1storypod

COLLEGE PARK–HARLEM — Jordan Castro is the editor of New York Tyrant Magazine and PETS: An Anthology, recently out from Tyrant Books https://store.nytyrant.com/products/pets . I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Writers included are Patty Yumi Cottrell, Tao Lin, Ann Beattie, Sarah Manguso, Scott McClanahan, Kathryn Scanlan, Nicolette Polek, Chelsea Hodson, Blake Butler, Precious Okoyomon, Mark Leidner, Sam Pink, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, David Nutt, Reagan Bird, Michael W. Clune, Christine Schutt and Mallory Whitten. I recommend it for anyone who has or had or wants pets. Cop PETS now !! – https://store.nytyrant.com/products/pets http://1storyhaus.com

NYC — Andrew Weatherhead was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of $50,000 (2020), Todd (2018) and Cats & Dogs (2014). He began writing $50,000 in 2015. I read $50,000 probably four times, each time in a single sitting, over the past fortnight since its release. Purchase $50,000 from Publishing Genius: https://www.publishinggenius.com/product/50000/ # POD CONTENTS 3 min - pod start 6 min - comin in hot w wittgenstein tractatus bars/the inadequacy/importance/absurdity of language 11 min - on Facts/‘fake news’ 17 min - on the title, $50,000 21 min - on working a 9-to-5 24 min - “wait until you see me dance” by Deb Olin Unferth and writing about office life 27 min - things only mean in context / a setting 30 min - “the things that no one knows about you are how you know yourself” but also “you can only know yourself thru ppl” 31 min - money only works when we agree on its value 35 min - mfa gripes 38 min - redacted mfa quote htmlgiant story 44 min - on humor/laughter 45 min - “Winners” by Nicolette Polek from Imaginary Museums (2020) 49 min - on literary readings 51 min - on concision/editing/first drafts 56 min - on Time/cycles 59 min - on neuroscience 1 hr 2 min - writing vs. medicine 1 hr 5 min - on Satantango (1985) by Laszlo Krasznahorkai 1 hr 9 min - line breaks vs block text 1 hr 15 min - on Names 1 hr 18 min - “Joe Loser Jr.” 1 hr 23 min - writing about writing 1 hr 25 min - art-making in 2020 # Referenced pieces: "Origin of the World" (collage of book blurbs): http://thefanzine.com/the-origin-of-the-world/ Selected tweets: http://muumuuhouse.com/ajw.twitter.2009-2014.html Creative independent interview: https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/poet-andrew-weatherhead-on-hijacking-language/ $50,000 excerpt: http://magazine.nytyrant.com/from-50000-andrew-weatherhead/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/weeatherhead?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor # Sean Thor Conroe lives in New York City. https://twitter.com/stconroe https://instagram.com/seanthorconroe https://1storyhaus.com

NYC — Al Jacobs, 30, is an NYC-based writer from Toledo, Ohio. He read the copy of Jesus' Son (1992) I lent him over the past few months. I reread the Picador Modern Classics pocket version i copped after lending him my old version over the same period. Jesus' Son (1992) is a series of interconnected short stories narrated by a guy, "Fuckhead," and follows several recurring characters, all addicts, who engage in drug use, petty crime, and murder. Denis Johnson (1949–2017) published Jesus' Son at the age of 43. CONTENTS 5m pod start 8m the infantilized artist boi dream / baby stuff 10m my sus “The Other Man” take 13m you gotta be OUT HERE 15m when they do that lowkey B & E 16m on “autofiction” 21m writing about work/survival/out-here-ness 24m Edmund Wilson v. Nabokov beef as Meek v. Drake beef I’m on Wilson-Meek’s side bro On male isolation/coal miners 26m having empathy for mfkrs more important than everything 31m mommy stuff 33m Jesus God’s son who Jesus’s son tho?? 34m idc abt ur art unless self-snitch in it 36m Sam Pink bizarro absurdism 40m writing abt the outcasts the fuckups the deformed 42m should characters be redeemed 43m dwell in the ambiguity bro 1h 7m Japanese love poems 1h 20m pod end Most recent hitter "Another Way To Stay Calm": https://backpatio.press/2019/11/06/another-way-to-stay-calm-by-sean-thor-conroe/ http://twitter.com/stconroe http://instagram.com/seanthorconroe http://1storyhaus.com

MANHATTAN — Harold, 22, is a writer, standup, and boxer. He grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Steubenville, Ohio. He read Absalom, Absalom! in the fortnight following the death of his paternal grandfather, about a month ago. I read it around the same time, six months after the death of my paternal grandfather. A lotta dad stuff in this ep. Apologies for this extended Faulky bender I'm on. This the last one for now. If you haven't read the book, the 20 min intro could be a good overview to maybe coax you into cracking it. If you have, I mean, shit, fuckwittit. Outro song: "untitled 02 | 06.23.2014." by kendrick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GghFQ8ryEU Sean Thor Conroe is a writer and carpenter living in Harlem. Bars in X-R-A-Y, Soft Cartel, Back Patio, Expat Lit; forthcoming in Philosophical Idiot, BULL Lit. http://twitter.com/stconroe http://instagram.com/seanthorconroe http://1storyhaus.com

JERSEY CITY — In the second part of 2666 (2004) by Bolaño, Amalfitano, a philosophy professor losing his mind, tries to understand the secrets of the universe through an esoteric geometry book. But instead of reading it, he hangs it on a clothesline, outside, and watches it get rained on—blasted by the elements. Bud Smith’s writing embodies this idea: he out here, in the world, working at his oil refinery job, making art around his life rather than the other way around. I linked with him at his spot last weekend in Jersey City to talk about Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying (1930), which I happened to be reading when I saw, via Twitter, that he too was reading it. Faulkner also worked manual labor for a time—as an operator as a chemical plant, while writing this book. Bud Smith is the author of Teenager (Tyrant Books, 2019), Double Bird (Maudlin House, 2018), WORK (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2017), Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press, 2017), Calm Face (House of Vlad, 2016), among others. He works heavy construction building and destroying chemical plants, refineries, and generating stations. He’s on Twitter @bud_smith https://twitter.com/Bud_Smith. Here is a list of his stories online: https://neutralspaces.co/bud_smith/. He is currently writing a serialized weekly series called Good Luck, from The Nervous Breakdown. Intro song: "when i die" by yamz https://soundcloud.com/yeums/when-i-die Sean Thor Conroe is a writer and carpenter living in Harlem. Bars in X-R-A-Y, Soft Cartel, Expat Lit; forthcoming in Philosophical Idiot, BULL Lit, Back Patio. https://twitter.com/stconroe https://instagram.com/seanthorconroe https://1storyhaus.com

N 41ST ST — Convo w my neighbor Glenda, 52. On my last day on the block (07/31/2019), after living there 2 plus yrs.

WEST PHILLY — Nicholas Baptiste is a Philly-based writer, reader, musician, and MFKN LIBRARIAN YO. So sick. We post up on a blasted summer day on Baltimore Ave and powwow off the cuff about a whole gang of shit, returning throughout to our most recent reads: Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) and Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son (1992), respectively. We talk writing processes and what we consider constitutes the best art. Where this leads might be summed up as: that which investigates the difficult, touchy, taboo ideas, without either valorizing or condemning any one version of them. Sean Thor Conroe was born Sho Kamura in Tokyo in 1991. Latest story: https://expatpress.com/that-fire-sean-thor-conroe/ Contact: sean.thor.conroe@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/stconroe IG: https://www.instagram.com/seanthorconroe/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/1storypod/id1238415112?mt=2 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/1storypod Website: http://1storyhaus.com

BKLYN-PHILLY — Eric Conroe, 33, is a writer and builder living in Brooklyn. He is the author of the poetry chapbook TOP BLOCKER (2017), available here: https://bit.ly/2M7ZvVV. He is my cousin. He read Thrown (2014) by Kerry Howley in a sitting two weeks ago. I read it in multiple sittings a year ago. Kerry Howley, 38, teaches nonfiction at University of Iowa. Thrown is her first book.

SOUTH PHILLY/SOUTH JERSEY — Still asking the same questions about monogamy, marriage, loyalty, child rearing, father/motherhood, the nuclear family, and work v. “love.” How these questions play out in Jenny Offill’s Dept of Speculation (2014), which charts a relationship from its inception to marriage to childbirth to infidelity, complicates things. Read in sips over the past three weeks and recorded during my CSA delivery route in South Philly (till I ran outta gas), during my route in South Jersey (after getting more gas), and on the way to the dentist, on foot, the following morning. Sound quality turned out surprisingly decent. New 500-word story 'That Fire' I dropped last week: https://expatpress.com/that-fire-sean-thor-conroe/ Website: http://1storyhaus.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/stconroe IG: http://instagram.com/seanthorconroe

PHILLY VIA BOSTON — In this special Lent pod, I catch up with the homie Aaron, 28 (1SP episodes 003 and 015), about the below topics during his weekend visit to Philly from Boston. Read is blog (http://somedayyeasayer.blogspot.com/). He's got some recent poems up about a hitchhiking trip he took around Scotland late last year. 0:00 - intro (03.11.2019) 2:44 - start of convo (03.09.2019) 6:00 - on criticism 9:00 - on keeping silent 13:00 - on editing 16:00 - on the accordion method 19:00 - on Bon Iver lol 23:00 - relocation from back to front of house 25:00 - on Lent 28:00 - on rules 38:00 - on writing about the body 39:00 - on social integration 42:00 - on community 45:00 - on marriage/family 47:00 - on cults 48:00 - how should a person be? 50:00 - on civic unity 54:00 - on the gay science 56:00 - final thoughts Contact: sean.thor.conroe@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/stconroe IG: https://www.instagram.com/seanthorconroe/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/1storypod/id1238415112?mt=2 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/1storypod Website: http://1storyhaus.com