Life Stories #3: Rachel Shukert & Rev Jen

This episode of Life Stories, my podcast series of interviews with memoir writers about their lives and the art of memoir, was recorded in front of a live audience at Manhattan’s Wix Lounge. (There’s also some video footage which was recorded by Arcade Sunshine that I’m aiming to show y’all later on.) It features my friend Rachel Shukert, the author of Everything Is Going to Be Great, and Rev Jen, the author of Elf Girl.

You’ll notice a bit of echo here and there; I got most of it out during the sound editing process, though, and I’m hoping that what remains isn’t too distracting for listeners. This turned out to be a great conversation—the two authors have done events together before, so they were very comfortable with each other, and it shows once Rev Jen steps in about halfway into the show.

One of Rachel’s comments about the memoir as a genre struck me as underline-worthy, given some of the recent conversations I’ve been having online (and occasionally writing about here) about the visibility of women writers in terms of what gets reviewed by mainstream literary critics:

“I’ve always said that for a woman, just positing that she is inherently interesting is already a radical act on some level, because women really do still have this sort of harder row to hoe when it comes to proving what they have to say is worthwhile. And to just say, this experience is interesting because I lived it and I have something to say about it, to me is very feminist… I think that for my generation of women deciding that their experience is something other people can learn from the same way men have always done, is very important.”

Listen to Life Stories #3: Rachel Shukert & Rev Jen (MP3 file); or download the file by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click).

14 March 2012 | life stories |

Life Stories #2: Storm Large

In the second installment of the Life Stories podcast, I talk with Storm Large about Crazy Enough, a memoir of her mother’s mental illness and the paths that Storm’s fear of sharing her fate—instilled by a careless remark by one of her mother’s psychiatrists when she was a child—led her down as a teenager and young adult. It’s a raw account of hyper-abundant sexuality and near-overdoses, but also of how she eventually steered out of her downward spiral through the power of rock’n’roll, and our conversation reflects the frank, uncensored quality of her memoir. (Which is to say, there is language, some of which is NSFW, so you might want to break out the headphones.)

I met up with Large at Brooklyn’s powerHouse Arena, where she was celebrating the release of Crazy Enough by performing songs from the stage version of her story—it was originally a one-woman show in Portland, Oregon, and there are plans in the works to bring the show to off-Broadway later in 2012. Based on what I saw and heard that night, it’s got to be quite a show, and Large was kind enough to let me include two of the songs from that evening’s performance in the podcast.

Listen to Life Stories #2: Storm Large (MP3 file); or download the file by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click).

PLUS, A REMINDER: I’m recording select episodes of Life Stories in front of a live studio audience. We’ll be recording a “pilot” of the live show in Manhattan on Wednesday, February 22, at Wix Lounge (10 W. 18th Street) with Rachel Shukert, the author of Everything Is Going to Be Great, and Reverend Jen, the author of Elf Girl. Join us at Wix Lounge at 7:00 p.m. that evening; RSVP on Facebook if you can, so we can estimate how many chairs we need to set out. If you’re in the area, I hope you can join us!

15 February 2012 | life stories |