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Jesi Bender
225 Plays6 days ago
Jesi Bender is an artist from Upstate New York.
Her work leans towards experimental historical fiction that interrogates the tension between language's utility & malleability.
Jesi's gorgeous new book A Child of LIght is out now date-of-episode August 12, 2025!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
00:00:17
Speaker
This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. And I'm so pleased to welcome onto the show, Jesse Bender and author of the of the upcoming book, a Child of Light, out this August.
00:00:33
Speaker
Jesse, welcome to the Art and Philosophy podcast here. I'm really excited to chat. Thank you. Me too. I'm go excited.
Impressions and Structure of 'A Child of Light'
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah. um Okay, I'm an avid reader. um i i got an advanced copy, A Child of Light. And um I just wanted to tell you like but my feels like from it and what what really... um I love the book. and and and But I want to tell you, um there were there were pieces of it that felt so um unique as as a construction of a novel. Like we're...
00:01:10
Speaker
There was experimentation visually and introduction of ah language and some chapters that structurally were different from the others. And, you know, I think it's always risky, right? I think sometimes if things feel like too experimental, and you're like, where's the there? They're like, what can I hold on to? And you know and But I felt that these this combination of like disparate elements was really appealing to me.
Themes and Inspiration Behind the Novel
00:01:35
Speaker
And there's a couple long paintings in there and such.
00:01:39
Speaker
But my goodness, this book's set in the past. ah We're talking spiritualism, electricity. I was like, all right, let's get into like electricity. And so it feels like... you know and um so there's these some it feels like you know, universal but older like powers.
00:01:57
Speaker
And ah so it is me talking like why I was just so drawn to Child of Light and um excited for you to have this release. I believe the release dates August 12th. That's right. yeah twenty twenty five 2025. And so ah we don't know each other, but Jesse, like where where did where does this one come from for you?
00:02:21
Speaker
So the original inspiration there's, I'm in love with Utica, New York. It's, it's, um, I'm trying to think.
00:02:33
Speaker
It's kind of, it's good it's to me, it's very haunted. you You drive around and there's all these relics, these huge Victorian mansions and beautiful buildings and parks. And um there was a lot of money and intellectual community there at one point. And it's it had went through some rough times. And so its it's got this weird balance of kind of like,
00:02:56
Speaker
um left in the past and there's this one house we drive by on genesis genesis street all the time it's um this big red brick victorian mansion and um i'm i always call it my house so i wanted i did some research about my house and um the person that lived there at one point when it was built did make caskets and i like horror and horror movies and, and folk horror and stuff like that. Yeah. So I was, I wanted to like go off of that and,
00:03:29
Speaker
One thing that really interested me was just what you were saying about um how you can have two things happening um at one time that seem like they're polar opposites ah at of the same.
00:03:44
Speaker
um they They don't seem related at all. But when you look at them closely, there's tons of things connecting them and stuff. So I felt that. This this big push towards spiritualism after the Civil War and all the death that was going around the United States.
00:03:59
Speaker
i mean, everywhere, I guess, but particularly in the United States. And then um at the same time, this big surge of scientific advancement um with particularly right at when this is set in 1896 1860.
00:04:16
Speaker
domestic electricity and so things finally coming into the home there were there were these weird gigantic um pillars that had had like public lighting at nighttime and stuff and they and they were but they um weren't common especially up here so far away from like new york city or major some major city and um Anyway, that's we're just finding these connections between electricity and the spirit and how um that people these cultural events really had a lot of more intersections than first glance, maybe.
Electricity's Impact and Societal Changes
00:04:52
Speaker
Yeah, I, yeah there's a, there's a, there's a powerful, there's, there's, it's weird, you know, using the word power, but like, um I could feel again, like in the introduction, like being brought into the introduction of these technologies with that time, you know, now we flick on the lights, right? And yeah maybe once every 10 years, we say, holy shit, like, it's really cool. Like the lights turn on. But back then it was like power of God.
00:05:18
Speaker
Right.
00:05:22
Speaker
ah in in the energy there in in in that atmosphere to help you understand um and you think a lightness light and and and dark and um you know course spirits ghost and manifestation um i uh, I, I was familiar with the, the history of, of, of the area, um, actually in the 19th century as well. I, I, I, I'd studied a bit and i was always fascinated by ah like the revolutions and science and, and thought you had very radical, you know, you, you see, you know, the, the rise of the, you know, women's, uh, women's rights.
00:06:04
Speaker
You have, um, all these dynamics of, um, ah massive change, vegetarianism, like the idea of healthy living, totally like revolutionary thought and people, you know, and the preachers going through and, you know, there's so much energy up there. Now, I haven't spent much time up there, but so much energy up there in the setting.
00:06:27
Speaker
It just seems like this is like the center for everything. And you mentioned oh with with Utica right now, I want to ask you about that about that house. what like When you saw it, what went on? like Was it an immediate thing? like i I think I'm like,
00:06:41
Speaker
that's my place or like, like what, like what was that? Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a good question. I don't know because there, there are literally Genesee street, especially if you get down closer to the water, it's just one after another, these beautiful, beautiful houses and like really ornate and just gorgeous. I've always liked Victorian architecture, but,
00:07:02
Speaker
I don't really know what it is. I, I, they had stained glass, but a lot of them have stained glass. It has this giant turret. That's kind of, um, you know, formidable in a good way. It's, it's like, it's, uh, imposing.
00:07:16
Speaker
So maybe that's why, but for, I don't know, for so for a long, long time, I'm always been like that. Oh, my house. Can we go look at my house and just buy this random person's house? And, um, yeah,
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know the answer to that, but it is beautiful. Yeah, and there's, you know, there's aspects like, um I think of like, ah there was thinking around the time of how you structure a house and its meaning. I remember even the the evolution of like, that, um the idea that like building an octagon house was like,
00:07:50
Speaker
connected connected to larger things. So it wasn't just like you know where you lived. It was like, this needs to be structured in such a way towards, I don't know, to me thinking about it that way. 100%. There's this house really close to me. in the Literally, I live in the woods in the middle of nowhere. There's a little town called Georgetown.
00:08:12
Speaker
That's like the closest gas station to me. And that's all that's in that town. There's a house there called the spirit house. And they, it's like, um, if you get a chance, you should Google it. It's so cool. It's good. It looks like some people call it a wedding kick out. It's super, super innate, but the way that the person built it, they were, um, you know, driven by ghosts or whatever, but driven by the spirits.
00:08:35
Speaker
And it has a central, um, It's not a chimney, but it's like a central air shaft that's so that the spirits could enter the house and everything. So it's really, really cool. It's not open to the public, unfortunately, but it's you can look up some historical... Anyways, there's lots of that around around here. i think this...
00:08:56
Speaker
This push from, you know, we had like the Erie Canal and then the railroads starting bringing people further out west and everything. i think you just got this kind of pipeline through New York to that brought all of these.
00:09:10
Speaker
um different things from the burned over district history out and all these radical not far from me is the Brigham Young where Brigham Young grew up but you know and all these people so there's all these um things happening at the time yeah Yeah, thanks thanks for thanks for bringing us there.
00:09:31
Speaker
um We'll chat some more about the book, but um we try to take a few swings at some some ah some some big questions here. Sure. I talk to artists, and it's like, ah beneath it, you know I think one of the questions, like anytime we see art, is kind of like, you know maybe the why, or like you know where did this come from, or what it is.
00:09:52
Speaker
What it is. um You're creative ah person. ah what What do you think art...
The Role of Art in Communication
00:09:59
Speaker
What is art? what do What do you think art is? It's, you know, I'm very open with that definition. And but part of the reason I like writing and and as i I think words are so interesting. I think meaning making is like the most interesting thing you, a person can endeavor to do. So I like that words, we think there's like, this is what this art means this, but really the everything is malleable and everything is depending on context and stuff. So I definitely come,
00:10:33
Speaker
From experience where art is any form of expression that someone finds beautiful and beautiful doesn't have to necessarily mean, you know, aesthetically pleasing, but just it reaches them. So it could be really horrible and and horrific like a whole thing. horror movie and everything, but it speaks to people. um And that's what I think is most and important, any type of expression to honestly, it sounds trite to say, but I think art is the most important thing we do.
00:11:05
Speaker
And I know and people don't like that sometimes, but yeah, it's, it's, and I think one thing I'm particularly interested in is trying to find new ways of saying things. I think we get stuck, especially now at this point of history and commercialism and everything, we get kind of stuck in like, this is what this has to be. And I'm totally not interested in that. I'm interested. I can appreciate things obviously from its historical impact and stuff, but people writing now and stuff, the people that I'm interested are, are trying different things and trying to say something new, even if it's,
00:11:42
Speaker
hard to grasp like you were saying earlier there's there's a fine line where it just gets it totally obliterates all meaning so it's it's um anyway that was a bit of a ramble but i love art this the show this show is pro ramble okay good um hundred percent 100% pro-ramble.
Plot and Characters of 'A Child of Light'
00:12:02
Speaker
Independent podcast, what we say goes. um um Tell us, ah I'm going to jump back over to the book. tell us Tell us a little bit, ah if you could, about the the story, ah the character the characters were just, oh, like, you know, really, really pulled you in.
00:12:22
Speaker
But can you just tell folks, you know, the the book coming out later this summer, just just generally, you know, ah about the characters and in kind of, you know, a little bit of the backdrop?
00:12:34
Speaker
Sure. So this is set in, like I said, 1896. It goes basically over a whole year from a winter to another winter. um And the main push behind this ah book is that a family, a privileged family, has kind of lost all its money and all of their money. and Now they have to kind of actually live as a family for the first time.
00:12:58
Speaker
They don't have, um you know, nannies. The mother can't you know, the father can't live in a separate house from it they had there. They're a little bit of straits and they got ah they come together in this house in in Utica, New York. And the main characters are the mother and the father.
00:13:16
Speaker
um Both of them are French. One's from french can from Quebec and one's from Paris. And um they come together um circumstantially, which is
00:13:32
Speaker
relationships come together in a way, but it's, it's ah the, the father is trying to, um, pursue his scientific, um, ah endeavors and he needs money and the mother comes from a very wealthy family, but she's looking to kind of get out on her own and be her own person. So he kind of offers this escape for her.
00:13:53
Speaker
um They eventually, there's a, he, the father is, meets a real person, a person who existed in real history named Gullard, Gullard, who's, um,
00:14:06
Speaker
a French electrical engineer who basically created, um, alternating current, um, electricity. So a big deal. He's a big deal. he he doesn't get taught as much. At least I had never really heard of him. I think he kind of, he lost his marbles towards the end of his, his life. And he ended up in a institution like so many people, a lot of this book's actually about institutionalization. Um, yeah.
00:14:32
Speaker
yeah Um, So you don't hear about him, but that's what I hope is kind of cool is that this whole, besides the family, all almost all the other characters are real historical figures.
00:14:44
Speaker
And then the rest of the family is Ambra, who's the protagonist. She is, um, um young girl, she's 13 and she's kind of trying to understand what the world is. And now she's trying to understand her family. She's has a chance to actually have a family. So that's really exciting for her, even though she doesn't understand really all the dynamics going on. And then there's kind of a language barrier too, especially with her father who only speaks French. And then she has an older brother um whose name is Modiste, but he goes by George.
00:15:16
Speaker
So yeah, Yeah, that's, those are the, and there's, yeah she, she befriends young girl named Celeste, who's an orphan, who lives at an orphanage. They used to have these beautiful, really huge, um, home, homes for the homeless, uh, around Utica and everything. There was a lot of that kind of charitable, um stuff happening back then.
00:15:38
Speaker
And those, those are, I think the main, main group. Yeah. I, uh, and Brett, character, um, deeply fascinating. And, um,
00:15:49
Speaker
Yes, kind of interacting with a world that's like partially understood. you know and even the adults are part Even adults are partially understanding like the dynamics of like everything that's um everything that's that's going on. I enjoyed the there the flowing into some of the French language. my On my mom's side, and my nana was ah from the up in Canada and spoke French yeah ah fluently. I remember as a little kid, she wouldn't go back and forth too often, but I'd be like, speak French to me, because I'd probably still do the same thing to people.
00:16:26
Speaker
yeah Go and speak, don't just say stuff. right So, yeah know I don't know, that felt really comfortable, and I enjoyed that that that piece of it.
00:16:39
Speaker
um there was ah There's a ah section in the book I was wondering if um if if you could ah if you could read um and it is ah it's a bit ah later in the book. chapter
00:17:00
Speaker
and um ah ah i wanted of the i just wanted to ask you to read it because i thought it really kind of captured some of the, what I say is like the fantastical elements that um that are brought into
Reading and Fantastical Elements
00:17:16
Speaker
the story. And I just love the language. So i was wondering if you could read that.
00:17:20
Speaker
Sure, no problem. um So yeah, this is happening towards the end of the book, and it's really Anne Brett thinking about her mother.
00:17:30
Speaker
And her mother is the kind of represents spiritualism and this kind of more magical side of life to her. So... Maybe she was only real to Ambrat or realized by Ambrat because she earnestly cared about her existence.
00:17:47
Speaker
She could only think of one other living soul that cared as much about Mamam as she did. Both her body and mind moved abandoned, frenzied. She ran, trying to find Lizzie for confirmation, but she was nowhere to be found.
00:18:01
Speaker
From the basement to Mamam's boudoir, Ambrat could find no one else in the Mamam house. As a last guest, she stole into the attic, calling Lizzie's name, only to find the trunks and boxes had been rearranged.
00:18:14
Speaker
Ambret's nest was destroyed. The morning garb in the attic had been removed, a nothingness in its place, the empty floorboards underneath the leaded window that washed Genesee.
00:18:27
Speaker
And Brett couldn't breathe. She sat on the floor in the spot where she had outfitted her burrow and tried to steady herself. She stared at her lax fingers curled around the whites of her palms.
00:18:38
Speaker
They sat as dead weight in her lap. There were times when she was quiet enough. She could still hear the bells ringing deep inside her head. She pictured the tin skin of a generator on Papa's workbench, thought about the magnitude it held inside itself, generate, harness, conduct, move, move, move.
00:18:58
Speaker
hot cylinder, manufactured organ, the coils wrapped tightly around its iron core, lines pointing towards both toward and away from themselves. She saw the glow of the spirit.
00:19:11
Speaker
It was a series of wires wrapped around the bulbs of her eyes, like lightning frozen inside her veins. It subsisted, buried in the blackness that ran through the heart and the brain. It purred buzzing and a popped occasional zap like an unseen animal deep inside a forest.
00:19:30
Speaker
It is hidden in nooks or under brush and you feel its presence. You can hear it rustling. Sus, Sus, Sus, it lives in the black and it never dies.
00:19:42
Speaker
Thank you. problem. I feel the energy on the page and off the page too. yeah, ah Folks, ah really yeah think about pre-ordering ah Child of Light coming out and in in August. ah um yeah ah You're great writer, Jessie.
00:20:03
Speaker
It's really an honor to have you on the show. um What's the role of art? like What's it supposed to do for humans? like to we you know It sounds like we need it, but like what's what's its role?
00:20:15
Speaker
um I but think for me, it's... It's just communicating. It's a and not just communicating. The whole point is trying to connect with people.
00:20:27
Speaker
So I think communication is the largest role. And I think... Another role is to try and think, ah trying to express things in new and different ways. I think those are the two most important roles of art. I see, ah when I was submitting this, I had a lot feedback about people were like, i in the experimental world, that not interested I'm not interested in, any I want things about now. And I was like, well, this book is about now. I feel like historical things are still about now, even if it's not set now.
00:21:02
Speaker
now So i I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm still trying to say things about now in in and trying to find a different way to say it so so that we can make even more connections, I guess.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And I, yeah, yeah. Now, you know, now is... Well, whatever. What is now like? um but you know but But again, going back to the this time, I mean, everybody wants to drop back you know back there, but the the profound energy is impossible. And the possibilities of human you know come in like this type of idea of like you know truly like enlightenment or you know technology to handle the issues out in front of us, what was dark.
00:21:44
Speaker
It's now light and sound is traveling quickly. It's just such a dynamic ah period. I've always been astounded by going into it and looking places like upstate New York and as you know as a primary yeah area for a lot of this activity. so Yeah, you know, maybe, you know, there's a lot of now. but but that's it I think, too, at one I agree 100%. I also think, too, people have a very, or I will speak for myself, you have like a, you're kind of taught a very slim approach.
00:22:16
Speaker
view of what the Victorians were like. And just like you were saying before, there were like sex cult Victorians that, you know, there were, there were people doing a whole bunch of crazy stuff. It was wild. It was wild. Like what you ate, what you did with your body, you know?
00:22:30
Speaker
but So you think of them as like the, the, the super button down, super like, and there are a lot of crazy things going on. We're just not exposed to it, you know? So i feel it feels, it very relevant to me today where it's like, we want, we want us to look,
00:22:46
Speaker
ah you know, I don't know. I don't know how much into politics we want to get, but it feels very much like today where it's public perceptions, not necessary reality.
00:22:57
Speaker
and Oh gosh. Yeah. Talk about a movement towards, you know, perception, like perception, you know, this, yes, for sure. um And, and the, well, and the advancement of all the technologies that were predicated on, you know,
00:23:14
Speaker
things that are covered in the book, you know, being able to yeah send send sound far away and and, you know, we see, you know, video and sound and, ah yeah, it it feels contemporary, but also like there's something like within the world that exists there, I think has been so um maybe not looked at as much or not seen maybe for some of the the elements um that it contains. And for me,
00:23:39
Speaker
you know, for me, I've, I've, I've always been attracted to like, for me, I've always been attracted to radical because ever since I was a little kid, there are components of society where I say it's a hundred percent wrong.
00:23:50
Speaker
Like, this is not the way we should be conducting ourselves. And so I have an absolutism about like, I'm accepting of things, but I'm seeing cold, like with culturally and some of the things is, um, yeah.
00:24:02
Speaker
Uh, I was trailing off there too. Um, no, I, I agree with what saying. Absolutely. Absolutely. um I wanted to i want to talk a little bit more um just about um your creativity. um This isn't your first book or or first or or first writing.
00:24:20
Speaker
um just What areas have you explored or like going forth after a Child of Light like as as as a writer? what What are you looking at?
00:24:32
Speaker
So i've I'm working on a novel right now about Grace Brown, who people might know from um i ah the Dreiser novel. Now I'm blanking on... ah Sister Carrie?
00:24:49
Speaker
Not Sister Carrie. ah yeah American Tragedy. American Tragedy. Brilliant book. Yeah. So that's that was based on this Grace Brown thing. And actually, she's literally a hill away from me in the middle of nowhere again. So it's... Really?
00:25:07
Speaker
Yeah. It's really... she That's where she grew up and everything. She was murdered in the Adirondacks, but it was... ah Yeah. So, no, no, I'm sorry. Like, I mean, no, no, an American tragedy is like the type of thing like, you know, who the hell talks about American tragedy anymore? But that that mystery, that story, that whole thing. And they made that, of course, the.
00:25:32
Speaker
I view it as a quirky film, A Place in the Sun. Yeah. With Montgomery Cliff and Liz Taylor. Yeah, yeah. yeah yeah And there's something really great about a 50s take on anything. You know, anything from that time is just, there's a, there's a, you know, a certain lens on it. So, yeah. I love, I love that movie, but it's a weird balance of like, I'm like, I end up,
00:26:02
Speaker
truly disappointed in parts. But love, you know, and I even think even with the stars and, you know, Montgomery Cliff and what was going on with him and, you know, there's this there' yeah there's a lot to that.
00:26:15
Speaker
yeah It's a is' a great, it's a great, ah it's a great book in American tragedy. I think Dreiser is one of the lost, I don't know if he's lost, but like American treasures of, you know, yeah realism, naturalism and realism. And around this time, like ah writing stories about I think generally, I don't know if for you'd agree, like ah a person in the world, woman or man and in in in the world, ah big structures, big things happening, people being swept up in things, maybe structurally in American tragedy. So, hey, everybody, it should be on your local used bookstore shelf. If you go to the local used bookstore, check for Dreiser and Sister Carrie in American tragedy, no you you know you're in a good shop.
00:27:02
Speaker
um
00:27:04
Speaker
I have to ask the big question. And I think your book's about this. So, ah why is there something rather than nothing? man. ah
00:27:17
Speaker
I think we have, I don't know. i think that a lot of this book is trying to look for something. It's, it's doesn't know what that something is, but it's like, it's, it's looking for that meaning because of, or else it veers towards that. There's quite a bit of depth in this novel too.
00:27:34
Speaker
So I think for me, that's what this whole book is about. This little girl, she's on the verge of becoming a woman who's, who's trying to find something to make her life make sense, basically.
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah, looking for something. looking for something um ah Yes, everybody again, ah ah child of light. Yeah, Jesse, is it's but it's super cool to talk to you about this
Historical Research and Storytelling
00:28:01
Speaker
stuff.
00:28:01
Speaker
um ah One of the things I wanted to, another thing I wanted to um to ask you, um basically was about um the the the combination of of history, of like this you know this this this bit of realism there,
00:28:20
Speaker
um with with with the fiction, um you know, real characters and such. I've always found that to be such a, like, it seems like super fun to me, and but also tough tough to pull off, and I think you did. um How is that working in, like, com composition? There's historical text, there's historical things, historical characters. Songs and stuff, yeah. Yeah, how do how do you how do you work all that to have this reality in this book?
00:28:50
Speaker
I think almost everything I've written has been this kind of experimental historical novel. And what I do is i i do a ton of research. in In my day job, I'm a librarian. and Yes.
00:29:03
Speaker
Yeah. I love librarians. Librarians are the vanard the vanguard for all of us. So thank you. Oh, thank well thank you. i i I always tell people i wanted to go to school forever, but i' I'm a you know a poor kid and stuff. So I just was like, oh, I'll become a librarian. And it's basically like going to school. Heck yeah. Love it. It's... a long it's um So I just do, i do a ton of research and I take a ton of notes. And what I'd like to do from that is i are I write up, you know, kind of get my story that I want to happen. And then I kind of place my notes where I want, where I want it to fall in the story. So for this novel in particular, there were just so many interesting people that fell into that category we were talking about earlier, where it's
00:29:50
Speaker
you Like, you would not expect these people to be walking around. um And also just, the and also the impact they have. So, um like, at one point, the mother goes to see a talk with Susan B. Anthony. ever You know, I'm hoping everyone knows who Susan B. Anthony is. But then there's these tiny people.
00:30:07
Speaker
Tiny, um I should say unknown people like Beverly Randolph, who was a real occultist black guy walking around in the mid-1800s, like, teach preaching these crazy things and...
00:30:22
Speaker
There was this guy, Cyrus Teed, who formed this religion where it said we're all inside the earth rather than outside the earth looking out. The earth is really, we're in like side of big rock, basically. And whoa so just these these really interesting people. And I'm like, I got to include them. They're so, they're so interesting. I felt that way too. There's, there is, if anyone ever goes to Utica, there is an incredible,
00:30:50
Speaker
I'm sure there it's got a complicated history, there's no doubt. But features but quite prominently in this book at the Utica Insane Asylum, which is now called something much more PC. I can't recall it what it is. But the building itself is so creepy and yeah um hot and it's and it's gigantic. you know And you're just like, wow, you... um I guess my my point is you get these things that you're like, wow, how many lives were impacted by this person or this place?
00:31:21
Speaker
And they it feels like you're like, I got to say something about it. And they kind of did just the interest in it makes them creep in in at least some capacity. Yeah, I'm over in Oregon about like minutes outside of Salem, And ah you know, folks might be familiar, One Flew Over to Cuckoo's Nest, which, you know, does the Salem Hospital. um Yeah. And did there is there is, there's one piece in it I really like, ah you know, obviously tries to teach, you know, as humans are,
00:31:53
Speaker
still trying to make progress on mental health and understanding and how to help people. But, um you know, being inside that space, and there's this cool piece that they have that I just love within, I guess it's technically a museum, but they have like the TV monitored like you would see in the room, and one flew over to Cuckoo's Nest. And ah just, a it's um fascinating.
00:32:18
Speaker
It's absolutely fascinating. the reciprot What is health? What is unhealth? you know What is sickness? right Well, right, and how tenuous that is, 100%. There's a little, and just talking about the TVs, there's a little interesting thing. There's something called the Utica Crib, which was invented in Utica, that used in institutions all across ah the United States.
00:32:42
Speaker
And it basically is a crib with a bar with bars on the top. So it's like a casket you can see through. And I was just like, Jesus Christ, you know, like how? Anyway, and and so... um It's weird when you see these remnants of people's lives.
00:32:58
Speaker
And it's, I just feel like you're saying it's it's fascinating. It's easy to picture yourself sometimes in those roles with those details that you have, you know? Well, and all the things in around these areas, too, is like the prominence of cures, right? Like around around that time, it's like...
Misconceptions About Electricity
00:33:17
Speaker
curall, whatever it might be, and just kind of like this massive hunt for like understanding certain things, but then looking for solutions to yeah our problems.
00:33:28
Speaker
And electricity was one of those things, too. they There are amazing cartoons at the start of domestic electricity where it was like, it's like the start of AI and people people who are like, this is evil and it's going to, you know, drag you to hell. this Disrupt systems. and Exactly.
00:33:45
Speaker
And then on the other hand, like doctors are like, oh, lady, you have a headache. Maybe you should try electrocuting yourself. it It's like, OK. Yeah.
00:33:57
Speaker
It's interesting because. You know, the same thing's happening now, just with a different part, you know? Yeah, yeah, something that feels massive and, you know, and again, manifestation's a long line of, you know, yeah um technologies. But I think there's something, I said it before, I think there's something that very unique, very specific to the time period in that area, and in the country as a whole, not the discount or the US, but primarily concentrated.
00:34:23
Speaker
um in the Northeast. And it seemed like the other piece that I really enjoy about that period, there was the idea like that anything is possible that I think, you know, maybe culturally we're too cynical about now or if somebody says, somebody says that, they'd be like, nah, you know, I know yeah I'm going to get a recurring bill about whatever that, right whatever whatever whatever that is.
00:34:47
Speaker
where jesse where do where do we find your your stuff? where do have How do people get this book? where do they Where do they go?
Where to Find the Book and Conclusion
00:34:56
Speaker
So the the publisher is Whiskey Tit.
00:34:59
Speaker
They're out of Vermont. And then there's also, it'll be available, the distributor is Asterism Books, which if anyone who likes experimental writing or indie press, I'd really encourage them to go to asterismbooks.org.
00:35:13
Speaker
It's the home of some of the coolest publishers doing things today. So I'd encourage them to go there too. I find something about it where, you know, you're around books all the time, but I find I find it, and my analogies too is with music, right? So we're introduced with a lot of, we see a lot of different things culturally and, you know, things are popular, but within writing and within music, I mean, the amount and the ability to search and find right now is absolutely incredible. So it's like,
00:35:48
Speaker
like this kind of self-curation um that is that is possible around around all this nowadays that um and's at our fingertips maybe, you know. Yeah.
00:36:03
Speaker
It's in, it's, um, you know, people get in, but there's such a commodification of attention and everything and people get into habits because we've got a million things going on, but there are these huge communities that right outside of Amazon or right outside of, you know, whatever Barnes and Noble. So, yeah. Yeah.
00:36:19
Speaker
Yeah. Um, thank you for being a librarian. Thank you for, uh, uh, uh, for, for writing and, um, i Like I said, I i really hope um those who are listening yeah take the opportunity enjoy the fascinating book, a Child of Light. um ah Capturing, like really capturing the energies of the period and, you know, idiosyncratic, right? Which I enjoy, like as far as um how that's pulled together. So, ah ku kudos whodos on your work.
00:36:54
Speaker
Thank you. And also look for... Oh, my gosh. What was the... I just want... On the American tragedy, but what the name of the real case? Grace Brown. Grace Brown. Grace Brown.
00:37:05
Speaker
And so... um I, I'm, once you said that, I kind of lost it on American, channel who the heck do you talk about American tragedy nowadays? It's been 20, 25 years. i put on the film once in a while, place in the sun, I ditch at the ending and yeah I call it a day, you know, but. It's, it's worth a watch too. Yeah.
00:37:26
Speaker
Great. watch just um clifton liz Taylor for crying out. Well, and who's, um, who's the, there's another, I know, you know, Shelly Winters.
00:37:36
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes. Yep. Yep. All right. Now I'm like a moth to a flame. I'm going to suck back into putting that one on this evening. Uh, Jesse Bender, thank you so much, uh, for your time. And, um,
00:37:54
Speaker
for the art that you create and um uh again for the fourth or fifth time child of light folks uh check it out um coming out august 12th uh 2025 and uh best best of luck to you uh jesse and uh can't wait for the next one i'll tell you that right now great cool thank you thanks jesse you take care bye bye i
00:38:30
Speaker
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00:38:39
Speaker
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