My interview with my pen-pal and friend Sacha Mardou is up on The Believer magazine’s blog today. She’s so interesting to talk to. As the interview went on we started to h
ave a side conversation about herbalism, among other things that weren’t quite fitting for the interview, which was about comics and music, mostly. Ya know, art. But we enjoyed having that other conversation so much that we’ve decided to keep on having it and turn that into a zine. I’m excited for the results of that collaboration; the projects she and I have worked on together are always things I’m especially proud of. Meantime, give Go Forth: An Interview with Comics Artist Sacha Mardou a look!
Go Forth
Indicative Mood 
Dear Katie, Just a note to thank you for your excellent review of “Why Grow Up?” I loved the New Yorker cartoon – can you tell me which issue it appeared in? And re Patti Smith: I actually thought long and hard about including her, it wasn’t an oversight. I had seen her, as well as the three other musicians I named, in the past couple of years in Berlin, and was delighted to see her rocking like the best of them. But – as much as I would have liked to include a woman – she just hasn’t written the volume of work that would put her in the same category as the others, and it seemed wrong just to include her because she’s a woman and a great performer. I think she’d agree about that, having read her autobiography. But anyway…thanks for a review that, unlike some others, really understood what I was trying to do. Best wishes for your own work, Susan
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Thank you for writing, Susan! I got a lot out of your book—both reading it and writing about it were useful for me. Interesting to know that you considered including Patti Smith—thank you for telling me. I see where you’re coming from regarding the size of her body of work. Beyond that, I liked your idea to look at rock musicians as symbols of youth who don’t actually have to be young to be full of life. (I just thought of another person who has continued writing angry, passionate songs and performing them vigorously into his 50s: Morrissey! One of my all-time favorites.) And for that matter, it’s certainly possible to be young and uninspired.
In any event, my own maturity is most certainly a work in progress, but I found your book helpful and admired its positive attitude. Growing up *is* a worthy job, and one I’m trying my darndest to enjoy.
Warm wishes,
Katie
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[…] Inquirer. Have a look here. (Susan was kind enough to comment on the review on this blog, under the post “Go Forth,” to which I have responded.) Nieman’s book is a kind of critique of our youth-obsessed […]
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