revisiting "living room" from 2015
Do you guys read Helena Fitzgerald’s Griefbacon? It’s one of those eclectic older newsletters that doesn’t get as much attention as say ones of a certain media dudebro flavor (the more I return to Claire Landsbaum’s trendpiece for Vanity Fair from July 2019, the more impressed I am that, as one of the first pieces of this genre, none of the personal letters named in paragraph 4 are from cis white dudes*), and I’d consider it exemplary for the type of first person Substack essay format. But anyway I was reading her latest dispatch, Small Rooms over the weekend, and it reminded me to revisit this podcast episode from Love and Radio from 2015 called Living Room (last week’s theme was royal family content; this week’s is…...rooms?).
Anyway I always assume everyone is way more with it when it comes to podcasts than I am, but if there is a chance you haven’t listened to “Living Room,” do it ASAP. It’s my absolute favorite singular episode of audio storytelling on earth, and upon relistening I’m struck by how much more poignant this concept of witnessing how other people’s entire lives unfold through a specific rectangular vantage point feels in this moment. In this story, the narrator is literally looking into the couple’s window; is there a 2020 version of this story where we’re all peeking at each other’s trials and tribulations through the glass pane of our phone?
*Deez Links is mentioned so I mean now you know my vested interest in this article.
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