Vigilance and Apprehension
This one's got my new episode w/Eric Drooker about the importance of on-the-ground activism, some thoughts from Calvino, a little art, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 611 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. artist/activist Eric Drooker and his wonderful new graphic novel, NAKED CITY (Dark Horse Books), the conclusion to the New York trilogy begun in Flood! and Blood Song. We talk about how Naked City started with the image of a beleaguered squeegee-man and wound up a love letter to New York and especially Tompkins Square Park, the challenges of using word/thought balloons and captions after making wordless comics for so long, and the importance of staying handmade in the digital era. We get into his upbringing in Stuy Town and the Lower East Side/Loisaida, why we were recording in an apartment above the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, how New York changed during his life, why he semi sorta escaped from the city, what it’s like being a quality-of-life criminal, and the time he made his start with stencil-graffiti only to get over-tagged by Basquiat. We also discuss his political awakening, the Tompkins Square Park riot and police militarization, his ambivalence about street art going into the gallery, the surveillance panopticon, the importance of on-the-ground activism, and more. Give it a listen, and go get NAKED CITY!
Last week, I posted Episode 610, with philosopher Simon Critchley rejoining the show to celebrate his fantastic new book, MYSTICISM (NYRB), which explores mystic traditions from medieval Christianity to the present. We talked about the evolving definition of mysticism, its female-centric history, Julian of Norwich’s half-day of revelations and ~40 years of theological examination of them, and whether aesthetic experiences can truly be a substitute for the religious transcendence. We get into attention as a form of mysticism and close reading as a form of attention, how we can try to overcome this age of distraction upon distraction, what it means to de-create our creaturely self and ‘get out of our own way’, and why he’s drawn to the weirdness of Christianity. We also discussed how we each faced our theoretical deaths and found liberation in their wake, the music he makes with his oldest friend, John Simmons, how Brian Eno’s concept of a Scenius is hard to create virtually, how his life and his teaching have changed since the pandemic began, The Time He Got To Meet Nick Cave (grr!), and a lot more. Give it a listen, and go get MYSTICISM!
Recent episodes: Doug Brod • Sven Birkerts • Christopher Brown • Dmitry Samarov • Stephen B. Shepard • Benjamin Dreyer • Nicholas Delbanco
Vigilance and Apprehension
I’m sorry that I have no solace or words of comfort to offer you, beyond what I do and make here. Here’s what I wrote after 2016, when I first quoted that Calvino piece above.
Instaxery
No podcasts or drop-ins this past week, so no new Instax pix. Here’s one of my faves (digital, not a scan of the Instax print; I’m still undecided about whether to use those or the Instax-scans for the book):
Artistry
Still making my daily sketch-journal, even on days when I go nowhere and see nothing. I made a postcard Saturday morning, an ink sketch of a statue of a Vestal virgin from a picture I took in the Roman Forum last month. It’s missing its head & forearms, which made it easier for me. 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, like that one above.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I promise I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workout-craziness, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art, maybe an Instax, because I might go celebrate/mourn the Original Sisters exhibition by Anita Kunz at the Norman Rockwell Museum on Saturday.
And although my eyes were open / They might just as well have been closed,