June 11, 2025

Running Up That Hill

We've got a new podcast with David Denby, some art & some Instax, and my lobbying visit to DC

The Virtual Memories Show News

A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life

Podcastery

This week, I posted Episode 642 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. writer and critic David Denby and his fantastic new book, EMINENT JEWS (Holt), which explores the impact on American culture of Jews Unbound through profiles of Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. We talk about how he selected his four subjects, how each of them came of age in an environment that Jews hadn’t experienced in millennia, the ways each handled the responsibilities of family against their careers, the difference between “Jew” and “Jewish,” and which one unfolded the most to him over the course of writing the book. We get into why Bernstein’s greatest role may have been as a teacher, how Mailer’s magnetism persisted way beyond its expiration date, how Friedan changed the world but was always challenged by her midwest upbringing, and whether Brooks was being disingenuous when he made musical numbers of our the Inquisition and Hitler. We also discuss judgements David made over the course of his career as a movie critic, what he did when he finally gave up reviewing and how he eased back into the cinema, why he revisited the Lit Hum course at Columbia a few years ago, after previously revisiting it 30+ years ago for Great Books, his take on my my lightning round of classic lit questions, his non-Le Carré experience in East Berlin, his reaction to my parents taking me to History of the World: Part 1 when I was 9, and more. Give it a listen! And go read EMINENT JEWS: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer!

Can we find the poet in their poems? Last week I posted Episode 641, where Peter Stothard celebrates his new biography, HORACE: Poet on a Volcano (Yale University Press), and explores how the life of the great Roman poet unfolds through his art. We talk about why he wrote this biography through a critical study of Horace’s poems (and why that’s been a controversial approach), how Horace embodied the artist-as-madman long before the Romantic era, and why it was important to show the alienness of Horace’s verse and how nervous Peter was about translating him into English. We get into Horace’s place in Rome’s history, how he bridged Greek poetic modes into Latin, the variety of genres Horace worked in (and invented), and why the poet was cancelled early and often over the centuries. We also discuss mortality and legacy, how Horace & I each reacted to not getting killed by falling trees, how Peter’s secondary school introduced him to “INCIPE!,” “Sapere Aude,” and “Carpe Diem,” among other Horace-isms, and more!. Give it a listen! And go read HORACE: Poet on a Volcano!

Recent episodes: Cecile Wajsbrot • Keiler Roberts • Peter Kuper • Vauhini Vara • Craig Thompson • Ari Richter • Dan Nadel

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Running Up That Hill

I’m on the way home from DC: eight meetings on the House side of the Hill yesterday and one at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this morning. There was also a chance I was going to testify to a House subcommittee this morning, but they let me know on Monday morning they went with another trade association lead for their panel. (Oh, and I’ve got the State Dept. tomorrow, but that’s a Teams call.)

The meetings were good; lots of conversation about pharma supply chains, my trade association’s members, and the various insights I’ve gained over 26 years (!!) around this industry. I did a lot of gabbing, and apologized to my 4:30 appt. that my voice was somewhat shot.

There are times the split/multiple personality vibe gets to me, but I held it together pretty well throughout the day. That said, after early (solo) dinner, I let art-Gil down by just heading back to my room to take care of some email requests from meetings that day, rather than hiking up to Second Story Books in DuPont or letting any of my DC pals know I was in town.

On the plus side, after the meeting today, I was able to get back to my hotel room and change out of my suit and into gym-shorts, sneakers and pullover before heading catching the Acela back to NJ. I take wins where I can get them.

Yeah, this is the Boring-Gil stuff. It’s also what caused a guest to cancel their followup podcast with me this summer (I mention it in this week’s intro without naming the guest). Sure, this gives me the financial and travel flexibility to make the podcast, but like I said above, the personae can sometimes bleed into each other, sometimes conflict. I’m not complaining; like everyone, I manage to keep dancing.

And I still find art everywhere.

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Instaxery

I shot a couple on Saturday in NYC. Didn’t get any writing done for the book.

Artistry

Didn’t do much sketching this week, but here are two from the sketchbook. 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.

Darling your dreams are your greatest part / I carry them with me in my heart,