3 things before pie time
to check out, to listen to, to watch
I hope you get some down time with loved ones this week. But, before that, I have three things to tell you:
ITEM NUMBER 1
If you are near New York City on December 10, get a ticket for this!
I’m hosting Selected Shorts at Symphony Space, and look at this lineup of readers — Richard Kind! Amy Ryan! Phoebe Robinson! Michael Stuhlbarg! All reading short fiction about death-y, sexy, money-y themes. I’m stoked. Tickets are here.
ITEM NUMBER TWO
Listen to our new Death, Sex & Money episode this week.
The story is courtesy of a pile of cassette tapes haphazardly stored under the floor in a San Francisco church and a team of religious studies scholars and audio producers who made magic with them.
Come inside the Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco, and hear its leaders, singers and members recount what this place meant in the 70s, 80s and 90s to its primarily LGBTQ congregation.
You can listen to the whole podcast series about the MCC church in San Francisco, hosted by my guest Lynne Gerber. It’s called When We All Get To Heaven. It was produced by Eureka Street Productions, and I’m proud to say, is distributed by Slate.
ITEM NUMBER THREE
Watch a beautiful movie this weekend.
If you’re into documentaries, watch Cashing Out, by Matt Nadel. It chronicles the history of viatical settlements — the phenomenon of people dying of AIDS, primarily gay men, selling their life insurance policies to investors. What I didn’t know before watching this documentary was that some of the people who set up these markets were gay men themselves, who saw them as a way to financially support people they loved. Hilton Als calls this film “a vital and outstanding film about a terrible time,” and you can watch it here on The New Yorker’s website.
I talked to Matt Nadel about making the film in a conversation for Slate Plus listeners, and about his personal connection to viatical settlements. Matt’s father bought some of these policies when Matt was growing up, and the payouts helped fund some of his childhood extracurriculars.
If you’re craving a scripted feature, let me recommend You Can Count on Me. I watched it again last week, and it made me feel so grateful for the era of cinema when we got more of these small, textured stories about family and the incredible performances they produced.
As Roger Ebert wrote in 2000, “This is not a movie about people solving things. This is a movie about people living day to day with their plans, fears and desires.”
Until next week,
Anna
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Listen to our latest Death, Sex & Money episodes
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11/11 Raising a Country Musician Through Swagger and Psychosis
11/11 Bonus: S-Town Journalist Investigates Journalism Itself (Apple|Spotify|Slate)
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11/1 Money on the Mind: To Have Kids or Not to Have Kids
10/28 Her Boyfriend Was Killed in a Random NYC Attack. Right-Wing Trolls Mocked Her.
10/28 Bonus: The Fear of Flying Class That Cost $1,800 (Apple|Spotify|Slate)
10/21 How a Former Polygamist “Sister Wife” Learned to Love Monogamy