Episode 125: Voyeurs Apply Within

Well, this could be awkward: when we last featured a story on the podcast a year ago, it also focused on parasocial relationships and included masturbation! This time around, we are again in deft hands. Marie Manilla’s short story “Watchers”, set in 1968 Pittsburgh with both the steel mills and Andy Warhol as vital elements, is replete with narrative and thematic echoes that satisfy and leave us wanting more at the same time. Tune in for this lively discussion which touches on budding creative and identity-based aspirations, celebrity, performance art, pain in public and private, and much more. Give it a listen -- you know you want to! (Remember you can read or listen to the full story first, as there are spoilers! Just scroll down the page for the episode on our website.)

 

(We also welcome editor Lisa Zerkle to the table for her first show!)

At the table: Kathleen Volk Miller, Marion Wrenn, Lisa Zerkle, Jason Schneiderman, Dagne Forrest

 

Listen to the story Watchers in its entirety (separate from podcast reading)

 

Parasocial relationships

https://mashable.com/article/parasocial-relationships-definition-meaning

 

Andy Warhol’s childhood home in Pittsburgh (the setting of this story)

http://www.warhola.com/warholahouse.html

 

“History” article about Andy Warhol’s shooting by Valerie Solanas

https://www.history.com/news/andy-warhol-shot-valerie-solanas-the-factory 

 

I Shot Andy Warhol, 1996 film

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shot_Andy_Warhol   

 

** Fun Fact 1: the original poster for the 1996 film hangs in Jason's apartment.

 

** Fun Fact 2: the actor who portrayed Valerie Solanas in “I Shot Andy Warhol”, Lili Taylor, is married to three-time PBQ-published author Nick Flynn.

 

Nick Flynn’s author page on PBQ

http://pbqmag.org/tag/nick-flynn/

 

Dangerous Art: The Weapons of Performance Artist Chris Burden

https://www.theartstory.org/blog/dangerous-art-the-weapons-of-performance-artist-chris-burden/

In her fiction and essays, West Virginia writer Marie Manilla delights in presenting fuller, perhaps unexpected, portraits of Appalachians, especially those who live in urban areas. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Marie’s books include The Patron Saint of Ugly, Shrapnel, and Still Life with Plums: Short Stories. She lives in Huntington, her hometown, with her Pittsburgh-born husband, Don.

 

Instagram and Facebook: @MarieManilla, Author website 

 

Watchers  

     Zany lies amid clutter on the floor beneath the dining room windows hugging her bandaged arm. She huffs loudly enough to reach the front porch where Mom and Aunt Vi imbibe scotch. Vi still isn’t used to afternoon drinking. They can’t hear Zany over the Krebbs’ crying baby on the other side of the duplex wall. Stupid baby. Plus Zany’s little sister overhead dancing to the transistor radio, rattling the light fixture dangling from the ceiling.  

     The fingertips on Zany’s bandaged arm are cold and maybe even blue. This is slightly alarming. She considers running to Mom but knows better. Take the damn thing off then, Mom will say.  

     There’s nothing wrong with Zany’s arm, but that isn’t the point. At breakfast, without preamble, she wound an Ace bandage from her palm to her armpit. The family no longer asks what she’s up