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.
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.
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.
Sponsored in Part
Malina Saval03.26.11
Malina Saval is the author of The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens. She is also a member of Al-Anon. A sponsor-less member, much to her desperation, as she struggles alone with her husband’s addictions, her family life, her own anxieties and moments of self-doubt. As someone once said, "I’ve been out to sea a long time." This is the first column of Malina’s that will chronicle her search for an Al-Anon sponsor.
He’s a Riot!: In Which a Boston Globe Columnist Makes Liverpool Fans See Red
Pete Hausler12.12.10
It’s one thing to opine on subjects one clearly knows nothing about. Since George W. popularized the "going with my gut" instinct, while failing to validate it as any kind of scientific/factual evidentiary process, it was still "good enough for me" to win the seal of approval for most Americans to run their mouths about anything their gut tells them. But it’s quite another thing to publicly opine on English football when clearly one knows very little, except enough to think he knows what he doesn’t like. Boston Globe columnist plays a dangerous and ignorant word game that has the Liverpool FC fan base up in arms, and Pete Hausler isn’t going to let him weasel out of it. Artwork by the great Danny Jock.
86’d Stories: Interview with bouncer Frankie Clinton
Jennifer Blowdryer01.27.10
George Orwell recounts his experience of being shot while fighting in the Spanish Civil War: "Roughly speaking it was the sensation of being at the center of an explosion. There seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light all round me, and I felt a tremendous shock––no pain, only a violent shock, such as you get from an electric terminal; with it a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being stricken and shriveled up to nothing." Here Frankie Clinton describes what it was like to be stabbed while working as a bouncer outside a Manhattan night club. His advice on human interaction is essential reading for any potential bouncers out there and for fans of workplace tourism. Learn more about Jennifer Blowdryer’s 86’d project here.
86’d Stories: Rob Shapiro
Jennifer Blowdryer12.13.09
Jennifer Blowdryer, editor of Good Advice for Young Trendy People of All Ages (Manic D), brings us this interview with Rob Shapiro, twin brother of comedian Rick Shapiro, in which he discusses purse snatching, sexiest life guard competitions, ass-less hospital gowns, the heyday of Studio 54, making out covered in blood and betrayal by trusted service workers. At least three bodily fluids make cameo appearances. Also, in a previous installment of 86’d Stories, Sammy Reid and Jeff Dickinson discuss hustling, speed and Bellevue. Art by Danny Jock.
86’d Stories: Sammy Reid and Jeff Dickinson
Jennifer Blowdryer10.17.09
Over the last several years, Jennifer Blowdryer has been conducting an oral history project of friends and acquaintances who have been 86’d — kicked out and never allowed to return — from various places: restaurants, bars, apartments, houses of celebrities, computer hardware stores and others. In this first of three installments Sammy Reid talks about one of his many evictions and Jeff Dickinson tells a tale of lost shoes, stolen gas masks and the Bellevue psychiatric ward.
