1storypod

LOS ANGELES — Been a trip and a half reading Motherhood while posted with the mother this past month of holiday fam time / convalescence out here in LA. Has really propelled me into the nitty-grit of thangs. In this ep, I go in with more gripes about Sheila's stance on procreation than I come out with. I consider her view on the importance or lack thereof of Art. I hash out her ideas on family extending beyond the nuclear. And I give her props on the deepest idea of all: that Failure can never be communicated, must always be private, and yet is the only way to Freedom. Sean Thor Conroe's work has appeared in X-R-A-Y, on sidewalks and in fields. He tweets @stconroe and archives other art at http://1storyhaus.com

LOS ANGELES — I started reading The Elementary Particles (2000) this past summer. I railed through the first couple hundred pages fairly quickly, before stalling out on the last sixty-or-so. I finished it this past Thanksgiving. In this episode, I explore Houellebecq's takes on the death of the nuclear family, extreme individualism in the West, and the value of declaratives. Michel Houellebecq was born Michel Thomas in Réunion, France in 1956. Houellebecq is his paternal grandmother's maiden name. The Elementary Particles (2000), Houellebecq's second novel (orig. published Les Particules Élémentaires in 1998), was simultaneously hailed as a "nihilist classic" and criticized for its brutality. Michiko Kakutani, for example, called it "a deeply repugnant read." Sean Thor Conroe was born Kamura Sho in Tokyo in 1991. He lives in the United States, @stconroe (http://twitter.com/stconroe) on twitter, and at http://1storyhaus.com.

PHILADELPHIA — Gina Myers is poet living in Philadelphia. She is the author of the poetry books HOLD IT DOWN (2013), A MODEL YEAR (2009), and six chapbooks including PHILADELPHIA (2017), from Barrelhouse, which she wrote, mostly on her phone, during the first few months of moving to Philadelphia (August–October 2014). I encountered her work after hearing her read from PHILADELPHIA in early 2017, months after moving back to Philadelphia. Gina Myers co-edits the biannual online poetry journal, the tiny: https://www.thetinymag.com/ Some poems from PHILADELPHIA (2017): https://brooklynrail.org/2015/06/poetry/from-philadelphia-freedom-song HOLD IT DOWN (2013): Read: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58134/hold-it-down Buy: https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9781938055072/hold-it-down.aspx Gina Myers on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ginamyers?lang=en 1storypod website: http://1storyhaus.com

WEST PHILLY — Nicholas lives, and has for “about six years,” in West Philly. He is originally from Seattle. He read Don Quixote (1615) recently, finishing it within the past fortnight. I read the first half in the summer of 2016 and the second half in the fall of 2017. We both read the edition translated by Edith Grossman and published by Ecco Books in 2003. Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) published the "First Part of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" in 1605, and the second in 1615, which he dedicated to his patron, Don Pedro Fernández Ruiz de Castro (1576–1622), the count of Lemos and viceroy of Naples from 1610–1616.

MANHATTAN — Daoud, 26, is an Oakland-based producer. His work lives on the Internet @daoudmakesmusic (Soundcloud). He began working on Saba's second album Care For Me (2018) with @sabapivot and co-producer @daedaepivot last fall. I listened to Care For Me about once daily since its April 5 release. This conversation was recorded before and after Saba's April 13 tour stop at Highline Ballroom in New York City.

SAN JUAN, P.R. — Whether extolling the virtues of a legume-centric diet or exuding disarming gratitude in matters fraternal to cosmic, a quick TSA search finds YaMZ effortlessly emotive, lucid, and playful. Recorded entirely in transit, TSA Approved YaMZ, at just under eight minutes, could well be his most cohesive work yet. Full EP: https://goo.gl/QKQwWD. Blog: http://bumsum.net – @itscanals

BED-STUY — Eric, 31, is a poet, modern dancer, and carpenter living in Brooklyn. His chapbook, TOP BLOCKER, is now available from GAUSS PDF. I've read TOP BLOCKER a number of times over the past months, since its release. Order/read TOP BLOCKER here: https://goo.gl/VMpi1x. Eric tweets @ejconroe. - @sho_thor, http://1storyhaus.com

PHILLY — Aaron, 26, is a reader and writer of poetry living in Philadelphia. He discovered Hera Lindsay Bird while visiting New Zealand last month. I read Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press) twice over the past week. Hera Lindsay Bird (b. 1987) was born and raised in Thames, New Zealand. This, her first book, won the Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award. @sho_thor http://1storyhaus.com Buy Hera's book! ~ http://vup.victoria.ac.nz/hera-lindsay-bird/ Read Aaron's poetry! ~ http://somedayyeasayer.blogspot.com/

PHILADELPHIA — Nick, 26, grew up primarily in North Carolina and lives in Los Angeles, where he writes and teaches. He first read My Brilliant Friend "a few months ago." I read it over the past fortnight, finishing it literally moments before this conversation. The first story published under the pseudonym Elena Ferrante appeared in 1992. There is considerable debate about her real identity, about which little has been confirmed. It has nonetheless been inferred, based on information from her interviews and correspondences with her publisher, that she "grew up in Naples, is a mother, and is not now married" (James Wood/Wiki). – 1storyhaus.com

LOS ANGELES — Takako was born in Tokyo in 1955, teaches at a Waldorf school in California, and is also, turns out, my mother. She first read Almost Transparent Blue (1976) while still a student at Tokyo Daigaku, so at twentyish. I first read Almost Transparent Blue (tr. Nancy Andrew, 1976) maybe a month ago, and have reread it since. Ryu Murakami (b. Feb, 1952) was born and raised in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. He wrote Almost Transparent Blue while studying sculpture at Musashino Art University in Tokyo.

PHILADELPHIA — Charlotte, 24, grew up outside of Philadelphia and in 2017 has lived or will live in Philadelphia, Austin, and California. She is a potential future doula, part-time farmer, and caretaker of small creatures. She read The Argonauts this past winter and How Should A Person Be? this past spring.

PHILADELPHIA — Zac, 26, lives in Philadelphia and works at an art gallery. He read The Possibility of an Island (tr. Gavin Bowd) in a week, finishing it hours before this conversation. I read it a couple months back, also fairly quickly. Michel Houellebecq (b. 1956), 61, is a novelist, filmmaker, and poet. He was born on the French island of Reunion, and lives in France. Houellebecq (Michel's grandmother's maiden name) had a child in 1980, shortly after graduating and marrying, before quickly "growing depressed," taking up poetry, and divorcing. His work has been described by NYT critic Michiko Kakutani as "deeply repugnant."

BUSHWICK, N.Y. — Chelsea, 25, was born in Hawaii, grew up in California, and lives, paints, and works in New York City. She first read The Wallcreeper "one or two" years ago; I finished it a week ago. In this episode we consider the present-day relevance (or lack thereof) of traditional marital monogamy, Zink's significance as a female novelist, and how considerations of "female novelists" might detract from their significance as "novelists." Nell Zink was born in 1964 in California. She has been married twice.

AXOLOTL, a ty6e 6eat ta6e in three parts, charts the evolution of the young male axolotl, from the larval to full grown – though sexually immature – adult, fully aquatic, amphibian stage. POV (Official Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKb9m0I8fc ITSCana1s and YaMZ seek no money or clout for the release of AXOLOTL, only to evolve the creative lives of these beats, producers of which are as follows: 1. POV – greafer 2. chipsnthebeans (feat. STAR El) – Kid Ocean 3. Ooh gahdamn – CorMill 4. Ohhkay – Joseph L'Etranger 5. SKiNthatiSHED – 6-6-6 6. Moves – DJ KHALED'S SON x Caceci's Beats 7. PANINI O'CLOCK – Caceci's Beats 8. Ooh gahdamn reprise – instupendo 9. Lil Help – drip-133 10. lite on mah toes – sadface :(

PHILADELPHIA — Viva, 25, raps as Yamz, works at a compost company, and makes a mean brown rice bowl (with kraut and stir fry, generally). He first read On Truth and Untruth this morning. Friedrich Nietzsche (d. 1900), the son of Lutheran pastor, was born near Leipzig, Prussia (now Germany). He wrote the titular essays in On Truth and Untruth in 1872–1873, at the age of 28–29, while still a professor at the University of Basel INTRO song: https://soundcloud.com/yams_npotatoes/compostco-6417-146-pm-1

PHILADELPHIA — Aaron, 26, grew up in Redding, Mass., writes free-verse poetry, and organizes labor unions. He first read Steppenwolf ten years ago, as a sophomore in high school, when recommended it by a mentor. Hermann Hesse (d. 1962) was born in Calw, a Black Forest town in the German Empire, in 1877. He began writing Steppenwolf in 1924, shortly after marrying the singer Ruth Wenger, whom he left weeks after marrying and, upon returning almost a year later, lived in a separate apartment from. He finished the novel in 1927, in Zurich, at age 50. Aaron's poetry blog: http://somedayyeasayer.blogspot.com

PHILADELPHIA — Viva, 25, grew up in a treehouse in Santa Cruz, Calif., writes raps (as Yamz), travelogues, and aspires to revolutionize urban composting when not bike-(or skateboard-)couriering. He first read Food of the Gods circa 2014, while living full-time out of a Vanagon. Terence McKenna (1946–2000) first encountered psilocybin mushrooms – & fields of them – at 25, in the Colombian Amazon, on a trip initially in search of DMT. He died of a rare form of brain cancer. Viva's travelogue archive: polarsteps.com/viva

WEST PHILADELPHIA — Paul, 27, of Cambridge, Mass., writes literary science fiction, and, until recently, worked as a caretaker in a psychiatric ward. He first encountered The Castle of Crossed Destinies eight years ago. Italo Calvino (1923–1985), was raised in Siena, Italy. He wrote The Castle of Crossed Destinies between 1940 and 1969. Paul writes periodically at: https://ouroborosjormungandr.wordpress.com/