Podcastery

This week, I posted Episode 666 of my Virtual Memories Show! With THE MASTER OF CONTRADICTIONS: Thomas Mann and the Making of The Magic Mountain (Yale University Press), Morten Høi Jensen has brought us a masterful biography of one of the great novels of the 20th century and shows how it and its author speak to our present moment. We talk about Morten’s history with Mann’s novel, his weeks of research in the sanatoria of Davos and his discovery of how much of The Magic Mountain‘s world is intact a century later, and how Mann’s novel changed for him in the process of writing this book. We get into Mann’s political transformation from a nationalist into an antifascist, how art & politics can make for a disastrous mix, Mann’s rivalry with his novelist brother Heinrich, and what it was like to write about a novel about life in a TB clinic while in the middle of a pandemic. We also discuss the weird connection I draw between Mann and Thomas Pynchon, how Morten became a literary biographer via the biography of another novel, spiritualism before and after WWI, how he came around on the chapter of The Magic Mountain that bored him in his earlier readings, why Robert Musil resented Mann, whether it’s okay to write margin notes and never look at them, and more. Give it a listen! And go read THE MASTER OF CONTRADICTIONS

Last week I posted Episode 665, feat. the return of Prue Shaw and her amazing new book, DANTE: THE ESSENTIAL COMMEDIA (Liveright), which brings us a canto-by-canto journey through Dante’s masterwork, interweaving translated verses with her commentary, and serving as a Virgil-like guide to the poem. We talk about how she was inspired by John Carey’s The Essential Paradise Lost, why the Paradiso was her biggest challenge, how the poem has changed for her over the course of her life, and why she went with prose translations of Dante rather than verse. We get into Dante’s balance of pride in his art and his humility before God, the modern sound of Dante’s verse and the challenge of translating Italian into English, what she’s learning from helping translate Shelley into Italian, why she wants The Essential Commedia to serve as a gateway drug into Dante, and the nature of language & why the Tower of Babel plays a big role in the Commedia. We also discuss her incredible work on third edition of the Digital Commedia, life after the death of her husband, Clive James, and putting a collection of his final poems together, how an issue of the X-Men turned me on to Dante as a kid, my changing views on Ulysses in the Commedia, why sloth is my fave of the deadly sins, and more. Give it a listen! And go get DANTE: THE ESSENTIAL COMMEDIA

Recent episodes: Glenn Kurtz • Jennifer Hayden • Rian Hughes • Josh Neufeld • Dean Haspiel & Whitney Matheson • Ron Rosenbaum • Lance Richardson

Soft Skills

I’m on a train to Baltimore right now. From there, I’ll get a Lyft down to FDA HQ, work on negotiations, then head on to DC for an event my lobbyists are holding. We just passed the suburban Philadelphia where I lived for a few years, including my senior year of high school. I had a great English teacher that year, Joe Blake. He turned me on to Calvino and Invisible Cities, along with a lot of other work that a 17-/18-year-old Gil needed to grow into.

I got to do some impromptu mentoring yesterday. A client invited me to an association’s STEM awards luncheon at the Metropolitan Club in NYC, where I was once barred from the lobby because I was wearing a turtleneck sweater instead of a tie. I dressed almost correctly this time, but among the old-money marble and wrought iron and red stained glass, ye olde imposter syndrome creeped in a little.

During the pre-luncheon reception, I stood at a high-top table and drank a seltzer while noting that every man’s suit was a little darker than mine. I assumed that this was just another code I didn’t know, or that they were all afraid of standing out. But I looked my insouciant-est and kept an eye out for my client.

I’d already had a disconcerting moment soon after arriving. While picking up my name badge, a man introduced himself as the organizer of this event and said he’d heard all about me. My client had apparently mentioned me, and it turned out this man’s son has worked at several of my client companies. Our conversation morphed into an invitation to speak at an online event next year, which sure why not.

I stood at the high-top, idly noshing from the bowl of mixed nuts, trying not to eat too much before the luncheon. I was soon joined by a hedge-fund exec who reflexively had taken a glass of wine from the servers but felt that 11:15 was a bit too early to start drinking. She put her glass aside and we gabbed for a bit. She concluded I should cut my hair and lean into my age. I told her I’d think about it.

After a while a short young woman walked up to our table, notepad & pen in hand. Her name badge showed the she was from Stuyvesant High School, as were several of the other young folks milling around. She asked us about ourselves, our jobs, etc. I took out one of my business cards and explained a bit about my policy/advocacy gig. I also told her, “Someday, when you’re at a conference, this will be helpful: keep your cards in one pocket, and keep the cards you receive in another pocket, so you don’t mix them up when you’re handing yours out.” She didn’t have pockets, but tucked my card into her notepad.

Then we got to talking about her strong science background and the field in which she hoped to work. The fundie & I both stressed that, as important as STEM is, a balanced education is important.

I told her about my complete lack of science, technical, regulatory, or government qualifications, and how that didn’t stop me from building this career. I told her that one of my most important skills is being able to convey difficult subjects to normal people/laymen: “At some point, you’re going to have to apply for grants, and the people you’ll be asking for money may not know or understand the science you’re involved in, so the better you can explain it to them, the better your chances of success.”

My imposter-ism abated as I went on about collaboration, compromise, helping other folks, and other soft skills and Good Human Being stuff. She was writing everything down furiously, and I apologized for dumping all that on her, while hoping it helped. Soon, a counselor from Stuyvesant came to our table to task if the girl was being a bother. My hedge-pal & I said it was no problem at all, and I gave him my card and told him a little about what I do & what I was telling his student.

He tapped the card and said, “I’m going to follow up with you. We need you to speak to our students next year!” I reiterated the point about my lack of science background, and he said, “That’s exactly why I want you to talk to them! I tell them about communication and presentation skills, but they need to hear it from someone who’s made a career out of it!”

Which, again, sure why not.

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Postscripts: At the luncheon, I gabbed with biotech execs and journalists, and my client wound up sitting next to me. (He had several tables, but I was next to one of the few empty seats.) I helped him with some Washington connections while lunch was served, and later I got to shake hands with the CEO of Pfizer, who was there to receive a lifetime achievement award.

After, I let my hair down and walked across Central Park South to the Winter Market on the SW corner, then the Columbus Circle subway up to 96th.

On the drive home, I stopped to see my dad’s grave and read the Kaddish over it. The ground above it (him) is subsiding a little, but that’s normal, I hear.

A lot of the graves have wreaths on them. There are things I’ve never noticed before about our customs for the dead. Today is 5 months since he died, and I wonder if he ever gave a thought to this place, if he ever passed it on a shortcut to/from Rt. 17, if he ever thought he’d be dead and buried.

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This email setup runs $29/month, podcast-hosting via LibSyn is $25/month, and the remote recording setup on Zencastr is $20/month, so if you want to help out with these expenses or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can support the Virtual Memories Show with a contribution of any size, one-time or recurring.

Instaxery

No new Instax pix this week. Here’s an outtake/throwback from Patrick McDonnell’s studio, spring of 2024:

Artistry

Didn’t draw anything, sorry. 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 & a new Instax.

The frogs are jumping in the gutters / Leaping to God, amazed of love / And amazed of pain / Amazed to be back in the water again / In the Sunday rain,