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The Nervous Breakdown: with Greg Olear, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Shya Scanlon and Diana Spechler
On Friday night I had the pleasure of checking out The Nervous Breakdown Literary Experience. The Nervous Breakdown is a sweet lit/culture site with essays, interviews, fiction, poetry, etc. (Founder Brad Listi also hosts a podcast called Other People where he interviews a wide range of authors. They do it all!) NBD contributor T.K. Danovich hosted the Friday event at KGB, which featured four writers who either edit or write for the site: Greg Olear (Fathermucker), Rachel Kramer Bussel, Shya Scanlon (Forecast) and Diana Spechler (Skinny).I’ve seen Greg read before and knew that whatever he offered, it was gonna be good. He read an essay called “Sons, Lovers and Asbergers” that he’d written for the NYT Modern Love column (“And the NYT turned it down, so f*** them”). The piece concerns his son, Dominic, who despite having Asberger’s had fallen hard for a classmate named “Meadow.” The affair ended dramatically at a local pickle fest, but Greg was still relieved that his son would be able to experience all the ups and downs of love. (Afterward, a friend turned to me and said, “How could the NYT not have taken that??” I had to agree.)
Rachel recently edited The Best Sex Writing 2012 and has written for a host of other sources (including over 100 anthologies). She also runs the blog Cupcakes Take the Cake, which is apparently hosting a “cupcake cruise” later this year (nice!). Rachel read an essay called “Do Not Call List,” about a now-married ex who she’s never been able to stop talking to, despite the breakdowns that occur after their conversations.
Shya Scanlon read a piece called “Lucky Slump,” about a woman becoming impregnated with…something while living in a creepy neighborhood (dead crows in circular patterns, eerie children, etc.). While her pregnancy leads to all sorts of odd behavior (eating raw meat, hiding under a mattress in the basement), and her husband begins to avoid her, the woman thinks back to the early days in their relationship. Could her pledge to have children for him have somehow led to the horror story she’s living?
Last but not least, Diana Spechler read her essay “Conversions,” an honest and hilarious piece about the summer she started doing cocaine nightly with a boy (not her boyfriend) while living in Boulder. It was sprinkled with lots of great lines, like: “We were like an old married couple, but one that did a shit ton of drugs.” The boy quits college to be with her, but they ultimately part ways—though Diana still wonders about the intensity of her memories with him that summer.-
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