The Virtual Memories Show

Lawyer, ethics advisor and comics nerd Jeff Trexler joins the show to talk about his new role as Interim Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. We get into his plans to help rebuild the CBLDF's reputation and ethics code after the sexual harassment scandal of its previous director, his experiences helping people pursue their harassment claims and launching antiharassment campaigns in the fashion world, how the Fund's role has changed over the decades, and why he's comfortable with that interim title. We also get into his obsessions with comics and design, the broad meaning of First Amendment law (and why R Sikoryak's recent Constitution Illustrated should be required reading), how to learn from ethics disasters, how nonprofits can grow and how they can become sclerotic, his childhood McLuhan-inspired interpretation of the theme to the Batman TV show, how our mutual friend Tom Spurgeon was the hub of the comics industry, and what it's been like to live without him. Follow Jeff on Twitter • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Direct download: Episode_405_-_Jeff_Trexler.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00pm EDT

Got the election / pandemic / climate change / midlife / inexplicable rash blues? Then listen to me and cartoonist & humorist Michael Shaw talk about his new book, The Elements of Stress and the Pursuit of Happy-ish in this Current Sh*tstorm (co-authored by the great Bob Eckstein, from Weekly Humorist Press)! We get into how Michael and Bob managed to mash up Strunk & White with Thurber & White to create a prose & cartoons handbook to dealing with This Whole Situation, then explore Michael's history in cartooning and humor, how he balances that with a day job in writing and editing, his discovery that if he drew cartoons any better he'd be terrible, and why he took a hiatus from submitting gags to The New Yorker (and whether they know he's taken said hiatus). We also get into his literary loves, the perils of listening to William S. Burroughs audiobooks on late-night commutes, how his florid-rococo style balances with Eckstein's Hemingway-on-valium approach, the lesson he learned from Milton Glaser about One Element of Dissonance, and more! Follow Michael on Twitter and Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Direct download: Episode_404_-_Michael_Shaw.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:57pm EDT

Comedy legend Merrill Markoe returns to the show to celebrate her new graphic memoir, We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)! We talk about how it felt to spend time with her childhood self over the course of the book, the decision to illustrate it and what that process taught her about cartooning, what contemporary Merrill has to say to her younger self, and how she owns up to having a crush on a junior high boy who made Heil Hitler salutes at her. We also get into the influence of Lynda Barry on her work, why she's considering leaving Malibu for the Pacific Northwest, her decision to auction off her Late Night with David Letterman gear to contribute to charities (like this one!), her love for Pen15, the joy of the Undo button, and how the world has changed for funny women. And speaking of, Emily Flake also joins the show to talk about the Kickstarter for St. Nell's Humor Writing Residency for Ladies (expiring Oct. 30, so go check it out)! Follow Merrill on Twitter and Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Direct download: Episode_403_-_Merrill_Markoe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:28am EDT

Writer and cultural critic Darryl Pinckney joins the show to celebrate the new edition of Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy (NYRB) and the paperback of Busted in New York and Other Essays (Picador). We talk about revisiting his Obama-era writings in the post-2016 world, the importance of the vote and the question of whether there's a Black vote, or Black voters. We discuss his surprise at the persistence of makeup of the BLM protests, his place in the historical chain and the moment he felt out of touch, and his history at the New York Review of Books and its roots in the anti-Vietnam War movement. We also get into the fractured relationship between Jews and Blacks (following their close ties during the civil rights movement), the companionship of books during the pandemic, the commodification of the arts, the memoir he's working on about Elizabeth Hardwick and 1970s NYC, and more, including an image I've pondered for years: Jesse Jackson's tears the night of Obama's election in 2008. Follow Darryl at the New York Review of Books • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Direct download: Episode_402_-_Darryl_Pinckney.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:53am EDT

Author, translator, professor and MacArthur Fellow John Keene joins the show to talk about how voices are found and how they're erased. We get into how Benedictine monks started him on the road to translation, which languages he wishes he had, the perils of knowing just enough of a language to get in trouble, and how translation trains one to let go of ego. We discuss his amazing but uncharacterizable fiction collection, Counternarratives (New Directions), along with his powerful essay, Translating Poetry, Translating Blackness, and how to explore Black representation across cultural boundaries. We also get into the performative aspects of BLM by corporations and institutions and would it would take to transform into real change, the impact of his MacArthur "genius" grant, why he's trying to move away from Counternarratives' narrative density in his new work, and more. Follow John on Twitter and Instagram and harass him about blogging more • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Direct download: Episode_401_-_John_Keene.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:33pm EDT

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