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In this episode, we hop over to New York to encounter our Dead Lady of the hour, May Ziadeh, a Lebanese-Palestinian poet, writer, translator, and feminist, whose work explored themes of love, identity, and the liberation of women. Books were her beloved companions throughout her life, and proved more steadfast than people. May began writing at an early age, started an important literary salon, and had moments of fame, but is perhaps better known for the years of isolation and tragedy that marked her life. She deserves more. May wrote in her diary: “After my death, I hope that someone will do me justice and find the sincerity and honesty contained in my small writings.” Our presenter is Rosana Elkhatib, a designer, researcher, and curator. She is a co-founding principal of feminist architecture collaborative f-architecture and has taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins host/producer Susan Stone to introduce the talk. Thanks to the team at Dead Ladies NYC for sharing this presentation with us: Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, Sheila Enright, Christopher Neil and the KGB Bar's Lori Schwarz. Visit our episode page to see photos of May Ziadeh and get more information about her: https://deadladiesshow.com/2025/05/31/podcast-81-may-ziadeh/ Read three of her poems in English translation here: https://losangelesreview.org/3-poems-translated-rose-demaris/ Find our more about Rosana Elkhatib and her work here: https://rosanakhatib.work/ If you're in New York and want to see the show live, stay up-to-date with Dead Ladies NYC via their newsletter here: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com/ If you're in Berlin and want to stay in touch, our newsletter is here: https://deadladiesshowberlin.beehiiv.com And find us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/deadladiesshow Need even more Dead Ladies in your life? Become a member of our Patreon and get exclusive episodes of our Dead Lady Book Club, where we chat about books, ideas, music and more — by and about Dead Ladies. For just a couple of dollars, pounds or euros a month, you can support our work and join in the fun. Check it out at patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast
Here's the audio from the May 14th reading with Daryl Gregory & Carol Gyzander, recorded live at the KGB Bar on May 14th, 2025, 7pm ET. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here!... Continue Reading →
Meg tells how Mariel Boatlift refugee Abel Mendez's unlikely friends made his American Dream come true. Jessica explains how Reagan's trickle down economics gave birth to the clock-watching office temp. Please check out our website, follow us on Instagram, on Facebook, and...WRITE US A REVIEW HEREWe'd LOVE to hear from you! Let us know if you have any ideas for stories HEREThank you for listening!Love,Meg and Jessica
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on April 9th, 2025, with guests Andrea Hairston & Ursula Whitcher. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! Andrea Hairston Novelist,... Continue Reading →
Meg learns how dedicated girlfriends discovered the identity of Joel Rifkin's first victim. Jessica takes a tour of dive bars, and the communities they created, in the East Village circa 1986.Please check out our website, follow us on Instagram, on Facebook, and...WRITE US A REVIEW HEREWe'd LOVE to hear from you! Let us know if you have any ideas for stories HEREThank you for listening!Love,Meg and Jessica
Here is the audio from September's Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series, recorded live at the KGB Bar on Sept 11th, 2024, with guests Alaya Dawn Johnson & Sarah Beth Durst. We need your help to stay funded! Support the... Continue Reading →
Universities are cutting funding for humanities programs. Admission to doctoral programs is increasingly competitive. The prospect of obtaining a tenure track teaching position is becoming nearly impossible as departments depend on the underpaid labor of adjuncts. On top of all this, the overt corporatization and bureaucratization, and subsequent weakening of standards and politicization, of universities has diminished the former prestige that academia held in the public's eye. What is academia good for? Is it even worth pursuing an academic career anymore? Join cracks in postmodernity for a discussion on the future of higher education featuring K.C. Johnson, Hamilton Craig, Jonah Howell, and Stephen G. Adubato. Hosted on 9/19 at KGB Bar. Follow cracks in pomo on Substack and IG: https://cracksinpomo.substack.com/https://www.instagram.com/cracksinpomo/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stephen-adubato/support
Universities are cutting funding for humanities programs. Admission to doctoral programs is increasingly competitive. The prospect of obtaining a tenure track teaching position is becoming nearly impossible as departments depend on the underpaid labor of adjuncts. On top of all this, the overt corporatization and bureaucratization, and subsequent weakening of standards and politicization, of universities has diminished the former prestige that academia held in the public's eye. What is academia good for? Is it even worth pursuing an academic career anymore? Join cracks in postmodernity for a discussion on the future of higher education featuring K.C. Johnson, Hamilton Craig, Jonah Howell, and Stephen G. Adubato. Hosted on 9/19 at KGB Bar. Follow cracks in pomo on Substack and IG: https://cracksinpomo.substack.com/https://www.instagram.com/cracksinpomo/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stephen-adubato/support
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on June 12, 2024, with guests Grady Hendrix & Bracken MacLeod. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! Grady Hendrix Grady... Continue Reading →
In this episode, DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens introduces us to Dame Miriam Rothschild, a British zoologist, entomologist, and botanist. Coming from a wealthy family (yes, those Rothschilds) with an active interest in nature, she started collecting ladybirds and caterpillars and taking a tame quail to bed with her at the age of four. During a stint of WWII codebreaking at Bletchley Park, she pressured the British government to take in more Jewish refugees, providing housing for 49 children in her own (stately) home. She then became a leading authority on fleas, with sidelines in other parasites, butterflies, and meadow restoration. DLS co-host Katy Derbyshire joins producer Susan Stone to kick off the fun. For pictures of Dame Miriam and some of her many natural obsessions, hop (like a flea) on over to https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/06/15/podcast-72-miriam-rothschild. You can also flock like a starling to our newsletter to find out when our next live show will be by clicking this link: https://deadladiesshowberlin.beehiiv.com/ If you are in New York, you can see a Dead Ladies Show July 17 and September 25 at the KGB Bar's Red Room. Find out more from them on Instagram @deadladiesnyc or join up for their newsletter if you like here: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com/ Don't forget we have a Patreon! This month, Florian is there telling Susan all about another Rothschild — Pannonica, Miriam's sister, who was named for a moth, and known as the Jazz Baroness for her patronage of and friendships with musical greats including Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. You can join up for as little as $2 or 2 euros a month and enjoy our full archive of special features, and our eternal gratitude. Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast We'd also be grateful if you follow us on social media @deadladiesshow where we share pictures and info about all of the wonderful Dead Ladies we've covered so far. You can also drop us a line via info@deadladiesshow.com Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We'll be back with a new episode next month. **** The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history. The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on May 8, 2024, with guests John Wiswell & Anya Johanna DeNiro. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! John Wiswell... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on April 10, 2024, with guests Robert Levy & Jennifer Marie Brissett. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! Robert Levy... Continue Reading →
The gender balance in her profession is disheartening, she says, “It has one of the smallest percentages of women. I mean the ratio is astounding.” U.S. Senator? Catholic priest? Not quite that bad. She is a magician. But things are improving. Produced with KGB Bar's Red Room. Music: Teddy Horangic with Leonid Morozov
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit compactmag.substack.comAnchored by our own Nina Power and Geoff Shullenberger, Blame Theory takes a seriously playful look at the ideas that have shaped our minds and our world, to ask: How have we ended up here, and whom or what can we blame? Plato? Hegel? Marx? Nominalism? Gnosticism? Feminism? Postmodernism? Critical theory?The debut episode—“Blame Deconstruction?”—was recorded live at KGB Bar, featuring Avital Ronell, University Professor of German and Comparative Literature at NYU and author of The Telephone Book and Complaint, among many other books. We asked her whether deconstruction—with its emphasis on multiple truths and narratives—is to blame for our current woes. Listen either here on Substack or copy the RSS Feed link above to listen on your preferred podcast app.Paid subscribers get access to the Q+A session at the end of the recording. Click below to get full access.
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on February 14, 2024, with guests Isabel Yap & Randee Dawn. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! Isabel Yap Isabel... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on December 13, 2023, with guests Holly Black & S.L. Coney. Only S.L. Coney's audio is included in this recording. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading... Continue Reading →
This magician had mixed feelings when he figured out how a colleague performed an illusion. “It was no less amazing to me when I knew how it was done, but it was disappointing.” The austere joy of knowledge or the sensuous pleasure of mystery: a magician's dilemma. Produced with Lori Schwarz for KGB Bar's Red Room. Music: Reed Miller.
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on November 8th, 2023, with guests Cadwell Turnbull & Victor Manibo. Hosted by Matthew Kressel and Mercurio D. Rivera, who was subbing for Ellen Datlow. We need your help to... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on September 13, 2023, with guests Benjamin Percy & Josh Rountree. Hosted by Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded August 9th, 2023, with guests C. S. E. Cooney & Steve Berman, like at the KGB Bar. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! C.S.E. Cooney... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on July 12th, 2023, with guests Michael Cisco & Farah Rose Smith. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series by clicking here! Michael Cisco Michael... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live on June 14, 2023 at the KGB Bar with guests Nathan Ballingrud & Dale Bailey. Nathan Ballingrud Nathan Ballingrud is the author of The Strange, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, and North American... Continue Reading →
Meg goes down into the subway to tell tales of horror and hope on the tracks. Jessica takes note of the events that led to the election of David Dinkins, New York's first black mayor.Please check out our website, follow us on Instagram, on Facebook, and...WRITE US A REVIEW HEREWe'd LOVE to hear from you! Let us know if you have any ideas for stories HEREThank you for listening!Love,Meg and Jessica
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on May 10th, 2023, with guests Paul Tremblay & John Langan. A super crowded night reminiscent of pre-Covid times! Paul Tremblay Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker,... Continue Reading →
Here's the audio from this month's Fantastic Fiction at KGB, with guests Christopher M. Cevasco & A. T. Greenblatt, recorded live at the KGB Bar on Jan 11th, 2023. We need your help to stay funded! Support the reading series... Continue Reading →
“There's no getting lost when you travel, because you're already there. You're already where you're supposed to be, which is somewhere in this new place.” –Ari Shaffir In this episode of Deviate, which took place at New York City's KGB Bar, Rolf and Ari talk about the premise of Rolf's new book The Vagabond's Way (2:20); why it's important not to postpone one's dream travels to a seemingly more appropriate time of life, and how it's hard for your friends to appreciate and understand your travels when you get home (7:30); how to not let your smartphones and photographs get in the way of your best journey (15:00); how to best decide where to start on a journey, and why allowing yourself to get lost is sometimes the best way to find experiences a place (23:00); why the philosophical concept of "time wealth" is important to Rolf, and how travel allows you to express a unique feeling freedom (31:30); how the The Vagabond's Way is the "spiritual successor" to Vagabonding, and how Rolf keeps travel in conversation with his home life in Kansas (36:00); and how to savor a new place in the moment, even as that place is changing (44:00). Ari Shaffir (@AriShaffir) is a comedian, writer, podcaster, and actor. He is the host of the Skeptic Tank podcast. His new comedy special, JEW, is available on YouTube. Notable Links: Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf's summer creative writing classes) The Vagabond's Way, by Rolf Potts (travel book) Henry Rollins on Ari's podcast Skeptic Tank Commonplace book (method of compiling knowledge) Jasmin Shah (photographer) Wenamun (ancient Egyptian traveler) Matsuo Bashō, (Japanese poet and traveler) On Photography, by Susan Sontag (book) Mentawai people (inhabitants of islands near Sumatra) Cypress Hill (American hip-hop group) Pico Iyer (travel writer) Pagan Holiday, by Tony Perrottet (book) Icelandic Sagas (Nordic historic narratives) Koshary (Egyptian national dish) Chefchaouen (city in Morocco) Tétouan (city in Morocco) Inle Lake (lake in Myanmar) Eddy L. Harris (travel writer) Aosta Valley (region in the Italian Alps) Instagram shot of Rolf's first vagabonding trip Mary Oliver (American poet) Lindsborg, Kansas ("Little Sweden") Lower East Side (neighborhood in Manhattan) Umbria (region in Italy) The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don't host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.
Here's the audio from November 9th, 2022, with guests Eileen Gunn & Stephanie Feldman, recorded live at the KGB Bar. Eileen Gunn Eileen Gunn writes short stories. Her fiction has received the Nebula Award in the US and... Continue Reading →
Episode 56 - Mae West Courtesy of our pals at DLS NYC, we meet the first meta sex symbol: Mae West. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY Mae was brazen, buxom, bawdy, sensational and sexy. She was known for her husky voice, risqué performances, and double entendres that slipped past the film censors. With over 70 years in show business on both the stage and screen, she scandalized the world of entertainment in a time when women were expected to sit on the sidelines. But, as Mae West would tell you, "goodness had nothing to do with it.” DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer Susan Stone to introduce our featured Dead Lady. Artist, lecturer, researcher, and self-described 'professional eccentric' JR Pepper tells Mae's story; you can find out more about JR here: https://www.pepperart.com Find our more about Mae and see some scandalous pix on our show notes page here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2022/08/17/podcast-56-mae-west/ DLS NYC is curated and hosted by Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, and was recorded by Jennifer Nulsen, all under the auspices of the KGB Bar's Lori Schwarz. If you're in the NY area, why not sign up for their newsletter so you can find out when the next show will be? Find it here: https://tinyletter.com/DeadLadiesShowNYC Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We'll be back with a new episode next month. **** The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history. The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone. Don't forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here's the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast
Episode 54 - Memphis Minnie In this episode, we drop in on our New York-based sister spinoff show, DLS NYC, which returned to the KGB Bar's Red Room after a long hiatus. DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens happened to be visiting from Berlin, and took to the stage to introduce the fabulous Memphis Minnie. Tobacco-chewing blues singer MEMPHIS MINNIE (1897–1973) ran away from home at the age of 13 and made a living off music from then on, from street performances to hundreds of now classic recordings. It was said she never put her guitar down until she could no longer hold it in her hands, and she was known to use it as a weapon when required. Her songs were about the joys and hardships of everyday Black life; according to the poet Langston Hughes, she played “music with so much in it folks remember, that sometimes it makes them holler out loud.” Largely forgotten for many years while white men covered her songs, she is now celebrated for her huge contribution to blues music and what came after. DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone for the introducing duties, and to flag up some of our upcoming shows, at Muenster's Center for Literature's Droste Festival on June 18: https://www.burg-huelshoff.de/en/programm/kalender/droste-festival-2022 And at Podfest Berlin July 16-17: https://www.podfestberlin.com Listen along to all of Florian's favorites with our Memphis Minnie playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WSTvaocIKcJCGNGKtVDrh?si=d356b954c66245fd And see photos of the well-dressed Minnie and get more info on our episode notes page: https://deadladiesshow.com/2022/06/16/podcast-54-memphis-minnie/ DLS NYC is curated and hosted by Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, and was recorded by Jennifer Nulsen, all under the auspices of the KGB Bar's Lori Schwarz. If you're in the NY area, why not sign up for their newsletter so you can find out when the next show will be? NYC newsletter Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We'll be back with a new episode next month. **** The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history. The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone. Don't forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here's the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast
Legendary editor hits Philip Fracassi with tips for aspiring horror writersWe had a great conversation with legendary editor Ellen Datlow in which we discuss anthologies, tips for new writers when submitting a story, the nuts and bolts of creating a killer table of contents, and much more.Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty-five years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short fiction for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited more than a hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year.She's won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and was the recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre.” She was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, as well as the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.Datlow lives in New York and co-hosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar. More information can be found at www.datlow.com.
We're back! And joined by Felix Biederman, a promising young podcaster recently arrived in Los Angeles whom we condescended to let on the show. Although by no means a "bookhead" -- to appropriate his charming coinage -- Felix is a longtime fan of Karl Ove Knausgaard. The Norwegian author became a source of strength for Felix when he first encountered the Struggle books in 2017 amidst an increasingly cloying digital media landscape. With startling lucidity, Felix articulates how Knasugaard, with his undifferentiated and unselfserving stream of thoughts, served as a welcome anecdote to the insanely hypertargeted and overdetermined first person essay boom of the time (should she have pitched a piece about what it's like to be a quarter Portuguese woman in America? Lauren wonders). Then we get into the text: specifically pages 88-94 of book 2, which cover about five minutes of Knausgaard stalking around Stockholm with the stroller and having thoughts. We try to understand Knausgaard's aversion to being recognized as a "regular" as a coffee shop (and utter mortification at being presented with a free croissant) and Felix recounts his stint in cafe society (the LES Dunkin Donuts) as a young man. Also: we discover Knausgaard to have invented main character/NPC discourse, and consider the 2005 fashion trend of knee high black boots for women, which Knausgaard wishes "would last forever" (cruel hindsight: it didn't). If you enjoyed this episode with Felix, make sure to check out his podcast, "Chapo Trap House" As always we can be reached at teixeira.lauren@gmail.com; deohringer@gmail.com LIVE SHOW IS THURS JUN 2 @ KGB BAR. Tickets are not available yet but will be soon. We'll send out an email blast! Mugs are available at ourstruggle.store. Discount code MISTAKE valid for one week! Oh and congratulations to our baby Joshua Cohen (novelist) on his Pulitzer win, which we like to think we are in some part if not all responsible for. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ourstrugglepod/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ourstrugglepod/support
Here's the audio from the April 20, 2022 Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series with guests Victor LaValle & Robert Freeman Wexler, and guest host Theresa DeLucci, recorded live at the KGB Bar. If you'd like to support our Fantastic... Continue Reading →
Finally! It's Rhythm Time! To discuss one of the most notorious and worst written passages of Book 2, we invited back our homie James Griffiths, the Welsh warrior and three-time struggle King, who told us that these pages made him "want to get a vasectomy." Also in this episode: A "lover's quarrel" between Lauren and Drew (saga to be cont.); we uncover the true meaning of Nico's 'These Days'; James and Drew get vulnerable about their hair loss journeys; Lauren reports on her experience of a real-life Rhythm Time in south Brooklyn. James has a new book out which Lauren will definitely read if he sends her a copy! It's called "Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language" and takes up the subject of vanishing marginal languages (we love them folks!) and it's been getting great reviews! As always, we can be reached at teixeira.lauren@gmail; deohringer@gmail.com Live show is June 2 at KGB Bar in New York! Mark your calendars! (Tickets are not available yet but they will be, at some point) Oh and stay tuned for our Patreon lol Oh and I still have mugs please buy one? ourstruggle.store Until next time! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ourstrugglepod/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ourstrugglepod/support
We're thrilled to consider new poems and flash fiction by Dr. Emily Kingery on this episode. Subtle and specific and utterly compelling, these poems make us ponder and pause and praise. We're global as ever, Slushies: from Lititz, PA, to the KGB Bar, Gabby is somewhere in Powelton, it's last year's Ramadan (Ramadan Kareem!), Samantha hasn't gotten married yet, and Kingery's got us thinking about the trouble we got into in high school basements. Time warps and shapes shift! Listen in & enjoy. This episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors, Wilbur Records, who kindly introduced us to the artist A.M.Mills, whose song “Spaghetti with Loretta” now opens our show. At the table: Addison, Alex, Gabby, Jason, Kate, Kathy, Larissa, Marion, & Samantha Emily Kingery is an English professor at a small university in Iowa and the author of Invasives (Finishing Line Press, forthcoming), a semi-finalist in the New Women's Voices Series. Her work appears widely in journals, including Birdcoat Quarterly, Blood Orange Review, GASHER, The Madison Review, Midwest Review, New Ohio Review, Plainsongs, Raleigh Review, and Sidereal, among others. She has been a chapbook finalist at Harbor Editions and Thirty West Publishing House, as well as the recipient of honors and awards in both poetry and prose at Eastern Iowa Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Midway Journal, Quarter After Eight, and Small Orange Journal. She serves on the Board of Directors at the Midwest Writing Center, a non-profit supporting writers in the Quad Cities community (mwcqc.org), and you can follow her on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ekingery/ Dirtbag Wilderness Our dirtbags, our dirtbags were medicine men. They spoke as oracles, capped bottles, skated razorblades across the glass of pictures. It's just like shoveling snow, laughed our dirtbags as they unburied their parents' faces. Like raking leaves, want to try? We watched their hands swap bills, our eyes the wrong kind of wild. Our dirtbags laughed: You can sit with us while we finish. This was intimacy: our sitting; their finishing. We laughed; we returned frames to their shelves. We bought shadows dark and lip stains darker. Darker, said our dirtbags, damp on basement couches. We envied in secret the laughs of bright girls, high as their hair pinned in hard, slick curls. They spun like acrobats in the high school gym, strobing in glitz we were disallowed. Bitches, spat our dirtbags, skanks, whichever words coaxed our laughter. We swallowed them like expectorant and laughed in wet coughs under canopies of parking lot trees, our arms crossed as though coffined already. We rolled in our dirtbags' scent like hunting dogs, napped in stuffy rooms as their hands, their hands blessed guns, made backpacks heavy with Ziploc holy. It's all good, laughed our dirtbags. Our hips, our ponytails swayed easy as leaves. By summer, our dirtbags wore sly, deep pockets, weighed powders, held capsules to the light under a jeweler's loupe. The car windows glided, phones lit up like lightning bugs on the shoulders of gravel roads. Such soft light, light of vigils, light the yellow of a forgiven bruise. We rode to neighboring towns of missing teeth and needles. We cried in bathrooms far from home. We were home when we laughed, when we laughed we laughed Everclear vomit. But our dirtbags, our dirtbags let us sit while they finished, and their hands were warm as stones pressing us to sleep. Funeral for a Cat When the cat was killed by a driver in a tragic hit-and-run, the dirt bike kid watched it happen. He screamed to gather us to her carcass: Pumpkin! He pedaled hard around the block. Pumpkin is dead! I was afraid to tell Dad, at first. He went outside, shoveled Pumpkin into a grocery bag and dug a hole under a lilac bush. It was too late in the season for flowers, but he said they would bloom next year: a small truth sounding like kindness. The kids begged him for a real funeral to say goodbye. He smiled a little, but not at them, and had us circle the grave and hold each other's sweaty hands while he prayed. It was a test. The dirt bike kid and the girls with yards of upside-down toys wept for the cat, loose with their sadness. The streetlights flickered on, and I was afraid of Dad again. I tried not to picture Pumpkin with a halo and wings, but I failed. I begged God to forgive me for it, then tried not to picture God as a cat shaking its head at my blasphemy, then prayed not to cry as the cats kept coming. I missed the amen, but I held out. I passed. After the funeral, Dad said I was so grown-up, not weeping over a cat that didn't belong to anyone. Not to the neighborhood, not even to God. He prayed over hamsters in the years to follow, maybe a second cat. He prayed, and I grew into a tragic, feral thing.
This week on Unorthodox, we're ordering gazpacho for the table. Our Jewish guest this week is Tablet's very own Wayne Hoffman, whose new book is The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimers to Solve a Murder. He talks with us about family legends, coming to terms with his mother's decline, and the morass of memory. We're giving away a few free copies of Wayne's book on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. We've got events coming up! Thursday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, we'll be doing a live show at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, hosted by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, with schmoozing and book signing afterwards. Get your tickets here. Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. Eastern, Stephanie will be discussing Wayne Hoffman's new book, The End of Her, at Manhattan's KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th St. Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. Eastern (virtual), Stephanie will be in conversation with authors Gal Beckerman (“The Quiet Before”) and Talia Lavin (“Culture Warlords”) for the Jewish Book Council and the Jewish Museum's Unpacking the Book series. Register here. Get all our events info at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. We love to hear from you! Send us your emails and voice memos at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869. Remember to tell us who you are and where you're calling from. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel. Check out The Tab, Tablet magazine's new printable weekly digest. Laid out in an attractive PDF for reading on a tablet or desktop, or to be printed, The Tab takes you into Shabbat and through the weekend, for free. Get your copy at tabletm.ag/tab. Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email tabletstudios@tabletmag.com. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: ChaiFlicks is now streaming the hit Israeli comedy called “The New Black,” which follows four rebellious students at a yeshiva in Jerusalem as they try to reconcile their desire for modern life with their religious upbringing. Watch it now at chaiflicks.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Here's the audio from this month's Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series with David Leo Rice & Mercurio D. Rivera, recorded live at the KGB Bar on December 15th, 2021. Rajan Khanna guest hosted for Ellen Datlow, who was at... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on November 17th, 2021, with C.S.E. Cooney & Robert V.S. Redick. C. S. E. Cooney C. S. E. Cooney lives in Queens, New York. She won the World Fantasy... Continue Reading →
The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on October 20th, with Daryl Gregory & Michael J. DeLuca, our first in-person reading since February 2020 when we went into lockdown for the pandemic. Welcome back everyone! ... Continue Reading →
Our 36th podcast episode brings you a glimpse of the acclaimed author of some of the most chilling tales in contemporary American literature, Shirley Jackson. Her short story “The Lottery” is a true classic since its publication in 1948. Shirley Jackson blended gothic and horror elements with explorations of women's alienation and search for identity. In her real life, she was forced to balance her tremendous talent with the everyday duties of a wife and mother and societal expectations of femininity, which she defied at almost every step. Our presentation from Krista Ahlberg comes courtesy of Dead Ladies Show NYC, and was recorded live by Christopher Neil in the Red Room at New York's KGB Bar in 2019. Dead Ladies Show co-founder Florian Duijsens joins podcast host/producer Susan Stone to discuss some of Shirley's stories and the films and series in the Shirley Jackson extended universe. For all things Shirley, check out our episode page here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2020/10/15/podcast-36-shirley-jackson/ Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We'll be back with a new episode next month. **** The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history. The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone. Don't forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here's the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast
Our third ever livestream on YouTube of our Fantastic Fiction readings went off without a hitch last night with two great readings from Leanna Renee Hieber & Ilana C. Myer. You can watch the full video below or listen to the mp3 audio-only version. If you wish to support the KGB Bar during this time […]
Due to the COVID-19 virus quarantine shutting down NYC, we again held the Fantastic Fiction reading on April 15, 2020 live over YouTube instead of at the KGB Bar. This month’s guests were Michael Cisco & Clay McLeod Chapman. You can watch the YouTube livestream of their readings below. There is also an audio only […]
Episode 32 introduces enthusiastic ghost-buster Rose Mackenberg! Sometimes called “Harry Houdini's Girl Detective,” Rose was dedicated to debunking psychics who scammed vulnerable and grieving Americans recovering from the tragedies of World War I and the Spanish Flu of 1918. She started out as a stenographer and private investigator, joining forces with famed magician Houdini to crusade against fraud and psychic swindlers. Rose is conjured up from the stage at KGB Bar's Red Room in New York, by presenters Nicole Saraniero and Dana Lewis. The talk was recorded live by Christopher Neil at a 2019 edition of NYC DLS, and hosted and curated by Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, with support from Nicolas Kemper and Lori Schwarz, general manager of the KGB Bar's Red Room, where the event was held. Please consider supporting our beloved venues in Berlin and New York (which are closed and unable to operate during the Coronavirus crisis) with the links below, or help out your local bar, theatre, or another venue you love. ACUD: https://www.startnext.com/save-acud-macht-neu KGB BAR'S RED ROOM: https://fundly.com/literary-landmark-kgb-bar-nyc-aid Find photos of Rose in her various disguises on our website: https://deadladiesshow.com/2020/04/17/podcast-32-rose-mackenberg/ Follow us on social media @deadladiesshow and please share, rate, and review the show as it helps others to find our feminist women's history podcast! **** The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history. The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.
Nightmares Ep 7: Emily Gould Negin Farsad Matt Lubchansky Quelle Chris Join comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and guest hosts Jason Chatfield and Kat Burdick as they talk to the funniest and most interesting people around about what messed up things go through their heads at night. They’ll poke around looking for deeper meaning behind that dream where you're still in high school somehow even though you know you graduated years ago and oh god, you've been blowing off first period all semester – and then Emily will present each guest with artwork based on their worst nightmare, suitable for framing or ritual burning! Drawings by Emily Flake are posted on Good Orbit site and social media. Recorded March 5, 2020. NOTE: Some of the COVID-19 thoughts are now out of date because March 5 was a billion years ago. As always, don’t get news or info from comedians, reality star presidents, CEOs, friends, or family. CDC Live show monthly (first Thursdays!) USUALLY at KGB Bar in NYC. April 2, 2020 we will be streaming right online right here! Recorded, produced, and edited by Shannon Manning for Good Orbit. Emily Gould’s Nightmare Negin Farsad’s Nightmare Matt Lubchansky’s Nightmare Quelle Chr
Due to the COVID-19 virus quarantine shutting down most of NYC, we held the Fantastic Fiction reading on March 18, 2020 live over YouTube instead of at the KGB Bar, with guests Daniel Braum & Robert Levy. You can watch the YouTube livestream below. There is also an audio only version below this video or […]
Ep 7: Emily Gould Negin Farsad Matt Lubchansky Quelle Chris Join comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and guest hosts Jason Chatfield and Kat Burdick as they talk to the funniest and most interesting people around about what messed up things go through their heads at night. They’ll poke around looking for deeper meaning behind that dream where you’re still in high school somehow even though you know you graduated years ago and oh god, you’ve been blowing off first period all semester – and then Emily will present each guest with artwork based on their worst nightmare, suitable for framing or ritual burning! Drawings by Emily Flake are posted on Good Orbit site and social media. Recorded March 5, 2020. NOTE: Some of the COVID-19 thoughts are now out of date because March 5 was a billion years ago. As always, don’t get news or info from comedians, reality star presidents, CEOs, friends, or family. CDC Live show monthly (first Thursdays!) USUALLY at KGB Bar in NYC. April 2, 2020 we will be streaming right online right here! Recorded, produced, and edited by Shannon Manning for Good Orbit. Emily Gould’s Nightmare Negin Farsad’s Nightmare Matt Lubchansky’s Nightmare Quelle Chris’ Nightmare
Ep 6: Jason Chatfield (cartoonist, illustrator, comedian) Carole Montgomery (comedian, writer, producer, director) Kenice Mobley (comedian and filmmaker) Jenny Boylan (author, activist, GLAAD co-chair) John Hodgman (author, actor, humorist) Your hosts: Kate Willett Is a comedian, actress, and writer whose raunchy feminist storytelling is both smart and relatable. She just made her network debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and her 15 minute special premiered on Netflix in 2018. Her comedy album “Glass Gutter” was released in 2017. She's the cohost of the political comedy podcast Reply Guys. Emily Flake is a New Yorker cartoonist, a writer, an illustrator, and performer. Her latest book is called Awkward Hug and before that was Mama Tried; both feature drawings and cusswords. Join comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and guest host Kate Willett as they talk to the funniest and most interesting people around about what messed up things go through their heads at night. They’ll poke around looking for deeper meaning behind that dream where you're still in high school somehow even though you know you graduated years ago and oh god, you've been blowing off first period all semester – and then Emily will present each guest with artwork based on their worst nightmare, suitable for framing or ritual burning! Drawings by Emily Flake are posted on Good Orbit site and social media. Recorded Feb 11, 2019. Live show monthly (first Thursdays!) at KGB Bar in NYC. Live sound and recording by Chris Gersbeck. Produced and edited by Shannon Manning for Good Orbit. Jason Chatfield’s Nightmare Carole Montgomery’s Nightmare Kenice Mobley’s Nightmare
Ep 6: Jason Chatfield (cartoonist, illustrator, comedian) Carole Montgomery (comedian, writer, producer, director) Kenice Mobley (comedian and filmmaker) Jenny Boylan (author, activist, GLAAD co-chair) John Hodgman (author, actor, humorist) Your hosts: Kate Willett Is a comedian, actress, and writer whose raunchy feminist storytelling is both smart and relatable. She just made her network debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and her 15 minute special premiered on Netflix in 2018. Her comedy album “Glass Gutter” was released in 2017. She’s the cohost of the political comedy podcast Reply Guys. Emily Flake is a New Yorker cartoonist, a writer, an illustrator, and performer. Her latest book is called Awkward Hug and before that was Mama Tried; both feature drawings and cusswords. Join comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and guest host Kate Willett as they talk to the funniest and most interesting people around about what messed up things go through their heads at night. They’ll poke around looking for deeper meaning behind that dream where you’re still in high school somehow even though you know you graduated years ago and oh god, you’ve been blowing off first period all semester – and then Emily will present each guest with artwork based on their worst nightmare, suitable for framing or ritual burning! Drawings by Emily Flake are posted on Good Orbit site and social media. Recorded Feb 11, 2019. Live show monthly (first Thursdays!) at KGB Bar in NYC. Live sound and recording by Chris Gersbeck. Produced and edited by Shannon Manning for Good Orbit. Jason Chatfield’s Nightmare Carole Montgomery’s Nightmare Kenice Mobley’s Nightmare Jenny Boylan’s Nightmare John Hodgman’s Nightmare
EP 5 Abbi Crutchfield Jeremy Nguyen Vicky Kuperman David Heatley as ever your hosts Emily Flake and Kat Burdick! Join comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and Kat Burdick as they talk to the funniest and most interesting people around about what messed up things go through their heads at night. They’ll poke around looking for deeper meaning behind that dream where you're still in high school somehow even though you know you graduated years ago and oh god, you've been blowing off first period all semester – and then Emily will present each guest with artwork based on their worst nightmare, suitable for framing or ritual burning! Drawings by Emily Flake are posted on Good Orbit site and social media. Recorded Sept 18, 2019. Live show monthly (first Thursdays!) at KGB Bar in NYC. Produced and edited by Shannon Manning for Good Orbit. Abbi Crutchfield’s Nightmare Jeremy Nguyen’s Nightmare
EP 5 Abbi Crutchfield Jeremy Nguyen Vicky Kuperman David Heatley as ever your hosts Emily Flake and Kat Burdick! Join comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and Kat Burdick as they talk to the funniest and most interesting people around about what messed up things go through their heads at night. They’ll poke around looking for deeper meaning behind that dream where you’re still in high school somehow even though you know you graduated years ago and oh god, you’ve been blowing off first period all semester – and then Emily will present each guest with artwork based on their worst nightmare, suitable for framing or ritual burning! Drawings by Emily Flake are posted on Good Orbit site and social media. Recorded Sept 18, 2019. Live show monthly (first Thursdays!) at KGB Bar in NYC. Produced and edited by Shannon Manning for Good Orbit. Abbi Crutchfield’s Nightmare Jeremy Nguyen’s Nightmare Vicky Kuperman’s Nightmare David Heatley’s Nightmare
In this episode, it's New York City, baby! Our sister spin-off show — hosted and curated by Molly O'Laughlin Kemper at KGB Bar — represents with two excellent talks about fantastic American Dead Ladies. First up is Amy Padnani on BESSIE BLOUNT. Amy is an obit editor at the New York Times, and creator of the acclaimed Overlooked series. Much like our Dead Ladies Show, Overlooked corrects history, by recognizing women who were left off the NYT's obituaries pages over the decades. Amy introduces us to dedicated nurse, brilliant inventor, and skilled forensic handwriting analyst BESSIE BLOUNT. Then, we go big with fabulous Black feminist radical activist FLORYNCE KENNEDY, who fought injustice and spoke truth to power dressed in a flamboyant cowboy hat, pink sunglasses, and false eyelashes. Yale University PhD student Deborah Streahle tells FLO KENNEDY's tale. DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins host and producer Susan Stone for the fun. The talks in this episode of the podcast come from the New York Dead Ladies Show, which is hosted and curated by Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, with support from Nicolas Kemper and Claire O'Laughlin, as well as Lori Schwarz of the KGB Bar and bartenders Dan and Seiji. See photos of fabulous FLO, and marvel at images of BESSIE's inventions in our show notes here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2019/05/16/podcast-23-bessie-blount-and-flo-kennedy/ __ The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history. We now have a Patreon! www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast Follow us on social media @deadladiesshow and please share, rate, and review the show as it helps others to find our feminist women's history podcast!
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