(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring brand new alum Ben Kassoy, class of 2007, appeared in Bexley News on August 8, 2007)  8/19/07

Bexley grad pens humorous collection of high school stories

By DAVID S. OWEN

News photo by Dan Trittschuh Ben Kassoy poses with a copy of his new book, They Don't Serve Mom's French Toast at the Dorm, Saturday during a party held at his family's Bexley home.

As he heads off to college this fall, one Bexley High School graduate may have the distinction of being the only published author in his dorm.

Ben Kassoy, who graduated in June, has put together a collection of humor-oriented short stories in his new self-published book, titled They Don't Serve Mom's French Toast At The Dorm: Nostalgic Morsels Of a Senior Leaving For College.

Kassoy said he spent the last two years writing for the school's newspaper, The Torch, and the idea to write a book came to him while he was working on his senior project in the spring.

For his project, he chose a creative writing endeavor, with the assistance and guidance of local writer and editor Michael J. Rosen.

"In the beginning, we analyzed my writing a lot, and he gave me some suggestions and talked with me about what I was writing," Kassoy said.

Rosen gave Kassoy copies of books from the Thurber House's Mirth of a Nation series, which offers collections of humor writings. These provided Kassoy a platform from which to build his own series of humor essays.

"We talked about the writings, and for about a month, I worked many late hours on my own writings, made some social sacrifices, and I got everything done for the project," Kassoy said.

He said he had no idea in the beginning that the collection of his essays would turn into a book, and said the humor in them is based on the style of humor in the Mirth of a Nation collection.

"We decided the pieces I wrote had a lot to do with childhood or growing up," said Kassoy. "Not necessarily my own, but they are all based on experiences that I had," Kassoy said.

One essay in the book, which Kassoy said is part fiction and part nonfiction, is titled "Guys Night Out" and tells the story of an evening in which he and his friends went streaking, causing hilarity to ensue as the night went on.

"Parts of it are true and parts of it are not," Kassoy said.

Another story, titled "Never Apologize for Dirt to a Dry Cleaner," is based on conversations Kassoy had with various dry cleaning businesses around the city about various types of stains on clothing.

"It turned out pretty real ... besides 75 percent of them hanging up on me," said Kassoy. "The ones I did talk to, I asked them specific questions about their proclamations like, 'same-day dry cleaning' and 'fix any stain' or 'America's top ten dry cleaners. It turns out ... dry cleaners aren't all they think they're cracked up to be."

Kassoy held a book release party and a celebration on being accepted to Emory University in Atlanta Saturday, Aug. 4 at his home in Bexley.

He said he plans to study creative writing, but because of his widespread interests, it is possible his major could change as he moves forward.

The book is selling for $8, and Kassoy said those interested in purchasing a copy should email him at fkassoy@columbus.rr.com.

After expenses are paid off, Kassoy said, all proceeds from the book will be donated to the Columbus Literacy Council.

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