YouTube link here. Doesn’t William look fancy?
This week we finally finish the little note cards! We’re going digital! Also, we solve the mental health crisis in the modern world, and Tony proclaims himself as Neo-Jesus. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS (the last ever!) :
Tony, make William tell us about some of his “not really” supernatural experiences he mentioned in taking head syndrome. –Azure talon
Dead, alive, or fictional — who would you love to have on as a guest co-host? –Dave of Id
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hats off to Tony for talking about going to therapy! That really helps with dealing with some of the stigma, I think.
A lot of the difference in the way we think about physical and mental health seems to come down to mind/body dualism. Our “self” is equated with the mind and so we seem to have more inherent responsibility and control for what goes on there, whereas the physical is “not us” so we can’t be as responsible for what happens to it.
The idea that there might not be such a thing as consciousness comes out of the same mindset. It’s based on the assumption that consciousness is some ethereal thing that transcends the material.
If the criteria for a guest co-host is good conversationalist, I nominate: Robert Browning (renowned in his time as a great person to invite to dinner based on his stories/conversation), Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Bennet (from Pride and Prejudice), Beatrice (from Much Ado About Nothing), or Cyrano de Bergerac.
Dang. That’s a good list.
Also, Biz Markie (RIP).
Just remembering that y’all talked about that convention that Will and I went to where he asked Neil Gaiman the question about Gaiman’s use of mythology. I think his answer was pretty much what Will was saying it was, and I think he was trying to convey the idea that his use of mythology sort of emerges while he’s writing rather than being planned out. But I kind of forget why Will was dissatisfied with that answer except that I don’t think it was really getting at what he was trying to ask. Is that right?
Now that I’m thinking about this, I think Neil Gaiman may be the famous person that I have the most connections to or have met the most times.
The first time I “met” him was when I was presenting a paper at a conference on Science Fiction/Fantasy and I think he was friends with someone who was on the same panel with me. I didn’t know who he was at the time. This would have been around 1996-97?. But he was very noticeable in a crowd of academics as he was dressed all in black with a black leather jacket.
I knew of his wife, Amanda Palmer, when she used to do “living statues” in Harvard Square. And then later, I saw her perform in Dresden Dolls.
Then there was that convention with Will in Minnesota.
And I heard him give readings from The Ocean at the End of the Lane (also in Harvard Square) and spoke to him briefly when he signed my copy.
And a good friend of mine in England was a secretary working at the place where he was a journalist when he first got started. She remembers him as a very nice person.
You’ve met and spoken to Neil Gaiman multiple times, and also used to see Amanda Palmer doing street art. Yeah, that tracks with my image of you.
Some day in the future, I’m going to be staring at a corkboard of pictures, connected by string, showing different photos of major historical events, and I’m suddenly going to notice that you’re standing in the background of every one….