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2005.12.28
[Coolest_Book_Ever]
You guys have GOT to read this book:
Seriously, it is SO GOOD.
There's more info here, but basically, it's a book of letters and artwork sent to Skinny Puppy frontman Nivek Ogre (scroll down) over a three year period by the author, who was a very unhappy 17-year-old girl when she began -- suicidal, self-destructive, and compulsive -- but whose love, irrepressible self-expression, creativity, and willingness to PUT IT IN A MAILBOX probably saved her life. Ogre, in return, was kind to her, saved her letters, and in an unexampled act of understanding and generosity, returned them to her nearly 10 years later, which made this book possible.
I love this book -- it's a record of such a deeply authentic and genuinely moving relationship between art, artist, and audience. Jolene may not have known, when she was writing these letters, how incredibly courageous and defiantly life-affirming her actions were, but today she is well and happy, working on her second book, and is totally the coolest.
OMFG, people! GO GET IT!!!!
Posted by Dierdre ~ in inside_dierdre | Permalink
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Comments
I wonder what she looks like naked.
Posted by: Gabriel | Dec 28, 2005 12:27:04 PM
God, Gabriel, you are such an ass.
Posted by: Dierdre | Dec 28, 2005 12:38:39 PM
I'm definitely putting that on my 2006 reading list, perhaps after "Tideland," which I'm reading in case the Terry Gilliam movie of the same name ever finds a distributor in the US. (I've alternately heard that the movie is great and terrible and in any case disturbing.)
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 12:50:09 PM
I knew a Jolene
In highschool. God, what a bitch!
Perky, too. The worst.
Posted by: Baal Glyttr | Dec 28, 2005 1:46:02 PM
Oooh, Baal has set the ball rolling...
Would Trent be kind to
a cutter pen pal or would
he call the police?
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 3:03:38 PM
Being a Skinny Puppy fan for probably as long as Jolene's been, and understanding the mindset that brought most of us to Industrial and Goth Music back then, words cannot express how much I truly enjoyed this book.
As for the question whether or not Trent would do the same thing as Ogre, well, NIN got real big real fast, so I doubt if he even sees his own fan mail or has done since 1994. Jolene began writing to Ogre when Skinny Puppy was still relatively small, and when Nettwerk was still being run like an old-fashioned label (even before the distribution deal with EMI), and the people who received all of the mail for the label would have received the fan mail addressed to the artists, and passed it directly to them.
That part of the story could never happen today, however, there are still many people dealing with depression, abusive situations at home, etc. Jolene's story is just about having someone, even if they were nameless and faceless, to reach out to. It's wonderful that Ogre kept in touch with her and kept her letters, but if there are people out there who need to reach out to Trent for the same reason, i.e. in order to save themselves from themselves, I don't want to deter them from doing so, but people should write to express themselves and their feelings, and not just for the hope that Trent would or could even possibly do the same thing that Ogre did.
I am a firm believer that writing can save you from the most darkest of places inside yourself, and Jolene's book proves just that.
Posted by: Buttercup | Dec 28, 2005 3:35:00 PM
Bleh, I'm a writer, and I'm fucking depressed, and not much writing gets done when I'm fucking depressed. Best I can do is haikus about Trent and try to keep things light and lively.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 3:49:31 PM
Hmmm...I think something went awry with my conjugation at the end there. Well, Trent and I are in it together now, at least.
On the bright side of life, at least 10 years from now when I've graduated from whatever shock therapy and institutionalization I will require, I will have fodder for like 100 novels.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 3:55:41 PM
Finally, I would like to add that on that day when I rise from the ashes with my reddish-blonde hair, there are going to be certain people who will realize that they made a BIG MISTAKE fucking with a writer.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 4:04:13 PM
Not that the previous was a glimpse into my inner demons or anything.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 4:35:31 PM
I think it's threat enough to say, "Don't fuck with me, or I'll write about it."
Though a threat like that can get really childish. "OMG I'M GONNA POST THIS ALL OVER TEH INTARWEB!!!!11"
But that sounds like a fun book, D. The guy I'm seeing put on some Skinny Puppy in the car last night. I also really like what I've heard of their latest record.
Posted by: emerald527 | Dec 28, 2005 5:18:26 PM
Oh good Lord, no. My ambitions are far more literary than a simple flaming on a blog. I'd be aiming for eternal infamy, Dante-style.
And there will be no threats. It will just happen. And I could even be cool about it and not name names on my book-signing tours, but those people would KNOW who they are.
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 5:59:30 PM
Buttercup, you're so right. I think it's important for all y'all to know that this book is not about Ogre, it's about Jolene, and how she used her dream of something fine, something passionate and beautiful, and something that said "no" to bullshit, to express the thing in herself that was strong, healthy and true. Jolene's engagement with Ogre's work is what gave her a path to an engagement with what was in her, and she saved herself.
I don't say that to downplay his role, or the remarkable and surprising good-heartedness of his responses to her, but what he did isn't really the point.
Posted by: Dierdre | Dec 28, 2005 6:03:45 PM
Getting back on topic...Creativity is a refuge, and I'm glad she found it when she needed it.
It totally sounds like a great book, and I'm glad that her whole situation occurred pre-Internet so that she didn't have various frat-boy assholes kicking her while she was down. Ogre's a good guy too. But it's true that she saved herself more than he saved her.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 6:26:19 PM
Oh, and just to clarify my above haiku...I don't have a thing in the world against cutters. I'm no stranger to self-injury impulses (although not cutting). Not the finer moments of my life, but nobody really told me how to process burning rage and perfectionist frustration properly. Now fortunately (I guess), I have a chronic pain condition that automatically kicks in when I'm stressed out, making any self injury somewhat superfluous.
The whole thing is VERY misunderstood by the general public. I like to think of it as my "bad coping device." Which I'm trying to replace with "better coping devices," like, say, CD shopping. Or swimming.
Posted by: maise | Dec 28, 2005 6:35:54 PM
"Bleh, I'm a writer, and I'm fucking depressed, and not much writing gets done when I'm fucking depressed."
I know it's hard during the bad times, but I was just speaking from my own experiences, especially over this past year. Writing saved me. Literally (pardon the pun).
Maise, I'd recommend you pick up Julia Cameron's "The Right to Write". You'd be surprised what you can accomplish when you put pen to paper even though you may be in a state where you don't feel like writing...
Posted by: Buttercup | Dec 28, 2005 7:14:17 PM
My little journal is a prime example of writing even when you don't feel like it. I've written some interesting stuff too.
I'll have to check out the book, D. Thanks for pointing it out.
Posted by: Kim | Dec 28, 2005 7:21:05 PM
I bet her underwear is totally awesome, too.
Posted by: Gabriel | Dec 29, 2005 12:59:54 AM
I keep a journal, but I really despise it. Sometimes I make the mistake of going back and reading old entries. It's always the same shit. Flat broke and either broken-hearted or fooling myself about the quality of the latest asshole.
But then, I'm not the best writer.
Gabriel, stop trying so hard to prove to us that you love box. We all know the score.
Posted by: Baal Glyttr | Dec 29, 2005 6:47:33 AM
I'm not a journaler. Everyone keeps telling me to, but I really couldn't handle it day after day after day. Sometimes it's better for me not to ruminate over...things.
And I'm with Baal when I say--Gabriel, please. You'll never be able to work up a frenzy over a woman's hypothetical underwear as you did over Trent's shiny pants.
Posted by: maise | Dec 29, 2005 8:26:27 AM
Goddamn, Maise. That is so true.
Posted by: Dierdre | Dec 29, 2005 9:53:46 AM
Ah, but a shiny-pants-ensconced vagina?
Now We're Talking.
Posted by: Gabriel | Dec 29, 2005 10:23:34 AM
Yeah. Trent's MANGINA, that is.
Posted by: Baal Glyttr | Dec 29, 2005 10:36:31 AM
Okay now everyone sing if you know it...
I want to fuck you like a prison bitch
I want to feel you from the inside.
I want to fuck you like a prison bitch.
My cotton sheets you will claw.
I hear you scream out to God.
Posted by: Iris | Dec 29, 2005 11:18:28 AM
Gabriel, you are so full of shit. I've NEVER seen you get as worked up over a girl as you do over Trent Reznor or Han Solo's hot asses. You need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Have you learned NOTHING from all that drama with Alex? He is still totally heartbroken, you know.
Ass.
Now, you people better start behaving yourselves. I am in no mood to put up with this MANGINA talk.
Posted by: Dierdre | Dec 29, 2005 11:18:48 AM
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