Books on a Whim
In the 1990s Elizabeth Schaefer was one of the most talented and distinctive voices in Wisconsin music. And while she never followed the Violent Femmes onto the global stage, she was acknowledged at home, earning a WAMI Award for Best Female Vocalist and three more WAMIs for Best Alternative Act.
Now known simply Beth Schaefer, she has reemerged after a long absence in a different medium, as author and publisher of amusing spoofs of student essay writing set on an imaginary campus, Whimsor College. Off the Cuff caught up with Schaefer at Bella Café in the Third Ward.
Let’s start with your musical career.
When I moved to Madison I met all these musicians! Sewing Circle was my first band, but the rock was a little too heavy for me. I can belt but I can’t scream!
You then recorded four albums. Where were you coming from, musically?
I listened to Jane Siberry quite a bit—lots of women artists and lots of musicals. And Kate Bush. I liked the theatrics. My last album, Mood Swings, was cabaret-ish. It probably came out in ’98.
And then you disappeared?
I decided to go back to UW-Madison and learn German—I entered a study abroad program. I spent two years in Freiburg near the Black Forest. Then I moved to Paris, not knowing anybody and not speaking the language. I got a job teaching business English.
Were you performing music?
I sang in cabarets in Germany and France—George Gershwin, Kurt Weill in German, theater songs.
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Was it easy to find gigs?
Absolutely. I was easy to find piano players who were interested in performing with me. It was easy to audition and find a spot. Maybe I was a novelty because I was American.
But you came back to the U.S.
It was a hard decision. I loved Paris, but I was 28—it was, “Now’s the time to make a decision.” I moved back at the end of 2003 and did corporate writing in Chicago for 10 years. I’m happy to move on and start my own publishing company, Books on a Whim, and launch my first book, Grade A Papers: The Slap Stack.
The subtitle of your book is “A Funny Coffee Table Book for English Teachers and the Universe.” Your father taught college English. Was it inspired by him?
His death was a wake-up call to be creative again! He taught at Lake Forest College where I’m now teaching—and in the very last classroom where he taught before he got sick! Ever since I was a teenager, I would sporadically write a fake student paper and slip it into the stack of papers he was grading.
What’s next for you?
I plan to launch the first annual writing contest in March. I will be creating postcards, which I will mail to English departments in colleges across the U.S., and I will also be emailing many teachers who have expressed an interest in participating. I also plan to exhibit at more trade shows—in particular the national teaching associations—when I am able.
But contest entries do not need to be submitted by teachers; they may be submitted by any writer or aspiring writer over 18. For the upcoming book, Grade A Papers II: A Funny Coffee Table Book for History Teachers and the Universe, the topic will need to concern history in some fashion. But beyond that, the topic is the writer's choice. (There will be guidelines, of course, I'll create and post when it gets closer to launch time.) It can be history rewritten or actual historical event with a funny twist. The winning writer will be named “Whimsor College Valedictorian for the Class of 2015.”
Their winning paper will be featured in Grade A Papers II. The winner will also get a modest cash prize, and will be able to have their name and bio in the book. All other participants’ names will be listed in the book as Whimsor Graduates of 2015. And they will all receive a Whimsor Diploma. So all participants receive something.
And a new contest will start again in 2016 for the next Grade A Papers book. My goal is to crank out one a year. So if Grade A Papers III is, for example, A Funny Coffee Table Book for Philosophy Teachers and the Universe, then the contest would be to write a fake student paper with a philosophy twist.
For more on Whimsor College, visit them online.
