We're Laughing With You, Not at You: And Other Frightening Tales of Life,Used

About the Author Matt Wixon's humor column appears in newspapers throughout the West, including The Dallas Morning News, Arizona Daily Sun and Yuma (Ariz.) Daily Sun. His journalism career began at his high school newspaper in Arizona, where he was dedicated to exposing the truth, improving the world of journalism, and spending two hours in the Burger King parking lot when he was supposed to be delivering newspapers. As an awardwinning sports columnist and features writer in Arizona, Wixon covered everything from the NBA Finals to a highschool basketball game in which the two teams combined for eight points. He is now married, lives in Texas, and works at The Dallas Morning News, where he can often be found in the sports department or battling a vending machine for Oreo cookies. Product Description How many times can a waiter sing ?Happy, Happy Birthday? in one night? How many bruises can you get at a Wheel of Fortune audition? Can faking a migraine help you escape an office party? The answers are in this collection of columns from Matt Wixon, the newspaper humorist who once was told ?Stay sweet! Don?t ever change!? in his high school yearbook. Against that advice, Wixon has changed over the years, turning away from writing sports stories and columns to address more meaningful topics, such as battling car salesmen for hot dogs, using the wrong fork at dinner parties and accidentally telling the pizzadelivery guy ?I love you.? Other topics in this book include teacher trading cards, vendingmachine fitness programs, the historical importance of Hee Haw ... even the keys to a good marriage (including not laughing when figure skaters fall down). Read just a few of this book?s columns and you?ll understand why they make so many people laugh and so many serious journalists say, ?Too bad. He had potential.? Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Introduction (by the author): The columns in this collection were written over a threeyear period, and I thought it might take another three years to come up with a title for the book. Heres the problem: What exactly do columns about Kit Kat auditions, screaming little league parents and swingdancing disasters have in common? Nothing, other than that they first appeared in my newspaper column. Considering that, maybe the best title for this book would be Please See Jump On Page 6C, because many of my columns jump from one page to another. At least its better than when I was a sports columnist, and my final thoughts were typically butted up against advertisements for backhair removal or camouflage wallets. But I wont complain, because I am grateful for the newspapers that run my columns. And I am grateful for anyone who reads this book, which is why I wanted a really snappy title to lure in readers. My first attempt was Ninety Ways to Solve Your Problem Thighs, Become Financially Secure and Repair Your Relationship, as seen on Oprah. But the publisher assured me that this title would cause problems, so I took another shot at it. Thats when I came up with Were Laughing With You, Not At You. Its a saying that my teachers would tell students after they dropped their lunch trays, tripped on the playground, or in my case, had his fifthgrade solarsystem project fall off the table and break during his presentation. My thought was, How can you be laughing with me if Im not laughing? It was one of those lies adults tell kids to make them feel better, much like You can do anything in this world if you set your mind to it. Ive been working on my basketball skills for nearly 30 years, and I still dont see any pro basketball teams calling me. Apparently, although I dreamed of being a pro basketball player, I didnt set my mind to it. It couldnt have anything to do with the fact that Im too slow and can barely jump over this book. Anyway, lies seemed to be the only common theme in this book. There arent a lot of them, but I admit that I nev