Why We're in Favor of Strange Bedfellows
by the Editor
We love looking at Strange Bedfellows, mainly because we think the regular arrangements of the culture just ain't working anymore. You all know what I'm talking about. The tired old assumptions that the mass media makes (and we all repeat), the ones that keep us going in increasingly small circles. What we're interested in here is breaking out of those constricting little spirals and having a look see at what's outside. It may be baby steps. It may or may not be immediately helpful. It may be useless. It may be strange. But unless we get out there and stretch a little and head out past where the maps are marked "There Be Monsters," well, we all know where those spirals lead. Straight down the drain.
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With that in mind, we're loving Mike Madrid's new project , which he both explains and invites participation in Mike Wants To Know: What's Your God? He's doing a series of interviews with what he (sort of tongue in cheek, sort of not) refers to as 'our people', people who are put off by religious fundamentalism of every kind, even to the extent of sometimes sliding into an equally constricting secular fundamentalism, people who think of themselves as rational, well-educated, well-meaning…well, I'll let him tell you himself. And see if you want to contribute what YOUR God is to his upcoming book.
His first interview, THE DAUGHTER , is absolutely fascinating. Did you know there is a Russian Orthodox/African American community? No, I didn't either, but now that I do, I definitely want to have a look. Strange and wonderful bedfellows indeed.
In other news, honest to God, if you want to laugh so hard you spit out your cereal, don't miss Boff Whalley's THE TWAT IN THE HAT. Boff is a founding and still continuing member of the anarchist rock group Chumbawamba, and having read this excellent ode to Bono's largeness of vision, I wonder if Boff also wrote the line in a Chumba song, "You have to take your hat off to The Edge." Lingering as I do in the nineteenth century, I had to have the explanation. Apparently The Edge, U2's drummer, is bald and always wears a hat. Did you know that? Probably you did. That's why I need you guys.
Brian Griffith, meanwhile, is working on a book about the Chinese goddess culture for EAP publication in spring of 2012. I've been nagging at him to tell me straight out why he writes the impassioned history that he does, and he finally let me have it right between the eyes. Mi vida: Why I Write.
We've got some new contributors too, this issue, Shaun Hunter 's love hymn to the dark history of Astoria, Oregon, for example (Thick as Thieves ). And how Poetry and Comics are Strange Bedfellows, by Lorraine Schein. Not to mention the only short story I've ever read that has a cow as its heroine. (Elsa, by Marie Davis. ) Can't have too many of those, I think.
And, of course, Janet Hardy' s first encounter with craigslist S&M. Who knew she would find Marcel such a bore? (Well, it does sound boring, walking up and down some stranger's chest in high heels. But then, I only ever wear flats.)
Note to Mat Capper: Don't let the bastards grind you down, Mat. If you're still wondering whether 'To Bed, or Not To Bed' with the creeps, let me reassure you…as long as they don't starve you out, they don't win. The main thing is, as my Dear Husband pointed out this Christmas, "Love. If you don't have that, what do you have?" Of course, you have to have three good meals a day and a tight roof over your head to get the good of it. So, all together now, looking for Love, three good meals a day, and a warm place to live for every single human being on the planet.
Happy 2011. (By the way, Ask Wendy gives 2010 a pasting when he asks her advice this issue. She's not always Ms. Nice Guy, is she?)
And welcome back.