American writer, playwright, and poet
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5 episodes with Nick Flynn
2 episodes with Nick Flynn
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4 episodes with Nick Flynn
2 episodes with Nick Flynn
2 episodes with Nick Flynn
2 episodes with Nick Flynn
2 episodes with Nick Flynn
2 episodes with Nick Flynn
You know it's Satanic when there's Latin involved. Event Horizon (1997) dir. by Paul (not Thomas) Anderson, written by Philip Eisner. Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, JACK NOSEWORTHY, Jason Isaacs, Kathleen Quinlan, Richard T. Jones and many more. Off-topic chat:Amanda: Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn (book)Chance: Whore (1991) dir. by Ken Russel (Blu-Ray).That's So Gothic tries to release episodes on the first and third Thursday every month. Email sogothicpod@gmail.com.Follow Chance and Amanda on Letterboxd @mrchancelee and @mcavoy_amanda. Instagram @sogothicpod Closing music "Gothic Guitar" by Javolenus 2014- Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)
PJ talks to Dr Nick Flynn about why cutting visits to the doctor is a bad idea and what people can do instead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dr Nick Flynn raises a glass with Paul Byrne as they chat about the salty charm of this seaside town's revival. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#authorsontheair #OntheairwithFlorenza #DaleBrown #TheDevilsFortress #authorinterview #Florenza_Lee #Florenza_denise_lee #Dale_Brown Author Dale Brown co-hosts On the Air with Florenza to discuss his newest book, The Devil's Fortress. He and Florenza discuss his process and little-known facts about the book, and he reveals hints regarding a possible new series. Dale experienced poor connectivity during the recording, resulting in slightly chopping audio. The information was so goooood, Florenza didn't want to lose any of the nuggets with a re-record. Thank you for listening to this very insightful exchange. The Devil's Fortress: The fourth book in the Nick Flynn series from Dale Brown and Patrick Larkin, this page-turning military thriller is perfect for fans of Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, and James Bond. Nick Flynn and his Quartet Directorate special action team launched a daring, high-risk mission deep into Russia itself--a mission aimed at destroying the threat posed by Russian oligarch Pavel Voronin once and for all. Backed by Russia's autocratic president, Piotr Zhdanov, mercenary oligarch Pavel Voronin readies another deadly covert assault on the United States and its allies. Previously in the series, Nick Flynn and his team thwarted Voronin—though only at the last minute and at a high cost. However, Flynn, the daring pilot, agent Laura Van Horn, and others no longer play defense. They're coming for Voronin—determined to take the fight directly to their dangerous foe in a high-stakes, all-or-nothing strike deep into enemy territory.
#authorsontheair #OntheairwithFlorenza #DaleBrown #TheDevilsFortress #authorinterview #Florenza_Lee #Florenza_denise_lee #Dale_Brown Author Dale Brown co-hosts On the Air with Florenza to discuss his newest book, The Devil's Fortress. He and Florenza discuss his process and little-known facts about the book, and he reveals hints regarding a possible new series. Dale experienced poor connectivity during the recording, resulting in slightly chopping audio. The information was so goooood, Florenza didn't want to lose any of the nuggets with a re-record. Thank you for listening to this very insightful exchange. The Devil's Fortress: The fourth book in the Nick Flynn series from Dale Brown and Patrick Larkin, this page-turning military thriller is perfect for fans of Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, and James Bond. Nick Flynn and his Quartet Directorate special action team launched a daring, high-risk mission deep into Russia itself--a mission aimed at destroying the threat posed by Russian oligarch Pavel Voronin once and for all. Backed by Russia's autocratic president, Piotr Zhdanov, mercenary oligarch Pavel Voronin readies another deadly covert assault on the United States and its allies. Previously in the series, Nick Flynn and his team thwarted Voronin—though only at the last minute and at a high cost. However, Flynn, the daring pilot, agent Laura Van Horn, and others no longer play defense. They're coming for Voronin—determined to take the fight directly to their dangerous foe in a high-stakes, all-or-nothing strike deep into enemy territory.
Well, this could be awkward: when we last featured a story on the podcast a year ago, it also focused on parasocial relationships and included masturbation! This time around, we are again in deft hands. Marie Manilla's short story “Watchers”, set in 1968 Pittsburgh with both the steel mills and Andy Warhol as vital elements, is replete with narrative and thematic echoes that satisfy and leave us wanting more at the same time. Tune in for this lively discussion which touches on budding creative and identity-based aspirations, celebrity, performance art, pain in public and private, and much more. Give it a listen -- you know you want to! (Remember you can read or listen to the full story first, as there are spoilers! Just scroll down the page for the episode on our website.) (We also welcome editor Lisa Zerkle to the table for her first show!) At the table: Kathleen Volk Miller, Marion Wrenn, Lisa Zerkle, Jason Schneiderman, Dagne Forrest Listen to the story Watchers in its entirety (separate from podcast reading) Parasocial relationships https://mashable.com/article/parasocial-relationships-definition-meaning Andy Warhol's childhood home in Pittsburgh (the setting of this story) http://www.warhola.com/warholahouse.html “History” article about Andy Warhol's shooting by Valerie Solanas https://www.history.com/news/andy-warhol-shot-valerie-solanas-the-factory I Shot Andy Warhol, 1996 film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shot_Andy_Warhol ** Fun Fact 1: the original poster for the 1996 film hangs in Jason's apartment. ** Fun Fact 2: the actor who portrayed Valerie Solanas in “I Shot Andy Warhol”, Lili Taylor, is married to three-time PBQ-published author Nick Flynn. Nick Flynn's author page on PBQ http://pbqmag.org/tag/nick-flynn/ Dangerous Art: The Weapons of Performance Artist Chris Burden https://www.theartstory.org/blog/dangerous-art-the-weapons-of-performance-artist-chris-burden/ In her fiction and essays, West Virginia writer Marie Manilla delights in presenting fuller, perhaps unexpected, portraits of Appalachians, especially those who live in urban areas. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Marie's books include The Patron Saint of Ugly, Shrapnel, and Still Life with Plums: Short Stories. She lives in Huntington, her hometown, with her Pittsburgh-born husband, Don. Instagram and Facebook: @MarieManilla, Author website Watchers Zany lies amid clutter on the floor beneath the dining room windows hugging her bandaged arm. She huffs loudly enough to reach the front porch where Mom and Aunt Vi imbibe scotch. Vi still isn't used to afternoon drinking. They can't hear Zany over the Krebbs' crying baby on the other side of the duplex wall. Stupid baby. Plus Zany's little sister overhead dancing to the transistor radio, rattling the light fixture dangling from the ceiling. The fingertips on Zany's bandaged arm are cold and maybe even blue. This is slightly alarming. She considers running to Mom but knows better. Take the damn thing off then, Mom will say. There's nothing wrong with Zany's arm, but that isn't the point. At breakfast, without preamble, she wound an Ace bandage from her palm to her armpit. The family no longer asks what she's up to. Last week during Ed Sullivan she sat at her TV tray dripping candle wax over her fist. Aunt Vi blinked with every splat, but Mom only said: “If you get that on my rug I'll take you across my knee. I don't care how old you are.” Zany is thirteen. Week before, Zany taped a string of two-inch penny nails around her throat at the kitchen table where Dad rewired one of Mom's salvaged lamps. “Why don't you do that in your room?” Dad didn't like sharing his workspace. Zany shrugged and the nail tips jabbed her collarbones. She could have done it in her room, but doing the thing wasn't the point. It was having someone watch that mattered. If no one watched, who would believe she could endure that much discomfort? Nobody is watching now, so Zany grips a dining table leg and pulls it toward her, or tries to. It's hard to budge through Mom's junk piles, plus the weight of the extra leaf Dad inserted when Aunt Vi and Cousin Lester moved in after their apartment collapsed. Aunt Vi brought cans of flowery air freshener to hide the hoard smell—rotten food and cat piss. They don't own a cat. Lester, sixteen, bought a box of rubble-rescued books. “You better be setting the table!” Mom calls through the screen. Zany hates Mom's manly haircut and has said so. “It's Gig's turn!” Overhead, Gig stomps the floor in the bedroom they now share. Aunt Vi got Zany's attic where Mom's hoard had been disallowed, but it's begun trickling up. “No, it's not!” Gig's transistor blares louder. “Zany!” Mom calls. “I swear to God! And close those drapes!” Mom can't stand looking at the neighbor's wall she could reach across and touch, but Zany craves fresh air, as fresh as Pittsburgh air can be. Plus, she likes counting the yellow bricks Andy Warhol surely counted when this was his childhood home, the dining room his make-shift sickroom when he suffered St. Vitus Dance. Zany is certain his bed would have been right here by the window where he could see a hint of sky if he cricked his neck just right. She lies in his echo and imagines the day she'll appear at his Factory door in New York City and say: “I used to live in your house.” Andy will enfold her in his translucent arms before ushering her inside, not to act in his films or screen print his designs, but to be his equal. Partner, even. Zany just has to determine her own art form. It sure won't be cutting fruit cans into flowers like Warhol's mother did for chump change. Zany's legs start the herky-jerky Vitus dance as if she's running toward that Factory dream. Her pelvis and hips quake. The one free arm. The back of her head jitters against the floor. It's a familiar thrum even Aunt Vi and Lester are accustomed to now. Mom yells: “Stop that racket!” She mutters to Vi: “We never should have bought this place.” A kitchen timer dings and Aunt Vi comes in to disarm it. Her cooking is better than Mom's, and Vi wears an apron and dime store lipstick while she does it. Fresh peas instead of canned. Real mashed potatoes instead of instant. Vi is a better housekeeper, too, organizing Mom's trash into four-foot piles that line the walls. Every day Mom trolls back alleys and neighbors' garbage in dingy clothes that make her look like a hobo. That's what the kids say: Your mom looks like a hobo. She pulls a rickety cart and loads it with moldy linens, rolled-up rugs, dented wastebaskets. Zany wonders if Dad regrets marrying the wrong sister. She knows he regrets not having a son, a boy who could have been Lester if Dad had a different heart. Instead, Dad got Lester on at the blast furnace, because “No one sleeps under my roof for free.” Who needs a high school diploma? In the kitchen, Aunt Vi lets out one of her sobs. She only does that in private after Mom's third scolding: “He's dead, Vi. Crying won't bring him back.” Zany misses Uncle Mo, too. His pocketful of peppermints. The trick coin he always plucked from Zany's ear. The last time Zany's family visited, she walked through their decrepit Franklin Arms apartment with its spongy floors and clanking pipes, but no maze of debris to negotiate. No cat piss smell or sister blaring the radio. She found Lester in his room at a child's desk he'd outgrown, doughy boy that he then was, doing homework without being nagged. Astounding. His room was spartan, plenty of space for a second bed if Zany asked Aunt Vi sweetly enough. But no. Zany couldn't abandon Andy in his Dawson Street sickbed. Lester's only wall decoration was a world map strung with red yarn radiating from Pittsburgh to France, China, the South Pole. She wanted to ask why those destinations, but didn't, entranced as she was by all that fresh-aired openness, plus his feverishly scribbling hand. Now, Aunt Vi leans in the dining room dabbing her face with a dishtowel. She's aged a decade since moving here and it isn't all due to grief. She targets Zany on the floor. “Everything all right in here?” Zany has stopped breathing. Her eyes are glazed and her tongue lolls from her mouth. She's getting better at playing dead. “All right then.” Aunt Vi is getting better at not reacting. The screen door slams behind her. Zany pulls in her tongue and inhales. She starts counting bricks again until Aunt Vi calls: “There they are!” as she does every workday. Zany pictures Dad and Lester padding up Dawson. Wet hair slicked back because they shower off the stench before coming home. Zany appreciates that. Their boots scrape the steps to the porch where Aunt Vi will take their lunchpails. And there she is coming through the door and dashing to rinse their thermoses at the kitchen sink. Mom will stay put and pour Dad a finger of scotch. Lester bangs inside and pauses in the dining room entryway. He's leaner now on account of the physical labor. Taller too. He eyes Zany's bandaged arm, not with Aunt Vi's alarm, but with the kind of baffled wonder Zany has always been after. Their eyes meet and it's the same look he gave her the day she walked backward all the way to the Eliza Number Two—not because Dad and Lester worked there, but because it was lunchtime, and a gaggle of men would be eating beneath that pin oak by the furnace entrance. And there they were, her father among them, not easy to see having to crane her neck as Zany picked her way over the railroad tracks. “What the hell is she doing?” said Tom Folsom. Zany recognized her neighbor's voice. “She's off her nut,” said another worker. Zany twisted fully around to see if her father would defend her, but he was already hustling back to the furnace. “Something's not right with that girl,” said Folsom. “Nothing wrong with her,” said Lester from beneath a different tree where he ate his cheese sandwich alone. Folsom spit in the grass. “Shut up, fairy boy.” Lester wasn't a fairy boy, Zany knew. Today, leaning in the dining room, Lester looks as if he can see inside Zany's skull to the conjured Factory room she and Andy will one day share: walls scrubbed clean and painted white. Her drawings or paintings lining the walls in tidy rows. Maybe sculptures aligned on shelves. Or mobiles overhead spinning in the breeze. Lester nods at her fantasy as if it's a good one. He has his own escapism. Zany knows that too, and she looks away first so her eyes won't let him know that she knows. Lester heads to the cellar where he spends most of his time. Mom partitioned off the back corner for him with clothesline and a bed sheet. Installed an army cot and gooseneck lamp on a crate. Andy Warhol holed up in the cellar when he was a kid developing film in a jerry-rigged darkroom. Zany constructed one from an oversized cardboard box she wedged into that shadowy space beneath the stairs. She cut a closable door in the box and regularly folds herself inside to catalogue her achievements in a notebook. Stood barefoot on a hot tar patch on Frazier Street for seventy-two seconds. Mr. Braddock called me a dolt, but I said: You're the dolt! From below, the sound of Lester falling onto his cot followed by a sigh so deep Zany's lungs exhale, too. Whatever dreams he had got buried under apartment rubble along with Uncle Mo. Outside, Dad has taken Aunt Vi's creaky rocker. “He's a strange one,” he says about Lester. “What's he up to down there?” Mom says, “Who the hell knows?” Zany clamps her unbandaged hand over her mouth to keep that knowledge from spilling. She saw what he was up to the day she was tucked in her box and forgot time until footsteps pounded the stairs above her. She peeked through the peephole she'd punched into her cardboard door as Lester peeled off his shirt, his pants. He left on his boxers and socks. Didn't bother to draw his sheet curtain, just plopped on the cot and lit a cigarette. His smoking still surprised her. The boy he once was was also buried under rubble. Zany regretted not making her presence known, but then it was too late with Lester in his underwear, and all. Plus, she was captivated by his fingers pulling the cigarette to his lips. The little smoke rings he sent up to the floor joists. She wondered if he was dreaming of China or the South Pole, or just sitting quietly at his too-small desk back in his apartment inhaling all that fresh air. Finally, he snubbed out the cigarette in an empty tuna can. Zany hoped he would roll over for sleep, but he slid a much-abused magazine from beneath his pillow and turned pages. Even in the scant light Zany made out the naked lady on the cover. Zany's heart thudded, even more so when Lester's hand slipped beneath his waistband and started moving up and down, up and down. She told her eyes to close but they wouldn't, both entranced and nauseated by what she shouldn't be seeing. She knew what he was up to, having done her own exploring when she had her own room. She'd conjure Andy Warhol's face and mouth and delicate hands—because those rumors weren't true. They just weren't. Harder to explore in the bed she now shared with Gig. Stupid Aunt Vi, and stupid collapsed Franklin Arms. What Lester was up to looked angry. Violent, even. A jittery burn galloped beneath Zany's skin and she bit her lip, drawing blood. But she couldn't look away from Lester's furious hand, his eyes ogling that magazine until they squeezed shut and his mouth pressed into a grimace that did not look like joy. The magazine collapsed onto his chest and his belly shuddered. Only then did Zany close her eyes as the burn leaked through her skin. When Lester's snores came, she tiptoed upstairs to collapse on Andy's echo. She caught Lester seven more times, if caught is the right word, lying in wait as she was, hoping to see, hoping not to. “You better be setting the table!” Mom yells now from the porch. Zany grunts and makes her way to the kitchen where Aunt Vi pulls a roast from the oven. Zany heaves a stack of plates to the dining room and deals them out like playing cards. “Don't break my dishes!” Mom calls. I hate your hair, Zany wants to say. There is a crash, but it's not dishes. It comes from overhead where Gig screams. Thumping on the stairs as she thunders down, transistor in hand. “Zany!” Gig rushes into the dining room, ponytail swaying, eyes landing on her sister. “He's been shot!” Zany's mind hurtles back two months to when Martin Luther King was killed. Riots erupted in Pittsburgh's Black neighborhoods: The Hill District and Homewood and Manchester. “Who?” Zany says, conjuring possibilities: LBJ, Sidney Portier. But to Zany, it's much worse. “Andy Warhol!” Zany counts this as the meanest lie Gig's ever told. “He was not.” “Yes, he was!” Gig turns up the radio and the announcer confirms it: a crazed woman shot Warhol in his Factory. Aunt Vi comes at Zany with her arms wide, because she understands loss. “Oh, honey.” Zany bats her hands away. “It's not true.” Vi backs into Mom's hoard. “Is he dead?” Gig says: “They don't know.” Zany can't stomach the smug look on Gig's face, as if she holds Andy's life or death between her teeth. Zany wants to slap that look off, so she does. Gig screams. “What the hell's going on in there?” Mom calls. “Zany hit me!” Gig says at the very moment Aunt Vi says: “Andy Warhol's been shot!” “No he wasn't!” Zany says again, wanting to slap them both. Mom and Dad hustle inside where Gig cups her reddening cheek and bawls louder. “It's nothing,” Mom says at the sight of her sniveling daughter, but Dad enfolds Gig in his arms. “There, there.” “Don't coddle that child,” says Mom, and for once Zany agrees. “Now, Mae.” Dad cups the back of Gig's head and there's a different look on her face. Triumph, maybe. Pounding on the shared duplex wall, Evie Krebbs, who never could shush that wailing baby. “Andy Warhol's been shot!” she calls to them. “Did you all hear?” “We heard,” Mom answers as the baby cries louder, and so does Gig, who won't be upstaged. Mom says: “That's the price of fame I guess.” “Being shot?” says Aunt Vi. “Put yourself in the public eye and anything's liable to happen. Lotta kooks in this world.” The neighbor kids' chant sounds in Zany's head: Your mother's a hobo. “I'd rather be shot than a hobo,” says Zany. Mom's head snaps back. “What the hell's that supposed to mean?” Zany doesn't fully know what she means, or maybe she does. Dad says, “Turn up the radio and see if he's dead.” Zany doesn't want to know the answer, and to keep him alive she runs to the basement where Andy will always be a sickly boy developing film. Never mind Lester in his bed sending smoke rings up to the floor joists. Never mind her family still jabbering overhead. Zany dashes to her cardboard box and closes the door, her body shaking, but not from any disease. Andy can't be dead. He just can't, because if he is Zany will never make it to New York. Will never pound on his Factory door. She will never be famous enough for someone to shoot. She doesn't know she's sobbing until Lester's voice drifts over. “Zany?” It's hard to speak with that hand gripping her throat and her father overhead still babbling: “Turn it up, Gig.” All Zany eeks out is a sob. Lester's skinny voice slips through that slit in her door. “Zany?” The grip loosens and Zany puts her eye to the peephole. There he is, Lester, on his narrow cot in the windowless cellar where he now lives. He slides his hand into his waistband and he tilts his head toward her. “Are you watching?” Zany's breathing settles, and the overhead voices disappear taking with them the possibility of Andy's death. Her eyes widens so she can take it all in, the violent strokes, his contorting face, because she won't look away from Lester's pain, or hers. Finally, she answers him: “Yes.”
In celebration of National Poetry Month, Joe talks with poet Susan Rothbard, the award-winning author of "Birds of New Jersey" and a former Livingston school teacher; Lisa, Amy, Jessica, Gail, and Joe recite some of their favorite poetry, including works by Nick Flynn, Pablo Neruda, Taylor Swift, Emily Dickinson, Caitlin Seida, and Conor Oberst; Hongmei plays a clip of an Oscar-winning song; Jessica spotlights the most anticipated books headed to the library in April.
Woodstock Bookfest will be live and in person this weekend in Woodstock, New York. The festival features an amazing line-up including: Masha Gessen, Mark Whitaker, Sophie Strand, Sari Botton, Gail Straub, Elissa Altman, Nick Flynn - just to name a few.Of course, they'll have a Story Slam and ending with their signature panel, Memoir-A-Go-Go! Yes, there will be Little Bites and Big Libations. Festival Founder, Martha Frankel, is here with details.
PJ talks to Dr Nick Flynn and Cork's beloved vaccine nurse Audrey Burkley about the importance of keeping a lid on measles after the news of one death and at least 9 suspected cases in the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ready to get controversial with the fellas? This week your host Jordan Danger Grainger along with co-host and hilarious standup comedian Brian West are primed and ready to bring you one informative and fun episode.This week we correct the history books along with returning guest and knowledgeable fellow podcaster, Nick Flynn. Our special guest is the Godfather of local satire pages, the kingpin of ranch dressing, and famously proud #girldad: Dustin Halupa.We sat down with the Kokomo Scanner 2.0 Pioneer to set the record straight on the history behind why he stared the page, how he helped us with one of the best troll pages of all time, and we go over how he passed the page off to Jordan and how that laid the groundwork for what the Kokomo Press is today!We talk all that and our brand of pop-culture news and of course, memes this week on this very informative yet highly entertaining episode of the Kokomo Press Podcast! @thekokomopress on YouTube, Facebook, and instagram.Jordan Grainger is @ultrajoyed on twitter, facebook, and tiktok.Jordan Bell is @hypocrisy_jones on all major platforms.Cortni Richardson is @cortni88 on instagram and @cortni_lean on twitter.Brian West is @veinypeckerpete on twitter and @westjr.brian on instagram.
Dawn Breeze is a creativity advocate, change agent, and internationally awarded artist, living and working in Germantown, NY. She consults on creativity and leadership with global organizations and progressive institutions, as well as with individual entrepreneurs and leaders. Breeze is committed to building community through creativity.Her social projects include: Place Corps, a progressive education institute founded in 2019 and offering a variety of residencies, fellowships, and community learning opportunities to know, love, and serve our places, Instar Lodge, the non-for-profit arts project space she founded and directed, Wayfinding: Imaging History with (Our)story, a mapping odyssey at Olana State Historic Site, and her creativity curriculum Creativity + Courage™ which she leads as participatory workshops throughout New England for institutions, corporations, and recovery programs.She has demonstrated her vision and voice through her expansive and eclectic publishing projects and art exhibitions. Such as Girls in Trees, a widely acclaimed anthology edited by writer Rebecca Godfrey featuring thirty-three artists including: Sharon Olds, Nick Flynn, Samantha Hunt and others. As well as her recent self-published book of poetry, Breath 40x inspired by her work with iconic poet Bernadette Mayer.Learn about the breadth and variety of Dawn's work at http://www.dawnbreeze.org/PlaceCorps: https://www.placecorps.org/Kingston Fellowship: https://www.placecorps.org/kingstonfellowshipInstar Lodge: http://instarlodge.com/Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://www.thoreaucollege.orgDriftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org
Maggie Malone, CEO of Certior Health and Dr Nick Flynn, GP and Chief Medical Officer of Certior Health joined Anton Savage who was filling in for Pat to discuss the new cancer screening test.
Greetings! Welcome to this week's program featuring primarily newer releases with a bit of jazz to fill out Phase Three. BTW, I've released a single that's available for your listening/downloading pleasure. Here's the Bandcamp link: https://joelkrutt.bandcamp.com/track/con-forza (Yes, I dabble in some found sound/musique concrete type audio manipulation myself.) Enjoy! Joel e-mail: pushingtheenvelopewhus@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/envpusher1 3-25-23 PTE Playlist The Body of Your Dreams - Prism Saxophone Quartet / composer: Jacob TV - XAS (2023) https://www.prismquartet.com/recording/body/ ...and the higher leaves of the trees seemed to shimmer in the last of the sunlight's lingering touch of them... - field studies: chamber music of Emilie Cecilia LeBel - Redshift Records (2023) https://www.emilielebel.ca/blue-of-the-distance/ Part 1: Beneath the Dust - Joseph Blane - The Spider Room - digital album (2023) https://josephblane.bandcamp.com/album/the-spider-room Sub Wub - Death Tape Super Bass - Hellmouth - Spider Baby (2023) https://deathtapesuperbass.bandcamp.com/album/hellmouth The Space Between Silence and Enough / Confessional / Tattoo - Guy Barash (electronics) & Nick Flynn (poetry) w/ Kathleen Supové (piano), Frank London (trumpet) & Eyal Maoz (guitar) - Killdeer - New Focus Recordings (2023) https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/guy-barash-killdeer/ Blow Upon My Death Whistle - Anatomy of the Heads - In the Realm of Allied Barbarians and Tributary Lords - digital release (2023) https://aoftheh.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-realm-of-allied-barbarians-and-tributary-lords Lost In Reading - guitar/midi instruments: Gordon Grdina / composer: Tim Berne - Oddly Enough: The Music of Tim Berne - Attaboygirl Records (2022) - track included on the Musicworks #144 CD https://gordongrdina.bandcamp.com/album/oddly-enough https://www.musicworks.ca Ascending Bird - Kayhan Kalhor (kamancheh or "Persian spiked fiddle") and Brooklyn Rider - Silent City - World Village (2008) Far From Your Fire - anthéne & Clara Engel - Anxiety / Hope - Ambient Echoes (2023) https://ambientologist.bandcamp.com/album/anxiety-hope Nephophilia - Robert Scott Thompson - Ascension - Aucourant Records (2022) https://robert-scott-thompson.bandcamp.com/album/ascension-2 Flashback - Reiner Witzel/Ritchie Beirach Quintet - The World Within - Jazzsick Records (2023) https://www.jazzsick.com/blog/releases/the-world-within/ Rumi and the Whirling Dervish - Joel Goodman - An Exquisite Moment - (2023 pre-release, June) Critical Conversation - Joel Harrison & Anthony Pirog - The Great Mirage - Alternative Guitar Summit Recordings (2023) https://agsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-mirage Reeper - John Oliver - Cool Take - John Oliver Music (2017) https://johnolivermusic.bandcamp.com/album/cool-take
Episode 164 Notes and Links to Yasmin Ramirez's Work On Episode 164 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Yasmin Ramirez, and the two discuss, among other things, her early reading and music loves, her unique and powerful relationship with her beloved “Ita,” her family dynamics, teenage rebellion, the power of Nirvana, the power of her classes at UTEP, and issues and themes revolving around her magnificent memoir. Yasmin Ramirez is a 2021 Martha's Institute of Creative Writing Author Fellow as well as a 2020 recipient of the Woody and Gayle Hunt-Aspen Institute Fellowship Award. Her fiction/CNF works have appeared in Cream City Review and Huizache among others. She is an Associate Professor of English, Creative Writing, and Chicanx Literature at El Paso Community College. She stays active in the Borderplex arts community and serves on the advisory board of BorderSenses, a literary non-profit. Her memoir ¡Ándale, Prieta!, by Lee and Low Books, is now available. Buy ¡Ándale, Prieta!: A Love Letter to My Family Yasmin Ramirez's Website Hip Latina Article about ¡Ándale, Prieta!: A Love Letter to My Family At about 6:50, Yasmin describes the multiple meanings of “Andale, Prieta” in context of her book At about 7:50, Yasmin shouts out upcoming virtual and in-person Washington Library and Él Paso (UTEP) events, as well as a book club with Las Comadres At about 8:30, Yasmin highlights her contact and social media info as well as bookstores that she recommends for buying her book At about 9:55, Yasmin and Pete discuss her early relationships with language and reading At about 11:55, Yasmin references formative and transformative reading, including some Anne Rice works At about 14:30, Yasmin responds to Pete's questions about her ideas of representation in being able to read borderland-inspired books; she cites “The Danger of a S At about 17:35, Pete and Yasmin discuss cliques from their adolescent years and Yasmin's love of Nirvana and music's role in that part of her life At about 20:00, Yasmin lists some writers she has taught at the college level, like José Olivarez, Luis Alberto Urrea, Maria Hinojosa, Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, and Black Flamingo by Dean Atta At about 22:00, Yasmin notes how a reliance on the unchanging “canon” dissuades students from reading At about 22:55, Yasmin shouts out memoirists, like Sonya Livingston, Joy Castro, and Nick Flynn, who inspire and thrill her At about 25:05, Yasmin talks about seeds for the book and how it seemingly had a mind of its own in directing her At about 26:20, Pete asks Yasmin about the role of Dr. Abarca's UTEP class on food and writing and some of her takeaways from the class and the feedback she received from Lex Wiliford At about 28:15, Pete notes Yasmin's skill in making her child's POV “authentic” and how her book starts in the “middle” with a resonant line regarding breast cancer and her grandma (“Ita”) At about 29:30, Yasmin discusses meanings of “prieta,” both in the outside world and in her life At about 31:50, Pete cites Yasmin as her Ita's “sombra,” and talks about time spent with her as her mom worked “at the bridge”-Yasmin talks about how it “clicked” that her mom had a dangerous job At about 34:10, Pete asks about what made Yasmin's mom and Ita clash at times At about 37:10, Pete reads a moving quote from the book that relates to the significance of scars, and Yasmin talks about the genesis of a part of the book that catalogs her Ita's scars At about 40:00, Yasmin thinks of who might play her Ita in a movie version At about 40:40, Pete references a particularly personal memory from Yasmin and a beautiful passage about her relationship with her Ita At about 42:20, Pete notes the power and writerly skill that makes up the last part of the book's Part I; Yasmin gives background on this part and her rationale At about 45:00, Pete and Yasmin discuss the beginning of the book's Part II and Yasmin describes her “distancing” from her father and “feeding the wrong wolf” At about 48:15, Yasmin talks about awkward teenage visits to see her father to try to rekindle something At about 50:00, Yasmin describes her time working in retail in Dallas and the resulting events in El Paso; she describes how everything was “muted” upon her Ita's death At about 53:40, Yasmin talks about the “hambre de Dios” in context of the book At about 55:25, Yasmin discusses the “rejuvenation” that came with her return to El Paso At about 59:25, Yasmin describes the true enthusiasm shown by Lex Wiliford and the ways in which At about 1:02:50, Yasmin and Pete discuss the “heaviness” from a powerful dream and the significance of Yasmin's mammogram and this revelatory dream At about 1:06:40, Yasmin describes a future project-YA!-that plays with ideas of music's influence in an adolescent's life At about 1:08:05, Pete compliments the book's allusions to music that reminds Yasmin of her grandma You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 165 with Anna Hogeland. She's a psychotherapist in private practice, her novel The Long Answer, has been described by Kirkus Review as “A startling meditation on grief and family and betrayal.” The episode will air on February 7.
This episode explores new research, which has found that hotter days brought about by climate change have been linked to an increased risk of shootings in the United States. --- Read this episode's science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘My Mother Contemplating Her Gun' by Nick Flynn here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com Twitter: @samillingworth
by Saadi Youssef (read by Nick Flynn)
In which Harry arrives at school and gets a dire warning from a hat. Email us at restrictedsectionpod@gmail.com to tell us what you thought of The Sorting Hat's New Song or even what you think of us! We'd love to read your email on the show. Be sure to subscribe to know right away about new episodes, and rate and review! SUPPORT US ON OUR PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/therestrictedsection THANK YOU LOVE YOU BUY OUR MERCH: https://www.teepublic.com/user/restricted-section-podcast THANK YOU LOVE YOU IG: https://www.instagram.com/restrictedsectionpod/ TW: https://twitter.com/restrictedpod FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rspoddetentioncrew/ Check out our other amazing Deus Ex Media podcasts! www.deusexmedia.org This episode featured: Special guest Danni! IG @ddecrisanti https://www.instagram.com/ddecrisanti/ Danni plugged The 1975 https://open.spotify.com/artist/3mIj9lX2MWuHmhNCA7LSCW?si=kq6X9l2wQ562bJ9mW66OcQ He also plugged Bob's Burgers https://www.hulu.com/series/bobs-burgers He also plugged The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien https://bookshop.org/a/65495/9780618706419 He also plugged The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands by Nick Flynn https://bookshop.org/a/65495/9781555976330 Christina Kann https://linktr.ee/christinakann Christina plugged Cozy Grove https://cozygrovegame.com/ Mary Clay Watt IG @mcturndownforwatt https://www.instagram.com/mcturndownforwatt/ TW @mcwattsup https://twitter.com/mcwattsup Check out That's What I'm Tolkien About every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts https://tolkienaboutpod.podbean.com/ RIP Leslie Phillips https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/actor-leslie-phillips-voice-sorting-hat-harry-potter-films-dies-98-rcna56264 Umbridge
This time around, Matt and Daryl interviewed writer, author and playwright, Nick Flynn. Nick is the author of the memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (2004), which was adapted to screen as the Paul Weitz film, Being Flynn (2012). Nick Flynn is portrayed on screen by Paul Dano. You can find Nick's works at https://nickflynn.org Please drop us a Five Star Review us at Apple Podcasts, or a Five Star Rating on Spotify. Find us on Twitter and Instagram (@ispauldanook), and drop us an email at ispauldanook@gmail.com
with Professor Sam McConkey, Infectious Disease Specialist at the RCSI and Dr Nick Flynn, Clinical Director of GoSafe48
Green Party annual conference, new Covid variant and hauliers protest. Panel: Green Party Minister Catherine Martin, Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Professor Sam McConkey and Dr Nick Flynn
Related content:Nick Flynn websiteNick Flynn books on AmazonThe badly-named, gloriously-made Being Flynn
This week joining Bell and Grange on the podcast is Nick Flynn a former hip hop artist, Twitch Streamer, and military veteran who will debut his NASCAR Themed Podcast, “Slide Job Podcast” sometime in February. On this episode we talked about all of the recent politically tied events with NASCAR, all of the huge new marvel and Star Wars news, and our shared love of hip hop and local artists. Check all this out and more on this week's episode!
This time around we were joined by the Caged In podcast host and film blogger, Petros Patsilvas to discuss the 2012 film, Being Flynn. Being Flynn is adapted from the novel, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn. The film stars, Paul Dano, Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Katherine Waterston, Wes Studi, Dale Dickey, Vuctor Rasuk. Oh... and the soundtrack is from Badly Drawn Boy. You can find Petros on Twitter (PPatsilivas) and you should definitely go seek out Caged In (@cagedinpod). Please drop us a Five Star Review us at Apple Podcasts. Find us on Twitter and Instagram (@ispauldanook), and drop us an email at ispauldanook@gmail.com
Thanks to Nick for being so open and frank with us. In what is a hectic time for doctors, we appreciated him giving up his evening for us. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It cost you nothing but means a lot to us.And if you'd like to contribute in a small way, consider donating one or two euros here: https://www.patreon.com/thetwonorriesEmail us at contact@thetwonorriespodcast.com
Patty Larkin is a monster on the guitar. Although starting on the piano, after her uncle gave her a guitar it was all over for young Patty. The main appeal of the instrument was the privacy in which one could play. She holed up for hours playing. In high school she furthered experimented with different ways to play, while working on her singing and writing. She moved to Boston in the 70's to study jazz guitar. She played in several rock bands on electric, but switched her focus to acoustic in the 80's which broadened her range. She rediscovered jazz styles and studied the work of Richard Thompson among others. Around that time, she became an integral part of the New England Folk circuit along with people like Bill Morrissey, Jonatha Brooke and Martin Sexton. For decades Patty Larkin has been a household name within the folk world as she continues to wow us with her intricate style and sophisticated work that has a particular high level humor within her writing and delivery.Patty's latest is a record that sets poetry to her original music. Work by Billy Collins, Natalie Diaz, Nick Flynn, Marie Howe all make their way onto Bird in a Cage. In our conversation, she discusses why she was intrigued to combine music and poetry. She would work the practice of reading poetry out loud into her mornings in order to inspire herself into her day. This left her amazed enough to dedicate an entire record to the process. The project also happened to be the last collaboration Patty completed with the much revered and loved producer, Mike Dennen, who sadly died in 2018. She and Mike co-produced Bird in a Cage and she speaks of their connection and how they would work together. Also, she has the most epic lightning round answer to "Where is the most beautiful place you've ever visited," so I hope you listen all the way to the end! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Author Nick Flynn joins Kyler Bingham for a discussion on his most recent work. Nick has released three books in the past year with the most recent being This is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire, a memoir recounting his childhood in Massachusetts. For more from Nick Flynn, check out nickflynn.org
26. ledna 1960 se narodil americký spisovatel, dramatik a básník Nick Flynn. Řada jeho knih je strukturovaná kolážemi, které tak vytvářejí příběhy. Učí kreativní psaní na Univerzitě v Houstonu. Podcast "Báseň na každý den" poslouchejte na Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts a na dalších platformách. Domovská stránka podcastu je na www.rogner.cz/basen-na-kazdy-den. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/basennakazdyden/message
Nick Flynn, author of This is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his new memoir, and the art, craft, and business of writing. Download audio. (Broadcast date: October 14, 2020)Musical intro and outro by Travis Barrett. Find him on Spotify.
Nick Flynn was 7 years old when his house burned down. The official story, the one everyone laughed about, was that raccoons had knocked over the family’s Hibachi grill and set the house on fire. Decades later, Nick learned that’s not what happened at all—and started to understand the depth of his mother’s desperation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
Secrets: almost every family has them. The three memoirists in this audio session will talk about the secrets and mysteries that haunt their lives. Helen Fremont, in The Escape Artist, explores the psychological fallout stemming from her parents’ refusal to acknowledge that they were survivors of the Holocaust. In The Book of Atlantis Black, poet Betsy Bonner delves into the mysterious and troubling facts surrounding her sister’s death in a blend of memoir and literary true crime. And poet and memoirist Nick Flynn skillfully and lyrically blends the secrets and mysteries of his early life with his own secrets in This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire. Journalist, writer, and founder of TheEditorial.com, Heidi Legg, delves into the truth of these memoirists’ stories about secrets, lies, and mysteries. Listen to the end for a special offer from the BBF and W.W. Norton! The transcript of this event is here: https://tinyurl.com/y6zm39fv
Dr Nick Flynn on Covid-19 Restrictions, Insurance Quotes and Covid Tests For School Children. Tune into the Neil Prendeville Show weekdays from 9am on Cork's RedFM
When author Nick Flynn decides to interview his mother's ex-boyfriends, he discovers a memory central to his childhood was false.
Since Season Two has not materialized, and the world is now a different place since the promise of Season Two, we have a season ready for you, but not a real season, whatever that means anyway, but an "unreal season," one centered around uncertainty, featuring Ophira Eisenberg from NPR's Ask Me Another, Nick Flynn, the author of "This Is The Night Our House Will Catch Fire," Moth storyteller Ed Gavagan and others. Stay tuned and stay safe and healthy!
What does a redneck say before he dies? Find out in this week's podcast. In this episode, I reflect on the relationship between physical and social, emotional and artistic risk. I also give a brief reading of a Nick Flynn poem and discuss the village blacksmith tradition of shooting the anvil.
Chris Rush is an award-winning artist and designer, whose work is held in numerous museum collections. His memoir, The Light Years, was published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in April 2019. “As mythic and wild with love, possibility, and danger as the decades it spans, you’ll read The Light Years with your breath held. Brutal, buoyant and wise to the tender terror of growing up, Chris Rush has written a timeless memoir of boyhood in the American wilderness.” ―Emma Cline, author of The Girls “Brace yourself: To enter The Light Years you must be willing to be changed. It is, in the end, about the one question we all must ask ourselves―How does one live? In the end the answer is, always, love. You could wait until you are ready to read this radiant book, though how will you know when that moment arrives?” ―Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life
Episode 434 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on Apple podcasts, stitcher, spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that's your thing). On this episode, Nick Flynn and I talk about memoirs, boundaries, and getting the writing done.
The team speak to Nick Flynn about his professional experience in rehab and as university lecturer, and hear his hot tips for new grads!
Dr Nick Flynn warns of the dangers of waiting too long to get a Covid test.Thomas Gould says the money provided for the hardship fund did not go far enough.Franciska from 'Considerate Cakes' is making birthday cakes for people during the lockdown.Mary from the NCBI Charity shop in Macroom tells us how c103 was instrumental in tracking down the owner of a lost engagement ring.Annaliesse Dressell from the Health Hub in Ballincollig answers all your health questions See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Butterfly the sky, I can go twice as high. Brendan takes a sweet ride on the Reading Rainbow with Nick Flynn, virtuoso author, poet and speaker. Known for his dynamic, brutally honest memoir, "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City," the duo talk about the dangers of using art as therapy, using sadness to develop empathy and getting lost in the woods with your wild, wild self. It's just epic.
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo is a poet, essayist, translator, and immigration advocate and the author of the memoir Children of the Land.Jennifer Croft is an American author, critic and translator who works from Polish, Ukrainian and Argentine Spanish. She is also the author of Homesick.Nick Flynn is an American writer, playwright, and poet. He has two books out this year: This is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire and Stay: Threads, Conversations, Collaborations.Sabrina Orah Mark is the author of two books of poetry and one book of short stories. For The Paris Review she writes a monthly column on fairytales and motherhood entitled HAPPILY.Erika Meitner is the author of five books of poems, most recently Holy Moly Carry Me.Alicia Ostriker, a poet and critic, has published sixteen volumes of poetry.Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish Nobel laureate writer, activist, and public intellectual.New Books Written by and Author/Texts Recommended by Nick FlynnNick Flynn's This is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire (W.W. Norton, 2020)Nick Flynn’s Stay: Threads, Conversations, Collaborations (ZE Books, 2020)New Books Written by and Author/Texts Recommended by Erika MeitnerHoly Moly Carry Me by Erika MeitnerBallerz 2K20, An Anthology (O, Miami, 2020)Poet Rebecca Gayle HowellNew Books Written by and Recommended by Sabrina Orah MarkWild Milk by Sabrina Orah MarkSound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey (Algonquin, 2016)New Books Written by and Recommended by Marcelo Hernandez CastilloChildren of the Land (Harper Collins, 2020)New Books Written by and Recommended by Alicia OstrikerThe Volcano and After: Selected and New Poems 2002-2019 (Pitt Poetry Series)Ideas of Order and Disorder (Ghostbird Press, 2020)New Books Written by and Recommended by Jennifer CroftHomesick (Unnamed Press, 2019)New Books Written by and Recommended by Olga TokarczukFlights (Riverhead, 2019)Commonplace’s compendium of COVID-19 resourcesPlease support Commonplace & BECOME A PATRON![Transcript to come]
The latest on COVID-19 with Dr Nick Flynn - Cork Today 12th May See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On CorkToday with Patricia Messinger - Discussing the latest with Dr Nick Flynn on Covid 19 testing taking too long, are overweight people at more at risk and how can workplaces deal with social distancing as more return to the work placePatricia chats with a Fermoy lady living in Sydney who after a battle with cancer was told she could never have children, she is now pregnant and she tells Patricia her story A handsome foal born at The Donkey Sanctuary in Lisscaroll during the COVID-19 lockdown hasbeen appropriately named Lockie – we speak with the Donkey Sanctuary People's problems with getting through to phone companies with their network problemsPlus the breaking news stories of the day See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Nick Flynn is the author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, The Ticking is the Bomb, The Reenactments, and, most recently, Stay: Threads, Conversations, and Collaborations (Ze Books, 2020). Follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @CNFPod.
Dr. Nick Flynn, GP with the My Cork GP Group, Rob O'Brien, Patient
Nick Flynn is the author of, Stay: threads, conversations, collaborations, out now on ZE Books. He’s also the author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City that was made into […]
April 17, 2020 - Emptying Town By Nick Flynn, Read By Sarah Crow by The Desmond-Fish Public Library & The Highlands Current, hosted by Ryan Biracree
On this episode Nick Flynn talks with Mitchell about his new book, Stay: threads, conversations, collaborations, a mixed-media retrospective and self-portrait through's collaborations over the years, including photographer Amy Arbus, actor Robert De Niro, filmmaker Paul Weitz, and artists John Baldessari and Marilyn Minter. This is episode was livestreamed between Miami and outside New York City. Host: Mitchell Kaplan Producer: Carmen Lucas Editor: Lit Hub Radio https://booksandbooks.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Justin Mason hopes to manufacture an infection control barrier in Blarney in Cork. PJ spoke to him and media doctor Nick Flynn about how it might help life for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 crisis. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Dr Nick Flynn gives us an update on Covid 10.The Health & Safety Authority has a warning about safety on farms during the lockdown.The Cork Folklore Project wants people to register their experiences during the lockdown.Because funerals are now held in private James Ronayne, Funeral Director from Fermoy, has advice on how to show respect and solidarity with the bereaved.All your gardening questions are answered by Peter Dowdall. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Latest on COVID-19 with Patricia speaking with Dr Nick Flynn - Cork Today See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Full episodes available - www.cdpodcast.comMike and Maureen meet with Dan Peres, Author of - As Needed for Pain: A Memoir of Addiction, to discuss his personal journey into recovery, and the story behind the book.About Dan Peres-"Dan Peres was editor in chief of Details for fifteen years, starting in 2000, when the title relaunched under his leadership. During his tenure, the magazine won many awards, including two National Magazine Awards. Before taking the editorship of Details, Dan spent nine years at W magazine, overseeing bureaus in Paris, London, and Milan. While in college, he worked as a copy boy at the New York Times and later as a research assistant at Esquire. He is the author of Details Men’s Style Manual. He lives in New York and has three sons"."Exactly the right book at exactly the right time... As Needed for Pain must have been difficult to write; it's difficult to read. But it's an important book. While it's just one man's testimony of his journey into and through his addiction to pain killers, it's a universal story that anyone from any background who knows the evil of opiate addiction will deeply relate to." (Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors and Dry)“This memoir exists in the realm of grace―what causes Dan Peres to take his first pill, what causes him to take his last, remains a mystery. In between there are magic and lies, mistakes and glamour, pretense and escape."(Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City )"With humility, humor and courage, Dan Peres’ story of pretending to be on top of the world when in fact he was hitting rock bottom is a memoir for our times. An eye-opening, enthralling read, AS NEEDED FOR PAIN is an unforgettable memoir." (Ayelet Waldman, author of A Really Good Day) Episode Resources:Podcast Produced by Sweet's Productions - www.sweetsproductions.comAmazon - https://www.amazon.com/This-Should-Explain-Everything-Peres/dp/0062693468Harper Collins - https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062693464/as-needed-for-pain/B&N - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/as-needed-for-pain-dan-peres/1132404928____________________________________________Michael J Wilson is the Director of Family Services and co-owner of Baystate Recovery Services and Barry's House Sober Living for men. For question call 800-270-2302 or visit www.baystaterecovery.comMaureen Cavanagh is a Family Recovery Coach and the owner of Magnolia Recovery and Consulting Services. For questions visit www.maureencavanagh.net_____________________________________________Listen to the Collateral Damage Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and iHeart Radio.Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch new episodeshttp://bit.ly/2w14PQhwww.cdpodcast.comFollow us on Instagram - @cdpodFollow us on Twitter - @cdpodcasts#cdpodcast #podcast #podcasts #addiction #recovery #cdpod #new #podcast #book #recoveringoutloud #communitysupport #DanPeres #AsNeededforPain #Author #MaureenCavanagh #MichaelWilson #LovingLions #IfYouLoveMe #CollateralDamage
On CorkToday with Patricia Messinger - Cork G.P. Dr Nick Flynn on the current situation regarding the Corona Virus and what is possibly to come down the lineYour calls and comments How energy providers are putting plans in place for those who may find it hard to meet payments due to temporary work lay offsOur Garda File Pet advice with Jane See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
SEASON 2: EPISODE 5 Poet Nick Flynn talks about the ways in which he won't die. ABOUT THE GUEST Nick Flynn has worked as a ship’s captain, an electrician, and a caseworker for homeless adults. Some of the venues his poems, essays, and nonfiction have appeared in include the New Yorker, the Nation, the Paris Review, the New York Times Book Review, and NPR’s This American Life. His writing has won awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Library of Congress, PEN, and the Fine Arts Work Center, among other organizations. His film credits include artistic collaborator and “field poet” on Darwin’s Nightmare (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2006), as well as executive producer and artistic collaborator on Being Flynn, the film version of his memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. His most recent collection of poetry, I Will Destroy You, appeared from Graywolf Press in 2019. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Lili Taylor, and his daughter, Maeve. http://www.nickflynn.org/ ABOUT THE HOST Neil Goldberg is an artist in NYC who makes work that The New York Times has described as “tender, moving and sad but also deeply funny.” His work is in the permanent collection of MoMA, he’s a Guggenheim Fellow, and teaches at the Yale School of Art. More information at neilgoldberg.com. ABOUT THE TITLE SHE'S A TALKER was the name of Neil’s first video project. “One night in the early 90s I was combing my roommate’s cat and found myself saying the words ‘She’s a talker.’ I wondered how many other other gay men in NYC might be doing the exact same thing at that very moment. With that, I set out on a project in which I videotaped over 80 gay men in their living room all over NYC, combing their cats and saying ‘She’s a talker.’” A similar spirit of NYC-centric curiosity and absurdity animates the podcast. CREDITS This series is made possible with generous support from Stillpoint Fund. Producer: Devon Guinn Creative Consultants: Aaron Dalton, Molly Donahue Mixer: Andrew Litton Visuals and Sounds: Joshua Graver Theme Song: Jeff Hiller Website: Itai Almor Media: Justine Lee Interns: Alara Degirmenci, Jonathan Jalbert, Jesse Kimotho Thanks: Jennifer Callahan, Nick Rymer, Sue Simon, Maddy Sinnock TRANSCRIPTION NICK FLYNN: I was driving my daughter to soccer. And she had a bike and I had a bike and we'd ride, even though it was a little cold. NEIL GOLDBERG: Yeah. NICK: But a guy went by on a bike and he had like a boombox, one of those boombox that plays, he's playing like a podcast, like really loud, and it was so odd. We both just laughed. It was like, what is that? You're just blasting a podcast going down the street, blasting. NEIL: This is fresh air. Hello, I'm Neil Goldberg and this is SHE'S A TALKER. I'm a visual artist and this podcast is my thinly veiled excuse to get some of my favorite New York writers, artists, performers, and beyond into the studio to chat. For prompts, I use a collection of thousands of index cards on which I've been writing thoughts and observations for the past two decades, kind of like one of those party games, but hopefully not as cheesy. These days, the cards often start as recordings I make into my phone. Here are some recent ones: I really love how Beverly pronounces 'Meow'. It's never appropriate to share scrap paper from home with students. I'm never sure what a simmer is. I'm so happy to have as my guest, poet Nick Flynn. I have been a hardcore fan of Nick's writing since his first book, Some Ether, came out in 2000 and was blown away by his memoirs, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, and The Ticking is the Bomb. In the fall, he released a new book of poetry, I Will Destroy You, and in the next few months he has two more books coming out: Stay, and This is the Night Our House Will Catch on Fire. I met Nick briefly in, I think, the late eighties in Provincetown, and we reconnected recently via our mutual friend, Jacques Servin, who is on an earlier episode. Nick and I spoke in January at a recording studio at The New School near Union Square in New York City. NEIL: Are you comfortable? NICK: Like on a scale of one to ten? NEIL: Like, you know those smiley faces, like if you're in the hospital. NICK: How much pain I have? Uh, I hadn't even thought about it till you just said that. Now I'm wondering if I am, so. NEIL: I feel like I'm, I'm totally not, I'm not feeling any pain at the moment. NICK: No, I'm not feeling any pain. No, I'm feeling no pain. NEIL: That's different from, feeling no pain is different from not feeling any pain. NICK: That means if you're kind of fucked up, I think. NEIL: Exactly. NICK: You're feeling no pain. NEIL: Um, I'm so happy to have you, Nick Flynn, on the show, SHE'S A TALKER. NICK: I'm happy to be here, Neil Goldberg - NEIL: I, you know - NICK: on the show SHE'S A TALKER. Is the 'She' the cat? NEIL: Yeah. NICK: That's, that's who the 'she' is. NEIL: It is, yeah. I, you know - NICK: I guess I got that. Yeah. NEIL: Well, you know, in 1993 when everyone was dying... Everyone is still dying, but just differently. NICK: I remember that. Yeah. NEIL: Yeah. Uh, you know, I did a video project where I interviewed, it turned out to be, like about 80 gay men all over New York City in all five boroughs who had female cats, combing their cats and saying "She's a Talker." NICK: They were combing the cats? NEIL: Combing the cat. It was just almost like, it was like a stealthy way to like, not stealthy, but it was a way to document a lot of gay men who felt like really imperiled, and it was my first video project. And, I don't know, when I decided to name this, that came up for me. But subsequently I get a lot of like, what does the word 'she' mean at this point? NICK: Right, right, right. Yeah. NEIL: Maybe I should rebrand it. What should I call it? NICK: Uh, you should stick with it, I think. Hmm. NEIL: Uh, when, when you're looking for like a short hand, like you encounter someone on the proverbial elevator and are looking for like a pithy way to describe who it is you are and what it is you do, what do you, what do you reach for? NICK: I say I'm a poet. NEIL: Period. NICK: Period. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that usually gets a pretty dead-eyed stare like the one you just gave me. Like that's it? That's it. NEIL: When someone is confronted with poet, silence, do you ever feel like helping someone out? NICK: Well, it depends on like, often, that'll pretty much be the conversation-ender. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: So it does nothing to help cause they're gone right at that point. NEIL: If your folks were around, how might they describe who it is you've become? NICK: Wow, that's a, that's an interesting one. Would they, would they still be, are they like idealized, my, like my parents on their best day or on their worst day? NEIL: Oh, I wouldn't mind hearing both if you don't mind. Like the... NICK: Ah, like, you know, there's the idealized version of your parents. Then there's the, not the reality, but the, you know, but recognizing at a certain point that they had some rough days, you know. In my mind, it's hard to deny they had some rough days. So, um, it's a little, it's a little harder to pretend. Yeah. Uh, my father, he knew that I'd published books and he was sort of, you know, strangely proud of that. Uh, but proud just in the way he knew I'd be a good writer because he was such a great writer, so I got it all from him. So he took all credit for any of it. So I imagined he would still take credit for any accomplishments I've had or that he perceives I've had. I've, I'm trying to think if he had like on a good day, that's sort of like a not so good day. Yeah. On a good day, he did have a couple moments where he was able to just recognize the struggle it had been, uh, between the two of us, uh, to actually acknowledge that. And I think that would be like, he'd say like, yeah, this was, this must have been hard, you know? So I think that would be. That'd be a good day for him. My mother's a little more enigmatic, like it's actually, when I think about it, like, cause I mean, she died before he did. I was younger. I didn't know her as well, probably. So, although I grew up with her, but, um, I sort of studied my father more, and my mother's more of a, uh, a construct of the imagination in some ways. Although, I mean, we spent so much time together too. It's strange to say that actually, I don't know if that's true. You know, I, there's always the question like, what would my mother be like now? So I'm, I look at women that are my mother's age, that would be my mother's age now. Like I don't know how, how she would be. So either way, I think she's, since she, from her backhouse sort of WASP-y Irish background, she probably wouldn't say directly anything. I'd have to decipher what she said. NEIL: So it would be cryptic in terms of her estimation of you, or? NICK: I mean, she, I think she'd say, "Oh, I'm, I'm proud of you." But the deeper levels of that I think would be harder to get to. NEIL: Yeah. I see you came in, you were, you had a bike helmet, which I connect to. Um, on your bike ride over, did you have any thoughts? NICK: Wow. Thoughts as I was coming here - the sort of meta thing is I was listening on my headphones to SHE'S A TALKER. And you're talking to someone about riding a bike over the bridge. NEIL: Right, yeah. NICK: So like, yeah. I mean, at the moment I was riding over the bridge. I was listening to you talk to someone else about riding over the bridge and then thinking that I would soon be here talking to you, and I brought my helmet it, I didn't - usually I lock it on my bike but maybe I brought it in so you would ask me about it. It's possible, but I think I just brought it in cause it was cold, it was so cold outside. I wanted a warm helmet when I went back out. So. NEIL: Aha, you didn't want to put on a cold helmet. I never thought about that. NICK: What I thought about on the bridge was that it was way colder than I thought it was. It was the wind, it was like howling and I had a hat in my bag and I kept thinking, I'll just stop and put my hat on under my helmet and I didn't stop. I kept thinking, I'll warm up at some point, but I just kept getting colder and colder the further I went. I just never stopped, I just kept going. NEIL: Well, let's, um, go to some cards that I curated for you. NICK: You curate these for this conversation? NEIL: Yes. Yeah. (Card flip) So the first card is: the specific, tentative, hyper-attentive way one tastes something to see if it's gone bad. NICK: Um, what I usually do is I'll, I'll, I'll cook it and then give it to my brother. NEIL: Mikey likes it? NICK: Yeah. And then if he can get through it then it probably hasn't gone so far bad. Cause he's pretty sensitive actually. I mean, while I'm presenting, it sounds like he'd just eat anything. No. He's quite sensitive. So he's like sort of the. He's, he, he, he's a Canary. Ah ha. Yeah. So I'll just fix it up and give it to him and then, cause he'll, usually, he's quite happy if I make him something, give him some food, then if it's no good, then, then I throw it away. Yeah. If he eats it, I'll eat it. NEIL: He's your taster. Um, where, where does your brother live? NICK: He lives upstate, New York. NEIL: Oh, okay. Yeah, but he's your older brother, right, if I'm remembering? NICK: But why did you say, "but." Because he lives upstate? NEIL: No, because of the scenario of like, your brother, the implication. He's an implied younger brother in the story. NICK: Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. He's an implied younger brother in life too. (Card Flip) NEIL: Next card. When a toddler falls, that space before they start to cry. NICK: Well. My daughter was, uh, three. And for us, like three was really like, spectacular meltdowns and just like, you know, tantrums and just like wildness, just like absolutely wild, like wild animal, just screaming and frustrated and like, you know, furious. And one day she, uh, she was in a tantrum, she fell and she hit her cheek on the corner of a staircase and it split open and like bled. It sort of woke her up. Like it was right at the end of her being three, she was going to turn four. It was a Sunday night. And my wife and I were like, Oh, what do we do? Like, I'm like, I guess, do we take her to her doctor or do we like, you know, just like, like leave her with a scar for the rest of her life? And so I butterfly-stitched it, you know, like made a little butterfly thing, to hold it together to squish the skin together, you know? And, uh. That's what we did. We sort of looked up t see like how big and deep it had to be to go to a doctor and stuff and to need a stitch, and it was sort of right on the edge. So I butterfly-stitched it, and then. Yeah so now she just has this pretty little scar on her face and she's perfect. NEIL: Wow. And does she know the story of the scar? NICK: Oh yeah. I would say it's a part of her myth, part of her origin myth. The wildest, the wildness poured out of her cheek. Yeah. Yeah. NEIL: Uh, can, can you share - NICK: Did that answer your question? NEIL: Yes and no. That's always the, um, I think it's beautiful. I have the idea, I'm not a parent, but when I see a kid having a tantrum - NICK: I wasn't either before that. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: It comes on kind of suddenly. NEIL: But how did you deal with tantrums? NICK: I, I've been sort of attentive and amused by the whole process. Like I feel like we're really lucky. She's a really good kid and just a really interesting kid and like, so I just sort of like see it, like, I admire the tantrums in a certain way. Like, I think everyone should be like, just screaming, running down the streets, you know, most of the time. Like this sucks. Um, so there was something very, uh, wild about it. Like just to see like, wow, like you can just do this. You can just go and like, you can go to a store and just pull a whole rack down. If you don't get your Popsicle, you don't fucking. She, she used to fire me like every day as a father. She said, if you do not give me that Popsicle, you will not be able to kiss me. You will not be able to hug me. You will not be my father. NEIL: What did you say to that? NICK: I'm like, Oh, that's really hard. I'd be sad not to be your father. She was like, you will not be able to, you will have to go to Texas and never come back. NEIL: Crafty. NICK: Yeah, she was good. Yeah, but I, you know, I was onto her though. Yeah. I'd be her father like in half an hour later. NEIL: Did you ever say - NICK: She'd rehire me like half hour later. Yeah. NEIL: Was there a re-intake process? NICK: No. No. We just pretended it didn't happen. Yeah, it was all moving forward. It was all the continuous present. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: You just kept this present moment. This present moment had no connection to the other moments whatsoever. NEIL: Did you ever join your daughter in a tantrum? NICK: Did I ever join her in a tantrum? Oh, wow. Yeah, I did. Yeah. I remember one night, like early on when she was like six months old and that. The beautiful hallucination of early parenthood where you just, you just don't sleep. You just like, you're just awake for like months. Like just not sleeping. And you just fall asleep in the middle of things. Just like, you know, you can just barely do anything. Everything's filthy and like, you know, you just wash all the clothes and immediately they're filthy again, the food is just taken and thrown to the floor. I think the dogs eat it. You just give up in a certain way. There's one night I was up with her at like three in the morning and she was just screaming. And I was just like, I think I filmed her screaming with my phone. I'm just like, okay, just scream. Just scream. I'm going to make a movie of you screaming. I was like, I don't know what to do. So I just made a little movie of her. NEIL: Wow. But you didn't, but, but it didn't call on you the feeling of like, now I am going to lose it myself and cry? NICK: Um, well, I think I viewed, it's like, you know, I'm from like a sort of WASP-y Irish background, and so we don't really show that stuff. And I'm sort of always like that, but it don't, I don't, I try. I think no one can see it, but I think everyone actually sees it. NEIL: So always you're, you're crying always. NICK: Melting down, yeah. (Card Flips) NEIL: Okay. Kids with artist parents. Because both you and your wife are artists. Like to me, the idea of like, two artists come together and they have a kid, well that's going to be a super kid. And then that kid maybe, will - NICK: Be with another artist, yeah. NEIL: It's almost like an artistic eugenics kind of vision or something. NICK: Um, yeah. I always think it for our daughter, like Lord help her. Really. I don't think like, Oh, you've been, you've won the lottery. Like, like, this is the card, this is the hand you've been dealt. Good luck with it. You know, we're both like, yeah, we're both a little. I, I don't know, I don't know if neurotic is the right word, but like, you know. You know, we're, we're sensitive. We're like, you know, in some ways not made for this world, we're, we're awkward where other people are comfortable, we're, uh, you know, we found our place to, to survive, which is really lucky, you know? And also, you know, in a culture, like I'm a poet too, I'm not, like, it's not that like, this is like some hugely respected artistic position in our culture at the moment. You know, like, that's why I say that I, I say it perversely if someone asks me, with the elevator pitches, like if they ask me what I do, I say I'm a poet. And just because it's perverse, it's like it's so perverse, you know? You know when, if you go to a doctor's office, I write it on a form. I write 'poet', just, you might as well ride hobo or something. Right? That's not right. I'm a wizard. So it's not like, it doesn't feel like that she's suddenly being dealt like this, like, like a superhuman. Like, what are you talking about? NEIL: Right. NICK: It's just unfortunate. Like, you know. Artists get attracted to artists because we can vaguely understand each other, maybe. You know, we're not like, you know, I've tried to be with civilians before and it's like, not easy, you know? I really, I feel less understood, you know? I barely feel like I fit in now. To this world. So you know, you find someone who you feel like, yeah, you also don't feel like you fit in. So that's a kind of connection. NEIL: How does your, how does your daughter describe what, what you both do? Does she unabashedly say - NICK: Well, it's a little easier for Lily, for my wife. I mean, cause she's like, you know, people actually will sometimes recognize her on the streets and stuff, so she's a little prouder. NEIL: But him, the hobo. NICK: And my dad's a poet. (Card Flip) NEIL: Okay. Next card: the fetishization of storytelling. NICK: Yeah. Right now there's a, there's a whole storytelling thing going on, right? Yeah. There's a whole sense of revival and stuff, and I don't exactly get it. I mean, I, I admire it, like I've gone to The Moth, I've participated in a couple of storytelling things. It's a, it's a strange form for me. It's a strange art form for me, and I admire it when it's done really well. I admire it. The ones I've gone to, that I've been part of, they were, kind of felt a little closer to stand-up, which is another art form too. But I'm like, the line is a little blurry and a little like strange and, and it makes sense that stand-up would be part of it. Cause they are sort of like, like jokes in a way. They're sort of packaged. I mean it's a packaged form. It's like improv is more interesting to me. Like where you don't know where it's going to go. But where, if you know where, I mean, like I say, people that do it well, it's really beautiful. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: It's just not what I do. It's like memoir is not storytelling. Uh, it's another form. And storytelling is like one part of it. You sort of tell the story, but then you sort of have to turn over the story and say like, why am I telling this story? Like what am I trying to present in telling this story, ignores all these other realities that are happening or all these other things I don't want you to know. People will come up and say like, you know, how's it feel to like, have that people know so much about you now? Like, well, you only know what I want you to know. You're gonna get some glimpse from a book. NEIL: Right. Yeah. NICK: From storytelling, I don't know even what glimpse you get, you get a glimpse of how they tell a story I guess. I want to know about other people. I want to know like what their, the interior life is of other people, what the landscape is. Which is why I like read... Or, why I, why I do anything. Like go see art. Or just to sort of like have that, so you're not so, so you recognize it's not all, all ego, you know? It's not all, like everything isn't sort of springing forth from within me. You know? NEIL: Right. I'm not interested in other people's stories generally. NICK: Yeah. NEIL: Specifically too. I'm not interested in other people's stories, but I'm interested in hearing people think, which is what this podcast is about. So like the way their thought processes reveal themselves. That interests me. I don't know, but I'm, I'm, I'm not interested in the content. NICK: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I understand. Yeah. I teach creative writing and often it's like, I'm much more interested in like, the stuff around the content. It's not about the content, like it's more about the stuff around like how you're like, like, you know, how this one thing transformed something else or how you chose to make this weird sentence, or how like these things that have sort of moments of excitement. The story itself can be rather deadening. NEIL: Right. NICK: Yeah. Because, I think because it's somewhat packaged too, it is a lot of times, yeah. NEIL: But I also, the thing I really resist is this, like: "We're about stories." You know, like the, this fetishization of storytelling has creeped into like how, how stories are talked about. It's like, we bring you stories da da da, stories. It's like, it feels infantilizing too. NICK: Well, you know, I was just talking about this with one of my, some of my students, uh. You know, the, what's the most famous Joan Didion line? "We tell ourselves stories in order to live." NEIL: Right, right. NICK: And, yet, The White Album goes on. That's the first line of The White Album. That'll probably be on her tombstone. Uh, you know, they make bookmarks of it in bookstores, and yet if you actually read The White Album, that essay, she totally just doesn't believe it and contradicts it and says like, why? Like this makes no sense at all. And like that this is, I thought I could do this. Like I was, I was desperately trying to create a story that would protect me from something and it, none of it worked. And it just dissolves, the whole thing just all is like, so to take that one line out of context and say, this is actually a truism is so strange. It doesn't make any sense at all. And there's a thing, my therapist came up with this thing of the, I don't know if he came up with it, but we talk about my, one of my disorders, uh, one of my many disorders is a narrative affect disorder where I'll create like stories like, but you know, it's not stories like you're talking about, it's creating books and creating like versions of what happened, um, in order to contain it and to be able to hold onto it in a way that seems safe, so I don't have to feel the actual emotional intensity of it. NEIL: Right. NICK: Um, and I think it's, it is a type of illness. I think storytelling is a type of illness, uh, that keeps you from actually feeling. (Card Flips) NEIL: Next card: often when I leave the apartment, I think, is this how I'd like it to be found if I die today? NICK: I think that one's more about you than me. I think. Um. NEIL: You don't think that when you leave? NICK: Well, I don't think I'm ever going to die. I'm pretty sure. NEIL: Do you really believe that? NICK: Yeah. Like I, yeah, no. I have a thing where like, I'm, I'm, there's, well, I just know the ways I'm not going to die. NEIL: Okay. Let's hear it. NICK: I'm not going to die in an airplane crash. I'm not going to die by getting eaten by a shark. Might die by getting hit by a car on a bicycle. I mean I might, so I have to be careful. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: But I can swim for miles in the ocean filled with sharks. I'm fine. Yesterday I was on a plane coming from Houston and, uh, it was just like, like being on a ship in the middle of a, of a nor'easter. Like it was just wild, you know, like it really, like it was almost spinning. Yeah. I was fine. I'm like, Oh, this is cool cause I'm not gonna die in a plane. Like, you know, so I just have these sorts of things. They might be, you know, just delusional. You know, I mean, how could I possibly know? But I'm almost positive I'm not going to get eaten by a shark. NEIL: Uh huh. NICK: Which really, which really helps in Provincetown. Cause there's a lot of sharks there now and a lot of people don't swim in the water. And I'm like, ask yourself, are you going to get eaten by a shark? Do you really think that's the way you're gonna die? And most people would say no. I mean, wouldn't you say no? Like no. If you know, on a rational day, like that'd be really, and if you did, that'd be so cool. Like how many people, how many poets get eaten by a shark? That'd be so excellent, right? Like it's a win-win. I have a poet, there's a poet, Craig Arnold, a really great poet that died a couple of years ago. He was writing a whole series of poems on volcanoes. Traveling the world, like got a grant to travel the world and look at volcanoes. He's just gone. He just vanished one day. He vanished. We think he fell into a volcano and died. Like, that's like an amazing story. Like it's terrible, terrible, awful. But I mean, there are a lot worse ways to die than falling into a volcano. NEIL: Oh my God. How would you feel about being bitten by a shark and surviving it? NICK: That's cool. That woman, that, that surfer that only has one arm, she's cool. NEIL: You'd be okay with that? NICK: If I could surf like her. (Card Flips) NEIL: Um. NICK: I really killed this bottle of Perrier. NEIL: Oh, awesome. I love it. Um, good job. Uh: the ambiguity of "It's downhill from here." NICK: Oh. The whole idea of like, you know. There's a few things. Yeah. The opposite is all uphill from here, right. It's all, so downhill sounds pretty good, right? But it suggests like we're sliding into the grave, I think. NEIL: Yes. NICK: Like it's all like we've reached the peak. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: That was the peak. It was really hard to get to the peak. And as soon as you get to the peak, you start going downhill. Yeah. You know? Uh, and, uh. Yeah, I often joke, yeah, I'm on the other side of the, on the other side, now, you know, that you somehow that the, the, the greatest work and the greatest, uh, notoriety so that was a while ago. Um, and. NEIL: But also maybe the greatest struggle, no? NICK: Was a while ago. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: Yeah. Oh, I dunno. But I, I joke about it. I just, I don't really believe that. The most recent project I'm doing just feels completely, uh, uh, fulfills me. You know, I'd have this other book coming out, this book, Stay, coming out, which I'm, I worked on a lot last year and I'm happy with that. And another book coming out after that. So there's like, you know, I don't really worry about it, but it's, it's almost a thing. It might be sort of Irish too, like just so you don't want to sort of, uh, be too full of yourself. You know, you want to like sort of be somewhat, you don't want to show how many fish you caught that day cause then you have to give half away. So you sort of downplay it. You downplay it. So the downhill side is where we sort of live. We live on the downhill side. I don't know, it's a strange metaphor. NEIL: It's, it's ambiguous. NICK: Yeah, it's a strange metaphor. NEIL: But I'm also thinking it's a paradox, too, and, as you talked, because take the downhill part. Um, it does get easier. NICK: Yeah. NEIL: I think, I mean, my life, I will say, and anything could change at any moment, has gotten so much easier, you know, now that I'm clearly on the other side. NICK: Psychic. NEIL: Yeah. NICK: Psychically. Yeah. NEIL: For sure. NICK: Yeah. Yeah. NEIL: Um, yeah. It's also, I am sliding into the grave. Yeah. I mean, hopefully it's a long slide, but... NICK: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mortality. The cold wind of mortality does start to, you start to feel it. At a certain point. NEIL: In your back. NICK: Yeah. You started, you know, it's blown in your face. Yeah. It's like, it's like you feel it, which I, you sort of thought you felt it in your 20's but you really, you could have, I mean, we know a lot of people that died in their 20's, sure. It was not like this. This is like the real thing. Yeah. This is like, yeah. There's no, like, there's no choice in the matter. So like, yeah, maybe I'll just overdose or something, you know, or, or, you know, or I'll just be reckless and didn't die. Now it's like, yeah, no matter what I do, doesn't matter what I do, I can, I can eat kale, I can eat kale the rest of my life. NEIL: Yeah. I don't have to coax the process and it's still going to happen. NICK: Yeah. (Card Flips) NEIL: The existential space of the clipboard. NICK: Well, I mean, clipboard, I think when you say clipboard, I was thinking of just like first of a blank clipboard, but then I was also thinking of the thing you put clippings on, that you put other things on, combine things together. NEIL: I'm thinking of the clipboard, the computer clipboard. Like when you cut something. That space. NICK: Well, what do, what is it? What is that on the computer? NEIL: The clipboard. NICK: Yeah. What is that? I'm not sure what it, what do you mean? You cut and paste stuff? Or... NEIL: Anytime you, surely you do Command X and Command C, right? NICK: You mean like copy things and then cut things? Yeah. Yeah. Cut. Yeah. NEIL: So when you copy something - NICK: And Command V. NEIL: Oh yeah. NICK: Yeah, yeah. Can't forget Command V. NEIL: Absolutely. When you do Command C - NICK: Yeah. That copies it. NEIL: Into the clipboard. And then that command, do Command V - NICK: It takes it off the clipboard. NEIL: Yeah. Well, it stays in the clipboard, but it also pastes the inside. NICK: See I don't think, I never knew that. Yeah. I never would've thought of that. NEIL: I'm acutely aware of the clipboard. NICK: I never thought where it went. Oh. Oh. Well, this is a tough question cause I've never really thought of this before. So, uh, existential, I mean, that's kind of heavy to suggest it has to do with life or death. Um, uh. NEIL: You don't think about your text in that kind of liminal state between when you cut it and when you've pasted it? NICK: I figured it just, it goes away. Like it doesn't, like if I, if I cut something else, then that replaces the thing I cut before, or if I copy something else, replaces the thing. So I just assume there's not a clipboard holding all of them. NEIL: No, it isn't. That's part of the existential condition. NICK: Cause it just vanishes once you put something else on top, once you copy something else. NEIL: Yeah. It's fragile. NICK: Yeah. I make a lot of copies. I try to, I try to like, save things as much as possible and like, yeah, like I'm, and print things up. I, I prefer to write by hand first. Uh, really. Um, and then to print it and then to write by hand on the thing I've printed and then to keep going back and forth like that. I like writing by hand. There's a, there's a young poet, um, who created an app called 'Midst.' It's hard to say midst, like in, you're in the midst of something. Yeah. I don't know how to - midst. M. I. D. S. T. It's very hard to say for me. NEIL: Yeah. Me too. NICK: Can you say it? NEIL: Uh, yeah. I feel like it's going to intersect with my sibilant A-S. Let's try it. Midst. NICK: Yeah. Oh, you do feel very well. NEIL: But a little gay, right? NICK: I didn't, I didn't say that. I raised one eyebrow, but I did not say it. NEIL: When straight men raise one eyebrow, it somehow doesn't look gay. Midst. Midst. What's Midst? NICK: Well, it's a, it's a program that she did where you can, where you write a poem, I guess you write anything, but it sort of keeps track of all the cutting and pasting you do and the, the process of making it. So you ended up, you send her like a final poem, but then she can press a button and can see all the stuff you did to make it. Um, so I have to try it though, but I usually, I really usually write by hand first and she's like, no, you have to write it on the, you have to compose the whole thing on the thing. I'm like, okay, so I just haven't quite done it yet, but I'm, yeah, I'm planning on it though. NEIL: But this is basically, this isn't a useful tool. This is a tool to create a kind of - NICK: To create a thing. She'll publish like a magazine that shows, like you look at a poem and then you press a button and it all sort of like, maybe it goes in reverse and dissolves back to the first word or something. NEIL: Yeah. I just am not into those kinds of things. I feel like there's a lot of that peripheral to the art world. These things that kind of like perform a process or reveal a process. I'm just not into that. You know what I'm saying? NICK: No, but that's okay. I mean, I try, I believe that you are not into it. I'm just like, process is nice. Like I love, I love, I love seeing the process. I love seeing, don't you love like, like thinking like Michelangelo's slaves, you know, on the way to the David, right? NEIL: Oh yeah. NICK: We get to see the slaves like coming out of the block of marble and everyone says that they were like incomplete. NEIL: Yes. NICK: Yeah. We just said, which is such bullshit. Like if you think about it, like what, he did twelve incomplete at the same stage, like they're half out of the block just, Oh, I'm just gonna stop them all here. NEIL: Right? NICK: Like, it makes no sense at all. Like you couldn't finish one of them? NEIL: Right. NICK: Like he clearly saw that it looked cool for slaves who were pulling themselves out of what they're stuck in. And that, I find it so much more interesting than David, which is complete and perfect. I think, I think that's the meta thing where it's like all about process. That's like the process right there. NEIL: Huh. NICK: Yeah. So I try to think about that. That was just sort of a highfalutin way to counter your anti-process. NEIL: Doesn't feel highfalutin. I think my thing was like faux highfalutin. (Card Flips) What keeps you going? NICK: Um. Uh, just wondering what's gonna happen next. Yeah. Yeah. NEIL: Poet. On that note, thank you, Nick Flynn, for being on SHE'S A TALKER. NICK: Thank you, Neil. NEIL: That was my conversation with Nick Flynn. Thank you for listening. Before we get to the credits, there were some listener responses to cards that I'd love to share. In my conversation with artist Tony Bluestone, we talked about the card: That moment when you forget what you should be worrying about and try to reclaim it. In response to that card, Jamie Wolf wrote, "A single brussel sprout rolled under the stove, and I wasn't gonna let Shavasana get in the way of my at least remembering to retrieve it." John Kensal responded with what I think is a haiku: Please sit or flee, my wee and quiet executive function disorder. Another card Tony and I talked about was: Fog is queer weather, to which Jonathan Taylor wrote, "To me, fog is transgressive because it's like a cloud. So it's either you or it is not where it's supposed to be." Thanks to everyone who wrote in. If you have something you'd like to share about a card on the podcast, email us or send us a voice memo at shesatalker@gmail.com or message us on Instagram at shesatalker. And also, as always, we'd love it if you'd rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend. This series is made possible with generous support from Stillpoint Fund. Devin Guinn produced this episode. Molly Donahue and Aaron Dalton are our consulting producers. Justine Lee handles social media. Our interns are Alara Degirmenci, Jonathan Jalbert, Jesse Kimotho, and Rachel Wang. Our card flip beats come from Josh Graver. And my husband, Jeff Hiller, sings the theme song you're about to hear. Thanks to all of them, and to my guest, Nick Flynn, and to you for listening. JEFF HILLER: She's a talker with Neil Goldberg. She's a talker with fabulous guests. She's a talker, it's better than it sounds, yeah!
Meghan Finn is the Artistic Director of The Tank. Her work has been seen at the Tank, the V&A, Serpentine Galleries, The Wexner Center, SCAD, The Logan Center for the Arts, Museo Jumex Mexico City, The Power Plant, Canadian Stage, Carnegie Mellon, Brooklyn College, MIT, the Great Plains Theater Conference and others. She has directed three world premieres by playwright Mac Wellman, including most recently The Invention of Tragedy at The Flea. Finn is currently directing the world premiere of I am Nobody a new musical by Greg Kotis at The Tank; as well as The Nine Dreams: Blake & the Apocalypse by writer Nick Flynn as an immersive performance installation at The Silos at Sawyer Yards for CounterCurrent Festival, Houston. She is a frequent collaborator of conceptual artist and sculptor Pedro Reyes, and directed DOOMOCRACY for Creative Time. She has collaborated with photographer Mitch Epstein on a live performance with cellist Erik Friedlander as well as premieres by Erin Courtney, Peggy Stafford, Gary Winter, Ben Gassman, Alexandra Collier, Carl Holder, Eliza Bent and Cori Copp. WHEN WE WENT ELECTRONIC by Caitlyn Saylor Stephens which premiered at The Tank in 2018 will tour in 2020 to ART HOUSE, The Koun Theater in Athens Greece and OnStage! Festival Rome. Check out all The Tank has to offer at www.thetanknyc.org Check out The Tank's Podcast, TANKED. Go check out the shows she's working on: I Am Nobody by Greg Kotis | March 5 - 28, 2020 When We Went Electronic by Caitlin Saylor Stephens | March 19 - April 5, 2020 The Nine Dreams: Blake & the Apocalypse by Nick Flynn Follow us: PAGE TO STAGE: Instagram or Facebook MARY DINA: Instagram or Twitter BRIAN SEDITA: Instagram or Website BROADWAY PODCAST NETWORK: Website or Instagram #PageToStagePodcast
Along with Laurie Reney, Associate Broker and Empowerment TEAM Director, The Team tackles the conversation regarding being a real estate agent. Podcast & Live Radio Show on WATD 95.9 McNamara Broker Team Boston Connect Real Estate Sharon McNamara | Mary Baker | Melissa Wallace | Dustin Hughes Facebook Live every Tuesday at 6:15 pm @ facebook.com/McNamaraBrokerTeam Follow our team on Instagram @McNamaraBrokerTeam PREFER TO READ THIS EPISODE? Announcer: Now, Talk Real Estate sponsored by Boston Connect, Real Estate Services. Sharon McNamara: Hi, I'm Sharon McNamara, and you are listening to Talk Real Estate. Let me share a little bit about my background before we get started. I am the broker/owner of Boston Connect Real Estate, located on the South Shore, and I have been working as a full time realtor in sales and marketing consultant for home buyers and home sellers for the past 15 years. I have helped hundreds of clients throughout the home buying and home selling process. My unique approach to assisting my clients to the next chapter of their lives is driven by being a team player and by offering them continuous training, education, advising, and mentoring. I like to say that I offer my clients exceptional service that moves you. Every week I will be providing you with real estate topics ranging from home buyer and home seller advice, legal matters, insurance binders, flood insurance concerns, home inspection questions, environmental worries like radon, lead paint and mold, mortgages and loan programs, staging tips and ideas, real estate contracts, market trends, home values and more. Sharon McNamara: It's a talk radio show, and sometimes we are even interactive so you can follow along online. If you have any questions during the show, please call 781-837-4900. We'd love to talk real estate. If you missed any of our shows, or if you want to listen to one again, you can listen on my podcast at talkrealestateradio.com. If you would like a one-on-one consultation with me regarding your home sale, or your home purchase, I'd love the opportunity to meet with you. You can connect with me anytime at bostonconnect.com or 781-826-8000. Now sit back, relax, take good notes, and let's talk real estate. Sharon McNamara: Hello to all my South Shore neighbors. This is Sharon McNamara, and you are, of course, listening to Talk Real Estate with Sharon McNamara, Mary Baker, and Melissa Wallace, and we have a very special guest with us tonight, Laurie Reney. Laurie Reney: Hello. Sharon McNamara: Hello. Special. Laurie Reney: Thank you for having me. Sharon McNamara: Yeah, and welcome to our Talk Real Estate round table, that's what we're going by here because our table is round, if you get it. Laurie Reney: I love it. Melissa Wallace: It's the symbolism of it that really- Sharon McNamara: Yeah. Melissa Wallace: -gets you. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. And we have Ben in studio. Hello there, Benjamin. Benjamin: Good evening, ladies. How are we tonight? Sharon McNamara: We are doing fantastic. So if people want to call, what number should they call, if they have any questions for us? Benjamin: They should call 781-837-4900. Sharon McNamara: I was just checking to see if you were on your toes and following along with me. Benjamin: Not only am I on my toes, but they are the tippiest part of my toes. Sharon McNamara: Perfect. Perfect. So tonight our topic, we decided that we were going to talk about this, we mentioned it briefly last week. So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? What? What? That's what I just wrote on Facebook. You want to be a what what? Laurie Reney: Yeah. Sharon McNamara: I'm really hyper today. All that ginger candy I was eating, Mel. Yeah, I know. I ate a whole thing of it. I have a bellyache. Melissa Wallace: It's kind of addictive. I'm not going to lie. I didn't like it at all at first and now it's growing on me. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. Well I've decided after I gave up gum, January 1st I gave up gum. Melissa Wallace: I found all of your gum today. Sharon McNamara: In the drawer? Melissa Wallace: It's in the draw by the refrigerator if anybody wants any. Sharon McNamara: So we have plenty of gum in the office. But yes, I just gave up gum and I'm doing really good. But then I took on another habit that's called the ginger, and I decided once they're gone I'm not buying anymore. Melissa Wallace: Yeah, because it's a replacement thing? Sharon McNamara: Yeah. I eat 10 of them. I'd rather one piece of gum and then I just have that for a while. Look at Laurie, she's just like, yep. I'm following along. Laurie Reney: I am. Melissa Wallace: Laurie, this is your first time joining us live, isn't it? Laurie Reney: It is. Melissa Wallace: Oh my goodness. Laurie Reney: I love it down here. It's so cozy. Melissa Wallace: Yeah, it really is. Yeah, it's awesome. Sharon McNamara: It's really great too. Cause during the day I have like little meetings down here and like little conferences with people. So. Melissa Wallace: It's your sound studio. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:03:56] No, I feel like Laurie, we have to adjust her mic a little bit so maybe we have to lift you up. How you feeling about that, Ben? Yep- Benjamin: I agree. I think we can bump a little volume and we should be good to go. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. Well, bump her a little volume there and it be good. All right, so we're going to talk about So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? What? What? Melissa Wallace: I was going to say, you crazy? Sharon McNamara: No, what are you, crazy? No, we're going to talk about the pros, the cons, the ups, the downs, the in-betweens, everything in between and the, maybe, misconceptions about our profession that it isn't actually a profession, the misconceptions that you can just go into this and make a boatload of money even if you're doing it part-time. There's also the group of people who are like, Oh, I'm going to get into it and I'm going to flip houses and that's going to be my, that's how I roll. Melissa Wallace: My niche. Sharon McNamara: Yeah, my niche. So we're going to talk about all those things and more tonight. What can I help you with there, girl? Laurie Reney: Oh, I thought we might have an agenda. Sharon McNamara: Yeah, we do. They're on the printer. I'll be right back. Sorry about that. So I know that we are going to- Melissa Wallace: Why don't we start by talking about why we have Laurie on talking about You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? What? What? Benjamin: You mean right after the traffic, ladies? Melissa Wallace: Why don't we listen to the traffic first and I wonder if the... Who's the new guy? I don't even know who's the new guy. Benjamin: David Cedrone tonight. Melissa Wallace: From the WATD Traffic Studio. How's it looking out there, David? David: All right. This time we're sponsored by unbound.org. Expressways southbound, typical delays. Heavy out of the O'Neill, the South Bay. You'll come off the brakes, hit them again from Granted Ave. down through the split. Route 3 not looking too bad, just a bit sluggish through Braintree, down to before Union Street. Lower end of 93 southbound, you're bumping to bumper out of the split out through 24, 24 southbound slow from the top down to the Horse Bridge. 95 northbound gets heavy at the top connecting to 128. No issues on Route 44. David: A girl in Kenya dreams of becoming a doctor. An elder Guatemala dreams of being part of a community. Reach out and change their world, it will change your own. Unbound.org. Traffic on the nines every morning. I'm David Cedrone and the WATD Traffic Center. Announcer: We now return to Talk Real Estate sponsored by Boston Connect Real Estate Services on 95.9 WATV. Sharon McNamara: Back. Hello to all of our neighbors out there. I don't want to just say South Shore because we are South of Boston, so I know that we're hitting all kinds of different studios now, too. Melissa Wallace: I used to get us all the way up in Medford. Sharon McNamara: Yeah- Melissa Wallace: that's definitely not South... Boston. Sharon McNamara: All right, well I lost my glasses, but that's normal. Melissa Wallace: They're on your face. Sharon McNamara: Oh my God. If we could take a picture of what just happened. Melissa Wallace: Well, we have it on video, so, okay. Well while Sharon collects herself, you can go to Facebook. We are live on Sharon Costa McNamara. So if you want to send her a friend request, I'll accept you and you can watch it. Although, we are shared on all of our Connect pages, Pembro Connect, Duxbury, Situate, Hanover, Marshfield, all this on pages. I'm like, "What is she looking for?" And you're, "I'm just looking at my glasses." They were dangling underneath her chin. So that's a thing. That happened, and I'm glad we have it on video. Recorded for the rest of history. Melissa Wallace: All right, so she's still collecting herself. So, Laurie, why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners who might not have heard your introduction before. I know this is the first time live with us, but we have certainly talked about you many times because we love you so much and love what you do with our agents and for our company and all that fun stuff. Melissa Wallace: So why don't you introduce yourself? How long have you been in the business? What you do here at Boston Connect, where you service, and then we'll dive right in. Laurie Reney: All right, cool. I'm Laurie Reney. I've been in the business for about 22 years now. I've been a broker for, I believe, 10 years which is awesome. Here at Boston Connect I sell real estate, but I also mentor agents, as well as coach up the experienced agents, as well, to hold them accountable, to hopefully push them a little bit to do more in sales and to have a good life as well. Melissa Wallace: Balance. So you're teaching a lot of balance and how to do it all. Have it all, do it all. Laurie Reney: I would say... I call it a both-and. Melissa Wallace: Oh, both-and? Laurie Reney: Yes, a both-and. You can have a great business and a great-filled [crosstalk 00:08:35] life. Yes. Melissa Wallace: You can both have a great business. Laurie Reney: Yes. That's my goal. I service the... I raised my family and I grew up in Duxbury so I know that community very well, as well as, I would say, the coast. I live in Marshfield now in the Humarock area, which I love. Melissa Wallace: How long have you been in Marshfield? Laurie Reney: Six years. Melissa Wallace: Okay. Laurie Reney: Yep. And we love it. So I do serve, I would say, Quincy all the way down to the upper Cape. Yep. Melissa Wallace: Excellent. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. So I put in here that Laurie is also, you're an associate broker, right? Laurie Reney: Yes. Sharon McNamara: So you have your broker's license, and we'll talk a little bit about that tonight, too, is what do you have to do to earn your broker's license? So she's an associate broker here at Boston Connect Real Estate and she is also the director of our empowerment T.E.A.M. Sharon McNamara: At Boston Connect Real Estate, we have T.E.A.M. For us is training, education, advising and mentoring. So that's how we came up with T.E.A.M. And it really is about empowering our agents and our team, really, in more ways than one, just helping everybody. So tonight we are talking more than we normally do about Boston Connect Real Estate because that's where we are, so that's what we know. But we are just going to help people, because people ask us all the time, "So what, what does it entail to get your real estate license? What do you have to do? What..." And all these great things. So I figured we'd just go around the table a little bit around our real estate talk round table here. Mary, why don't you tell everybody about you? Mary Baker: Okay. Well, what do you guys not know about me? I have been with Boston Connect for nine years. I got licensed when I was 21 and immediately, yeah, I was 21, and immediately came and hung my license with Boston Connect Real Estate. Before that I was an assistant to an agent up in Arlington, Massachusetts, so that's how I knew I wanted to get into the career. I started at Boston Connect as always licensed, but as Sharon's assistant, trying to hands-on get my feel for the business and what it was going to be, because I was a little trepidatious of how much responsibility would be on me. Then I slowly integrated into being a showing agent then a buyer's agent. Now I am the full time buyer's agent for our team and an assistant listing agent. So yeah, it just grew. It naturally and organically grew and that's where I am today. Sharon McNamara: Yes, absolutely. I remember when you came on, it was when we were first in the office and it was about a year. I still sell real estate because that's truly where my love is, with real estate. I mean, I love the office, but I really want to be more hands on with our agents and helping our agents grow their businesses, and me still being hands on with my clients and helping them in their next chapters. We're very, very lucky and fortunate to have Melissa Wallace with us who takes care of everything in between all of those nooks and crannies. And, Melissa, why don't you tell everybody how long you've been doing this and how much you love it here. And AKA Melissa's name tag on her door says, Our Everything. So we have some pretty big titles for her, director of, really, everything. Melissa Wallace: Every title that I have. Well, my name is Melissa Wallace. I grew up all over the South Shore, primarily in Weymouth, but about almost six years ago now, I graduated and my first job out of college was an assistant to a real estate agent like Mary, but also working part time in a bar like many real estate agents do, and it just sort of progressed from there. I went to another company and sort of worked as a semi-office manager. I actually worked with Laurie there and that's where I met Laurie, and then we made the decision to come to Boston Connect about four years ago for me, at least almost four years ago. And I didn't have my real estate license beforehand, but after about a year here I decided to go ahead and do that and so I could help out the company more and help out the team more. Melissa Wallace: And my role at the company progressed. I was primarily just an assistant to Mary and Sharon and that was my role in the team. And then it sort of progressed and now I'm... Sharon McNamara: I was so surprised you said yes to us. Melissa Wallace: One day was just like, "Hey, do you want to be the office manager?" And I was like, "Sure." Mary Baker: I still remember what I wore during your interview and I remember looking at you and being like, "What do you want me to do?" And me and Sharon looked each other when we like, "We want you to tell us what to do." Sharon McNamara: It's sort of your job, you tell us what to do and where to go and- Mary Baker: You do it very well. Sharon McNamara: And it's been a natural progression for you here at the office. So not only do you help us in our team sell real estate, but you're also immune, or you're out there doing open houses and everything with that new construction and subdivisions that we have. But you're also hands on with the agents individually in the office, helping them with their emails and helping them with Canva and helping them with all the things that go along with being a real estate agent. Melissa Wallace: Yeah. I like to view it as my job is to help the agents here, help them be successful in their business because that's what makes me happy and I hope it makes them happy. And I want to see everybody succeed, not just start a team and not just you, Laurie, not just the core peeps here, but I want everybody to succeed. So if there's something that I can do to help you succeed in your business, then my door's always open. Sharon McNamara: So long as you get your paperwork in on time. [crosstalk 00:14:26]. Melissa Wallace: Yeah, as long as you get your paperwork in on time. Sharon McNamara: Someone's got to set the rules. Melissa Wallace: Yeah. Mary Baker: Absolutely. Sharon McNamara: So tonight I thought that- Melissa Wallace: Well, what about you, Sharon? Benjamin: We have Donna on the line, too. Mary Baker: Oh, why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners? Sharon McNamara: So I will introduce myself. My name is Sharon McNamara. I am the broker/owner of Boston Connect Real Estate. It's funny because I don't often say that I am the broker/owner, it's only in certain situations that I do because I do feel that I work with everybody here at Boston Connect. I don't feel as if I'm above, not that that title means anything. But that was one of the harder aspects of us moving to this building was when our offices for all of our staff was on a level above where the agents sit and all I could think about was my first experiences, in the Peru and the higher up you were in the corner offices. And then when I went to Reebok, my background advertising and marketing when I was at Reebok, the higher up, it just was sort of like a hierarchy, and I never wanted that feeling for here. Sharon McNamara: And that's why at the top of the stairs, right outside my office, it says we rise by lifting others. And I want that to be a constant reminder to us as staff. We're staff to them, like really, to our agents. And our job is to lift them above us. So it is a constant reminder to me every single day when I'm going in and out of my office. That that's really what's important to me here at Boston Connect Real Estate. But I do feel like I very much treat myself like an agent who works at Boston Connect, so that's why I think sometimes it gets... It's weird when I have to make some decisions for the company because I'm like, "Well, now what do you think?" Melissa Wallace: "Now it's my job to make decisions. I want to go." Sharon McNamara: I'm like, Mel said, "No." [inaudible 00:16:08] Like that means no. I had to ask her one day, I remember it was Christmas time, and I took a picture of the mailbox actually that's over in the corner there for Christmas and I was like, "Can we please get this? It's so cute." She's like, "How much is it?" I'm like, "All right..." But I have been, I got in the business. I was very fortunate. Like I said, I was at Reebok advertising and marketing, which is probably why I'm a very heavy listing agent. I love that part of the whole process with buying, helping people sell their homes. I was home with the two girls, and when it was time for them, for me to really go back full time, that's what we decided that we would do when they got to a certain age, I'd said I didn't think I wanted to do that. So I decided to get into real estate and I got into real estate in 2001 is when I got my real estate license. So I've been doing this just about 19 years, I guess, 19-20 years, almost 20 years. Sharon McNamara: And it's been something that I really loved, and I think it's because the mindset that I put on this was not that I was helping people sell houses or buy houses. It was more that I was helping families. So that's what moves me. No pun intended. That is what moves me. And that's what gets me through every year and every day as a real estate agent. And I am not motivated by money. I am not motivated by... When we do the vision boards, it's really difficult for me to do a vision board because I'm not motivated by materialistic things, but I'm more motivated by words and inspiration and helping, and it just works out that the more people you help then the things that you would want to have from a vision board perspective like a garage or something like that. That's how that stuff comes to fruition for me. Sharon McNamara: I think that one of the things I love, I went out on my own, by the way. I've been at three companies, all wonderful, awesome companies. I have nothing bad to say about any one of them. I learned a little bit of everything from every single one I was in. I learned a lot from every single agent, from every single office that I was in. I can't say that I've had any bad experience in any of the offices, so I would never say, "Oh, I left this company because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." As I grew and when I wanted different things for my clients is when I moved. So I've been in a few different companies and, like I said, I took a little bit of everything from each one and that's how we decided to come up and grow Boston Connect Real Estate. Sharon McNamara: So 2010 is when we opened Boston Connect Real Estate. I said to Mark, "Why don't we sell our boat and open a real estate office?" At the time there were a couple of people that were trying to recruit me to be managers for their office. And I just thought, "Well, if people have confidence in me, then I will have confidence in them as well." So I in myself as well and that's when I opened Boston Connect Real Estate. I'm just trying to help these two out that just haven't had [inaudible 00:19:10] [crosstalk 00:19:10] . Melissa Wallace: No, we're just saying, I believe we have a caller. Sharon McNamara: Oh, do we have a collar, Ben? Benjamin: Yes, we do. We have Donna on the line. Sharon McNamara: Oh, hello, Donna. Donna: Hey ladies. Sharon McNamara: Hi. How are you? Mary Baker: You said that very nicely. Are you watching it on Facebook? Donna: Yes, I have been listening and as a seasoned agent, just one year shy of you, Sharon, I am extremely excited about the success that all of you have made. Sharon McNamara: Oh wow. You, too, Donna Bagni. Donna: Sharon, you have grown an incredible company that is a boutique atmosphere that allows any agent under them to be able to put the client or the customer's needs before Corporate America. And I worked very heavily in Corporate America before I left my job to have my children. Mary Baker, I don't know. I just thought Mary Baker coming in to interview and in came this girl in stilettos and her name is Mary and... Oh my God. Mary Baker: Donna, you're the reason that I'm at the company. You got me here. [crosstalk 00:20:37] Laurie Reney: Because Donna was Mary's sister's buyer's agent, right, when she bought her home on Center Street in Pembroke. Donna: And, looking at real estate from today's viewpoint, it's not yesterday's real estate. It becomes harder and more difficult. And you need a seasoned agent to be able to navigate through the situations that pop up. And you need to look at them as your final... Your final step is to close the deal for the benefit of both the buyer and the seller. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. One of the things Donna that you're saying is about having a seasoned agent and I think that that's really important, and we just gave away our awards this year and for last year. And one of the things I mentioned for our Was She a Shining Star for us was Maryann Trask. She's been in the business a very long time. And one of the things I love about our office is that we're always learning from each other. I've learned from Maryann and I love that. And I love the fact that we have a new agent, Susan Solace just joined us, and I don't know if she's listening or not, but welcome aboard. But I love that everybody is very hands-on with helping that other agent succeed. And that's where I think our seasoned agents come into play so much because they... We know the road traveled can be wobbly at best and it's like walking on cobblestone. Sharon McNamara: But I feel that all of our seasoned agents, whoever's sitting in the room at the time, "Hey, I need some help with..." That's one of the things I really, truly love about Boston Connect Real Estate and just the way that we are able to... We call it our Boston Connect Family and that ain't no lie. Melissa Wallace: Donna, I agree with you with what you said with a seasoned agent, but I also, I feel very confident in our, we call them newbies, and our agents who joined the company who haven't been with another agency and are going through a mentoring program, I'm very confident in them being able to succeed as well in a transaction because of the training that we have here. And because we do have the seasoned agent where you can just walk into the office and you hang out with Donna and Nadine or hang out with Trish and Nick. It's so true, when you're here you learn so much. And even if you're just sitting here, your business is going to succeed because you're constantly learning, you're constantly listening, you're asking questions. I even said it in our office meeting last week, "I'd rather you ask me 10,000 questions because that's what I'm here for. Then for you to assume something and have it be wrong. You are here to ask questions." Donna: I could not agree with you more because the platform that Sharon set up- [crosstalk 00:23:57] Sharon McNamara: And I did not set that up alone, so I cannot take credit for that. So, Donna, when I went out on my own I called Donna Bagni. [crosstalk 00:24:04] Donna: I know, but let me just tell you something. Sharon McNamara: No, let me finish. I called Donna Bagni and I said, "Hey Donna, can I let you in on something?" It's 2010 it was the market was changing, and I could see it and I could feel it and I didn't like the way that things were going, that you couldn't make choices for your clients. And I said, "I really do want to go out on my own." And I jumped out in a declined market and no place to go but up. But I called Donna and, at the time Joan Eulich, who was her partner and recently deceased, so God bless her. Yeah, we loved Joan. And I asked, "Will you meet with me?" Sharon McNamara: She met with me in my cabana and that's where we put together our commission scale and things like that for the agents, like what makes more sense? And that's some of the stuff maybe we'll get a chance to talk about later when people are considering what company to go to. So yes, I had to get that in there, Donna B. Donna: All right, well, thank you very much. So what I want to follow up with was the fact that, yes, the platform was created and I had to take care of my grandbabies. So the torch passed to Laurie, and she has done an absolute incredible job with these new people and I couldn't be prouder. And you know what? Boston Connect has my heart and soul. Mary Baker: No, that makes me feel great. Yeah, don't make us cry on Facebook Live. I mean I won't cry, but Laurie certainly will. [crosstalk 00:25:42] Sharon McNamara: Mary doesn't cry. Well, Donna, honestly I really do think that, I feel like we're gloating a little bit here about Boston Connect Real Estate, but I feel that we are getting out the energy of what Boston Connect Real Estate is and how we feel about our agents who are here with each other. Laurie Reney: We're consumed with support and love for each other which is something that you don't really find in every company. Sharon McNamara: And when one person is having a bad day, it's like the other person will lift them up. If Donna is over in the corner choking, I'll go grab her water. Even though when I was choking, no one got me water. Sharon McNamara: Well, Donna B, thank you so much again. That's Donna Bagni who is a full-time real estate agent at Boston Connect Real Estate. She has been with us since 2010. Donna is a good friend, I have known her since when I first started in this industry. I did start at Jack Conway Company and Jack was wonderful. It was to have Christmas parties and him come in and just sort of hang out. That family feeling that I had back then is one of the very most important parts that I brought to Boston Connect Real Estate with me. Their office is no longer there, but we still have a little bit of just Jack and us, I guess. I say I'm an ex-Con. And again like I said, all great companies. Sharon McNamara: I have worked for nothing but great companies, and we're very fortunate on the South Shore, South Coast, everywhere. We are surrounded by great companies and great agents. With that said, we do know that this time of year, all of our agents are being called to be recruited because that's what people do. I call it fishing season, right? It's hunting season. They're looking for the agents who maybe didn't have a great year or they're just trying to persuade them to come over with, "We have the greatest technology, we have the greatest this, we have the greatest that." I always tell people, "You need to do what you feel in your heart is best for you and your family because that's what's going to make you be the best agent that you can possibly be. So staying in a company that you're not thrilled with, or you don't feel like they getting the support from, whether that's us or another company, then you shouldn't. You need to do what's best for you and your family." So we're going to have a little bit of an open house. I don't know that we've picked a date. Did we decide? Melissa Wallace: No, we haven't. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. By the end of the show, because we definitely want to give that data out, we're going to have a little bit of an open house here. So if you are currently a real estate agent and you're thinking about making a change, I don't make calls to agents, I don't want to take an agent from any broker. We attract, we don't recruit. And I think that that's why we've built a company with 34 agents that are very much like-minded and really want that warm fuzzy feeling and just some really damn good numbers, because we know how to do that, too. I think we're number 13 in Plymouth County for 2019 of all Massachusetts companies. So volume sold, we're doing really good, but I feel like we're stealth-like. We just sort of like fly under the radar. We're just doing our own thing and not getting in anybody else's way. Fair to say. Yes. So we're going to have that open house, and what we'll do is have a calendar where people could have private one-on-one meetings. So just come and talk to us. Say, "Hey, I want to be a real estate agent. What's entailed in that?" Melissa Wallace: Right. Sharon McNamara: So I think we were thinking maybe Saturday, February 8th or the following Saturday after that. Probably the Saturday after that. Melissa Wallace: Hold on one second, one moment please. Sharon McNamara: So Laurie's role here at Boston Connect Real Estate is when new agents come in and they're newbie agents, her role is to get them going as being a mentor. Do you want to talk a little bit about that mentoring process? Laurie Reney: Sure. A new agent, especially if they're brand spanking new, that's typically what I do. I take them under my wing, we meet, I have them do a database. That's the most important thing first, create a database with everybody that they know, and then send out a letter introducing themselves. And then from there, hopefully, they get a lead, whether it be a listing or a buyer, and then we walk through the whole process side-by-side throughout the entire deal. I take calls all day, all night from my mentees because it's a big deal. And I love everybody that I'm mentoring because they truly do care, and nobody just assumes that they know the right thing to do. Laurie Reney: And what I really appreciate about this office is that it's not just me. If I'm not available, they can call Sharon, they can call Mary, they can call Melissa, they can call Donna, they can call anybody in the office and people just jump to help. Because a lot of people here were mentored. Trish and her husband, and they are killing it because they have such a great foundation. Sharon McNamara: And they really did listen to the advice that we gave, which is really great, and how to grow their business right from the beginning when we were doing all the Buffini programs. So we are certified instructors for the Buffini program and we can get into that another day. Sharon McNamara: But one of the things that you just rang in my head about everybody being there is I remember it was a Saturday, I think that you were up in New Hampshire and Michelle Fay, who's in a mentoring program right now, love her to pieces. She actually gave me a book today on essential oils. So thank you, Michelle. She's such a giver, I love her. She's always thinking about me and that's probably why she's now my favorite, she gives me presents. But she was in here one day and she's like, "I don't know what to do. One of my clients is going to be writing up an offer, and I don't want to bother Laurie while she's away and I don't want to try to do it on my own," even though she probably could have. But she was following protocol, we'll walk you through the step of everything. And I was like, "I know how to write an offer. Remember me?" So she's like, "No, I wouldn't want to bother you." And I was like, "That is not a bother. I actually enjoy it." Sharon McNamara: I know her clients anyways because Michelle was me and Mary's client, we helped her find a house. So that was a lot of fun to be able to sit and do that type of stuff. Laurie Reney: Sure. And you're, and you, you love doing that. You just love the training aspect of it as do I. I say to myself, "Do I really want to sell another house, or would I rather just mentor and help people 24/7 because it is very gratifying. When they have their first closing, they get their first check and they just have this biggest smile on their face. It makes what I do worth it. Sharon McNamara: So why don't we talk about some of the... What else are we going to talk about? [crosstalk 00:32:32] Melissa Wallace: Well, we asked our agents. Sharon McNamara: Oh yeah. Melissa Wallace: We have a private group on Facebook, and we just posted some questions and let them know what we were going to be talking about tonight. Some of the questions were: Why did you get into real estate? Is it everything that you expected? Is it not what you expected? Do you find it easier or harder? And what surprised you most about the business both good and bad? We had a couple of people comment on it recently, Trish Flynn, we just talked about her in her husband. Sharon McNamara: Her husband's name is Nick. Nick Flynn, otherwise known as the Flynn Team. Melissa Wallace: Yeah. And Trish said, "It's so hard, you have to constantly work at it to be successful." And we were just talking about this upstairs. What is it that I said? "You essentially get what you put into it." So your salary... Not salary because your commission. At the end of the year, what you make is going to reflect the amount of effort and time and work that you put into your year, into your business. So if you're taking six months off to relax and hanging out at the beach and go on this vacation, this vacation, at the end of the year that bank account is probably going to reflect that. That's right. Sharon McNamara: Yeah. Well, that's my favorite thing, too, is unfortunately in this business, what ends up happening is, at the end of the year, agents tend to blame their brokerage for their lack of profitability rather than looking at themselves. One of the things and exercises I always had to do with myself when I was an agent was I have to be here every day. You know what I mean? So, but when I was an agent, nobody is punching you in, punching you out. You don't have to be anywhere. You're an independent contractor. I can't even say that the meeting is mandatory. Right? Sharon McNamara: But if you don't do these things on your own, you're not going to be successful. So if I was my own boss, would I fire myself? Are you given this 40 hours a week minimum? Because that's what a full time job is. So if you want a full time salary making over six figures a year, then you should be working that many hours, figure it out and that- Laurie, you have all the data. Yeah, the statute did that for me the other day and I want to make that something in the office where how many calls and stuff. Laurie Reney: If you want to net a certain dollar amount, say $50,000 a year net, that's before you pay taxes and everything. No, no, that's gross. You would have to make three phone calls a day. You would have to write two notes a day. You'd have to do pop bys and things like that. I'm Buffini coached, so I'm talking Buffini-isms here. The bottom line is, is if you don't do what you need to do, you're not going to make, you're not going to sell. You really have to treat it, as you say, as a full time job. I know myself, if I get up and take a shower and put clothes on, I'm more apt to make my calls, do my notes, do my pop buys. It's key. Sharon McNamara: I could never work from home. My problem with working at home is I have OCD and a little bit of ADD mixed in there, so that's a good mixture when you're working at home. "Oh, I think they'll do a load of laundry. Oh, I think I'll clean out the attic. Oh, I think I'll work on the basement now. Oh, I think I'll make a call. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow." It's just too easy to get into that. I've always worked in the office. I'm usually the first one in the office and the last one out of the office. Not now, because now I have Melissa to do that, and I just feel that this time of year, when agents are reflecting back on what they did, I think that having the support to say, "Hey, this is how you grow. We want to help you grow. We want to help you help your clients." Sharon McNamara: But my favorite one is when somebody came to me one year and was like, "Oh, I just don't think that I'm doing well because Boston Connect Real Estate isn't a national brand." You have the best tan of anybody in this office right now, and I own a boat and you're tan is better than mine. So while you were sitting on the beach, everybody else was working. Laurie Reney: But I do think like so to Melissa's questions on the interoffice page, the biggest misconception that a lot of people have is that this business is going to allow you the freedom and flexibility to do kind of what you want when you want. So right now, because I've always been employed by you, Sharon, my system for when I work is I'm working in the office, but had I not been under your wing when all of that was happening or when I was being trained, I wouldn't know that those are the systems that you have to put in place. So we're always encouraging our agents to be coming into the office and really working on their business and making that time. Laurie Reney: I just think a lot of people get the misconception that they can balance everything that work is simultaneous with off time. And you're doing both at the same time. You have your designated work hours and that's how you just have to develop systems and be super, super hyper organized about prospecting and meeting people and talking to people. And when Laurie's talking about making calls, it's not just "Hey" to your mom saying, "Did you pick up any milk today? Do you need anything?" It's you're trying to make new connections with people and get your name out there. Sharon McNamara: When I first got into this business I got into it because I thought it would be flexible. Laurie Reney: That's a common thing, right? Sharon McNamara: I did not realize it was flexible for everybody else's schedule. Right? Because I was home with the kids. They would get on the school bus, and they would do their thing. But when do people want to see houses? After five and on weekends. So it's really flexible for everybody else's schedule. Sharon McNamara: And we're not trying to be Debbie Downers here. It can be extremely fruitful. It can be extremely fruitful if you want to do the work. But people who come to us, it comes time after time after time, "Oh, I'm just going to do this part-time in between everything I'm doing." Mary Baker: It's not going to happen. Laurie Reney: I don't believe the land of the part-time agent is going to be much longer. Sharon McNamara: I don't think they can keep up anymore. Laurie Reney: I don't mean that for any part-time agent that's out there and you're killing it. Great. You have way more skills than I do, but at the end of the day I just feel as if this business is going to become an incredibly professionalized skill. Sharon McNamara: I think that there's a difference between part-time and part-time because part-time I only do real estate part-time. I don't need the other additional income, or is it, "I have a full time job Monday through Friday, nine to five and then I work this part-time." That's when I think it gets difficult because people want to see houses Monday through Friday after work, Saturdays and Sundays all day long, holidays. Monday holidays where we were open yesterday on Monday because people want to see houses. I generally sell a house on Memorial Day Monday, that Monday every single year because people are off. But then what happens? Then comes the transaction and when did the appraisers work? When did the attorneys work? When does everybody, the loan officers? They're all working Monday through Friday, nine to five which means hello- [crosstalk 00:39:47] Laurie Reney: You've got to be available. Sharon McNamara: Yeah, that's us. Everything in between. Sharon McNamara: What are some of the other agents saying? Any questions too by the way. (781) 837-4900. A topic tonight is So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? If you have any questions about being a real estate agent, or if you have any questions in general about real estate, feel free to call us. (781) 837-4900. Melissa Wallace: Jessica Page: Much harder than I expected. I expected to work part time and make my own hours. Kristen Howlette said that she got into the business to help pay for college. Sharon McNamara: And I think having a goal- Laurie Reney: Motivation definitely helps. And consistency. To piggy back on what Mary said. I know that we went to the National Association for Realtors Conference out in San Francisco this year and it was really, I think the best conference that I've ever been to. And one of the things there was three common messages with almost every single class that we attended. And one of the biggest things is to be consistent and to also build upon your skills. And that's what they're saying. The market is changing. It's still a very strong market, but it is changing for the realtors that are active in the market. Yeah. Sharon McNamara: Laurie, you did some statistics. So what is the National Association of Realtors? What is the average that the average real estate agent makes? Laurie Reney: $31,900 gross, that is before your taxes and expenses? Melissa Wallace: Five minutes. Sharon McNamara: Yep, yep. I mean that's hard to believe. Laurie Reney: It's poverty. I mean, that's just... Mary Baker: Crazy. Melissa Wallace: I mean, I'm speechless over here. Laurie Reney: And that's a real stat. Laurie Reney: I remember when one of my first office meetings with you, this was even pre me coming onto the team in any capacity, was it was 23,000. The average age of a real estate agent was something like 55, am I right? So, and then the average gross commission, or gross net, or over a yearly whatever was 23,000 and I'm like, "I don't know if I want to do this any more.", It's like things remembered. Take me back. Laurie Reney: Well, but I could very well have gone the exact opposite route and given up super, super easily early on in this business had it not been for encouraging people in my career and Sharon putting me in the position to succeed essentially and giving me the tools that I needed to do that. I just think especially for a newer agent, it's very, very hard to develop those skills when you're younger and don't have all of the connections, family ties, or kids in the school system. But if you pound the pavement every day, it will happen. Sharon McNamara: So the process, your real estate license, just so we can get some of this out. We always refer everybody to Charlie Burke. He's a very good friend. Unfortunately, I only have Charlie Berg's cell phone number. I'm not going to give that out. But he is the Massachusetts Academy of Real Estate located in Braintree. Again, Charlie Burke, Massachusetts Academy of real estate and he is in Braintree. He does the classes, you need 40 hours. Sharon McNamara: I think that it should be a little stricter. It takes more time to be a yoga instructor than it does to be a real estate agent. And That I found extremely interesting because you're working in helping people with hundreds of thousands of dollars, their biggest investment. So it's a 40 hour class. So I know Charlie has different ways that you can take that class, like all one week, weekends, nights, whatever it is. I know he's teaching tonight. I was hoping that it would be able to call in at some point. After you do the 40 hours, then you go ahead and you take a test with the state of Massachusetts, so you can get licensed. So then you're a real estate agent, and they're a bunch of fees that go along with that process. Sharon McNamara: And then, if you join an office, we are a realtor office, so we belong and we are members of the National Association of Realtors. So you also have to pay those fees, and you have a one day class with code of ethics. And I think that it's good because with the code of ethics, you're sort of at a higher standard of what is acceptable and what isn't. And you have to go through that process. And then there are fees for the... That's the national, then there's the state, so Massachusetts Association of Realtors, and then there's a local board. So I happen to be part of all the local boards because I'm the broker. But I know Mary and Melissa... Laurie, are you part of Greater Boston. Laurie Reney: No. Sharon McNamara: So you're a part of South Shore, and Mary and Melissa are a part of the Greater Boston board. So altogether I think our fees are what, like $600 a year? Mary Baker: Yeah, just about. Sharon McNamara: So it's $600 a year. We always start everybody out with, "Start with the checkbook that goes to a business", but you probably need a couple of thousand dollars in it at least to get started in this business. You're an independent contractor. If you treat this like a business, then you will be very successful. You should have QuickBooks and all these other things and treat it like a business. Right. Laurie Reney: Anybody else have any thoughts? No, we're just about done. Sharon McNamara: How did that happen? Mary Baker: Do you still want to be a real estate agent? Sharon McNamara: Yeah, very well said, Mary Baker. Well again, we're going to try to have that open house on Saturday, February 8th. We may be changing the date. Actually, I just thought of something, but we'll let you know. So maybe if you want to set up some time with us to talk to any one of us, or all of us, you can get us at the office. (781) 826-8000, (781) 826-8000, or you can go to bostonconnect.com. If you want to listen to any of our past shows, you can go to Talk Real Estate Radio, or you can go to Talk Real Estate Round Table and you will find all of our past shows. Ben, thank you. It's been a pleasure. Benjamin: Always a pleasure, ladies. Have a great week. Sharon McNamara: All right, we'll see you next week, everybody. Bye. Bye.
Author Nick Flynn ("Another Bullshit Night in Suck City") returns to the podcast for his second visit. He recently published a book of poetry called "I Will Destroy You" (Graywolf Press, 2019) and will also be releasing a book of prose & poetry in the Spring called "Stay" under the imprint Ze Books.
Nick Flynn, the undertaker and funeral director in Maggie’s hometown, talks grieving, living, and what happens to dead peoples shoes. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/deadbeat/message
Nick Flynn is the author of twelve books including the memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City and most recently the poetry collection, I Will Destroy You. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nick Flynn agreed to come on YourArtsyGirlPodcast, so I got a chance to pick his brains a little! We talk about his upbringing, the production of his film, "Being Flynn" that was based on his famed memoir "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City", some of his writing process, his new work, as well as hear him answer a question posed by one of my listeners, P.K. Harmon out in Guam. http://yourartsygirlpodcast.com/episodes http://nickflynn.org You can order Nick Flynn's new collection of poetry here: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/i-will-destroy-you https://wwnorton.com/books/Another-Bullshit-Night-in-Suck-City Bio: Nick Flynn has worked as a ship's captain, an electrician, and as a case-worker with homeless adults. He is the author of twelve books, including the New York Times best-selling memoir "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City". His most recent book is "I Will Destroy You" (Graywolf, 2019). He has received fellowships from (among other organizations): The Guggenheim Foundation, The Fine Arts Work Center, and The Library of Congress. His work has won two PEN prizes, been a finalist for France's Prix Femina, and has been translated into fifteen languages. Some of the venues his poems, essays, and non-fiction have appeared in include The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and the National Public Radio's "this American Life". Since 2004, he has spent each spring in residence at the University of Houston, where is a professor on the Creative Writing faculty.
Beginning with a poem called “Confessional” and ending with a poem titled “Saint Augustine,” Nick Flynn interrogates the potential of art to be redemptive, to remake and reform. But first the maker of art must claim responsibility for his past, his actions, his propensity to destroy others and himself. “Begin by descending,” Augustine says, and the poems delve into the deepest, most defeating parts of the self: addiction, temptation, infidelity, and repressed memory. These are poems of profound self-scrutiny and lyric intensity, jagged and probing. I Will Destroy You is an honest accounting of all that love must transcend and what we must risk for its truth. Flynn is in conversation with Kai Carlson-Wee, author of Rail.
Allright all you Dopes out there, here's the moment you've all been waiting for DOPEYCON! On October 12th around 100 lucky Dopes got together in Manhattan to attend the first ever DOPEYCON! It was awesome featuring: Bill B. Rae, G-RAY, Namaste at Home Dad, Nick Flynn, Tim from Dank Recovery, Chris's sister, Arden O'Connor and my dad, Alan. We left we cried, we heard great music, ate black and white cookies and heard great stories about drugs, addiction and dumb shit. Sit back, relax and enjoy the magic that was Dopeycon. (Next year, we'll get a bigger venue and you all better come!)
Today's poem is Killdeer by Nick Flynn. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.
This week on Dopey! New friend, author, addict and Alcoholic, Nick Flynn comes to Dave's dads house to talk drugs, addiction and dumb shit. We hear about him meeting his homeless father at a shelter he worked at and documented in his first memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. Plus Alan returns, Dopey Con, Dopey poetry corner and much much more on an especially special episode of Dopey!
Our first day back in the New Year.We talk to Paul Gordon from Irish Cancer Society about the HSE paying debt collection agencies to pursue cancer patients for medical bills. Dr Nick Flynn discusses the problems of the lack of new doctors willing to become G.P.'s Anneliesse Dressel has advice on how to treat colds and flu during the winter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Nick Flynn joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Zoë Hitzig’s poem “Objectivity as Blanket" and his own poem “The King of Fire.” Flynn's latest poetry collection is “My Feelings"; he will publish two new books, "Stay" and "I Will Destroy You," in 2019. Flynn has received the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, as well as awards and fellowships from PEN, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Library of Congress.
In this episode, Nick Flynn dishes about donuts, the Thesaurussaurus Rex, and how making your students perform your poetry for you as you write it is the only way to pen award-winning/money-making poetry. No one says anything about Hamlet, Nick does not say the podcast is a shit show, & there is absolutely no cussing in this episode.Also, Jess goes on a bee bender. photo credit: Jessica Crute Check out Flynn's work:His latest poem in The New Yorker, "The King of Fire"I Will Destroy You: Poems (Graywolf 2019)My Feelings: PoemsSome Ether: PoemsAnother Bullshit Night in Suck CityThe Ticking is the Bomb: A MemoirThe Reenactments: A MemoirA Note Slipped Under the Door: Teaching from Poems We Love by Nick Flynn and Shirley McPhillipsCheck out the film adaptation of his first memoir, Being Flynn.Trailer at https://youtu.be/K-CANF3z4LY Recommendations and Also Mentioneds:Billy Collins' ability to take crappy student poetry and make it beautiful: see “Litany”Wayne Gilbert's artwork with cremainsFollow Nick on twitter @_nick_flynn_, Facebook at nick.flynn1, and Instagram at nick_legit_flynn.
A lively and wide-ranging discussion with teacher-leaders and Writing Project staff, recorded live at the NWP Resource Development Retreat in Albuquerque, NM. Books from the Conversation Pure Drivel by Steve Martin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Drivel Bearstone by Will Hobbs: https://www.willhobbsauthor.com/books/bk_bearstone.html Shifting the Monkey by Todd Whitaker: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13265535-shifting-the-monkey Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover: https://tarawestover.com/book/ So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo: https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/ Ayiti by Roxane Gay: https://groveatlantic.com/book/ayiti/ Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Bullshit_Night_in_Suck_City Doc Savage Novels/Comics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Savage Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_the_Lobster Poetry from: Avery Guess, Brett Gafney, Bianca Spriggs, Frank X. Walker, Crystal Wilkensen, Jeremy Paden Money to Burn by James Zagel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/916313.Money_to_Burn Dragonfly Dance by Denise Lajimodiere: https://tribalcollegejournal.org/dragonfly-dance/ Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum of Archaic Media by Heid E. Erdrich: http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-3FCC#.W1EhGNhKjxs We Are Growing by Laurie Keller and Mo Willems: http://pigeonpresents.com/books/we-are-growing/ The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monster_at_the_End_of_This_Book:_Starring_Lovable,_Furry_Old_Grover Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: http://www.tomiadeyemi.com/books/ Chemistry by Weike Wang: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549723/chemistry-by-weike-wang/9780525432227/ The Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062694058/future-home-of-the-living-god/ Room by Emma Donoghue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_(novel) Bear Town by Fredrik Backman: http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Beartown/Fredrik-Backman/9781501160769 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseinis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Splendid_Suns
Miraculum Monstrum (Red Hen Press) Miraculum Monstrum is a hybrid narrative about fictitious female artist Tristia Vogel, who experiences a radical physical transformation, beginning with the excrescence of apparent wings. Though her affliction is possibly an anomalous mutation resulting from worldwide ecological upheaval, the bird/woman is co-opted by a religious cult and written as the central figure of their scriptural text. Miraculum Monstrum contains fragmentary verse, scraps of lore, cult propaganda, curatorial commentary and images in a catalog for an exhibit of Vogel's visual artifacts and writings that chronicle this speculative history. Praise for Miraculum Monstrum "Enter in: here is that familiar moment when someone on the sidewalk, someone we maybe call schizophrenic, or deranged, yells out to her (our?) demons, or to eternity, to just leave her the fuck alone, and for once you hear it, and for once you agree, and wonder what would happen if everyone yelled out what they really felt, and why don't they, and what's lost in the silence. Enter: here is sadness and resistance and wings--a life (re)created, pieced together from the fragments we all become."--Nick Flynn, author of The Reenactments "Miraculum Monstrum by Kathline Carr is a remarkably inventive, audacious debut collection that unfolds as poems, stories, fragments, drawings, paintings, mixed media pieces, and quotes to document and illustrate the life of Tristia Vogel, a visual artist who transforms dramatically and traumatically into a bird, and becomes an unintentional prophet. . . . This book is a unique and brilliant contribution to contemporary dystopic literature."--Jan Conn, author of Tomorrow's Bright White Light "Kathline Carr's Miraculum Monstrum joins ranks with Gabriel García Márquez's story 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings' and Remedios Varo's painting Creation of the Birds, among other significant works, in an artistic (oracular) tradition that invokes the artist-figure as bird, art-making as flight. The poetic voice and sheer inventiveness of this book as a response to our current environmental crisis is breathtaking. Its deft word-play tangles like filigree amid the heaviness of sickness. Miraculum Monstrum's architecture, in its interplay of word and image, post-apocalyptic Ovidian myth, documentary fiction, feminist magical realism, taxonomy, and sensuousness, is a tour de force of hybrid poetics."--Shira Dentz, author of door of thin skins "A visionary's warning, a topographical map of the mind, a manual of survival in the face of apocalyptic odds. Kathline Carr's imagined curatorial chronicle of Tristia Vogel?s metamorphosis is devastating--and transcendent."--Jane Denitz Smith, playwright "In Miraculum Monstrum, Kathline Carr chronicles the story of Tristia Vogel, an early twenty-first century painter who suffers a mutation that begins with a bony, feather-like protrusion from her scapula. Her condition defies diagnosis, and eventually brings her to full bird-body transformation, persecution and adoration, disaster and the joy of flight. Carr reaches far down and back into our deepest shared stories, of messianic hopes, apocalyptic-climactic disaster, and body-wracking metamorphosis, to move human imagination itself forward toward its own evolution and possible survival. Readers, like the pilgrims who flock to Tristia, will be leveled by a strange kindred impossible beauty in these pages which piece the story together with poems, pieces of Tristia's art, and all manner of records and responses to the story of her life. Miraculum Monstrum is truly visionary, an act of the imagination of mythic scope."--Diane Gilliam, author of Dreadful Wind & Rain As Burning Leaves (Red Hen Press) Gabriel will be reading from As Burning Leaves and from an in-progress hybrid work Entry for Exits, a book of interlocking prose poems with a floating essay. This new manuscript looks at trauma, trans* embodiment(s) and strategies for resilience and healing. As Burning Leaves offers spaciousness and breath. Both homesick and sick of home, it chronicles a landscape of longing scored with traces of film, contemporary art, and song. Vivid and vital, Jesiolowski's queer insight lends a critical voice to the fleeting: 'wind moves the leaves across the water / they do not gather / do not cling.' A brave and elegant debut. Praise for As Burning Leaves [W]hat if there is no ghost realm? asks Gabriel Jesiolowski in the quietly arresting, steadily confident As Burning Leaves. But what if a ghost realm does in fact exist, and we are the ghosts both haunting and haunted who wander those causeways between/fucking & nothingness that lie in the wake of betrayal, violation, abandonment? These poems speak from and into that very realm, sifting memory's restless evidence in a quest for answers to what leads / / devotion / astray. Add to this a harder quest, for belief itself, the belief that somehow, the body ceases grieving. These poems are at once the enactment and the proof of belief's healing power. They stir; they shine. Carl Phillips, author of The Rest of Love, finalist for the National Book Award The geography of the body changes; its landmarks temporary; its border shifting, in Gabriel Jesiolowski's As Burning Leaves, a cartography of new forms, new ways of being. These poems constitute a healing atlas, a journey of utmost compassion, marked by both formal elegance and artful eloquence. What a remarkable book; it will astonish and enchant you. D. A. Powell, author of Lunch and A Guide for Boys What Gabriel Jesiolowski is up to in their life their installation art and their photography and their writing too is built from a push and pull between a politics of accumulation that is full of abandoning and giving away. It makes sense then to think of As Burning Leaves as a sort of writing that takes a life and ties many parts of it together with a thin string to make a beautiful package. This is in many ways a book of love poems. But what it loves is all sorts of things, everything from bark to humans to folk songs to steam and smoke. It is a work that is quiet and a work that is attentive and one that is resonant with care and grace. Juliana Spahr, author of This Connection of Everyone With Lungs From wordless, our bodies. From nameless, our memories. An image, a yearning every landscape, and certain people. The gesture, the wingspan, in quiet, and all across the page. Each scratch and smudge accrues the diary of As Burning Leaves, Gabriel Jesiolowski s wonderful, haunting, elementally human presence! Ralph Angel, author of Neither World, winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets Kathline Carr is a visual artist and writer living in North Adams, Massachusetts. She has exhibited her work in New York City, New England, and Canada, and her writing and art appear in various publications and online at www.kathlinecarr.com. Gabriel Jesiolowski works in a research-based practice that uses text, land, the body, installation, print, and film. They were a 2016 MacDowell writing fellow and have shown their work at The Alice Gallery, Flux Factory and Dumbo Arts Center. Their debut collection of poetry, As Burning Leaves, won the Benjamin Saltman Award. Their current work deals with accumulation and distribution, trauma/healing, and civic projects that tangle justice with beauty. New writing is out from Volt, Territory & Milkweed Zine. They live and work in Los Angeles.
Joseph Lapin sat down with Nick Flynn to talk about his creative journey and his new poetry book "My Feelings" at the Miami Book Fair in 2016. Flynn is also the author of the books of poetry Blind Huber (2002), The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands (2011), and My Feelings (2015). He has also written several memoirs, including Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (2004), Being Flynn (2005), The Ticking is the Bomb (2010), and The Reenactments (2013); and the play Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins (2008). His book The Ticking Is the Bomb: A Memoir of Bewilderment (2010) addresses the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Episode #52 of the Meet the Locals podcast features Nick Flynn, recorded live at USB in the Flash Bar. You can catch Nick at the next USB at Flash on July 1. soundcloud.com/nick_flynn
Epigraph Episode nine has finally dropped! We speak with the lovely and talented Benjamin Rybeck, Marketing Director and Events Coordinator at Brazos Bookstore and author of The Sadness. Introduction [0:30] In Which Emma and Kim Have a Sponsor and Make Terrible Puns, Plus Ben Invents the Phrase “Page Turner” Currently drinking: screwdirvers with Stolichnaya, inspired by Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth This episode is actually brought to you by a sponsor! Books & Whatnot is an excellent and informative newsletter for booksellers; it’s quick to read and filled with tips! Brought to you by Beth Golay. Check out the newsletter archive here. Follow on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot. Ben is reading: Nick Flynn’s memoirs, Maggie Nelson, The Other Side by Lacy Johnson, and Madeline E. by Gabriel Blackwell Shout-out to cool indie publisher: Outpost 19! Emma is reading: … spreadsheets? No, but seriously, she finally started Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel—but also the apocalypse causes her some anxiety, so she might have put it down. Kim is reading: Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Shrill by Lindy West When Kim started reading Uprooted, Emma was like Kim recalls possibly the best customer interaction ever, in which a male teacher from an all-girls school requests recs for a primer on feminism; Shrill by Lindy West, We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche, and Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl (illus.) are among her recs. New & Forthcoming Books We’re Excited About Underground Airlines by Ben Winters (pubs July 5 2016) The Well-Stocked and Gilded Cage by Lawrence Lenhart (pubs Aug 2 2016) Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn (pubs July 19 2016) The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan (pubs July 19 2016) Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel The Crimson Skew by S.E. Grove (pubs July 12 2016) Collections: Birds Bones and Butterflies by Leah Sobsey (pubs July 12 2016) What do you do when a customer asks for a happy read? Emma tries to make them into a romance reader and, if that fails, recommends Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. Kim recommends graphica (though Emma’s first three thoughts when she says graphica are Watchmen, Persepolis, and Fun Home—not the happiest of reads…) Chapter I [21:21] In Which Ben Walks Into a Bookstore and Receives a Job, Coins the term “litizen,” and Says the Word Smartypants a Lot. Plus Emma Freaks Out About Events Coordinators/Drunk Booksellers’ Guests Not Reading Harry Potter Longfellow Books of Portland, Maine was Ben’s childhood bookstore. We discuss the joy of bookstores, record stores, and video stores—half-retail and half-cultural places where you go to meet friends and discover gems. Ben’s advice for getting a job at a bookstore? Walk into said bookstore with no intention of getting a job (it worked for him!) Learn more about Brazos Bookstore here. They do “down and dirty highbrow” bookselling. In Houston this summer? Here are a couple fun things going on: Houston Shakespeare Festival Summer of Kubrick Have you heard about this new Harry Potter book coming out? Kim imagines that it will be mostly about ennui of adulthood, and compares it to Ben’s book The Sadness. Chapter II [37:46] In Which Ben Pitches His Book Succinctly—It’s a Book About Film and Failure— and We Discuss Adulting “Booksellers as adults is a strange thing; you’re asking people to become adults and go out into the world where their primary relationship to anything in their lives has been sitting alone in a room…that’s not going to end well.” Chapter III [44:34] In Which We Speculate Alice Munroe’s Drinking Habits, Declare Adult Connect-the-Dots as The Next Big Thing, And Bring Up the Fact That Ben Hasn’t Read Harry Potter Again Ben wants to drink with John Updike to see if he’s as insufferable a person as Ben finds him as a writer. Kim mocks his reasoning. His second choice is Alice Munroe (who may or may not listen to this podcast? We’re pretty sure she doesn’t. But we can dream.) Ben’s bookseller confession is he doesn’t keep up with trends—but it’s ok, Emma and Kim haven’t read Knausgaard or Ferrante either. Ben’s Station Eleven/Wild/Desert Island Books 2666 by Roberto Bolaño Collected Stories of Joy Williams How to Read a Film by James Monaco Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace ALL the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling Go-to Handsells Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson Faces in the Crowd, The Story of My Teeth, and Sidewalks by Valeria Luiselli Impossible Handsells Thrown by Kerry Howley (shout-out to the awesome small press,Sarabande Books) Don’t Suck, Don’t Die by Kristin Hersh Chapter IV [1:01:12] In Which We Talk About Where We Can Be Found On the Internets & Remind You of Our Awesome Sponsor (Books & Whatnot) Shout out to Kramer Books in Washington, DC Hey, remember Books & Whatnot? Ben subscribes, we subscribe, and you should subscribe too! Check out Ben on twitter at @BenjaminRybeck or give him a shout atben@brazosbookstore.com. Don’t forget to read his book, The Sadness, which has been compared to the new Harry Potter book (by Kim, on this episode). Did you know you can enjoy our wit and charm on Twitter? Follow us at @drunkbookseller. Kim also occasionally tweets from @finaleofseem. Emma can be found at @thebibliot and also on Book Riot, where she writes articles which are both nerdy and informative! If you know a bookseller who would love to spend a few hours drinking and chatting with us, have them shoot us an email at drunkbooksellers@gmail.com. Finally, if you like the show, you can rate/review us on iTunes & subscribe using your favorite podcatcher.
Poet Rachel Zucker interviews Nick Flynn, author of My Feelings (among many other books), out from Graywolf Press.
At age 24, Nick Flynn started working at the Pine Street Inn, the largest shelter in Boston. It was here that he reconnected with his estranged father, who was unsheltered at the time. Ten years later, Nick shared the story in his moving memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, which was later adapted to the big screen as Being Flynn, starring Robert De Niro and Paul Dano. Today, Nick explores the story behind the story while shedding light on the origins of homelessness and the subsequent explosion of shelters across the United States. Sounds From the Street is a bi-weekly podcast elevating the voices of people engaged with the homeless community in our nation’s capital.
Hi there Word Nerds! Thanks for joining me for today’s episode of DIY MFA Radio. Today I’m talking to Meredith Maran about her latest book: Why We Write About Ourselves. Following up on her previous collection: Why We Write, Meredith's most recent book is a collection of essays from memoirists, talking about why they write memoir in the first place. The lineup of authors featured in this book is a veritable who’s who of the memoir world, and the insights they share are no less awesome. Today I’m delighted to speak with Meredith and hear her take about writers love to write (and read) memoirs. In this episode Meredith and I discuss: Writing memoir and embellishing the truth How our perspective changes over the course of our lives, but our writing stays constant Pros and cons of being truly authentic in your writing The writer’s responsibility to protect the innocent (or the guilty) in their writing Plus, Meredith #1 tip for writers. About Meredith Maran: Meredith Maran is a passionate reader and writer of memoirs, and the author of thirteen nonfiction books and the acclaimed 2012 novel, A Theory Of Small Earthquakes. Meredith writes book reviews, essays, and features for newspapers and magazines including People, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, and More. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, Meredith lives in a restored historic bungalow in Los Angeles. Her next memoir, about starting over in Los Angeles, will be out from Blue Rider Press in 2017. To learn more about Meredith and her work, follow her on Facebook and Twitter or visit her website. Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature is the follow-up to editor Meredith Maran’s last collection, Why We Write, this new book tackles one of the most popular literary genres: memoir. Meredith's new book features some of its most-read authors, including Cheryl Strayed, Anne Lamott, Nick Flynn, Sue Monk Kidd, and James McBride. Contributors candidly disclose the origins of their memoirs: a traumatic experience, like Darin Strauss or Ishmael Beah; family relationships, like Sue Monk Kidd, Edwidge Danticat, or Pat Conroy; or simply a knack for personal storytelling, like Sandra Tsing Loh or Anne Lamott. For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/081
The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life
In this week's episode, I interview the poet and memoirist Nick Flynn, Plus I share the reading he participated in about 45 minutes after our interview, a reading that also included Ed Skoog and Denise Duhamel (Episode 134). TEXTS DISCUSSED My Feelings Poems" target="_blank"> Another Bullshit Night in Suck City A Memoir" target="_blank"> Rough Day" target="_blank">
All the Creative Writing hits from Spring 2015: Axton Series readings by Michelle Latiolais, Nick Flynn and Paul Griner, and Miracle Monocle's Spring 2015 issue launch reading.
All the Creative Writing hits from Spring 2015: Axton Series readings by Michelle Latiolais, Nick Flynn and Paul Griner, and Miracle Monocle's Spring 2015 issue launch reading.
All the Creative Writing hits from Spring 2015: Axton Series readings by Michelle Latiolais, Nick Flynn and Paul Griner, and Miracle Monocle's Spring 2015 issue launch reading.
Some incredible books for a credible first show. In our first ever episode, we talk about The Ticking is the Bomb by Nick Flynn, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Marilynne Robinson’s novels Home and Gilead. We also detour into James Joyce and Stalin. You don’t have to have read (or have heard of) any of these books to have a good time with us. And by good we mean interesting and delightful, at the very least. Further ReadingFor the keen beans, here are some further readings and links to buy the novels we mention in the episode. We have linked to Foyles because we think they might pay their taxes, but we encourage you to seek books out at your local indie bookshop. Feel free to tweet us with your favourite local bookshops! Chinua Achebe Interview with Achebe in The Paris Review Achebe and the Great African Novel in The New Yorker Marilynne Robinson Interview with Robinson in The Paris Review Nick Flynn Interview with Nick Flynn on Fresh Air Another Bullshit Night in Suck City Donna Tartt Article in Vanity Fair The Goldfinch The Secret History Charles Bukowski http://bukowski.net Lionel Shriver We Need to Talk About Kevin James Joyce Ulysses Henry James Portrait of a Lady Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things
The Removers (Scribner) Join us tonight for a moving memoir about how working with the dead breathed life back into a young man in Philadelphia, while also repairing the long-strained relationship he had with his father. As a teenager, Andrew watched helplessly as his father went from proud literature professor to university outcast in the face of charges of sexual harassment. The allegations created a cavernous rift between father and son, particularly as Andrew begins to have sexual experiences himself. His late teens and early 20's are a wayward existence studded with girls, beer, music, and, occasionally but never consistently, college. Andrew's father, his pride decimated by the rejection of the university life that once invigorated the whole Meredith family, has had to find work as a “remover,” the name for the unseen, unsung men who take away the bodies of those who die at home. Shiftless and broke, Andrew becomes a remover alongside his father. At first, they share a low-grade shock about their circumstances: how did we wind up here? How do we get out? But together they also must tackle more practical questions—like how to carry a 500-pound corpse down winding stairs—and Andrew begins to learn that simple competence is the best way to navigate adulthood. Eventually, Andrew begins to see his father not through the lens of a wronged and resentful child, but as a sympathetic, imperfect man who loves his family despite his flaws—and the chip on his shoulder starts to lose its weight. The Removers is dark, vulnerable, and deeply moving. Praise for The Removers “Andrew Meredith writes with the eye of a poet and the heart of a man transformed. The Removers brims with moments of unforgettable beauty and raw honesty.”—Michael Hainey, author of After Visiting Friends “You might be forgiven, at first, if you believe that the book in your hands is about creatures from another planet (We are nobodies. We are men made to be forgotten. We are paid to be invisible.). Prepare yourself—as you wander more deeply into this brightly-lit, finely wrought nightmare, the mirrors start appearing. Sex and death might propel the story forward, but by the end Andrew Meredith peels back the night to reveal what we are made of. The removers are not only among us, they are us. A tour-de-force whispered from the shadows.”—Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City “The Removers is for anyone whose adolescence has taken too long, whose hands need useful work, or who wants to put his family grudges away and get on with the rewards of adult life—such as the wicked laughs and the sweet, tender, singing prose of this wonderful book.”—Salvatore Scibona, author of The End “The Removers is angry and forgiving, sometimes hideous, tough, emotionally compelling, and important. Andrew Meredith comes of age, struggles, and survives in the disintegrating blue-collar environs of Philadelphia. This book can unlock doors. Get your hands on it right away.”—William Kittredge, author of Hole in the Sky Andrew Meredith has been awarded fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and from Yaddo. He received an MFA in Fiction from UNC-Greensboro. The Removers is his first book.
Nick Flynn's third memoir is partially about the experience of watching as a movie gets made of his first memoir -- but it's also a meditation on the nature of memory and our attempts to preserve it -- not just in our brains but for posterity.
Nick Flynn on the strange days on the set of Being Flynn, a film adapted from his personal memoir, and starring Robert De Niro and Paul Dano.
Roel Bentz van den Berg bespreekt Being Flynn, de nieuwe film van Amerikaanse schrijver en regisseur Paul Weitz die is gebaseerd op het boek van Nick Flynn's Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. De wereld stopt met draaien op 3 augustus 2010. Hoewel het vaststaat dat het ongeveer om half twaalf 's avonds gebeurt, wordt [...]
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. James Shea is the author of Star in the Eye, selected by Nick Flynn as the winner of the 2008 Fence Modern Poets Series. His poems have appeared in various journals, including American Letters and Commentary, Boston Review, Mrs. Maybe, and Verse. He currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago and DePaul University.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. James Shea is the author of Star in the Eye, selected by Nick Flynn as the winner of the 2008 Fence Modern Poets Series. His poems have appeared in various journals, including American Letters and Commentary, Boston Review, Mrs. Maybe, and Verse. He currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago and DePaul University.
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