Vendela Vida '85
You may have recently heard Vendela Vida ’85 interviewed on NPR or reviewed in the New York Times — her fifth book, The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty, was released this summer by Ecco/HarperCollins. She is also a founding board member of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that works with youngsters on improving their writing skills, and an editor of the literary journal The Believer. After Burke’s, she moved on to University High School, later heading to Middlebury College and then Columbia University, where she earned her MFA. “I lived in New York for a while, waiting tables and working various jobs in publishing while writing my first book,” she says. Vendela now works her wordly magic back home in the Bay Area, where she lives with her husband, the author Dave Eggers, and their two children.
When you were a student at Burke's, what did you dream you'd be doing at this point in your life? I wanted to be a journalist covering international relations. I don’t know if I was 100 percent sure what “international relations” meant, but I liked the sound of it.
What is your favorite international city? Stockholm. My mother is from a small town in Sweden, so we go back and visit a lot, and we always spend time in Stockholm. I like taking the ferries between Stockholm’s 14 islands, and my kids love the Vasa Museum, which is home to a beautiful 17th-century ship that sank on its first voyage. When your kids are jetlagged and wake up at 3:30 a.m., that museum is perfect. It opens at 8:30 a.m., so you only have five hours to kill.
What are some of your favorite memories of teachers at Burke’s? I had so many thoughtful, kind, generous and talented teachers, so it’s hard to choose. I’ll just list the first few memories that come to mind. I loved that Ms. Scattergood taught us about Sumerian ziggurats and told us that it was rude to brush our hair in public — and she did both of these on the same day. I think of her whenever I see a ziggurat or someone brushing their hair in a public space. I remember Mr. Fleishhacker teaching us about Hitchcock films during an intersession class; Ms. Mosheim inspiring us to write stories about a place called the Glum Factory; Madame Wagner introducing us to buche de Noël; Mrs. Johnston sharing stories with us about her (then) baby and how her baby loved listening to “Walking on the Moon” by The Police; Mrs. Clark telling us about her years in the Peace Corps; and a young creative writing teacher we had who showed up one day a few minutes late to class. She walked into the classroom in a full scuba-diving outfit and said: “Write a story about what happened to me and how I got here.”
Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party and why? First of all, a chef, given I don’t cook very well. Then, it seems the most important person is the one who knows when to call it a night. My father was masterful. I remember dinner parties that my parents would have for their friends when my sister Vanessa and I were growing up. When it was time for everyone to leave, my father would clap his hands together once, stand up and say, “Well, that was a great evening!”
What advice would you give to a current Burke's student? Be kind. I can’t emphasize enough how important I believe it is that women support other women; it’s just as essential — if not more so — that girls support other girls.
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What is your favorite international city? Stockholm. My mother is from a small town in Sweden, so we go back and visit a lot, and we always spend time in Stockholm. I like taking the ferries between Stockholm’s 14 islands, and my kids love the Vasa Museum, which is home to a beautiful 17th-century ship that sank on its first voyage. When your kids are jetlagged and wake up at 3:30 a.m., that museum is perfect. It opens at 8:30 a.m., so you only have five hours to kill.
What are some of your favorite memories of teachers at Burke’s? I had so many thoughtful, kind, generous and talented teachers, so it’s hard to choose. I’ll just list the first few memories that come to mind. I loved that Ms. Scattergood taught us about Sumerian ziggurats and told us that it was rude to brush our hair in public — and she did both of these on the same day. I think of her whenever I see a ziggurat or someone brushing their hair in a public space. I remember Mr. Fleishhacker teaching us about Hitchcock films during an intersession class; Ms. Mosheim inspiring us to write stories about a place called the Glum Factory; Madame Wagner introducing us to buche de Noël; Mrs. Johnston sharing stories with us about her (then) baby and how her baby loved listening to “Walking on the Moon” by The Police; Mrs. Clark telling us about her years in the Peace Corps; and a young creative writing teacher we had who showed up one day a few minutes late to class. She walked into the classroom in a full scuba-diving outfit and said: “Write a story about what happened to me and how I got here.”
Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party and why? First of all, a chef, given I don’t cook very well. Then, it seems the most important person is the one who knows when to call it a night. My father was masterful. I remember dinner parties that my parents would have for their friends when my sister Vanessa and I were growing up. When it was time for everyone to leave, my father would clap his hands together once, stand up and say, “Well, that was a great evening!”
What advice would you give to a current Burke's student? Be kind. I can’t emphasize enough how important I believe it is that women support other women; it’s just as essential — if not more so — that girls support other girls.
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