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S3 E8 – Essays About Sex (with Dave Madden)

June 21, 2021 hosts 0 Comments

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S3 E8 - Essays About Sex (with Dave Madden)

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This week, our special guest, longtime friend, and fellow nonfiction professor Dave Madden joins us to discuss two essays about fucking: Samuel Delaney’s “Ash Wednesday,” and Kristen Dombek’s “Letter from Williamsburg.” Also: Father’s Day presents, workshop models, a debate about sentences, Sizzler essays, and more!

Links:

Dave’s website: https://www.davemadden.org

Dave’s web designer, Beth Sullivan: https://bethsullivan.com

Samuel Delaney’s “Ash Wednesday”: http://bostonreview.net/arts-society/samuel-r-delany-ash-wednesday

Kristin Dombek’s “Letter from Williamsburg” (subscription required for full essay): https://www.theparisreview.org/letters-essays/6236/letter-from-williamsburg-kristin-dombek

The audio version of “Letter from Williamsburg”: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/07/26/kristin-dombeks-letter-from-williamsburg/

IFMWID Rewind: I’m Your Huckleberry

June 14, 2021 hosts 0 Comments

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IFMWID Rewind: I'm Your Huckleberry

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Our episode for this week failed to record (thanks, Zoom!), so we’re going back to the archives. More than a year ago, back when the pandemic was still young, we recorded an episode about Val Kilmer’s memoir I’m Your Huckleberry. It has the fewest downloads of any of our episodes, for some mysterious reason, so we decided to dig it out and re-post it to hold you over until we can get our shit together and finish Season 3. Also: other parts of the Kilmer corpus, including his poetry, art, and music; the movie Tombstone and related trivia; David’s Old Western cocktail; Frank Stallone; fake memoirs; and much, much more.

S3 E6 – One Long Episode About Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

June 7, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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S3 E6 - One Long Episode About Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

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This week, we discuss the 1993 Canadian/French Canadian film “Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould,” which we think is essayistic in many ways. Also: breath mints found in orifices, the thesis circle of life, writing too-long essays, apocalyptic media, Hamlet 2, “Canadian stakes,” lyric vs. narrative, accessibility,

Links:

The full movie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv7nPiZHKy4

Gould’s radio documentary “The Idea of North”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szgnGV4hOKU

Justin’s essay from Territory: http://themapisnot.com/issue-iii-justin-st-germain

S3 E5 – Interviews with Essayists

June 1, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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S3 E5 - Interviews with Essayists

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In this week’s episode, we discuss two “The Art of …” interviews from the Paris Review: one on the essay with Hilton Als, and another with Geoff Dyer about nonfiction in general. Also: our mutual love of Mrs. Dalloway, Elena’s study abroad experience, our rocky resumption of vaccinated socializing, Val Kilmer has a documentary, a couple of weird bird stories, one sad cat story, a lightning round about celebrities, lots of interviewing talk, and more!

Links:

“The Art of the Essay” with Hilton Als (subscription required):

https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7178/the-art-of-the-essay-no-3-hilton-als

“The Art of Nonfiction” with Geoff Dyer (same):

https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6282/the-art-of-nonfiction-no-6-geoff-dyer

S3 E4 – Old Person Essays

May 24, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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S3 E4 - Old Person Essays

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In this week’s episode, we’re talking about our generations. After Justin’s mini-generation was dubbed Geriatric Millennials, we decided to read two examples from Donald Hall’s book Essays After Eighty. Also: a Uhaul story, teaching 9/11 essays to Gen Z, a little baseball talk about the “yips,” times we biffed it in public, an old-themed lightning round, and lots & lots of old-person complaining about the kids these days.

Essays After Eighty: https://bookshop.org/books/essays-after-eighty/9780544570313

“Out the Window” isn’t available in full online, but here’s a brief excerpt from the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/23/out-the-window

“Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.” (account required): https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stories-week-2014-2015/story-week/dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-donald-hall

A Fresh Air interview with Hall about “Out the Window”: https://freshairarchive.org/segments/donald-hall-poets-view-out-window
Rick Ankiel getting the yips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDZX525CSvw

S3 E3 – The Texas Review All-Essay Issue

May 17, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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S3 E3 - The Texas Review All-Essay Issue

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This week, we discuss the Texas Review’s All-Essay Issue from late 2020, including two specific essays by Wendy C. Ortiz and Vincent James. Also: a virgin fake-gin cocktail, Godzilla vs. Kong, terrible jobs we’ve had, times we’ve gotten fired, an alarming amount of Will Smith content, and more!

Links:

Texas Review All-Essay Issue: http://www.thetexasreview.org/issues/

Seedlip non-alcoholic gin: https://www.seedlipdrinks.com/en-us/shop/?gclid=CjwKCAjwqIiFBhAHEiwANg9szlLXeKgBYIgMBhVevVOy1k5ZvO7TBpKnn4q-54ihA48uesXAxa7L5hoCMlYQAvD_BwE

Godzilla vs. Kong: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5034838/

Will Smith’s 5-minute story on becoming the Fresh Prince: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_WoOYybCro

S3 E2 – Didion On Writing

May 10, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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S3 E2 - Didion On Writing

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In this week’s episode, we discuss a new(ish) collection of Joan Didion’s previously uncollected essays, including a few about writing, two of which we picked to focus on. Also: Elena’s cat mishap, large-text editions, why we were all born in the wrong era for making money off of writing, a Didion-themed lightning round, and more!

Links to some things we mention:

Didion’s new book, Let Me Tell You What I Mean: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/666038/let-me-tell-you-what-i-mean-by-joan-didion/9780593318485

Didion’s “Why I Write”: https://lithub.com/joan-didion-why-i-write/

We couldn’t find a free full online version of “Telling Stories,” but here’s an article with excerpts: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/02/19/joan-didion-telling-stories/

Tracy Daugherty’s Didion biography: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250105943

S3 E1 – Two Essays on Performance

May 3, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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S3 E1 - Two Essays on Performance

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In our first episode of Season 3, we discuss Zoom dance parties, Arlo’s new theme song, our forays into magazine writing, the essays and essayistic things we’ve been reading/watching/etc. in 2021, and two specific essays: Sergio Troncoso’s “Literature & Migration,” and Hanif Abdurraqib’s “I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses.”

Links:

The Sergio Troncoso essay we discuss: https://literalmagazine.com/a-third-culture-literature-and-migration/

Hanif Abdurraqib’s new book, A Little Devil in America: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/592315/a-little-devil-in-america-by-hanif-abdurraqib/

Merry Clayton’s vocal from Gimme Shelter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njAuEGRthuw

March Plaidness Final

March 29, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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March Plaidness Final

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In our episode previewing the March Plaidness final, we discuss the two remaining essays/songs, the outcomes of recent games, some favorite fallen essays, and our post-Plaidness playlist. Also: Justin’s hot tub experience with Skrillex, pickup truck pools, our plans for a PodVan, a very 90s conversation about what’s cool, and more!

Links:
March Xness tournament site, with all the essays: www.marchxness.com

The post-March Plaidness Spotify playlist Elena made: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3oCUXkIdZQ8hGYw3mREmsO?si=VdHkUZxuRm-qTvGjs_YtFQ&nd=1

John Melillo’s band, Algae & Tentacles: https://algaeandtentacles.bandcamp.com/

March Plaidness #4: Buttholes or Bust!

March 23, 2021 hosts Comments Off

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March Plaidness #4: Buttholes or Bust!

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in this week’s March Plaidness episode, we start with a confession before moving onto a discussion of G.K. Chesterton’s problematicness; our plans for building a multimedia shitpost empire; our first foray into fine cinema; David’s vision for a “Pepper” video; Arlo’s production company; Dead Moon; Rusted Root; voting bots; Justin’s book’s release date; how wrong Elena was about Throwing Muses; whether Hootie would, in fact, have won; Local H kicking ass; lots of Plaidness essay shoutouts; Daylight Savings shenanigans; our picks for the rest of the tourney; Billy Joel vs. Huey Lewis; Justin makes an early plea for what song he wants to write about in March Faxness; and more!

March Plaidness: http://marchxness.com/elite8-buttholesvseverclear/

Link to “Pepper” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Kei03inkk&t=25s

Justin’s book: http://www.igpub.com/truman-capotes-in-cold-blood-bookmarked/

Excerpt of Justin’s book in CrimeReads: https://crimereads.com/murder-tourism-in-middle-america-the-world-of-truman-capotes-in-cold-blood/