Ryan McNeil
Runtime
88 minutes
Show Contents
0:00 Introduction
3:05 Know Your Enemy with Guest Marya E. Gates
22:15 The New Slang: ZOLA
66:43 The Other Side: Marya and Ryan talk further reading after Janicza Bravo’s film
Thoughts From Your Host…
This episode holds a special place for this humble podcaster.
On the one hand, it’s a return. For the first time in over 500 days (and twenty-three regular episodes), I went to a movie theatre and recorded a conversation about what I saw. That was always the format up until this last stressful and scary year, and finally getting back to it feels amazing!
I never thought I would miss that walk home as much as I missed it; going over conversation points in my head, sorting out thoughts and feelings in the dark of the night with neon signage fading in the background. But lordy did I ever miss it.
I’m trying not to get ahead of myself since we are far from out of the woods of this crisis yet. But just one more time: god, does it feel great to be doing this again!
On the other hand, I decided to bring by a regular guest outside of her usual space. That too feels special because it allows all of us a chance to listen to her thoughts and observations at length. Marya is someone whose opinion I hold in very high regard. I’ve always looked up to her, and have lost count of the amount of great works she’s steered me towards.
Having Marya on for the annual Oscar episode always feel academic because she’s such a huge Oscar nerd. But in the wake of last years discussion on DRIVE, I was reminded of just how much I’m denying my listeners (and denying myself) by not bringing her on for a longer chat.
Sure enough – she doesn’t disappoint.
At one point in the episode, Marya talks about when she and I finally got to meet up in person and grab a bite. What I didn’t say on the show is that when we did, I could sense a shyness or apprehension in Marya when we first met up and got to talking. I couldn’t (and still can’t) blame her – after all, how do you know what someone you’ve only ever known virtually is actually going to be like?
In short order though, Marya opened up and let me in as someone worth knowing. Our conversation got louder, the smiles got brighter, and the warmth just grew. It was wonderful to witness not just because it feels wonderful for someone you think is so cool to think you’re cool too…but because of the measure of trust I was offered.
I never thanked her for that trust, so I am now.
Like I say – a special episode. Thanks for being here to witness it.
Links mentioned in Episode 266…
Zola’s original 148-Tweet recount of the weekend: The original thread has been deleted, but before it came down it was captured as a single image on Imgur
Marya’s YouTube clip on History of Cool about how bodies are beautiful:
Marya’s Twitter feed can be found here. Comments and feedback are welcome, and thank you very much for listening.
Enjoy!
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