democracy now

July 31st, 2015 | Uncategorized

DemNow cartoon

Here’s Mo watching Amy Goodman on Democracy Now in a 2004 Dykes to Watch Out For strip. In case you don’t already know this, Democracy Now is where to tune in if you ever want to find out what’s really going on in the world. I have always regarded Amy as a bit of a secular saint. She tells the truth, she knows everything, she’s deeply principled—and off camera, it turns out, she’s kind of hilarious. I had the great honor of being interviewed by Amy and her colleague Nermeen Shaikh on Tuesday. They did a special segment about Fun Home on Broadway, with me, Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori.

Later that afternoon, I also appeared on Late Night with Seth Myers, along with some of the actors from Fun Home. I still think of Seth as the host of SNL’s Weekend Update, so that was a funny contrast with Democracy Now. He was really lovely, though, and it was amazing to see Emily Skeggs performing the lesbian love song “Changing My Major” on national television. What a strange day. (Here’s the full episode, with Ed Helms as the first guest, but unlike the Democracy Now clip, you will have to watch some commercials first.)

31 Responses to “democracy now”

  1. Joanna says:

    Thanks for this! I love the notion that Amy Goodman is a secular saint. I’ve long wondered what kind of miracle keeps this one truth-teller on air amidst all the push toward lying and darkness!

  2. Alex K says:

    Brava!

  3. Just watched the Democracy Now interview in the library when I was supposed to be working. One of the things I loved about it is that it didn’t seem surreal at all — it seemed like a real conversation about doing this work and moving through everything that has come of it. Like moving into another stage of work in the garden as the season shifts.

  4. Your memoirs and this interview are so inspiring to me. You have put so much of yourself out here for us. I am grateful.

  5. Rael Nidess, M.D. says:

    I always watch DN! while eating dinner and was very pleasantly surprised to see you as the hour’s guest. Very informative, enjoyable, and honest… would have never guessed you’re already 54 though!! Enjoyed DTWOF & Fun Home very much.

    Thanks.

  6. Henrik Sundström says:

    Democracy Now! is great.

  7. Marsha Weaver says:

    Fantastic!

  8. Kate L says:

    So, what did Mo think of the GOP debate(s)?

  9. Pam I says:

    Hi all, those of you who go back a few years, today is Maggie Jochild’s 60th birthday bash, at her home in Austin Tx. It’s become a physical and virtual gathering of a load of the old crowd that used to take over Alison’s blog and ramble on about Maoist Orange Cakes and the like. We have to wait for the edit of the combined Skyping. Many of us have traitorously gone over to facebook but I’m pleased to see some of the original names still here.

  10. Falkland says:

    Ha! I just ditched facebook. It got way too creepy and stalkerish for my liking. (the network, not fellow DTWOF fans!) Google Chrome is next on my obliteration list; I can’t stand how it insists on syncing all my data across my laptops & phone without my express consent. Don’t even get me started on those damn Apple watches…

  11. Kate L says:

    Pam I (#9) Kate L jumps up and down, waving frantically. I’m still here! I’m still here! Happy birthday, Maggie! I miss you!!!

  12. Diamond says:

    Thanks Pam I (#9), I too am still here, albeit in a quiet kind of way. Wishing you a very happy 60th, Maggie.

  13. Kate L says:

    … After all the attention that Pluto and its moons received earlier this summer, I thought the DTWOF blogosphere gang might be interested in seeing another remarkable first, close-up images of Ceres, at 593 miles (954 km) across the largest of the Main Asteroid Belt objects between Mars and Jupiter. Note the enigmatic bright spots that appear once per rotation of the animated gif images. The crater where these bright spots are is (provisionally) being called Occator (after a minor Roman agricultural diety, Ceres being the Roman goddess of agriculture), and is about 57 miles (92 km) in diameter. A partial atmosphere fills the crater, perhaps caused by sublimating ice (if that’s what the bright spots turn out to be). I’m personally hoping that it turns out to be a Federation outpost! Katherine Janeway, call your office! 🙂

  14. Mentor says:

    [According to an announcement at the end of Friday’s episode of Fresh Air, AB is scheduled to be on the show on Monday (17Aug), with Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, to talk about Fun Home, the Musical. –Mentor]

    [P.S. The interview is now available on-line: [HERE] –Mentor]

  15. Tim Thornton says:

    Alison’s on Fresh Air–RIGHT NOW!

  16. NLC says:

    A day of firsts!

    – The first time AB is on “Fresh Air”! (Yay ! (…bout time) )

    – While listening to the show, I was baking bread. And for the first time I had a loaf burst into flames! (Less Yay.. )

  17. Chip Prince says:

    I just wanted to say here, as a gay fanboy, that I finally got to see “Fun Home” and found it to be exactly what I hoped. I went with two friends who somehow hadn’t realized that the Alison Bechdel whose book had been adapted here was the same person who did all those years of DTWOF. They are now converts, of course, and they play the cast album constantly and know all the lyrics to all the songs. I love the complexity of the themes, both musical and story-wise. Depths and depths and depths, to paraphrase a song…

    I’m a musical theatre pianist by trade, and now a new addition to my bucket list is to get to perform in this show, whether on Broadway (within the realm of possilibilty) or in a later production somewhere. That and attending a book signing.

    Do please allow me to be a bit star-struck!

  18. Ginjoint says:

    Aw, damn, I’m late for Maggie’s birthday. Happy birthday anyway, Jochild! Hope it was wonderful. And hi to Kate L and Diamond and NLC! Unfortunately, since I became a foster parent, my internet time has definitely been curtailed. I do miss you all.

  19. Can’t believe I missed your MacArthur, marriage AND Tonies (indirectly). Good thing I still check this page once in a blue moon AND watched the whole clip. Congratulations!!

  20. Ready2Agitate says:

    Still alive and kicking, friends! Like Ginjoint, since I became a mama (adoptive) to a kiddo with some special challenges 4+ years ago, I don’t get out like I used to. I do poke in from time to time, and it’s just delightful to see Alison + Amy.

    Alison, I really felt for you when you spoke to how strange and awkward/hard (“unseemly”) it feels to discuss such intimate and painful family truths in public. Most of us would find that dance – between inner and outer selves – excruciating. You translate it into brilliant and breathtaking art for all of us to witness, behold, and partake of. What a gift!

    Happy Birthday, Maggie JoChild! (or course you are a Leo!!! 🙂

  21. Kate L says:

    Ready2Agitate (#20) Nice to hear from you! 🙂 I was just thinking about how much of my late-stage radicalization* is thanks to the DTWOF blogosphere people. You, Feminista, Maggie, Ginjoint, A.B. and so many others. Thank you all!

    Kate L at Moo U in Smallville
    (where we were on lockdown this morning due to a gunman on campus)

    * – I turn 61 years old on September 9th.

  22. Ginjoint says:

    Kate, whenever I read something about Kansas, I think of you and “Moo U” and smile. (I Googled the gunman thing and saw you got the all-clear, thank Maude.)

  23. Dwight says:

    Wow! That must’ve been so amazing! (The Seth Meyers thing too!) Congratulations!

  24. hairball_of_hope says:

    Well, I’m late to the party, belated good tidings to Maggie, still kicking butt at age 60.

    In another case of GMTA (Great Minds Think Alike), Ginjoint and I both immediately think of Kate L whenever Kansas or Star Trek show up in the headlines.

    From the Technical Malfunction Dept. comes word of the amazing public sex act at Moo U:

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/09/marching-band-accidentally-forms-sex-scene.html

    Quoting from the article:


    Saturday night at the season opener for Kansas State University’s Wildcats football team, a Star Trek and Star Wars–themed halftime show went awry when the K-State marching band attempted to form and animate the Starship Enterprise destroying a jayhawk (the mascot of K-State’s rivals, the University of Kansas Jayhawks). However, many didn’t recognize the somewhat misshapen Enterprise, and thus the scene resembled one of giant-bird fellatio rather than Star Trek rival-ribbing.

    […snip…]

    After a public apology, K-State’s band director was ultimately forced to respond and explain how, no, they weren’t trying to show a rival jayhawk fellating anything, it was supposed to be a sci-fi battle, and he provided the drill routine blueprint to prove it.

    This definitely hit the Kate L Trifecta, two of her almae matres, plus Star Trek. If they could have somehow squeezed in a reference to Indiana U, it would have been a grand slam. The hat trick is an early birthday present for Kate, and one sure to kick an extra point to her endorphin levels.

    (… goes back to wondering how many sports clichés she could have worked into this post with a bit more effort …)

  25. Diamond says:

    Happy birthday Kate!

  26. Kate L says:

    Thanks for all the birthday wishes! 🙂 You DTWOF bloggers are the only ones to wish me a happy 61st birthday. There’s no place like home (the DTWOF Blogosphere)!

  27. shadocat says:

    Kate L., I too thought of you when I saw the K-State marching band hijinks(wonder what Kate thinks of this???)Hope your birthday is a happy one!

  28. Ginjoint says:

    Happy Birthday a day late, Kate! And HoH, the .gif at that article just slayed me! I’m going to be laughing about that all day.

    Kate, sorry I didn’t get on here yesterday to wish you well. My foster kid and I are both sick, and my home is under construction (I’m having my antiquated air conditioning system replaced, along with some other jobs). It’s noisy and very messy here, and there’s plaster dust EVERYWHERE. Ev.Ery.Where. I just want to dust and scrub, only I feel so lousy I don’t have the energy. I think I’ll just curl up on the couch with the munchkin and watch “Calliou” in a daze. It’s the only way to watch that show and not want to punch him, honestly.

  29. Aunt Soozie says:

    Happy Birthday, Alison!!!!
    Hope you’re having a wonderful day.
    We’re sorry you won’t be there but we can’t wait to see Fun Home in November. Sadie is happy attending college in Manhattan. I’m adjusting to the empty nest.
    Love to you, Holly and the good four-legged doctor.
    Aunt Soozie

  30. Kate L says:

    Yeah, Happy Birthday, A.B.! Virgos unite! 🙂

  31. Cathy says:

    Have a great birthday weekend!