Hope you’re with people, People.
I guess today we ‘celebrate’ one half of this country’s independence from reality and the other half’s independence from democracy because of them.
I tweeted this yesterday and it was interesting that both sides could claim for their own. The evil, brazen ciphers have become very adept at appropriating all of our language and cool stuff to obfuscate any progressive intent or set of truths. The falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.
This will be an exciting day. Someone could set the state of California on fire by accident.
I tweeted that yesterday too. That’s just a fact.
I’m back from Canada. Shooting TV is a bit tedious. I think for every 12-14 hours I worked, about 10-11 of those hours were spent waiting. In my underwear for this part. I mean, I had a robe on. The producers were happy with my work. I was, too. It’s all part of it. The waiting is the hardest part.
I’m just not great at being sedentary. I’ve been home for two days and I haven’t stopped doing shit. It seemed like shit that needed to be done. Okay, I didn’t need to go to three places to find what I decided was a decent head of cauliflower. I did though.
I walked through Whole Foods to buy some supplies to make a pie for a party I’m going to today and I saw one of the most perfect briskets I’ve ever seen. A whole brisket, perfectly trimmed. I had to buy it. I figured I’d freeze it for a future brisket party. I told my friend Dan’s wife, Jen, that I could make brisket as well as the pie for the party. I thought it was a long shot since she does a pork shoulder but she said sure. So, I’m sure by the time you read this I will have spent five hours managing vents on my kettle smoker. Pie is done.
I know things are bleak and there really is absolutely nothing to celebrate collectively if you have a certain mindset but please be with people if you have the opportunity. Pull back from the keyboard. Pull back from the big screen. If you’ve been invited to go somewhere where people you like are going to be, go. Just go be with people that you like or love if you can. Community is important. Feel the feels together. Don’t isolate. Don’t spiral unless you’re spiraling with friends. I mean it.
Some business now. Starting tomorrow, July 5th, you can subscribe to WTF+, which is part of our new deal with Acast. For three dollars a month, you can get the full WTF Archives. That includes more than 1,300 episodes of WTF going back to 2009. And for five dollars a month, get The Full Maron, which includes the archives plus brand new weekly bonus content. When WTF+ goes live tomorrow, you can subscribe by following the link in the show description, or at wtfpod.com. Then everything will be available in your chosen podcast app like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast and dozens more. No need to download a special app for this.
For people who just want to keep listening for free, we'll be adding more than 650 past episodes to the free feed tomorrow. These episodes have previously been behind a paywall, in some cases for years, but they'll now be free for all listeners across all podcast platforms.
If you're subscribed to WTF, you may notice some increased activity on your feed in some podcast apps as the new episodes are added. Nothing will change about the way you listen to WTF moving forward. You'll still find new episodes in the same place you always have.
Exciting stuff. Happy Summer!
Today I talk to Jason Kander, the former Secretary of State of Missouri who ran for the US Senate in 2016. He's an Army veteran and was an intelligence officer in Afghanistan. In 2017, Barack Obama called him the future of the Democratic Party. He was going to run for president. He was putting together a campaign. And then everything went south. The PTSD he'd been suffering from for 11 years was overtaking him. He was consumed by depression and suicidal thoughts. And so he put everything on hold in order to get the help he needed. Now he's got a book coming out, Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD.
On Thursday I talk to one of my best friends, Jerry Stahl. He’s written many dark, brilliant novels but his new one is a doozy. It’s a memoir about his bus tour through the concentration camps of Europe while suffering from depression. It’s called Nein, Nein, Nein. Funny, dark shit. Great talks!
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
One of the Most Perfect Briskets.
