Stuff I’ve Been Reading

Offline reading has to do with
— Elvis
— depression
— PTSD
— war

In other words. The usual.

But here are some things I’ve been reading over the past week.

— My friend Jayne is so talented, and she’s been busy making window quilts for her home. Check out the results!

Riveting interview with lone wolf cartoonist Natalie Dee (I’ve been following her for years). She’s fascinating, and her comments on chronic depression were heartening – but also her sense that girls were not welcome in the comics world. This vibe started for her young, but it has carried over into her adult life. People do have a way of letting you know that you are not welcome in the boys’ club. They won’t link to you, they pretend you don’t exist (“maybe if we don’t link to her … she’ll just … go away? Ya think?”). It’s stupid, backwards, and I love Natalie Dee’s straight-talking about it. I also love her words on work ethic and producing. It makes me think of George Carlin’s comment, “You gotta wanna.” You want more people to read your stuff? Then work hard to create better stuff. Update more, or update less (and more carefully). Work your ass off. Stop whining. I loved that element of her conversation. I relate to it.

— Tomato Nation has one of the best commenting sections on the Web. Take a look at the last Vine column, and what happens in the comments and you’ll see why. We are not alone.

— Ready to go down a rabbit hole? I’m serious. If you follow all of the links in the post I am about to highlight, hours of your life (perhaps weeks) will go down the tube. I know. I followed them all. It is riveting. It is an abyss, and a time-suck. Highly recommended. Here you go. I love Colleen Doran. She speaks the truth.

This story killed me.

— Every February, my friend Odie devotes his site, Big Media Vandalism to “Black History Mumf”, as he calls it. A wealth of content. Too much to list. Just keep reading. Are you familiar with Odie’s writing? If not, you better well should be! In this introductory post, written by the great Steven Boone, Boone sets up “Black History Mumf” for us, and also relates a tale, as told by Odie, of something a woman said to Odie when he emerged from The Passion of the Christ. I am still laughing.

— I love the site The Art of Memory. I never know what I will find there. These images are so beautiful and soothing.

— Haunting eerie photographs of the car park theatre in Detroit (a scene in 8 Mile was filmed there). Terrible, and yet beautiful.

“I don’t care if people call me a radical, a rebel, a red, a revolutionary, an outsider, an outlaw, a Bolshevik, an anarchist, a nihilist, or even a left conservative, but please don’t ever call me a liberal.” — Norman Mailer

A hell of an essay.

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6 Responses to Stuff I’ve Been Reading

  1. melissa says:

    Have you read Going Clear yet? Its fascinating, and frightening.

  2. sheila says:

    Not yet!

  3. Maureen says:

    I love Tomato Nation’s The Vine! There was a book I read back in the 1970’s, and it bothered me for years that I couldn’t remember the title. I sent in a request to the Vine, and they figured it out for me. A truly awesome group of people, helpful, understanding, and kind that frequent that site.

    • sheila says:

      Maureen – I’m so glad they found your book for you!!

      I was so proud when I was “the one” who figured out a book for someone else. I always read that column, and I rarely can be helpful – but someone wrote in about a book they read as a kid, and I knew immediately what it was! It was this book:
      http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=4885

      I actually have a question in right now about a book I am tracking down – it hasn’t gone up yet – but I love to watch those helpful commenters figure stuff out. They’re amazing! And so often advice columns have judgmental commenters, berating the person asking the question. That is NOT going on at Tomato Nation, and so it’s a very HUMAN space on the web. I treasure it! She’s such a good writer, too.

  4. brendan says:

    Sheil…speaking of Norman Mailer, I randomly came across footage from “Maidstone” where he and Rip Torn get into a REALLY scary fight on camera…have you seen this??? Craaazy.

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