Liars and Saints

 "Spent" has a plot I haven't encountered before; Stuart and Sparrow live in a kind of mini-commune, and they have silent dreams of forming a "polycule." Their nonbinary child has left for college (Oberlin!)--and they have some time on their hands.... Stuart and Sparrow meet an alluring bisexual planner-of-farmers-markets, Naomi. Soon, the three are trysting. ("I had so, so wanted to give cunninlingus," says Sparrow. "I was so excited, I almost passed out!" ...And Stuart raises an eyebrow.) A vegan purple dildo arrives at the commune; Stuart wants to wear it on top of his actual dick, for reasons that aren't fully explored. The group rejects the term "polycule"--it sounds too much like a growth on one's liver tissue--and Stuart and Sparrow worry about how to break their "life news" to their child. Meanwhile, Alison Bechdel lives down the road on a pygmy goat colony. There is a new baby--"Goaty McGoat"--bu...

  How do you help someone with a severe mental illness? What counts as help, and what is, in fact, just an effort to be controlling? These seem like unusual questions for a Broadway musical--but they're a part of "Fun Home." At the climax of the show, Alison takes a drive with her dad. She knows something is very wrong--but she feels powerless, paralyzed. She stares out the window at telephone wires--a symbol of interconnectedness. She notices the creek--"partly flowing, partly frozen"--which seems to stand in for the "clogged channel" that connects her with her own father. As Alison gropes for a topic of conversation, her father does his own flailing. He proposes a trip to a bar--which is inappropriate, because Alison is a college freshman. Dad becomes lost in a reverie--a speech that he delivers to himself, not to his daughter. He offers bullshitty thoughts about a work project--a task that will never be completed. At the end of the song, we leap to ...

I have no gift for writing fiction; I don't think I'll ever get great joy from inventing scenarios from thin air (although I like telling my son some stories about princes and princesses and castles). I do very much like essays, both personal essays and critical essays. I think I won't ever run out of interest in these forms, which is a comforting thought. I'm always on the lookout for advice in this realm, and here are some of the things I've stolen: * Take a well-loved thing and tear it apart . Some of the most famous essays are "Against Nature," "Against Love," "Against Joie de Vivre," George Orwell's thoughts on Gandhi, some contrarian thoughts on Mother Teresa. People have a tendency just to accept various bits of conventional "wisdom." It's inspiring to look at closely at the wisdom and to show when the emperor actually has no clothes. * Force yourself to draw lessons from experience. Writers are some...

I'm watching two HBO shows right now--"Insecure" and "Sharp Objects"--and I can't help but notice how much more brilliant and vital "Insecure" is. Not that there is a competition. And of course "Sharp Objects" gives us the great gift that is Amy Adams. But still. Some thoughts. - Language. Is there a writer on TV who loves words as much as Issa Rae loves words? It doesn't matter what the plot is; you just become giddy because of the use of English. "I see you," "I've been saving, I've been saving, I've been saving," "It was a nebulous fuck," "Party Lyft," "We Got Y'All," "I didn't do *shit* to your vase," "ho-tation," "Are you thirsty? For a drink?" -- This is the work of a poet. Issa Rae makes me think of Alison Bechdel. When Bechdel was getting started on "Dykes to Watch Out For," she said her aim was to introduce the worl...