That New Yorker article was a pleasant read (can depressing reads still be pleasant because they're polished?), thanks. It seems patently obvious that squabbling over artificially-scarce scraps from the Elite Table is not The Way; that tendentious legal hair-splitting over proxies for race when everyone knows the actual intent is actual-race is not The Way; that solidarity-destroying infighting in the game of Rainbow Musical Chairs is not The Way. Just one giant bush-beating-around that wastes enormous amounts of time, money, effort, talent*. (Nevermind the obvious pitfalls of sidestepping class. As if geography and race are the only types of diversity that matter. Proxies of proxies! This is one place where the intersectionality chickens really come home to roost in a bad way...)
*As one of those Asian students from a poor family whose sole shot at elitedom came from standardized test scores...no, it does not make me and my cohort feel good being asked to step aside so a more palatable (paletteable?) minority can fill those valuable slots instead. Arguing with others in SF about the merits of removing merit-based admissions for the local elite highschool was maddening in this regard. For every one of us cowardly and incurious, yet somehow highly-academic-performing, Asians that got Waxmanned...I sincerely hope that somewhere out there is a prosperous Fortune 500 CEO of some other minority group, or whatever. Meanwhile I'll keep bagging groceries for a living, wondering how life coulda turned out differently.
re: The Romance of Madness...that was raw. A necessary thing to write, but painful to read. Call me a wuss, but I can sorta see the logic behind "trigger warnings" a bit more now. I genuinely try not to think too much about my own 5150 experiences...and that's the "good" outcome!
Conflicted posts like that genuinely make me wonder whether it's better to enable or disable comments. Writing that purposely generates high emotions in the audience, and then provides no actual release valve...well, I suppose that's part of the point, isn't it? The same position that the fictional characters find themselves in, of having no one to confide in. (And, conversely, probably one of the only valid arguments for e.g. DID fandom social groups. Doesn't at all pass a cost-benefit analysis, yet it's there on the scale nonetheless. Miserable madness loves company, performative or otherwise.)
I can see this becoming a de facto comment section on the Madness entry, but I want to throw my support behind it. Hard to read, probably won't read it again, but strong stuff and I'm here for more.
The Romance Of Madness was hard to get through. I did not enjoy it but was an essential read. Mental illness is a bitch. Not romantic at all. Very hard for those who are troubled and for family et Al. Suicide is a great band to recommend.
Freddie you are absolutely fearless in your writing. Your honesty leaves me astounded. There are few writers- living or dead- who can express the human soul as this writing did.
Just chiming in to say that I appreciated the mental illness post. Like others who post on here, one of my nearest and dearest has paranoid schizophrenia and he has a robust enough support system that his situation has not got as bleak as that of the man in your story, but it's a gut wrenching condition and all the diability benefits in the world would not convince me to trade places with him - though the fact that doing so would spare him the pain would perhaps be enough to convince me.
Like others on here, I have mental health problems myself too, and am old enough now not to romanticize them whatsoever. I like to think that it's largely young people who do so and who will hopefully still have enough of a support system in place after alienating people to build their lives back up. Of course, for those with paranoid schizophrenia, they often alienate those around them while desperately wanting and needing love and support. Former friends of his (of which there are a lot) who refer to him, when talking to me, //in past tense// break my heart just a little bit more.
The Romance of Madness is one of the best pieces you've ever written. It could only be written by someone who reads as many books as you do. Well done!
Peter P. nails it.
I didn’t read much as a teenager, but Less Than Zero was my favorite book. And fuck the haters Freddie.
That New Yorker article was a pleasant read (can depressing reads still be pleasant because they're polished?), thanks. It seems patently obvious that squabbling over artificially-scarce scraps from the Elite Table is not The Way; that tendentious legal hair-splitting over proxies for race when everyone knows the actual intent is actual-race is not The Way; that solidarity-destroying infighting in the game of Rainbow Musical Chairs is not The Way. Just one giant bush-beating-around that wastes enormous amounts of time, money, effort, talent*. (Nevermind the obvious pitfalls of sidestepping class. As if geography and race are the only types of diversity that matter. Proxies of proxies! This is one place where the intersectionality chickens really come home to roost in a bad way...)
*As one of those Asian students from a poor family whose sole shot at elitedom came from standardized test scores...no, it does not make me and my cohort feel good being asked to step aside so a more palatable (paletteable?) minority can fill those valuable slots instead. Arguing with others in SF about the merits of removing merit-based admissions for the local elite highschool was maddening in this regard. For every one of us cowardly and incurious, yet somehow highly-academic-performing, Asians that got Waxmanned...I sincerely hope that somewhere out there is a prosperous Fortune 500 CEO of some other minority group, or whatever. Meanwhile I'll keep bagging groceries for a living, wondering how life coulda turned out differently.
re: The Romance of Madness...that was raw. A necessary thing to write, but painful to read. Call me a wuss, but I can sorta see the logic behind "trigger warnings" a bit more now. I genuinely try not to think too much about my own 5150 experiences...and that's the "good" outcome!
Conflicted posts like that genuinely make me wonder whether it's better to enable or disable comments. Writing that purposely generates high emotions in the audience, and then provides no actual release valve...well, I suppose that's part of the point, isn't it? The same position that the fictional characters find themselves in, of having no one to confide in. (And, conversely, probably one of the only valid arguments for e.g. DID fandom social groups. Doesn't at all pass a cost-benefit analysis, yet it's there on the scale nonetheless. Miserable madness loves company, performative or otherwise.)
I can see this becoming a de facto comment section on the Madness entry, but I want to throw my support behind it. Hard to read, probably won't read it again, but strong stuff and I'm here for more.
"Bernie would have won in 2016 in a landslide." Pete P.
OMFG, still? Does no one remember that Bernie lost to Hillary by a way bigger margin than Trump did?
The Romance Of Madness was hard to get through. I did not enjoy it but was an essential read. Mental illness is a bitch. Not romantic at all. Very hard for those who are troubled and for family et Al. Suicide is a great band to recommend.
Freddie you are absolutely fearless in your writing. Your honesty leaves me astounded. There are few writers- living or dead- who can express the human soul as this writing did.
Just chiming in to say that I appreciated the mental illness post. Like others who post on here, one of my nearest and dearest has paranoid schizophrenia and he has a robust enough support system that his situation has not got as bleak as that of the man in your story, but it's a gut wrenching condition and all the diability benefits in the world would not convince me to trade places with him - though the fact that doing so would spare him the pain would perhaps be enough to convince me.
Like others on here, I have mental health problems myself too, and am old enough now not to romanticize them whatsoever. I like to think that it's largely young people who do so and who will hopefully still have enough of a support system in place after alienating people to build their lives back up. Of course, for those with paranoid schizophrenia, they often alienate those around them while desperately wanting and needing love and support. Former friends of his (of which there are a lot) who refer to him, when talking to me, //in past tense// break my heart just a little bit more.
The Romance of Madness is one of the best pieces you've ever written. It could only be written by someone who reads as many books as you do. Well done!
I loved the mental illness post. It needed to be out there, under the circumstances. It was also 100% on-brand FdB.
Surprised to get comment of the week. Thanks Freddie.