The Stephen King Boo! Club

Hi there.

This is Stephen Indrisano, co-host and editor of the Stephen King Boo! Club - if you’re one of our regular listeners, thank you for joining us; this will not be our usual program this week. If you can, please keep listening.

This is not typically an overtly political podcast. We have been very open about our own political leanings, because literature - and how anyone interacts with literature - is personal and powerful. Stories are all we have some days. For us and for millions of readers, the stories of Stephen King have been of great comfort. But some days, comfort is not appropriate.

If you’re joining us in real-time, when this gets published in June of 2020, it will be in the midst of global protests against police brutality. We are scared. We’re also sad and angry. So many have died, and so many have been hurt, and so many more will be hurt if things are allowed to continue this way. A deep, violent vein of racism has been allowed to fester in our nation - in our government, in our culture, and in our police force. In D.C., President Trump called for the “domination” of protests. Personally, I have been hearing helicopters pass this apartment for days. Every time a siren passes I am afraid someone new has died. I am afraid that one of my friends or family will become a hashtag. In general, I am afraid.

Typically when we talk about fear on this program, we talk about the thrill of adrenaline, the chill of the spine. We talk about ghosts and monsters and viruses and abusers. We talk about trauma and the ways that the horror genre can help us cope with trauma. We talk about not shying away from the things that scare us. We make light of dark themes, because it is fun, and maybe because it gives us a sense of control.

We cannot, in good conscience, do that today. Today our fear is different. But we cannot ignore fear, and we cannot ignore what it requires of us.

Here is what we will be doing: We are going dark with our episode this week in an effort to yield space to more important voices. All Patreon proceeds from this month will go directly to legal defense funds for protesters jailed during this push for justice. We would encourage you to support any and all of the following groups, should you have the financial ability to do so. Please, if our show has made you laugh, or think, or just seen you through a long car ride - this is our personal plea to you. Consider supporting:

Showing Up for Racial Justice - SURJ for short (https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/)

Know Your Rights Camp - Legal Defense Initiative (https://www.knowyourrightscamp.com/)

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (https://www.naacpldf.org/)

Campaign Zero - A research-based policy advocacy group dedicated to ending police violence in America (https://www.joincampaignzero.org/)

And of course, Black Lives Matter; especially if they have a local chapter in your area. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/)

We want to recognize that only donating to these causes will never be sufficient to end racist police brutality. As two white men, we recognize that our experiences are fundamentally different than the experiences of people of color in America, and that we’ve benefitted from longstanding systems of oppression even as we seek to now dismantle them. And we recognize that now is not the time for our voices to predominate. In the time that you would have listened to our show this week, we encourage you to seek out black voices. What follows are some recommended readings which have helped us understand race and racism in America. Some are books, some are poems, some are podcasts. We will be linking to each in our show notes, along with the charities listed before.

Books:

Between The World and Me - A letter from a father to his son, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220290/between-the-world-and-me-by-ta-nehisi-coates/)

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - A survey of racist policy since the end of Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (https://newjimcrow.com/)

Americanah - a novel about immigration, race, and love by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (https://www.chimamanda.com/book/americanah/)

Poems:

Let America be America Again - By Langston Hughes (https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again)

Still I Rise - By Maya Angelou (https://poets.org/poem/still-i-rise)

Poem for July 4th, 1994 - By Sonia Sanchez (https://poets.org/poem/poem-july-4-1994)

Podcasts:

Politically Reactive - A political comedy podcast; Co-hosts, W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu; produced by Topic Media (https://www.topic.com/politically-re-active)

Code Switch - A weekly race and culture outlet; Co-Hosts, Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby; Produced by NPR (https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/)

Caught - A documentary...

Y'all better stretch, because it's a LONG Green Mile we're walking this week - yes, the boys are finally finishing out The Green mile! Phoenix gets theological. Stephen flies off the rails. The boys solve the problem of evil once and for all.

Tilt your top hats to a jaunty angle, because this week we're reading Doctor Sleep, published in 2013!

ASK US A FINALE QUESTION: https://forms.gle/Ygw8wAb5vM2CUppj6

JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/A5QpGGUwX

CHECK OUT OUR ESSAY: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793635792/Violence-in-the-Films-of-Stephen-King

Join Stephen and Chris from the Iron Silver and Salt podcast as they review the world's first and only preemptive movie adaptation: The Simpsons Movie! How did Matt Groening steal Stephen King's idea? What other King adaptations were tabled? Does The Simpsons Movie hold up? Find out with us! Want to hang out with other card-carrying Boo! Club members? Join our discord server here: https://discord.com/invite/A5QpGGUwXQ

Well, that sure was something! Join us as we offer our final thoughts on the Paramount+ original Stand miniseries. Phoenix is displeased. Stephen gets the giggles. Our lives for Randall Flagg!