Gabfest Reads | Alison Bechdel Explains Selling Out the Progressive Way

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4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Plotz talks with author Alison Bechdel about her new book, Spent. They discuss what’s memoir and what’s less than memoir in the comic novel, David’s own contribution to the book, and more. Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at [email protected]. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Exclusively on Disney Plus.
0:02.0	It's hard and it's brutal and that's what makes it special.
0:06.0	The multi-award winning series, FX's The Bear, is back for a brand new season.
0:11.0	Upon my signal, unleash hell.
0:15.0	And every second counts.
0:17.0	When that shows zero, this restaurant ceases operations.
0:21.8	FX is the bear.
0:22.8	New season streaming June 26th exclusively on Disney Plus.
0:27.3	18 plus subscription required, Teas and C's apply.
0:30.3	This episode is brought to you by Indeed.
0:33.4	Struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites.
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0:44.2	Plus, there are no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts, and you only pay for results.
0:48.6	Speed up your hiring today with a £100 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash SPANUK. Terms and conditions apply.
1:00.6	Welcome to GabFest Reeds for June 2025. I'm David Plotz, one of the hosts of Slates Political GabFest.
1:06.5	We get to combine two of my favorite things this week, Vermont and Allison Beckdale.
1:13.0	Allison has a new comic graphic novel. Is it a novel? We'll discuss, is it a novel? She calls it a novel, but the lead character is a person named Allison, Bacdell, who is a graphic artist and writer living in Vermont, the new novel is called Spent.
1:31.0	It is about, what is it about?
1:32.9	It's about making art under capitalism.
1:35.2	It's about community.
1:37.1	It's about what it is like to live in a world which is abusive and dark, but yet is filled with rich emotional connection.
	...

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