Weird2BWired

the call is coming from inside the house

Revisado: 09-20-23

left vs. right, Biden vs. Trump, woke vs. ignorant, black vs. white, lgbtq+ vs. straight, disabled vs. able-bodied, Leftist vs. Fascist. these binaries permeate our lives and define our values and our individual realities. we live and die for these identifiers... even as the world burns.

in Doppelganger, naomi klein explores these mirror worlds through an examination of her binary opposite, Naomi Wolf - a writer who shares many of the same identifiers as klein but who has begun a very public descent into a MAGA-pilled, antivaxx, conspiratorial existence. the catch here is that many people mistake the two authors for one another, and as a result, Klein is often obligated to account for her double's bizarre and upsetting behavior.

what klein does with Doppelganger is to weave a kind of universal theory of self in the 21st century that at once empathizes with, and then obliterates, the capitalist notion underpinning our lives that says we must all be unique individuals, existing independent of one another, at the expense of any collective good, any real human connection, and ultimately our world.

Doppelganger is the culmination of klein's work to date and something so personal and yet also so universal that it reads like a memoir, a history book, socio-political theory, and an expose of rising fascism, all at once. it's very, very good and worth your time and money. also, klein has a lovely reading voice, which only adds to intimacy, horror, bafflenment, and passion at play in this excellent book.

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a great intro to Unionism in the US

Revisado: 12-04-22

An expertly narrated, easy to follow and contextualize, overview of the importance of organized labor throughout US history and an indictment of the political and economic system that required these unions to exist in the first place.

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Alison Stevenson is a brilliant comedic genius

Revisado: 11-13-20

Like Mother, the new Audible Original, is one of those rare scripted podcasts that feels like a discrete audio recording, allowing listeners a peek into the intimate lives of it's main characters. Similar scripted pod fare tends to be stilted, over-produced and overly dramatic, in my experience, and I went into this with a skeptical curiosity. But, because I'm a big Alison Stevenson fan and think Susie Essman is easily the best part of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I listened to the first episode and now I'm hooked.

Like Mother is a funny, painfully-real, look into a mother/daughter dynamic whose entire connection is based on dysfunction. Right now, so many young people are being forced by COVID and our gig economy to move back into similar situations with their parents. This podcast serves as a 10 episode reminder of why children are supposed to leave the nest and never return for more than a limited visit. You can't go home again... that is unless you're willing to put up with judgmental body image scrutiny from a wine-mom whose idea of great art involves the words Live, Laugh, Love and who butts her way into her daughter's life with all the grace and consideration of Godzilla strolling through Tokyo.

Alison Stevenson is one of those rare comedic voices whose willingness to expose her own fears, flaws and insecurities to the world is met with an equal amount of beauty, integrity and insight and the result is both agonizingly honest and truly sublime. What makes Like Mother so appealing and, at times, painful is that while these stories are heightened for comedic effect, they all seem deeply personal and probably not too far off from Stevenson's own lived experience.

Susie Essman is amazing, playing Sarah, Alison's neurotic, overbearing and deeply oblivious mom. Bridget Everett's on this too and she's also a force of nature in anything she does. The star of the show however is Stevenson's writing which quickly transforms these characters into fully formed humans with each new episode.

All of that said, you should just listen to Like Mother, it's great.

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