Alix Strauss on Seizing Second Chances and the Emotional Spectrum of Loneliness and Human Connection

LEAVE YOUR MARK: Freshly Brewed Career Advice with Aliza Licht

Aliza Licht

Business, Careers

5.0 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sex & the City meets Six Feet Under was how Alix Strauss' novel, The Joy of Funerals, was described by the LA Times 20 years ago. Inspired by a 1988 piece for the Lives section of the New York Times Magazine, this trend, culture, and lifestyle journalist and award-winning and four-time published author discussed her obsession with funerals. As an only child, Alix's personal experiences and unique perspective on life are deeply intertwined with her work. She felt the greatest connections to others at family funerals, the only occasions when she would see most of her relatives. The Joy of Funerals is a collection of humorous short stories that will both captivate and disturb you. But this trend journalist and author was way ahead of her time. In this episode of Leave Your Mark, I sit down with Alix to discuss her decision to give her groundbreaking and controversial book a second chance by rereleasing it for its 20th anniversary at a time when grief and a loneliness epidemic are even more prevalent in today's society. Alix shares her personal experiences, and the profound narratives explored in her work, shedding light on the human desire for connection amidst life's extremes. The discussion also touches upon the broader implications of social media, pandemic influences, and the changing landscape of storytelling. Host's note: This episode was recorded prior to October 7th.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Elisa Likt, and this is Leave Your Mark the podcast, where I brew fresh career advice with some of my most inspiring and successful friends.
0:09.6	It's professional advice that you can action immediately, whether you're just starting out in your career or well on your way.
0:16.6	With a massive to-do list and a large cup of coffee, I promise that you can get it all done and still have time to post about it.
0:25.7	I am really excited to welcome my friend Alex Strauss to leave your mark.
0:29.8	For those of you listening, Alex is a trend, culture, and lifestyle journalist, an award-winning four-time published author and speaker.
0:38.8	She is a frequent,
0:45.0	a.k.a. Weekly, contributor to the New York Times, among other publications. And during the past 25 years, she has written over 1,500 articles. Alex, your first book, Joy of Funerals, was released
0:51.6	by St. Martin's Press and Pallogram press. And later you had based upon
0:55.6	ability by Harper Collins. And then death becomes them unearthing the suicides of the brilliant,
1:00.5	the famous, and the notorious Harper Collins. You are also the editor of Have I Got a Guy for
1:07.0	you from Simon & Schuster, an anthology of mother-coordinated dating horror stories,
1:12.2	which, by the way, I feel like we need that movie.
1:14.8	Yes, we do.
1:15.3	And segue, your work has been optioned for several TV and film projects.
1:20.2	And really, I think what's incredible and why, of course, as your friend, but also what
1:25.7	you're doing right now, I wanted people to really understand
1:29.0	how you've taken something from the past and you are reinvigorating it. Joy of Funerals is your
1:36.0	first book and it is 20 years old. Why don't you give us a little origin story of how that book
1:42.7	came to be and the reaction of the joy of funerals?
1:47.2	You know, it's really interesting. When you're a trend journalist, you're supposed to be ahead of the curve.
1:52.0	But I don't think people expect you to be so ahead of the curve. And that's very hard. I think sometimes you get lost in that.
1:59.8	And I'm not sure people always know what to do with Maine.
	...

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