ANNUAL THOMPSON FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2011
Peter Thompson12.10.11
It’s that time again for reflection, when magazines make best of lists way ahead of New Years to assist you in developing a cheat sheet for buying yourself a bunch of records, books or whatever for the holidays when you know in your gut you really you should be buying Uggs or fleece blanket-robes for everyone in your family, toys for homeless kids or sending $30 to Reno’s Occupy Wall Street Movement to keep it afloat. Or you could be like Peter Thompson, puzzling over Kardashian tweets and kicking dope. Merry, merry…
Sponsored in Part V: You Can’t Have Your Sobriety Cake and Eat It Too
Malina Saval12.03.11
In the fifth installment of Malina Saval’s Sponsored in Part, metaphors fail. The author examines the difference between her own relationship with Al-Anon and that of her husband, that of other Al-Anon couples, and that of the (hypothetical, mythical) sponsor. And the warm, wet-cement feeling of satisfaction (or was that the carbs?) begins to harden in the gut. The cake is a lie. Illustrated by Danny Jock.
Best
Gary Sheppard10.31.11
The thing about love is not that it’s terrifying––it’s that it may one day cease to be terrifying. Gary Sheppard knows Best.
FANZINE FANMAIL 1
Peter Thompson09.28.11
Peter Thompson didn’t get shot today so he is writing a letter to Fanzine expressing his intention to write. Current events, two generations of hookers, and a riff on gambling culture intervene. Not even the Greyhound will get you out of Reno for long.
rags of motel carpet waited to grow a brain
Mark Baumer09.26.11
The two most important questions upon waking are: Where am I? and, Where are my pants? Leon is going to have trouble answering either of these. New flash fiction from Mark Baumer.
Sam in a Slipshod Style
Laura Jane Faulds08.31.11
This is an ode to co-dependence. Let’s all be extremely self-conscious and revel in the knowledge that we are imperfect beings that not even Keith Richards can illuminate. And who is Keith Richards to you, anyway? And how can you be sad in the summertime when he shows up precisely not to give you love or validation? Let’s take a walk in the park. Let’s hold ourselves tight and sing, Baby, baby keep me happy.
Sponsored in Part IV: Unpredictable Addicts: Fun!
Malina Saval08.29.11
"If the Sopranos were Jewish, steeped in massive credit card debt, and lived in a dreary middle class Boston suburb where flabby white trash girls with high, hair-sprayed bangs walked around with their pants sliding down the crack of their tramp-stamped asses, that would give you a pretty decent idea of the kind of environment in which I was raised." In Malina Saval’s fourth installment of Sponsored in Part, the Saval family, in all of its extremities and generations, runs amok in a restaurant, practices avoidance, redefines what it means to be alright, seeks sponsorship in all the wrong places, bets the farm on eternity (death on the installment plan), and cashes in big time.
SPONSORED IN PART III: AL-A-NOT
Malina Saval06.21.11
In Malina Saval’s third installment of her Sponsored In Part column, we start to see some Al-Anon fatigue as the breadth of her day-to-day responsibilities begin to pile up, and she still without a sponsor to help her along. There are some funnily awkward moments, some exasperation juggling her family life, her work, her sanity, and her husband who seems to be benefiting quite well from AA with seeming small recompense to the author.
Sponsored in Part: Two Steps Forward, Twelve Steps Back
Malina Saval05.10.11
Malina Saval continues her quest for an Al-Anon sponsor in the second installment of her "Sponsored in Part" column. This time around she’s lost her therapist in addition to being sponsor-less. Looking for some kind of guidance, she finally starts to reach out, with mixed results, but she’s getting there. Drawing by Danny Jock, as always.
“Same Heart They Put You In”
Mike Young04.26.11
Mike Young has range. First saw him reciting poetry with puppets & other props, performing sans script. Was pretty blown away, especially after reading such weirdness sculpted beautifully in the book We Are All Good If They Try Hard Enough. But wait, Young writes short fiction too – see Look! Look! Feathers which includes "Same Heart They Put You In". Here’s a wincingly funny bildungsromanesque (it’s a long story) that captures a 90s voice as well as Cameron Crowe’s Fast Times caught the 70s, John Hughes the 80s, or George W. Bush the 00s (who did capture that last decade?…Mike may’ve got that one too). So I’m bad for hyperbole, but in short, expect a blockbuster out of Young’s writing one day. And more puppets! -CM
