt know was that Jerry Howard, Chucks editor at Random House, was also the editor of Blue Heaven. It was a very strange and serendipitous coincidence. This whole experience has been about finding like minded people, which is how it was sold as well, by word of mouth from nutty people.
DRE: Did you find it intimidating writing your first novel?
MA: It was inevitable. I used to be an opera singer and when I was singing I had this conversation with friends about what we would do if I had a year to live. I said that I would quit singing and write a novel. I thought that was sort of a revealing answer because maybe you should do the thing that you would do if you only had a year to live.
I was on an opera gig in Ireland making my European operatic debut. At that point I was starting to write short stories because I couldnt just interpret other peoples art any longer. I looked up at the clock and saw that I had to go to rehearsal and thought Damn time to go to work. That was a chilling moment for me because I felt that I could stay home and hate my job. I dont need to travel 6000 miles to do that. I walked away from my opera career, went home and got a day job so I could write. I ran a sign and graphics shop and became a business owner which was something I was very ill suited for. But it gave me the freedom to write even though I was working 60 hours a week. The irony of that is when I put my heart out on paper it comes out so exceedingly light that its shocking.
DRE: Some critics have referred to you as the gay Dave Barry.
MA: I prefer to think of him as the straight Marc Acito.
DRE: Will Harry Anderson ever play you in a sitcom?
MA: [laughs] Id hope theyd cast Robert Downey Jr.
DRE: I think Harry Anderson could pull it off.
MA: No offense to Harry Anderson but I think hes old enough to be my dad.
DRE: I read you sold the movie rights to the book. What are the chances of it being made?
MA: Its looking encouraging.
DRE: Is there a script yet?
MA: It was optioned by Laura Ziskin [producer of the Spider-Man movies] and theyve actually assigned screenwriters. She has an enormous amount of clout in Hollywood and she is not someone who buys things indiscriminately.
DRE: Who are the screenwriters?
MA: They assigned Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio the guys who did rewrites for Meet the Fockers. Its my understanding that it was their draft of Meet the Fockers that got the movie greenlit so as a result they are very hot in Hollywood.
DRE: Are you allowed to comment on their sexuality?
MA: I dont think they will mind when I say they are both straight. They are brothers in law and are very well suited to the task. They gave me a picture of themselves as a present. It one of these Sears portraits with them in pink terrycloth robes with their monograms on the breast pocket. They do seem to be suitably insane enough to do my movie.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
missy:
Marc Acito is the author of the hysterical memoir How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater. The book has been called what would happen if John Hughes had directed a high school movie of bisexual self-discovery. It finds humor...