1storypod

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

PHILADELPHIA — Sean, 27, is a writer, rapper, and podcaster living in Philadelphia. He is 450 pages into the 1150-page My Struggle: Book Six ​(2018) by Karl Ove Knausgaard.

REFERENCES:

"Podcast with Raisins" by Sheila Heti: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-4-stockholm-syndrome/id1193833547?i=1000421711180&mt=2

"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing" (2014): https://www.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308

Contact: [email protected]

Twitter: twitter.com/stconroe

iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/1stor…d1238415112?mt=2

Soundcloud: @1storypod

Website: http://1storyhaus.com

WEST PHILLY — Nick, 27, is a writer, poet, and teacher living in Philadelphia. He read Less (2017) over the past fortnight. I read it over the summer. Andrew Sean Greer (b. 1970) is an identical twin. Less is his fifth novel and sixth book. He lives in San Francisco. — http://twitter.com/stconroe / 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.

KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Beth (1SP 09), 25, was born and raised in Franklin, Kentucky. She has worked in nonprofit food distribution for the past two years, and is interested in the intersection between food and place. She read My Brilliant Friend (2012) over this past winter; I did over this past fall, and The Story of a New Name (2013) over this past winter. Elena Ferrante was born in 1943 in Naples, Italy. Intro song: "super focused (prod. gezi)" by canals https://goo.gl/HHtbT1 — @shocanals, http://1storyhaus.com

SAN JUAN, P.R. — YaMZ aka Viva H. (1SP eps 2, 6, & 7), 26, checks in from the recently storm-ridden US territory, where he is engaged in relief efforts, to talk his latest musical release, TSA APPROVED YaMZ. Watch the full EP video here: https://goo.gl/d7Bu78. Or listen: https://goo.gl/BcyEeB. Other referenced music: Jpegmafia's excellent 'Veteran' (2018): https://goo.gl/vcnrV2. Young Thug's loosie "MLK": https://goo.gl/n3V9CG. Read about Viva's travels at http://bumsum.net

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

ATHENS, N.Y. / BAY AREA, Calif. — Shiina, 25, is a massage healer and singer-songwriter splitting time between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. She first discovered Big Magic (2016) about a year ago. I read it over this past Christmas and finished it right before the new year. This episode is dedicated to Elizabeth Gilbert's late partner, Rayya Elias (1960–2018). Intro song: "Queer Love" by Sheena Conroe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7rBGufphGY

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/1storypod?lang=en / http://1storyhaus.com