Rushdie, Ratios and Friend Phrenology

In this 9th episode of A Special Place in Hell, Meghan kicks off the conversation by pondering a friend’s advice that she not make fun of herself for being an “aging Gen Xer.” She asks why Sarah’s tagline gets to be “self-hating millennial” when she, too, is self-hating (to which Sarah explains that she doesn’t hate herself, merely the entire rest of her generation). They then move on to an uncharacteristically somber topic: the attack on writer Salman Rushdie. Sarah expertly lays out the chronology of the whole affair, even though the offending work, The Satanic Verses, was published before she was born. She predicts that this event will change nothing. Meghan’s contribution to the conversation consists mainly of pretending to remember what The Satanic Verses was about and avoiding saying that she was already in college when it came out.

Finally, they tackle the more critical topic of Sarah’s recent Twitter escapades, including a poll about physical affection (in which Meghan reveals herself as an Ice Queen, and Sarah reveals herself to be needy hugger) and one embarrassingly ratioed thread in which which Sarah wondered how physicality might play a role in friend selection. She recalls meeting online friends “irl” for the first time and being surprised when their physical appearances and mannerisms didn’t match their online personae, and asks if Meghan has ever felt out of place in such a circumstance. Meghan proclaims to have never had this experience because she is an #AgingGenXer and made all her friends in the real world.

The girls/women remind listeners to rate and review the show and announce perks for paid subscribers, including at the highest level, the opportunity to braid Sarah’s hair. 

In the bonus content, available only for paid subscribers, the girls/women get big mad at the non-binary Joan of Arc production at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London, and then proceed into a disagreement about how this will all end, concluding with a lighthearted discussion on mass rape in England.

Relevant links:

* Sarah’s Substack newsletter Hold That Thought

* Meghan’s freethinking women’s community The Unspeakeasy

* Show theme music by Mia Dyson.

* End music The Ground Beneath Her Feet by U2. Lyrics by Salman Rushdie. (Who's also in the video.)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aspecialplace.substack.com