Hi Darling Ones, The first thing I saw this morning when I popped open Gladys as I was settling with my coffee was Annie Zaleski’s tweet alerting the internet that Material Issue’s “International Pop Overthrow” was thirty years old today. My first thought was, oh my god I love that record. My second thought was, once again math hurts my feelings. To be fair it’s not just math that hurts my feelings. It’s the passage of time too. Most number-related…
Dear Darling Ones, After watching Ani DiFranco, Liz Phair, and journalist Margaret Wappler talk about writing and feminism and music my brain is, as you can imagine, soup. I spent a lot of time in 1996 sitting in the passenger seat of my friend Amy’s car smoking cigarettes and listening to Ani DiFranco’s “Untouchable Face” and Liz Phair’s “Divorce Song” on repeat. Twenty-five years later I can still see Amy’s face as she angrily pointed a lit cigarette at the…
Dear Darling Ones, For many years I would email or message my pal Vodo (aka Beautiful Robert, aka Sweet Rob, aka my former writing teacher, for you longtime readers who cannot keep up with nicknames) every six or so months and ask, literally, “who said that thing about the monsters and loneliness?” He would reply, “It’s Vivian Gornick,’for the drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.’” I’d reply, “Oh yeah,…
Happy Groundhog’s Day, Darling Ones. When I worked for Jasc at the turn of the century I had a boss who loved Groundhog’s Day. Her name was Sandy and she was a beautiful, elfin woman with an MFA in poetry who gave me the nickname Jodi Chromey Supergenius. Sandy was cool. She was so cool that when my 28-year-old brain found out she was 35, I lost my shit. I remember calling BFK (who also worked for Jasc, but she…
So, Darling Ones, It is, allegedly, the last day of January. As you know it’s been January for twenty-four months so I say “allegedly.” If tomorrow turns out to be January 32nd not one of us will be surprised, will we? If tomorrow turns out to be the middle of Septober* I won’t be surprised. As today is the last day of the first month of the year I thought it would be a good time to check in on…
What’s up, Darling Ones? I was thinking about which of Rob Gordon’s all time, top five most memorable breakup girls I’d be, if I were one of them. This is the kind of question I spend a lot of time pondering because pop culture is the air that I breathe. This question in particular gets me right in the sweet spot because I love to make Top 5 lists and I also like to think about what fictional character I…