September 2022
Vol. 2, Issue 9
On My Mind
Today’s my 37th birthday. I don’t feel a day over… 20, er, 29, at least. What is time? Makes no sense. Whatever it is, we ain’t got much of it left. We’re burning on the sticks of our lives. Got to make the most of it and enjoy it all while we can. The 30s have been good to me so far. Is it all downhill from here?
What’s Up With Me?
New project alert: Bradford Steele and I have launched a new podcast called "Dadding," featuring our reflections on fatherhood and the ups and downs of child-rearing. Lots of mom blogs and podcasts out there, not enough dads stepping up, so this is our effort to remedy that and to work through some things as we learn about fatherhood on the fly. First episode: what to do when your child says, "I don't love you," and it seems like they really, really mean it. Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Logo designed by Mercedes Blackehart.
Watch the latest episode of Pasadena Media's award-winning TV talk show, “NewsRap Local with Justin Chapman,” featuring an interview with new Pasadena City Manager Miguel Márquez. We talk about his life and career, management style, priorities, the status of hiring the new police chief, and more. This is his introduction to the community. Watch the episode here, and read more about the show in Pasadena Now. Speaking of, PN managing editor André Coleman, my old Pasadena Weekly mentor, had some kind words in his column this week: “Check out Justin Chapman’s interview with Miguel Márquez on ‘NewsRap.’ Glad another reporter in town decided a one-on-one with the new CM is newsworthy. Make no mistake about it, Justin is easily one of the top two reporters in town. He covers local matters, asks the right questions and he can go get his own stories. Good job Nightwing. I used to call him Boy Wonder, but now, well just Google it. If you’re not watching the show, which was once hosted by the great Barry Gordon and yours truly, you’re missing out. Another great show out of Pasadena Media, or the House of Falardeau as I call it.” Thanks, André!
Stay tuned for my story on Slowjamastan and other micronations in Alta Journal very soon!
Thank you as always to the Pasadena Media Foundation for their support of my journalism! Help them save local news at savelocalnews.us.
Stories to Keep an Eye On:
International: Putin is doubling down and mobilizing more troops to fend off advancing Ukrainian troops. Apparently he can’t read the writing on the wall. Even hardliners are starting to doubt him. Couldn’t just cut his losses and regroup. But now we enter a more dangerous stage of the war, one in which Putin is cornered and desperate. Don’t underestimate him.
National: Ain’t lookin’ too good for ol’ Donnie. Much if not all of this is of his own making, however. But these prosecutors are up against a tight clock. It’s essentially a foregone conclusion at this point that he will run for president again. He has to. It’s his only shield against a lot of the walls closing in on him. What do they do once he does announce? And how are his supporters going to react? It’s going to be a very scary next couple of years.
California: The upcoming LA County sheriff’s election is extremely important. Suffice it to say that the guy in office is not the guy who campaigned. Aside from his completely unnecessary and authoritarian attacks on the press, he recently directed deputies to raid the house of one of his critics on the LA County Board of Supervisors. He and his opponent, Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, held an “antagonistic” debate tonight. LA County deserves better, a representative of the people rather than deputy gangs.
Local: Pasadena’s in a period of transition. The city’s got a new city manager and will soon have a new police chief and new city council members, including one appointed by the council instead of voted in by citizens because the candidate who won the election in June passed away in July. This has created a bit of an unprecedented situation that the city charter doesn’t quite provide guidance on. Council has to appoint someone to fill John Kennedy’s seat for the remainder of his existing term, which expires in December, then appoint someone again after that for the new 4-year term he just won, meaning District 3 voters won’t be able to weigh in on their city council representative until 2026.
Great Reads
Here are some recommendations for great books I’ve read recently:
The Riddle of the Sands—Erskine Childers
This 1903 book is considered the first spy novel. It was also made into a movie in 1979. It’s about a pair of British yacht sailors who stumble upon Germany’s secret invasion plans among the shifting sands and tides of the Frisian Islands, and it’s a really fun read. Childers, the author, was an English-born Irish writer who supported Irish republicanism and smuggled guns into Ireland on his sailing yacht. He was also the father of the fourth president of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers, but was executed by firing squad at age 52 in 1922 for possession of a pistol, which was a violation of the Emergency Powers Resolution of the Irish Free State at the time.
The Long Knives—Irvine Welsh
Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, and this is his latest book, a sequel to Crime, a 2008 book and a 2021 TV show on Britbox starring Dougray Scott. It makes more sense if you’ve read his books Filth and Crime and seen the show, but even if you haven’t, Welsh never fails to disappoint with a characteristically messed up plot, in the best sense of that phrase. It’s about a Scotland cop who was abused as a child and now hunts pedophiles while dealing with demons of his own. Season 2 of the show is based on this new book, and production is already underway.
More About the MEMAH Board of Directors
Abby Brammell: “I’m one of the newest board members of Men Educating Men About Health (MEMAH). I am a mother, wife, actor, and mental health advocate. I am honored to join with those who are working to create greater community awareness surrounding the importance of tending to physical and mental health. I believe when we are given support that encourages care for our body and soul, we are more available to move towards connection with one another in order to create a better world. I am devoted to the process of building a more compassionate and trauma informed society, wherein mental health issues are destigmatized and post traumatic growth is normalized. As MEMAH strives to offer health care services, education, and opportunities for heartfelt connection I am excited to embrace this journey towards the wellness of body and mind for one and all!”
Louis Fantasia: “The words ‘men’s prostate health’ and ‘Shakespeare’s plays’ have probably never been put in the same sentence before, but such is the adventure of working with Jim Morris and MEMAH. To put it into perspective: I was directing a series of staged reading of Shakespeare’s plays on the theme of beauty: Love’s Labours Lost, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, etc. for the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, where Jim had served on the Board, and we met casually. Frankly, I can’t remember whether he was at a reading, or I was at a Board retreat (I think the latter), but I remember thinking, ‘Here’s an interesting fellow.’ Well… Jim must have thought the same, because soon after that initial, serendipitous meeting, Jim and I started to meet (over luncheons mostly) to see how we could bring Shakespeare and men’s health together. Eventually we devised a fundraiser, held at Pasadena City College in Fall 2019, that would focus on Shakespeare and medicine, with texts ranging from the Sonnets (My love is as a fever…) to Friar Laurence on the medicinal value of herbs, and the unhealthful ‘distemperature’ that love can cause in Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. We had an all-star cast of Hollywood actors who were happy to contribute their time and talents to Jim’s vision. I’m sure we would have built more sooner off the success of that evening if the intervening years had not been lost to Covid. But, as Shakespeare says, ‘sweet are the uses of adversity,’ and we used the time, Jim and I, to develop a friendship and strategize for future events. When Jim asked me to join the MEMAH board, I was happy and honored to say yes. Men’s—and women’s—health issues have come to the fore in the past two years as never before, especially as the gaps and inequities in health care and insurance coverage become more and more obvious to all of us. Shakespeare said that all the world is a stage, and we are all players, and each man must play his part. I am excited to play mine as MEMAH gears up to make Pasadena and Southern California a healthier place to live.”
Learn more at meneducatingmen.org.
Spotlight on My Past Stories
Throwback to the first time I interviewed and wrote about Irvine Welsh, in 2006 in Seattle, when he was touring in support of his book The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. He’s been a friend ever since, in addition to being a major influence, and even wrote a blurb for my book Saturnalia that’s on the front cover (doesn’t get much better than that!): “The best and most arresting travel books are the ones that also take us on the author’s inner journey. Justin Chapman’s memoir is a perfect metaphor for contemporary American youth, painfully trying to work through its own baggage, and openly and sincerely seeking to engage with the world beyond the USA’s established physical and cultural borders. Don’t miss this one.”
^Paul Tetu’s unpublished 2006 drawing of Irvine Welsh that was supposed to be the cover of my article in Pasadena Weekly.
And read all of my journalism here.