For most people, going for a bike ride is as normal as learning how to tie your shoes. For one student, it's a little bit more adventurous.
The Gnu's Room Bookstore on South Gay Street in Auburn began its writers' series with a short story reading by local student Jacob Thompson. He read "Guide to Biking Rural Roads at Night" in front of a fairly crowded Gnu's Room on Friday night.
Thompson humorously and elegantly described the odd adventures and occurrences that one may run in to when biking the streets of Auburn late at night.
"It's kind of a tongue-and-cheek piece that was inspired by a period when my car wasn't working, and I had to ride 10 miles to and from school every day," Thompson said. "I'd often be riding in the middle of the night, so it would be like 10 p.m., and it was just kind of dangerous and unpleasant conditions."
Thompson managed to keep the crowd entertained with his exceptional talent for reading stories.
"I liked it (the story)," said Sarah O'Sullivan, an Auburn graduate student. "I like how he went in to so much detail about something that most people would just be like 'O, I ride my bike home. People don't tend to think about all the detail. He kind of made it a little bit of an adventure for what most people would just see as normal."
Thompson is a regular at the Gnu's Room. He comes and reads every time they have an open mic night.
"I really wanted to do something for him because he has been such a faithful customer of ours and been very faithful to come and support our events, so who better to put in our first issue than Jacob," said Tina Tatum, an owner of the Gnu's Room.
The Gnu's Room will be putting out a magazine every month that features a writer, and that writer will read their work in the store.
"We thought this would be a way to not only help people to know about the Gnu's Room, but also to introduce people in the area to some of the many talented folks that are around that you are just not aware of," Tatum said. "So we thought one way to do that might be to start this little monthly magazine and each month we will feature one or more local writers in it."
The Gnu's Room is providing a great way for local artists to get their name and work out there for people to see.
"It's flattering (being chosen to start off the GNU Writers' Series)," Thompson said. "I generally don't send my stuff out for publication or anything so a lot times the people that read my stuff are people who know me. It would be nice if this could encourage future writers to do things like this in the future, and also to increase exposure for Gnu's Room events."
Thompson is from New York and is pursuing a PhD in forestry at Auburn. He has an undergraduate degree in biology and history from Binghamton University.
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