Eugoogoolizer
This one's got my new podcast with Rachel Cockerell, a pre-eulogy for my still-inappropriate-after-all-these-years old man, a telling wine label, + some Instax & a sketch, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
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How did Russian Jews in the early 1900s wind up migrating to Galveston, Texas ?(!) How did the notion of America as melting pot come into existence? And how did a family memoir evolve into a forgotten history of Zionism? Find out this week in Episode 645 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. Rachel Cockerell and her amazing new book, MELTING POINT: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land (FSG)! We talk about the tightrope walk of composing a history solely out of primary sources and why she eschewed the author’s voice for this book, her grudging acceptance of Robert Caro’s maxim to Turn Every Page, and how her perspective on Jewishness changed over the course of writing the book. We get into the once-titanic literary figure of Israel Zangwill and how he gave it up to find a homeland for the world’s Jews, how Zangwill invented the notion of the melting pot and whether he truly believed in assimilationism, the inspiration of George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo on Melting Point, and how Rachel got over the notion that the past was just a lead-up to now. We also discuss her next book on Halley’s Comet and whether she’ll stick with her primary sources-mode in future books, how her family reacted to seeing their stories (& contradictions) on the page, how a 90-year-old distant relative stole the show, and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read MELTING POINT!
Last week I posted Episode 644, about the thirty-plus-years-in-the-making graphic adaptation of Paul Auster’s THE NEW YORK TRILOGY (Pantheon)! Paul Karasik rejoined the show from Yaddo Artists Retreat to talk about the process of adapting Auster’s postmodern crime novels into comics, how he collaborated with David Mazzucchelli and Lorenzo Mattotti on the first two and why he wound up drawing the third book, and the moment when he understood what each novel was really about. We got into how he met Auster at a parent-teacher conference, the moment of truth when he first saw the comic pages for City of Glass, and whether Auster got to see the finished pages before his death in 2024. We also discussed how his mother supported his comics habit (and maybe melted her son’s brain by getting him a book of R. Crumb comics at 12 or 13), his lack of confidence in his drawing and his supreme confidence in his teaching, how meeting Art Spiegelman changed his life, why he’s starting an online graphic novel workshop, the immense inspiration of staying at Yaddo (and how he learned The Two Rules Of Yaddo), and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read THE NEW YORK TRILOGY!
Recent episodes: Kate Maruyama • David Denby • Peter Stothard • Cecile Wajsbrot • Keiler Roberts • Peter Kuper • Vauhini Vara
Eugoogoolizer
I started working on a eulogy for my father yesterday. His decline has gotten pretty steep in recent weeks, and maybe things will improve, but it’s hard to see that happening.
As I write, I’m trying to keep in mind one of Phillip Lopate’s guidelines for the personal essay: don’t use it to settle scores. So my goal is to relate who he was & what he meant in my life while dancing around the wounds he left.
I’ve got some . . . illustrative stories & anecdotes, including one that perfectly mixes mortality, humor, and his scoundrelhood. Stories that may not show him in a positive light, but at least will be humorous & telling without making me look aggrieved.
Which brings us to yesterday’s esophagram appointment. He’s weakened so much of late I had to borrow a wheelchair from the clinic to get him from the car to the exam. The radiologist asked if he’d be able to stand for a minute or so, leaning back against the table. He said he could. Then he asked my father if he’s comfortable lying down on his stomach.
To which my father replied, “It’d be easier with a woman under me.”
Dad’s voice is pretty wraithlike at this point, so the radiologist and the very pretty nurse weren’t sure they heard him correctly. I repeated what he said, and added, “Eighty-eight years old, in case you’re wondering.”
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Sadly, that was the high point of the day. He went downhill after that, and spending a couple more hours with him at his home was rough. We both got frustrated at his physical and cognitive limitations, and I wound up losing my patience and shouting before leaving. Felt like I’d failed myself (not so much like I’d failed him).
Between that tumult & a series of bad nights of sleep, I decided to pick up a bottle of wine on the way home. Not being a drinker, I pondered various labels, until I came across one that read, “I FIND MYSELF HERE BY CHANCE GUIDED BY THE WHIMS OF FATE,” and thought, “That’ll do.”
I meditated and tried to forgive myself in that space, then watched I Remember, Matt Wolf’s beautiful mini-doc on Joe Brainard & Ron Padgett, followed by some dumb TV, over a couple of normal-sized pours, and find myself here.
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Instaxery
Two from Sunday’s podcast session. I like the balance of sky & shul in that first one.
Artistry
Didn’t draw much, but did Micron-sketch a tiger lily last night. I think that, once I finish reading The Man Without Qualities read next week (7 chapters left!), I might swap out the morning book for maybe 15-min. of drawing, to try to restart that practice. 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. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn or painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far. I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workout-/meditation-craziness, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art and/or an Instax.
My skin bursts out of my jeans / Hallelujah / Black barbed wire kisses memories / Go right through us / White tree painted on a black wall / Moon dog bleached by the sun / Give me eyes electric white / Fresh in beneath us / In the dark,