Brian Platzer, THE BODY POLITIC

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Zibby Owens

Connection, Inspiration, Moms, Entertainment, Arts, Reading, Books, Parenting, Literary

4.4 • 602 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brian Platzer is the author of The Body Politic and Bed-Stuy Is Burning. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, The New Republic, and Salon, among other publications. The Body Politic is an incredibly savvy novel about a group of four friends who first meet after September 11th, but the narrative begins right after the 2016 election. Secrets, confrontation, and forgiveness are central - as is a deep first-person account of having a neurological disorder from one of the central characters. It really sets the novel apart, and listening to Brian talk about how it was based on his own neurological disorder infuses it with even more meaning. We had a really enlightening talk about vocabulary and self-advocacy around chronic illness, the delicate nature of entering into somebody else's "dark space" to help, and tipping points that prompt us to open up and take action.

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Zivie Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast, Moms, don't have time to read books. Thanks so much for listening to my podcast. If you like what you hear, please follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens and also at Moms Don't Have Time to
0:21.7	Read Books and sign up for my mailing list at zibbyowens.com where I'll always keep you updated
0:26.8	on what I'm up to. Thanks so much for listening. Enjoy it. Today's sponsor is Unsweetened,
0:31.5	NYC, which was started by a woman named Nora Knighterman, a 45-year-old designer and mom of two boys
0:37.0	and a New York native. They specialize in a variety-year-old designer and mom of two boys, and a New York native.
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0:44.4	but they're really awesome, and they're all about being a badass mom, and their mission is to
0:50.6	empower women while wearing their statement pieces, which are just awesome.
0:54.7	So whether you're laughing or crying, they say whispering or screaming, succeeding or failing,
0:59.0	full of love or annoyed A.F. We have you covered. So that's unsweetened NYC. They sent me these two
1:05.8	adorable tank tops and not tank tops. Well, the kind of where the sleeves are cut off,
1:10.6	but the rest of it is there, not tank.
1:12.1	Like sleeveless shirts.
1:13.2	Anyway, and they're really awesome, and I love supporting women-owned brands like this.
1:18.5	So go check out Unsweetened NYC.
1:22.0	Today I'm interviewing Brian Platter over Skype.
1:24.8	He is the author of The Body Politic and Bedstuy is Burning. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney's, The New York Times, The New Republic and Salon, among other publications. A graduate of Columbia University with an MFA from Johns Hopkins, Brian currently teaches middle school English. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two sons. Welcome, Brian. Thanks for coming on Mom's Don't Have Time to Read Books.
1:46.0	Thanks so much for having me. I've been looking forward to this.
1:48.4	Oh, me too. Can you please tell listeners what your latest book The Body Politics is about?
1:53.4	Absolutely. So the Body Politics is about a couple things. I think the easiest way to introduce you guys to it is that it is about a group of four friends who first meet
2:04.1	after September 11th, and then the narrative of the novel begins right after Trump's election.
2:12.3	So they are one of the friends worked on Hillary's campaign and is dealing with his disappointment.
	...

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