Ezra Furman! Transgender Unknown! Weird Spaghetti?

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. It’s, as always, a very weird time!!! It’s Christmas Eve Eve Eve, and half of the New Yorkers I know have Covid, and Portland is allegedly about to get snowed in for at least a week (because we are always really bad at snow and because the labor shortage extends to plow drivers), and also I’m eating that weird protein spaghetti made out of lentils because it was on sale and I make a lot of mistakes.

This week we’ve got musician and shining star in the sky Ezra Furman on the show to talk about…. *deep breath* trans voice feelings as people who listen our own voices professionally; dropping out of rabbinical school; viewing gender as religion (and transness as a mystical cult); overcoming “cliche” transition hangups and maybe starting HRT; being “the slowest trans person ever”; writing sympathetic-pregnancy body-horror short fiction; complicating the figure of Lou Reed (who I keep accidentally writing as “Loud Reed”); giving people money; creating genders from Billy Joel lyrics; making a resentable world for your children; taking control; becoming Fox News clickbait; being haunted by God, and MORE!

Ezra was such a delight to have on the show, and I hope that this interview brightens your week. Don’t forget to check out Ezra’s music / merch / future tour dates (which are far away enough that they might actually happen, who can say?) at ezrafurman.com.

Photo ID: A purple poster announcing that Ezra Furman is going on tour in 2022. Text on the right side of the poster says "on the attack in lilac & black."  The poster also features two photos of Ezra.

(Ezra also did a cute/unprompted thing where she plugged the Gender Reveal Patreon, and Jules did a cute/unprompted thing where they stuck the plug into the end of the show, and since then, a bunch of new folks have subscribed. So, if that’s you, welcome!)

In other pod/tour news, we booked a live show in [redacted city] in March right before Omicron got really big, and we previously had booked a live show for New York (as you may have heard) before Delta got really big, so maybe I am jinxing us and need to stop booking shows? (Or maybe I’m not actually the main character of this pandemic!!!!!) Anyway, see you in March, maybe!?!

OK, as I was writing this newsletter, friend of the show Salimatu Amabebe (who was recently in the New York Times (again) by the way!) just sent me this image and I’m losing my mind.

Photo ID: An online form with the required field "gender" and a drop-down list of the following options: Male. Female. Other. Transgender (F to M). Transgender (M to F). Transgender Unknown. Undifferentiated. Unknown.

Do we hate it or do we kind of love it??? Tag yrself, I'm majoring in transgender unknown with a minor in undifferentiated. 

Oh, and one more thing: I learned today that Jackie Ess is doing a Patreon where she slowly releases an audiobook of her reading Darryl in installments. Would recommend supporting literally anything Jackie does, including this. 

Next week on the pod, we’ve got our BFF of the show back to do a quick ~gender check-in~ and answer more listener questions. So, if you’re anticipating a rough weekend, you can look forward to that???? idk if that really helps but you never know.

Thanks for being here. Take care of yourself. Here’s your weekly Rhubarb.

Photo ID: Ruby the cat sitting with her paws on someone's leg, like a tiny person at a desk, and squinting at the camera. 

Xo,

Yr resident gender detective

PS: Congrats to our friends at Flash Forward, the other show that Producer Jules produces, for wrapping up its final episode in its current form.

PPS: This has been living on my desktop and maybe you also need it.

Photo ID: A meme of a cat screaming, surrounded by hundreds of pink heart emojis. Pink text says "love yourself / you idiot / you're amazing."