PODCAST

This week I posted Episode 676 of my Virtual Memories Show. Can people change? How continuous is identity? Who gets to say who’s changed for the better? Does change involve finding a core self or something new? With YOU’VE CHANGED: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation (William Morrow), Benoit Denizet-Lewis explores the concepts of personal change and change-in-the-world, the ways we find identities and community, and the peril of changing into our parents (haha). We talk about how we define change and transformation, what happens when we think we’ve changed but the people in our lives don’t notice any difference, how his husband feared that he would change too much in the writing of the book, and how the American narrative of change equals “overcoming one’s problems.” We get into how he made his own story of change and addiction part of the book, whether redemption is possible for people who committed heinous crimes, what happened the time he got scientifically tested about his sexual preferences, and the chapter he wishes he could’ve included in the book. We also discuss whether the therapy that works for him now would have helped when he was younger, how one can prioritize one’s own happiness while the world is (let’s say) ending, his trips in Esalen, and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read YOU’VE CHANGED!

Last week I posted Episode 675, feat. philosopher and biographer Clare Carlisle and her new book, TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS: LIFE WRITING AND PHILOSOPHY (NYRB). Give it a listen!

Recent podcast episodes: Josh Alan Friedman • Andrew Durbin • Dean Haspiel & Doug Latino • Rachel Tzvia Back • Sven Birkerts • Indefinite Hiatus monologue • The Guest List

Every book (non-comics) that I’ve finished since 1989.

BIRDY!

Here’s BIRDY! looking ever so cute on this morning’s walkies

and later in the morning, looking very judge-y

ONLY IN NEW YORK

Holy crap, we did it! The Kickstarter for REAL LIFE COMIX: ONLY IN NEW YORK (Cosmic Lion Productions) passed its goal of $20,000 in pledges! That means the book will come out this fall, incl. my 2-page comic, along with 50 stories by 65 other creators! If you contributed, thanks plenty! And if you haven’t yet, the Kickstarter is still open for 48 hours (ending noon EDT on May 8, 2026), so there’s still time to support the project and reserve your copy of this fantastic anthology!

ONLY IN TOKYO, AMSTERDAM, ROTTERDAM, AND LONDON

I’m going to be traveling for business over the next few weeks, so there (likely) won’t be any new podcasts for a while. If you have suggestions for guests in any of the cities mentioned above — plausible and not requiring a ton of reading/research — let me know.

It’s an honor to be invited back and hosted by the Japanese version of my trade association to speak at their annual meeting. The last time we did that was February 2020. I looked over my presentation from that time, and . . . let’s just say there was a pretty massive blind spot about Where Things Were Headed.

(I may post an occasional newsletter from the road, even if there’s no new podcast.)

INSTAX

I only took one good Instax at last week’s pod-session, but it’s a doozy. I knew instantly the art on the wall of Benoit’s hotel room was a picture by Barbara Nessim, and rather than try to get the whole piece, I went in for a detail.

STAGE ZERO

Oh, hey, I also have an oncology check-in tomorrow — cliffhanger! —, which led to this mini-poem:

Oh, that’s just cancer
He said
The only thing I can count on
A pile of numbers
A time bomb with no counter
A shadow’s whisper
The promise of Bruton Tyrosine Kinase
Or is it Bind Torture Kill
Chimeric Antigen Receptors
Or a chimera of another stripe
As my cells
Strive for immortality
That my works
Will never achieve

I don’t anticipate any change from my Stage Zero status, but I’ll post about it after the appointment either way.

POSTCARD

I mail out a postcard every day, so let me know if you want to be on my list. I really hemmed and hawed about who to send this one to a few mornings ago:

EXPENSES

If you want to help out with Virtual Memories Show expenses — this email runs $29/month, podcast-hosting is $25/month, and the remote recording account is $20/month — or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can make a one-time contribution of any size via Stripe, or a recurring one via Patreon. Or maybe save your money for when I launch the Kickstarter for my Instax book.

NEXT TIME

Thanks for reading this far. See you next time, I hope.

This side of the glass, life keeps kickin' my ass / In so many ways, but you make it good,