Communication Mercantilism
New podcast with Keith Mayerson, missing missives, a little art, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
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This week, I posted Episode 582 of The Virtual Memories Show, with Keith Mayerson joining the show to talk about co-editing the amazing new book, Frank Johnson: Secret Pioneer of American Comics, Vol. 1 (Fantagraphics), and his own multi-decade “wordless novel” in paintings, My American Dream (Karma). We get into how Frank Johnson made thousands of pages of comics in private, never published, and may have created the first American comic-book in history, whether he constitutes an Outsider Artist, how his creative legacy contrasts with Henry Darger‘s, and what it means to make a lifelong body of work with no sense or expectation of a readership. We also get into Keith’s My American Dream project, its roots in 9/11 & the GWBush era, how his paintings play off of each other like panels in a comic (and how the curation of art exhibitions is a form of comics), the mash-up of key cultural figures of modern America, his art-subject trinity of James Dean, Elvis, and Keanu Reeves (and his story of meeting Keanu), how My American Dream works to synthesize aspects of Warhol & Rembrandt (& Haring), and the virality of his painting of Kermit the Frog on a bicycle and the significance of the Muppets in his vision of America. Plus we discuss Keith’s art & comics upbringing, the process of building comics programs at SVA and USC, his cult classic queer horror graphic novel with Dennis Cooper, the artistic act of suturing in to his subjects, why the job of art is keeping hope alive, how he felt when he learned there was a parallel, secret history of comics taking place solely in one person’s mind, and a lot more. Give it a listen, go read Frank Johnson: Secret Pioneer of American Comics, Vol. 1 and ogle My American Dream!
Last week, I posted Episode 581 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. classicist Edith Hall joins as we celebrate her fantastic, important new book, FACING DOWN THE FURIES: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and Me (Yale University Press). We talk about the taboo of talking about suicide, how that taboo can lead to transgenerational damage, how that compares to the family curses in Greek tragedies, and what the Tragedians have to teach us about life (and death) today. We get into her grandmother’s suicide and her mother’s conspiracy of silence around it, her own suicidal ideation and how Heracles Mad helped her through her worst phase, the way Facing Down the Furies sprung from Edith’s previous book, Aristotle’s Way, the process of researching her family history after her mother’s death, and how Philoctetesembodies It Gets Better. We also get into the gender difference of existentialists and the crappy behavior of male philosophers, the gender difference in our readings of Alcestis, why she’s Team Iliad (and supports my reading of Achilles’ tragedy), the one Greek tragedy that she wishes survived to reach us, and a lot more. Also, I go LONG in the intro about some family stuff that came up in the lead-in to this episode. (Like, the conversation starts at 16:00.) Give it a listen, and go read FACING DOWN THE FURIES
ONE DAY LEFT TO CONTRIBUTE! Last week, I also posted a Bonus Episode with cartoonist, playwright, schmoozer, etc. Dean Haspiel to talk about his new Kickstarter, THE RED HOOK X DEAN HASPIEL (closing March 28, 2024, so GO SUPPORT IT)! We get into why he’s making the plunge into Meta-Mem-Noir and bringing Dean Haspiel as a character into his New Brooklyn comics universe, what it’s like to be part of the story, and how MY podcast is also becoming more autobiographical with each passing week. Plus, we talk about the play Dino’s working on, what he’s learned from his previous Kickstarter projects, Covid Cop and Billy Dogma and Jane Legit, why he’s holding off on reading the finale of Howard Chaykin‘s Time² project, and more! Give it a listen & go support Dean's Kickstarter
Recent episodes: David Small • Brad Gooch • Japan, a monologue • Scott Guild • Aaron Lange • Donald J. Robertson • Elizabeth Flock
Communication Breakdown
I pre-stamped some postcards and took them with me on last week’s business trip, in hopes I’d keep up with my postcard-a-day routine. I was too optimistic; there was no time in the mornings to write them, so I just made up for it by writing 4 on Saturday.
While I was away, a postcard arrived with well-wishes for “this clusterfuck of a year to come”. I was puzzled, what with the year being almost a quarter over, then noticed two things: 1) the postmark was Dec. 29, 2023, and 2) it was from Chicago.
Certain post offices in that city have become incredibly unreliable, which is weird a post office Has One Job: processing mail.
On Friday, I wrote back to my pal to thank him for the New Year’s wishes. He got the postcard 3 days later.
The next day, one of my postcard recipients/victims in NJ emailed to tell me that he lost the postcard I sent him a week or two back, unread. He’d received it one morning, figured he’d read it that evening after work, and in the interim, it was plundered by Postcard Gnomes. (My speculation; he has his own suspicions about what happened.)
He was embarrassed, but I told him I’d write him again soon. I have no recollection of what I wrote on that card. It’s rare that I feel like anything I write in them is worth saving (when that does happen, I take a photo of the card before mailing it), although the recipients sometimes get fooled into thinking I’ve written something meaningful.
My pal in Chicago, after receiving the news about his long-delayed New Year’s card's arrival, texted me that he always assumes that his postcards will be lost the instant they’re in the USPS system.
I concurred, and after my NJ pal’s news about the received & unread card, it got me thinking about all those lost messages, instances where the sender makes the gesture but the recipient never knows it was made, or the card gets lost at its destination, or the recipient doesn’t sort their mail for weeks at a time, signal is so enveloped by noise it may be imperceptible.
And that’s why I believe we should start a Communication Mercantilist movement! Let’s write postcards and letters to our friends, but deliberately screw up their addresses or postage. Down with return addresses! Up with illegible signatures! Let’s send well wishes, lines of poetry, our thoughts on This Whole Situation, our wish-you-were-heres with little hope our intended will get the message.
With enough ink & postage, we can flood the world with misdirected missives.
Art
I made a few sketches during the week in NYC, but nothing that came out okay. Here’s a quick Benny sketch I made this morning — quick because he always moves within moments of my starting to draw him — just for you. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Postcardery
Let me know if you want to be on my postcard-a-day list. I promise I’ll use the correct address. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn/painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & somatic craziness, and Wednesday with a new episode, maybe some art, & who knows maybe a little profundity or something.
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Why stay in college? Why go to night school? / Gonna be different this time / Can't write a letter, can't send no postcard / I ain't got time for that now,