Mentally Oddcast Transcript: Writer and Activist M Kelly Peach
Find more from M Kelly Peach here.
Find works by Wednesday Lee Friday here.
00:00:01.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
You are listening to the Mentally Oddcast. My name is Wednesday Lee Friday, and with me today is M. Kelly Peach, who is the author of The Adventures of Argyle Sock and the Death of Tinsegile's Death.
00:00:15.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
He was born in Detroit and raised in the west side suburb of Garden City. He graduated from Lake Superior State College, which is now a university, with the v a BA in English Language and Literature and a secondary teaching search.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
His work has appeared in 70 plus venues, including Lumina Journal, Metastellar, and Please Do Not Tap on the Glass. We'll have links for all that in the description.
00:00:41.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
Hey there, Michael. How are you?
00:00:43.57
Michael Peach
I'm doing well. Thank you.
00:00:45.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool. Thanks for being here. um We actually like to start by asking guests to tell us about the first horror movie that they remember seeing. So please go ahead.
00:00:58.69
Michael Peach
So about a half a mile from my home in Garden City, Michigan, in the early 60s, so I'm aging myself here, there movie theater called The Shaffer.
00:01:08.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:01:12.19
Michael Peach
Later on it became the La Parisienne and then it's been closed for a number of years now. Anyways, back in the day, the Saturday matinee was really cheap, like a quarter or 35 cents, something like that.
00:01:27.88
Michael Peach
So, again, I'm dating myself.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
women
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Michael Peach
ah Most Saturdays, especially in the summer, my parents would send me and my two older sisters there for the day with two or three bucks enough for tickets, drinks, and popcorn.
00:01:48.43
Michael Peach
So we would watch beach blanket movies with Frankie and Annette, or we would hammer films with ah Vincent Price. um But the two horror movies that I can remember because not one sticks to mind. two Two came to mind immediately when I saw this question.
00:02:12.12
Michael Peach
um and and they still stick with me to this day are the Tingler and 13 Ghosts, the original one.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice.
00:02:21.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, nice. Nice.
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Michael Peach
Yes. And they were scary.
00:02:25.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah. Yeah, well, they I mean, I would say that they both hold up in terms of creepiness.
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Michael Peach
Uh-huh.
00:02:34.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice. So would you say that that set you on a path? Hmm.
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Michael Peach
No, not necessarily. When you say this path, I assume you mean being a horror writer.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, yeah. Well, or or a writer in general, because I think movies, people that are very into movies often use that as as an inspiration for other arts, not just writing, but, you know, visual arts, sculpture, all that there.
00:03:05.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
Games.
00:03:06.34
Michael Peach
Yes, because if they like movies, they like storytelling.
00:03:09.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
00:03:10.60
Michael Peach
Yep. ah so I think horror movies which I still admire and watch a lot to this day help me but I would assign the major motivation to my readings I've been an avid reader for um a long time um also a book collector actually since fifth grade and
00:03:38.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:03:40.71
Michael Peach
I had a teacher named Marshall Rafferty who turned me on to reading. Um, he used to bring in his his own books from his, he had a, uh, an extensive collection.
00:03:54.96
Michael Peach
Um, he'd bring them into class and share them with us. And I just ate him up.
00:04:01.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, what kind of books?
00:04:01.56
Michael Peach
Uh,
00:04:04.57
Michael Peach
so he, yeah, he tried to, uh,
00:04:05.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like all genres, or...?
00:04:10.99
Michael Peach
get the students to read in in different areas. um I liked adventure.
00:04:22.30
Michael Peach
So he he would have me reading Jeffrey Farnall and Ryder Haggard.
00:04:22.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. Okay.
00:04:31.01
Michael Peach
And then he turned me on to Edgar Rice Burroughs. and And then I got hooked.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:04:39.43
Michael Peach
And I read all the Tarzan and all the Mars and the Venus books and the Pellucidar books and and on. and on I've read pretty much everything that Ed Grace Burroughs wrote.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:04:56.76
Michael Peach
Yeah. So in addition to that, once so once I got hooked like that, then I started off on my own and I was definitely attracted to speculative fiction.
00:05:09.44
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:05:10.43
Michael Peach
including horror. And so I started reading Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Howard, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and Machen and on and on.
00:05:27.61
Michael Peach
And I think that's what really got me on my path to writing.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:05:32.95
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool. Well, I mean, that leads me into the natural question of ah separating the art from the artist. Because you mentioned specifically poet and Lovecraft, which are two writers that, as writers, I admire very much.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Obviously, I think everybody in horror has a favorite Poe story. um Mine's Cask of Amontillado, by the way. um But is that something that you think about in terms of the some of the older authors like like Poe and and Lovecraft, who were obviously pretty problematic?
00:06:09.80
Michael Peach
Okay, i'm not I'm not sure I'm following your question.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, Lovecraft was a giant racist and Poe kept falling in love with his underage cousins. And today we live in ah in an atmosphere where ah people often distance themselves from artists who reveal themselves to be flawed in ways that hurt people, like J.K. Rowling or Neil Gaiman, for example.
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Michael Peach
Yeah, okay. Now, yeah, I understand what you're saying now. And yeah, that is so true. Edgar Rice Burroughs was a huge racist as well.
00:06:46.62
Michael Peach
You know, i guess I do separate um the the literature from the artists themselves. um
00:07:01.55
Michael Peach
I have, yeah, yeah. That's.
00:07:05.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
it's It's certainly easier to do that when the artist is dead. Because I think, i mean, everybody has to find their own lines as far as that goes, like what you feel is acceptable.
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Michael Peach
ah
00:07:14.82
Michael Peach
Mm hmm.
00:07:15.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
I know people that excised every bit of Harry Potter literature and merch out of their homes. I didn't go quite that far. um But I certainly don't want to ah enjoy any media in such a way that it gives money to those people, particularly J.K. Rowling, because she has said outright that I have a lot of money because people support what I support.
00:07:39.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that, to me, is just way too gross to, like... to ever want to put my money towards. But, you know, that's that's just me. Like, people feel different ways about it. So, I mean, i think Orson Scott Card, I don't know if you remember when it was sort of, like, revealed that Orson Scott Card was a giant homophobe. but And it was a drag, because who doesn't love Ender's Game? Everybody loves Ender's Game.
00:08:06.87
Michael Peach
Right. Yeah. No, I, wear that.
00:08:09.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
But if you need a new copy, you gotta buy it used. and
00:08:14.54
Michael Peach
You know, and I haven't read, um, the Harry Potter series and I just figured at some point I would, you know, back the
00:08:23.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
e
00:08:25.89
Michael Peach
Um, but now that I'm aware of her stance on, uh, trans folks, I just don't think I'm going to read it. Uh, not even, uh, used copies.
00:08:39.29
Michael Peach
I'm just not going to do it. Okay. Interesting.
00:08:42.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, and the good news is she's such a thief that if you read a few other authors, you have essentially read Harry Potter anyway.
00:08:52.74
Michael Peach
okay
00:08:53.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
People have actually said that about Gaiman as well, that, like, there are other authors that did what he did sooner and better. So, you know, I'm i'm kind of taking my time getting through all of that.
00:09:06.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
and yeah Like most people, I feel I just don't have enough time to read everything I want to. um
00:09:12.00
Michael Peach
Bye.
00:09:14.94
Wednesday Lee Friday
But if we can get back into horror... um i I think a lot of people have theories on why people that have depression or anxiety or even autistic people are specifically drawn to stuff like horror media and even like true crime.
00:09:32.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Do you have a theory on that? Or do you subscribe to any of the existing theories?
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Michael Peach
ah You know, and that's that's such a good question. um
00:09:46.04
Michael Peach
Perhaps it is that many people with depression have strong imaginations.
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Michael Peach
And that leads to the depression. And so they're naturally, and because they have these imaginations, they're naturally drawn to stories. And I feel like horror stories are particularly particularly powerful because they deal with fears and they work at such a primal level.
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Wednesday Lee Friday
of no
00:10:17.23
Michael Peach
So yeah, that would be my answer to that.
00:10:21.32
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, alright, yeah, that's interesting. So when did you receive your initial diagnosis?
00:10:32.27
Michael Peach
Okay.
00:10:35.68
Michael Peach
I was teaching special education at Oscoda Public Schools in Northern Michigan in the fall of 1990. I've gotten my MED in generic special education from North Texas State University.
00:10:43.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:10:51.53
Michael Peach
It's now a University of North Texas. And it's like the third largest school in Texas.
00:10:58.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:11:00.07
Michael Peach
So I got that in the spring of 1990 and and I didn't get my job at Oscoda until late in the summer. I had been looking at at different places and and then came up to Michigan to do a series of interviews for special education teachers.
00:11:21.42
Wednesday Lee Friday
OK.
00:11:22.82
Michael Peach
And there's such a demand for special ed teachers. There was back then, and there still is to this day. um I basically got job offers from five of the six places that I interviewed at, including Oscoda.
00:11:35.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:11:39.91
Michael Peach
So that's the one I chose. And so I returned to Michigan and we moved from Texas back to Michigan. And I had to start teaching immediately, like within the next day or two from when I arrived.
00:11:55.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:11:56.59
Michael Peach
Oh, it was, it was bad. Yeah.
00:11:58.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's jarring.
00:11:59.75
Michael Peach
So there was no time for me to prep. Uh, i I didn't even know where my classroom was. I just like walked in and I just was thrown to the walls and I had to start teaching and I could never get caught up.
00:12:15.69
Michael Peach
I had to scramble all year. ah had to, you know, to create lesson plans and tests and quizzes and other activities. And of course it's special ed. So some of the students were very challenging and some of the parents were even more challenging.
00:12:37.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, I'm sure.
00:12:37.85
Michael Peach
Yeah. You, you've probably heard this before, but, um, the, the, the parents are more problematic than the students.
00:12:48.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yes, I have heard that many times before. I know lots of teachers.
00:12:54.95
Michael Peach
So with all that going on, i ended up depressed. And, I lost weight. I lost like 30 or 40 pounds over the course of the school year, but early in the, you know, that fall, when I first started to get depressed, I went to the local community mental health agency for some help.
00:13:14.33
Michael Peach
And that's where I was first diagnosed with depression. And it was also exacerbated by yeah seasonal affective disorder, which is all that back then it's
00:13:25.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
Uh-uh. Okay.
00:13:28.43
Michael Peach
They use a different term for it now.
00:13:31.19
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yes.
00:13:32.20
Michael Peach
ah I was put on antidepressants and the first two gave me severe diarrhea. It was bad. it was so bad I couldn't work.
00:13:42.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, my gosh.
00:13:44.01
Michael Peach
So the third one they tried was Prozac. And that one worked very well for me. ah We were quickly able to find the right dose and It was life changing for me.
00:14:01.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
oh
00:14:02.29
Michael Peach
It was, it was just, it was amazing. Um, and I've been on Prozac ever since.
00:14:10.84
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow. So you went all through childhood and your teen years without a diagnosis.
00:14:12.72
Michael Peach
Um,
00:14:17.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then it sounds like when you finally got a diagnosis, it was accurate. And it only took a few tries to find a medication that worked for you.
00:14:27.52
Michael Peach
Correct. Correct.
00:14:28.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
That is incredible. That's an incredible experience. It is far and away not what I often hear when when we deep dive into people's experience getting diagnosed.
00:14:39.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's awesome. And you said that was through community mental health.
00:14:45.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, that's great. My experience at community mental health was was not that. um I've talked about it on the show.
00:14:50.82
Michael Peach
Well.
00:14:53.41
Wednesday Lee Friday
I won't go over over it again, but... Yeah, it's it can vary a lot depending on... and Well, because, you know, organizations are made of people and people are all different.
00:15:04.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
So... um So... What... have Have you needed any other kinds of of support or accommodations except for your medication?
00:15:18.22
Michael Peach
Well, let me talk a little bit more about what my experience was with the with the depression.
00:15:24.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
Please.
00:15:24.85
Michael Peach
because And then I'll get into the CMH, some more CMH stuff.
00:15:32.85
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:15:36.18
Michael Peach
So the psychiatrist really emphasized when I started taking the Prozac that I ah could not drink alcohol as it would interfere with the efficacy of the meds.
00:15:46.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
e Yep.
00:15:48.81
Michael Peach
So I quit drinking on September 30th, 1990.
00:15:54.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
So had you been drinking regularly up to that point?
00:15:57.86
Michael Peach
Well, yes, I'm an alcoholic.
00:16:00.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
Ah, and and do you do you think that that is like from self-medicating from the untreated depression?
00:16:01.52
Michael Peach
I'm, I'm,
00:16:08.55
Michael Peach
you know, possibly, ah
00:16:14.93
Michael Peach
But I just, I really liked to drink and I just like to get.
00:16:18.49
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:16:20.20
Michael Peach
So I don't know. It's probably a combination of both. Um, so so, so I quit drinking then.
00:16:25.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
okay
00:16:30.30
Michael Peach
And, um, during the school year, Wurtsmith air force base, which are you familiar with that? With that, with course base.
00:16:38.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
in The only Air Force base I have ever been to is Selfridge.
00:16:44.56
Michael Peach
Yeah. Okay. So Wardsmith is in Oscoda and the closure of that base was announced during the school year and they provide 50% of the student population or they did.
00:16:59.48
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:17:00.41
Michael Peach
So I knew I was going to, um, be laid off because I was second to last in seniority.
00:17:06.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh dang.
00:17:07.92
Michael Peach
So I had to find a new job. So that summer I was looking again and ah I got off my meds because I was no longer stressed from teaching and I did okay during the summer.
00:17:22.13
Michael Peach
I ended up teaching at Hanaville Indian School near Escanaba, Michigan.
00:17:28.45
Michael Peach
And this, this was a self-contained classroom for emotionally impaired junior high students.
00:17:28.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:17:36.66
Michael Peach
And they were the worst of the worst. Um, They were so glad, the teachers were so glad that I i came on board because all their problem students were gonna go into my self-contained classroom.
00:17:49.98
Michael Peach
They were just overjoyed. ah
00:17:52.91
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:17:54.17
Michael Peach
And honestly, I just, I could not deal with it. I could not do it. I tried um and I got really depressed, even worse than at Oscoda.
00:18:08.56
Michael Peach
So then I went to the local community health agency up here in Delta County. Now this is where, uh, this is where it gets bad.
00:18:20.72
Michael Peach
This is more, I think in line with some of the experiences you or your guests have had with CMHs. Cause it was bad. The case manager for the CMH decided that it would be a good approach to delay getting me back on antidepressants.
00:18:40.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh.
00:18:40.35
Michael Peach
Instead, yeah, yeah. Instead, he wanted to try talk therapy. And that was ineffective because he was not a good, the case manager is really a therapist type person as well.
00:18:54.11
Michael Peach
And he was not, he was not good at talk therapy.
00:18:58.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, that just seems really irresponsible, though, to say, oh, you don't need meds when you know in the past that meds had been effective.
00:19:06.53
Michael Peach
hi but I know, I know.
00:19:06.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
mean, that just seems like a no brainer.
00:19:10.00
Michael Peach
I told him that. And he just he kept putting it off. And it just got worse and worse. ah By the time I did get back on my meds, it was too late.
00:19:24.73
Michael Peach
I just couldn't do the job. And I ended up getting fired from that job.
00:19:30.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh no!
00:19:31.74
Michael Peach
Oh, yeah. And that really... I never became a regular classroom teacher again after that. You know, when you can't finish your teaching contract, your teaching career is usually pretty much over.
00:19:46.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
What a shame! and that i mean It's such a huge problem in America because so few people have access to appropriate physical health care, let alone mental health care.
00:19:59.65
Wednesday Lee Friday
And as you just pointed out, that can really mess up your life.
00:20:04.72
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
00:20:05.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, because if you need medication and you go to the appropriate doctor and the appropriate doctor decides that you don't need it, like we all want to think, yes, doctors know what they're doing. But a lot of it, particularly in mental health, is guesswork.
00:20:22.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
He very well might have thought that he was helping you by having you take less medication. But the hubris of that, when you see someone suffering and say, well, I could help you, but what if we went another way?
00:20:35.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
is It's just so appalling, especially when we can see the real world impact of that. Somebody who is good at working with some of the most difficult children, was not able to continue doing it because you weren't able to get the mental health care that you needed.
00:20:54.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
That is appalling and infuriating. And I really want to thank you for sharing it because that's something that people really need to know about. People need to know that that's happening and that teachers are getting just burnt out because they don't have the support that they need.
00:21:10.54
Michael Peach
Yes, yes, that's so true. Yep. And I'm one of those burnout statistics.
00:21:17.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
What a shame.
00:21:17.26
Michael Peach
Yeah.
00:21:18.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
What a terrible shame. i mean, did you have any kind of support system when you were going through this? Like, were other teachers supportive?
00:21:27.19
Michael Peach
No, because I was brand new to the school. They, they barely knew me. Um, I, I did not last long. ah it was just a matter of weeks.
00:21:38.42
Michael Peach
and I was out of the classroom two to too depressed to do anything. and
00:21:43.06
Wednesday Lee Friday
Bam. And it sucks, too, because if that had happened at a place maybe where you knew people, because when you're new and you're dealing with mental health things, you just seem flaky.
00:21:54.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's just one of those ableist, anti-mental health attitudes that just messes with us wherever we go. But it seems like in education, you might be more likely to find more people with the the kind of you know like informed people that understand that like oh you're not a flake you're dealing with mental health issues maybe these things would be helpful but yeah when you're dropped into a new situation and you already feel disoriented by it and then you don't get support from your colleagues i mean what a fucking drag man i yikes um
00:22:33.08
Michael Peach
yeah and it And you know, my administration was not supportive. I can tell you a quick story. um Kind of an idea of the
00:22:41.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
please
00:22:44.56
Michael Peach
The principal came into my classroom ah one time and and yelled at me and the students to stop that goddamn swearing.
00:22:55.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
yeah ah
00:22:58.92
Michael Peach
oh they'll tell you something about the principal.
00:23:02.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, my God, chastising a teacher in front of students, that's, I don't even have the words.
00:23:09.08
Michael Peach
Hmm.
00:23:11.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
um so So we were going to talk a little about seasonal depression. um And I think it's called that because it tends to, a lot of people feel like sunlight relieves people of depression. i don't i don't like getting sun on me.
00:23:27.00
Wednesday Lee Friday
um But good people believe that and I have actually a sun lamp because I do find it helpful. So so maybe me not believing something doesn't necessarily make it untrue. I don't know.
00:23:40.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
um What was your experience with seasonal depression?
00:23:46.44
Michael Peach
So one of the things that they suggested, the ah folks at the CMH, was that it might be helpful if I had a light box.
00:24:01.68
Michael Peach
And I've always been keenly aware of the days getting shorter,
00:24:07.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm. Okay.
00:24:08.19
Michael Peach
and which they of course they are now. and And then after the winter solstice, i'm I'm so grateful that the days are getting longer. and And I'm much more aware of it than than the average person because I'll comment on it. And then you know no one else saying i I know really ever comments on that.
00:24:27.22
Michael Peach
But to me, it's a big
00:24:27.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, pagans do. you hang out with a lot of outspoken pagans, they can't shut up about how in tune with nature they are.
00:24:33.81
Michael Peach
deal. Oh, okay.
00:24:34.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's one of the things that, you know, the the lengthening and then the shortening. Because, yeah, I tend to look at it the other way.
00:24:38.77
Michael Peach
okay
00:24:41.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
i'm like, oh, these nights, they get long. Oh, no, they're taking my nights away.
00:24:47.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
but But, you know, that's a me thing.
00:24:50.22
Michael Peach
So in Escanaba, I did end up building myself a light box with three full spectrum light tubes. And I would sit in front of it every day initially when I was trying to overcome my depression.
00:24:58.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice.
00:25:04.49
Michael Peach
and And I do feel like it helped. Um, And I continued using it for for some years off and on, but I haven't used it in a long time. The Prozac seems to work fine for me.
00:25:24.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. Now, i think one of the things that used to sort of foil me with, like, wintertime depression is that...
00:25:36.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
you can see it coming and sometimes just like the dread of like oh god it's almost that time of year when's it gonna hit when is everything gonna suddenly not matter is that is that something you experience as well that you see it coming
00:25:52.69
Michael Peach
I do see it coming and there is a degree of dread there. it's not so bad as, as it used to be, but yeah, I know exactly where you're, what you're referring to.
00:26:05.89
Michael Peach
and yeah, it's.
00:26:06.49
Wednesday Lee Friday
So what what do you do?
00:26:06.53
Michael Peach
sort
00:26:07.49
Wednesday Lee Friday
How do you how do you cope with that?
00:26:11.60
Michael Peach
Uh, well, I just, uh, try to keep busy. I try to get outdoors, uh, in the fall and in the winter.
00:26:22.87
Michael Peach
Especially if it's a nice day, you know, when it's overcast, it's still good to be outdoors, but it's really nice when you get some blue skies.
00:26:30.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:26:34.61
Michael Peach
So yeah, that that's what I do.
00:26:37.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. And do you have a support structure around you, like people that are aware of what you're going through that can maybe help you see? Because I'm a huge relier on my social circle and my husband to, like, let me know if they notice something that I'm not noticing.
00:26:55.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
do Do you have anyone like that?
00:26:57.87
Michael Peach
Absolutely. Wednesday. um My wife, Monica is, is my biggest support. She's my rock. And it just so happens that she has an MSW and um is a mental health therapist.
00:27:10.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:27:13.28
Michael Peach
She has her own business.
00:27:15.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, damn.
00:27:16.14
Michael Peach
Yeah.
00:27:16.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's convenient.
00:27:17.71
Michael Peach
Yeah.
00:27:18.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
it
00:27:19.62
Michael Peach
It's called peach blossom therapy up here in Escanaba. And I'm a little biased, but I think she's really, really good. she's She's very aware
00:27:28.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool. Cool.
00:27:30.74
Michael Peach
of
00:27:33.69
Michael Peach
of my situation and she will she will approach me. shell If I'm really getting down, she'll know right away and she'll we'll talk about it. and yeah she you'll make sure that and if There have been a couple times when I've had to go to the doctor and maybe and up my prozac temporarily to get me through a rough patch.
00:28:04.01
Michael Peach
But that's only.
00:28:04.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:28:04.53
Michael Peach
Yeah. Um,
00:28:09.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
I see. So, ah how has your depression impacted your writing process? and And does that show up in your work? Do any of your characters live with depression?..................
00:28:21.74
Michael Peach
oh
00:28:24.54
Michael Peach
definitely Kyle in the main character in the death of Tinegal's death. He's depressed because he's trying to deal with the death of his wife. Well, actually she's not dead.
00:28:37.95
Michael Peach
She's in a coma.
00:28:38.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
uh-oh spoiler
00:28:41.20
Michael Peach
This is definitely a spoiler alert.
00:28:41.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
the it
00:28:44.77
Michael Peach
She's in a coma and he's got to decide about pulling the plug. So that's what he's dealing with. Um, But as far as my writing, if if I'm really depressed, I won't get much writing done.
00:29:02.37
Michael Peach
But the Prozac keeps me well enough balanced that I can usually keep writing. And what I found is if if I force myself to write, if i'm if I don't feel like writing, but I get in there and I start plugging away at it,
00:29:23.61
Michael Peach
um it may be a struggle at first, but then I get into it and then the words start flowing and and then it goes well. And then by the by noon, because I usually write in the morning and then stop at noon, you know, I feel much better.
00:29:41.61
Michael Peach
So it really helps me to write if I'm
00:29:46.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's really interesting. i I talk to a lot of writers about their process, and a lot of people tell me that they get up and write first thing in the morning. That's what Stephen King does.
00:29:57.34
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:29:57.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
um And I wonder if part of that, like I smoke pot all day, so I'm my most productive when I first wake up because I'm not hot yet.
00:30:08.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
um But.
00:30:12.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, I lost my train of thought. How ironic. No, but um I think if you're depressed and you actually push through it, that's going to give you a big sense of accomplishment for the day. Because not only have you conquered a bout of depression already first thing in the morning, but you've done something substantial with your day.
00:30:33.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
Something ah concrete that you can point to and say, that's how many words I wrote today. And even if it's, you know, 300 good words, that's still more than there was before.
00:30:44.61
Michael Peach
exactly yeah
00:30:48.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
So if you write a character that has depression, is that something that you are doing intentionally, like with a theme in mind, or is that just something that happens?
00:31:03.62
Michael Peach
it's more like just something that happens it's um it's
00:31:12.59
Michael Peach
you know As I conceive of the character, that to me was one of the characteristics ah this of this person. And so I had to write about that.
00:31:22.57
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:31:26.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
I see. So ah you were mentioning um to me earlier that your recovery from addiction was it's kind of a non-traditional path.
00:31:38.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Now, I was guessing based on my own experience that it was a dual diagnosis program. um I was in one of those. I never really got on board with the sobriety part of it.
00:31:49.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
um but you know that's that's a whole complicated issue for me is that is that what you were doing did you have any dual diagnosis work
00:31:59.58
Michael Peach
No, um i I was able to get sober and stay sober um through, and I'm okay with self-disclosing here, um through a 12-step program.
00:32:17.79
Michael Peach
But the um unusual or non-traditional approach to this is that I used Al-Anon as opposed to NA or AA.
00:32:26.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:32:30.56
Michael Peach
I mean, I've, I've been to both of those types of meetings and they didn't work very well for me. um because, uh, especially in AA, you get these old timers who have been around for many, many years and they, they tend to be real hard asses.
00:32:51.08
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:32:52.23
Michael Peach
That's not an approach that's going to work well for me.
00:32:56.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
sure
00:32:56.44
Michael Peach
Uh, whereas, uh, if you go into Al-Anon, It's always, in my experience, it's almost always primarily women.
00:33:07.56
Michael Peach
And they're frankly a kinder, gentler, more understanding group.
00:33:15.85
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, I think the the so-called tough love is is huge in the addict community. And I think in a lot of cases, it just sort of translates to get your shit right or get the fuck out of here. Like it's it's it's a very combative thing.
00:33:33.91
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah environment, which you're right, is not conducive to people, especially depressed people. you know Because if you're sitting there thinking, well, why does it matter? Why should I bother?
00:33:44.65
Wednesday Lee Friday
And the response that you get is hostility or infantilization or maybe you just need Jesus. That's not going to be as helpful as as compassionate, empathetic care for people.
00:33:58.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
And i think I think what you're describing is also kind of Like, community, but I'm loathe to draw this this parallel, but like like the VFW, like it's a bunch of very bitter old men wondering what they think it's naivete that other people aren't as as bitter and angry as they are, is is kind of the vibe.
00:34:24.67
Michael Peach
Okay.
00:34:25.80
Wednesday Lee Friday
And and i'm I'm sure there's something to be said for that.
00:34:25.80
Michael Peach
yeah
00:34:28.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, if I was a World War II veteran, well, maybe not World War II, because they got treated pretty well. But like a Vietnam veteran, for example, coming back and getting treated bad.
00:34:36.66
Michael Peach
yeah
00:34:38.84
Wednesday Lee Friday
I mean, veterans in general have so much reason to be angry, because they probably went to war for a stupid reason, and unless they were actually fighting Nazis. But even then, I mean, how pissed would you be if you got hurt fighting Nazis, and now you have to live through this?
00:34:55.71
Michael Peach
yeah for sure
00:34:57.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
But but i don't want to I don't want a political tangent too soon because we are going to get into some of that.
00:35:02.71
Michael Peach
yeah
00:35:03.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
But it it just it all ties together though because i think if I was trying to bring fascism to a place, I would not want there were to be easily available mental health care.
00:35:15.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
I would want people to be frightened and and upset and depressed and angry. And that's something that that fascists are just so great at is just making us angry.
00:35:26.84
Michael Peach
Yes, yes. and And keeping us divided and yeah, all that, yeah, for sure.
00:35:33.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Okay, so I guess my next question then about recovery would be, is that finding its way into your fiction as well?
00:35:43.66
Michael Peach
You know, that's interesting because um I can't really think of any of my characters that are in recovery.
00:35:55.54
Michael Peach
I have several that are active alcoholics and pretty bad ones, but I can't really think of any that are are in recovery.
00:36:08.28
Michael Peach
ah But I got to believe sooner or later, I'm going to, in one of my works, I'm going to get someone in there who is in recovery.
00:36:17.53
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, I mean, there's an argument to be made that we tend to write about the things that we're still working through. And it seems like there probably are, I think for for a lot of people, more residual feelings about the time you spent as an addict than the time you spent in recovery. Because when we dwell on things, we don't dwell on things that we're proud of.
00:36:40.49
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, nobody's up at three in the morning being like, yeah, that was awesome when I won that thing in third grade.
00:36:46.15
Michael Peach
Thank you.
00:36:46.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
But if you say something stupid at a party, it might haunt you for years. You know, we we tend to obsess about the things that we that we didn't get right the first time. So that's that's my guess for why you write more addicts than recovered people.
00:37:02.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I think also that messed up people are far more dramatically interesting than, you know, like normal neurotypical people, whatever that turns out to be.
00:37:15.34
Michael Peach
Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right on.
00:37:19.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
So do you feel like your creativity, I mean, we we talked about this a little bit, but does that, does the creativity itself, the the actual act of writing, does that lessen your depression or is it more about the accomplishment of it?
00:37:40.06
Michael Peach
For the most part, it, it lessens my depression. because I do get that feeling of accomplishment, especially when the words are flowing and the ideas are flowing and it's going really well.
00:37:53.66
Michael Peach
Uh, it's just such a great feeling. Um, it's, it's better than, any high that, uh, I ever experienced when it's going really well.
00:38:05.77
Michael Peach
Um, I S I suppose, uh, when it's
00:38:06.53
Wednesday Lee Friday
cool
00:38:12.67
Michael Peach
You know, even when it's going bad, it's still pretty good. i can tell you one thing that's that is a real downer and and can get me in a bad mood or or feeling low is the rejections that I get from my situations.
00:38:32.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
mm-hmm
00:38:35.20
Michael Peach
And it used to be pretty bad. i got i got real serious about... submitting my stuff i've been writing for decades um and then 14 years ago my two daughters my two youngest daughters um challenged me to really get my stuff out there um and these the the challenge was to do 100 submissions
00:39:09.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:39:10.58
Michael Peach
And if I did, if nothing happened with them, then they wouldn't say anything anymore.
00:39:11.06
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's lofty.
00:39:17.71
Michael Peach
You know, they, they would just let it go because they had been pestering me about, you know, you got to get your stuff out there, dad.
00:39:24.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, all right.
00:39:26.97
Michael Peach
Uh, so, so I took up that challenge and, um, it took about six months yeah and I don't know how many,
00:39:39.79
Michael Peach
submissions 15, 20, 25, whatever it was. And I finally got an acceptance and it was, it was from a, um,
00:39:48.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice, from where?
00:39:54.53
Michael Peach
a website called punch Nels.
00:40:00.44
Michael Peach
And they are now defunct. Um, but they paid a token amount, five or 10 bucks. And I remember when I got the acceptance email, I so i stood, I sat at my computer and i just, I wept.
00:40:18.12
Michael Peach
I wept tears of joy because I didn't know if I would if i would ever get accepted, you know?
00:40:21.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
Uh...
00:40:24.79
Michael Peach
ah
00:40:25.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, it's so it's so validating, especially that first one. My goodness....
00:40:31.30
Michael Peach
Yeah. um And so, well, and so then I just, carried on since then because you know I had gotten an acceptance.
00:40:40.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep. Then the momentum builds.
00:40:46.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, that's awesome. And I love hearing that it was your children that pushed you into that.
00:40:51.39
Michael Peach
Yeah, yeah, it's kind of cool.
00:40:53.95
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, our loved ones often see us more clearly than we see ourselves. So knowing that they saw the the talent and the passion in you and encouraged you to pursue it is, I mean, that's just so great.
00:41:07.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, took a look at one of your stories, and it had some sculpting in it, which I love, because sculpting is one of those things. um You know how when you find out that somebody does something, you have to immediately like think about whether or not you've ever done that thing or whether or not you wanted to? Like, when you tell people you're a writer, they're like, oh, yeah, I've always wanted to do that.
00:41:26.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, well, obviously not, or you'd have freaking done it. But, um...
00:41:32.01
Michael Peach
and It's so true. I've had that thought so many times because you're right.
00:41:33.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah
00:41:35.92
Michael Peach
People say, oh, i want I've got a great idea for a novel, you know, but they never write it.
00:41:41.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
Or or the the quintessential, I'll tell you my idea, and you can make it a book, and we'll split the money.
00:41:47.24
Michael Peach
Yeah, yeah.
00:41:47.42
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, really? going to spend 18 months drafting and revising, and you're going to take half the money because you told me about a dream you had? no No. And you're standing between me and the dips, so stop it.
00:42:01.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
Party talk. um but But it made me think, actually, the sculpting... um Do you have other creative pursuits besides writing?
00:42:11.62
Michael Peach
um
00:42:11.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because it seemed like you you knew a few things about sculpting and and the tools and such.
00:42:19.48
Michael Peach
ah That's because i I do a lot of research. I've done no sculpting.
00:42:24.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, okay. Okay.
00:42:26.42
Michael Peach
one of One of my favorite things about writing, and I tell this to everyone, is it gives me the opportunity to do research into things that I'm interested in.
00:42:38.85
Michael Peach
So I'll i'll read... 12, 15 books for a story, you know, not novel, but a story. Um, so yeah, so that stuff I'm on sculpting that's yeah, that's just all research that I did.
00:42:57.27
Michael Peach
Um, but
00:42:57.49
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's awesome. I was fooled. I was totally taken in.
00:43:03.44
Michael Peach
what I do like is, uh, sketching. And ever since I i was a kid, i would sketch things. and then for the longest time I got away from it.
00:43:14.90
Michael Peach
And, uh, then I did a little bit, uh, with my son because he's an artist. And also, by the way, he's a filmmaker, um, who writes and produces and directs and acts.
00:43:29.30
Michael Peach
Uh, and his favorite genre is horror.
00:43:32.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice.
00:43:33.79
Michael Peach
Yeah. Um, but anyways, back to the sketching. um for the For the past i don't know year, year and a half, I've been toying with this idea of getting back into sketching.
00:43:52.93
Michael Peach
What I'm really fascinated with is um on my social media, I get these pictures of bristlecone pines.
00:44:04.85
Michael Peach
Are you familiar with them?
00:44:06.63
Wednesday Lee Friday
No.
00:44:07.75
Michael Peach
Oh, they're fantastic. um These they're very old. they They live for a long, long time and they get twisted into these fantastic shapes.
00:44:20.95
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, neat.
00:44:20.93
Michael Peach
ah Yeah, they and they just look fascinating. And I and the first time I saw one, I said, oh, that'd be really cool to sketch that because they're not like any any tree, any other tree I've ever seen.
00:44:34.98
Michael Peach
So now I actually have saved. Oh, gosh, probably. a half a dozen, maybe even a dozen pictures of various bristlecone pines. I believe they grow higher up in in um altitude on mountains.
00:44:53.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow. Okay.
00:44:55.29
Michael Peach
Yeah, because that's that seems to be where all the pictures are, some mountainous landscape.
00:45:03.12
Michael Peach
So so maybe maybe I'll ask Santa Claus for a sketch pad and some...
00:45:09.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
and did
00:45:09.95
Michael Peach
some pencils and some charcals yeah
00:45:10.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
00:45:13.89
Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice. Wow. I hope that works out for you. cause yeah i mean I'm i' of the belief that people should try any type of of art that appeals to them. And and it's tough too, because sometimes, as you just pointed out, can be pretty expensive.
00:45:30.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, a nice art pad with with good paper, especially like if you you want to paint, so you need canvas or you need vellum. Even vellum is ah is kind of stupidly expensive sometimes.
00:45:40.10
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:45:43.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
so So, yeah, I think... We get around to fixing a lot of other people problems in the world. I think it'd be it'd be good if ah people had more affordable access to more things that you need to make art.
00:45:59.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
um but But you know, found art is also a thing. People say, oh, well you can make art out of garbage. Okay, well, let's let's see if we can do better than garbage. um
00:46:09.27
Michael Peach
Right.
00:46:09.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
So you um you actually are a youper, is that correct? You're up in the UP?
00:46:15.94
Michael Peach
i I would love to consider myself a UPR. I've spent many years of my ah adult life ah living in the UP. I was born in Detroit and raised in Garden City.
00:46:30.31
Michael Peach
And I tell folks that... um That was a mistake. My parents never got the memo that I was supposed to be born and raised in the UP.
00:46:40.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:46:41.55
Michael Peach
But i I really do like living in the UP. Yeah, I do. I do consider myself U-per.
00:46:47.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, Taquamon Falls is just so pretty. I can't get over that place.
00:46:51.64
Michael Peach
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:52.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
You've got the Bear Ranch up there, Oswald. I mean, it's a great place. But I think sociopolitically, i don't think I would fit in as well in the UP as, say, where I am. Because I'm in Ann Arbor, which is stupidly expensive.
00:47:08.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
But it's it's pretty progressive a lot around here. How are things going up there?
00:47:15.58
Michael Peach
Well, um
00:47:19.35
Michael Peach
so in a sociopolitical sense, not well. It's it tough up here. This, generally speaking, is a deep red area.
00:47:34.37
Michael Peach
We have a couple of universities, several universities up here. And those college towns, you know they tend to be more liberal, more progressive. But other than that, it's it's very conservative.
00:47:51.63
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, I hear a lot of talk about MAGA people kind of pulling back from Trump. slowly figuring out that like he's not really going after the violent immigrants, we aren't saving money on things, they' the no tax on overtime thing wasn't real, grocery price is still high, and then the Epstein files.
00:48:13.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So are are you seeing that? Are you seeing MAGA people pulling back, taking down their flags, stuff like that?
00:48:22.03
Michael Peach
Yeah, I am. um And I can tell you that there's a lot, there's a significantly fewer Trump signs, Trump flags, Trump paraphernalia being displayed up in my area.
00:48:44.85
Michael Peach
So I feel like we're seeing some of that. And what happened with me is... um On January 20th, I became an activist, which is, it's very weird for me because I am, I am definitely an introvert.
00:48:56.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, a lot of people did.
00:49:08.26
Michael Peach
um And like, are you familiar with the Myers-Briggs?
00:49:14.65
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yes.
00:49:15.57
Michael Peach
Okay. So many years ago I took the original Myers-Briggs I maxed out the introversion scale.
00:49:23.42
Wednesday Lee Friday
but Yeah, I'm an INTJ myself, so I get it.
00:49:28.36
Michael Peach
Okay. And then I took the revised some years later. Yeah, maxed that one out too.
00:49:33.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
and distance
00:49:35.98
Michael Peach
But I could not um just sit back and watch what was happening in our country. You know, I've got children. I've got grandchildren.
00:49:47.62
Michael Peach
um i just couldn't. sit on the sidelines and and watch it happen. I had to do something. I had to get out of my comfort zone. So I, I became an activist and, um, I'm now part of, uh, indivisible.
00:50:04.17
Michael Peach
don't know if you're familiar with them.
00:50:05.94
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-mm.
00:50:06.83
Michael Peach
It's a nationwide resistance group and they've got, gosh, it's, it was last time I checked, it was like 1700 groups nationwide.
00:50:19.56
Michael Peach
nationwide So it's probably more now because that was a while ago. So we've got one, we've got several in the UP and the one here in Delta County where I live is called Delta County Unified.
00:50:38.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:50:38.46
Michael Peach
Yeah. um So I'm the secretary for that group.
00:50:45.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:50:45.97
Michael Peach
I'm on the board um and I'm at events all the time and, um, out there with my signs and I'm just doing these.
00:50:56.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Okay. So in addition to like physical protest with signs, like what else are you doing? Is there a letter writing? Phone call trees, that sort of thing?
00:51:07.17
Michael Peach
Uh, not, not on my part. Uh, some, some other folks are doing those sorts of activities. Yeah.
00:51:17.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. So I only want you to be as specific as you feel comfortable being. But, I mean, fascism is rising in America. and And what I want to get at is how what's happening is impacting regular people individually. So how is your life being impacted by the the rise of fascism? Or is there anything that they're planning to do that you think will impact you personally?
00:51:51.26
Michael Peach
Well, yes, I'm seeing some personal impacts in my in my life. ah My wife is Mexican-American.
00:52:04.87
Michael Peach
And she is terrified that she is going to be deported, even though she was born here.
00:52:16.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, they don't they don't care whether or not you... Actually, there are MAGA boys that have come out and said, you know, the the legal immigration is causing problems too, we shouldn't be doing it.
00:52:27.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
Kind of going back on the whole, like, oh no, we only want criminals. Like, really? you're You're at a junior high school sporting event because you only want hardened criminals and gang members? Come on now.
00:52:39.37
Michael Peach
right um so she she carries around her a passport with her
00:52:45.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, geez. That's so sad that people have to do that.
00:52:49.30
Michael Peach
yeah well she feels like she has to
00:52:53.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, that's, I mean, due process is optional now. So I would agree that she is, ah you know, that that seems correct to me. that the That's the the safest, smartest thing to do, if that even works. Because we know that there are some ice guys that just tell people, oh, that looks like a fake document to me.
00:53:12.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, you know, they're in a position to judge. They're some kind of document authenticator.
00:53:19.12
Michael Peach
and And the Trump administration and is working hard at getting rid of birthright citizenship.
00:53:25.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
e
00:53:27.33
Michael Peach
So far they're being stopped in the courts, thank God, but I don't think they're going to give it up.
00:53:33.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which is crazy because only one of his kids was born to two citizens. You know, the the middle one, because the first three, um Ivana didn't become a citizen until after the youngest one was born.
00:53:46.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then Melania wasn't a citizen. She was here at an Einstein visa when she gave birth. So I don't. Yes, let's all laugh at Einstein visa.
00:53:58.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
00:54:00.46
Michael Peach
That's a really good point, Wednesday.
00:54:02.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah
00:54:04.81
Michael Peach
Funny how the rules don't seem to apply to them, right? You know?
00:54:07.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, but for fuck's sake, I mean, both J.D. Vance and the Thomases, Clarence and Ginny, have come out against interracial marriage. And they're both in what J.D. Vance calls a two-color marriage.
00:54:22.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, fine for me, but not for thee.
00:54:25.28
Michael Peach
ah Yeah.
00:54:25.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
um
00:54:25.84
Michael Peach
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:28.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well I'm a white chick And I'm married to a black guy So I've got a very Come at me bro attitude About that whole thing
00:54:38.04
Michael Peach
Uh-huh.
00:54:39.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Because I mean When I was a kid People don't seem to remember how different Republicans used to be in the 70s Like I remember being a little kid And hearing men Get super angry at Jimmy Carter And telling him that Christianity had no place In our government Because he said if we're going to be a Christian nation, we need to feed the poor.
00:55:02.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
And they were like, oh, how dare you bring Christianity into politics? And where are those dudes now? because Because we need them.
00:55:09.17
Michael Peach
uh-huh
00:55:10.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
look
00:55:13.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I mean, i know I know a lot of that started with ah with Reagan.
00:55:14.14
Michael Peach
i yes
00:55:17.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because i pretty much blame Reagan and Nixon for most of what happened before Trump got here. Yeah. Because, you know, Nixon is healthcare. Nixon is the guy that said, let's make it legal to profit from healthcare because he was getting a lot of money from Kaiser Permanente.
00:55:36.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then Reagan decided to convince everybody that welfare moms are having a sweet time, getting getting a big ride, living off that government money. And honestly, you know what I miss is is government cheese.
00:55:52.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
I wish they still had that because we had that as kids and it was delicious.
00:55:58.01
Michael Peach
It was good.
00:55:58.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
But I'm getting a little off point.
00:56:01.71
Michael Peach
I did not know that about Nixon.
00:56:04.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, yeah, that was him.
00:56:07.20
Michael Peach
Huh? That's so interesting. I'm old enough. I can remember when Republicans were actually, you know, decent, well-meaning folks at,
00:56:19.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right, people with whom I disagreed on a lot of issues. But that, I mean, the party of smaller government, remember that? The government, that the the Republicans thought that the government should make as few rules governing your day-to-day life as possible.
00:56:35.65
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that those rules should always have to do with safety and security.
00:56:40.65
Michael Peach
No.
00:56:41.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, and like, really? Because in Texas, there are laws against how many dildos people are allowed to own. I don't know if you saw there was a ah protest about that where people were open carrying their dildos because you could have as many guns as you want and drape yourself in them like jewelry.
00:57:00.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
But heaven for friend, anybody have a vibrating silicone wang that's just too offensive.
00:57:02.12
Michael Peach
no
00:57:09.47
Michael Peach
Oh, they're losing their minds in Texas. Good Lord.
00:57:12.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, they are. Yeah, I have a friend in Texas and he had to send his kids out of state to live with their mother. Because one of them is trans. And he can be arrested for taking a kid to a proper doctor who will give them the correct medical...
00:57:22.47
Michael Peach
um
00:57:30.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
I mean, people say, oh, being trans is a mental illness or whatever. And it's like, okay, it's neurodivergent because it's not typical. It's not what most people go through.
00:57:42.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
But the DSM-5 says that the correct treatment for a trans person is gender-affirming care. So it's another situation where a bunch of politicians are pretending that they know as much as doctors.
00:57:56.08
Wednesday Lee Friday
And all of their opinions seem to be fueled by hate and various phobias.
00:57:56.91
Michael Peach
right.
00:58:02.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
And yeah, sorry. Tangent tank, tangent tank. um But but it it does sound like the rise of American fascism is impacting your family and and causing people that you live with and love to have to change their behavior.
00:58:20.09
Michael Peach
my The daughter that lives here in Escanaba is very stressed out. And part of it is because she's a teacher too. ah um
00:58:32.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:58:33.26
Michael Peach
Yeah. um She's been teaching seven years. She says she's got seven ulcers for each year of teaching. um But she's also, so I know she's, and she's said this as well, she's stressed out about the politics.
00:58:48.21
Michael Peach
She's very stressed out about that. And it's causing her to lose weight enough that we had to take her to the doctor, you know, and yet, you know, what's going on here because she's not, um, you know, dieting and trying to lose weight. She just keeps losing weight.
00:59:06.73
Michael Peach
And so we gotta, we gotta check that out. But a lot of has to do with the politics.
00:59:09.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
How scary. Well, and teachers, I mean, part of fascism is is the propaganda and the control of what people are allowed to think and say.
00:59:24.89
Wednesday Lee Friday
And so much of that starts with education, like this bullshit about putting the Ten Commandments in every classroom. You know, and I like to think that if I were teaching, I would malicious compliance the hell out of that and just be like, okay, this says here not to commit adultery.
00:59:30.92
Michael Peach
yeah
00:59:40.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
Who can you think of that's committed adultery? wait, the president, a lot. So, I mean, it just just to expose the hypocrisy of it all, um...
00:59:55.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because the thing about kids is kids get mad at hypocrisy. Not just autistic kids, but like most kids. Because kids, you tell them about all the rules that they gotta follow, and some of them seem stupid, and they get punished if they don't follow them.
01:00:11.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I think when kids find out that adults are making bullshitty rules that they themselves don't follow, that inspires them into action.
01:00:18.18
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:00:21.08
Wednesday Lee Friday
so I mean, i hate to put it all on teachers because we put so much on teachers. But for goodness sake, please keep teaching critical thinking.
01:00:31.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
Please keep teaching kids how to receive information critically and determine who is telling you that and why. Because it's such a huge problem now. I mean, people still say to me on the Internet, well, how can President Trump just want money? He gives up his salary. It's like i I don't even know where to begin.
01:00:53.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know? oh so so the guy that's already spent like 300 years of presidential salary playing golf? um I don't... But I mean, there are people that think Elon Musk wants to help people.
01:01:06.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's like, that's his main thing, is he wants to help people. but i don't And I don't really understand how people arrive at some of their conclusions.
01:01:15.66
Michael Peach
It is baffling, isn't it
01:01:17.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
It is.
01:01:18.99
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:01:19.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
It is. Well, like Elon, for example. I'm sure that Elon wants to be seen as the kind of person who helps people. But if he wanted to help people, he wouldn't have done the whole too slow with thing with the ending world hunger. I mean, he said, if somebody shows me the numbers to end world hunger, i will give the money to end world hunger.
01:01:41.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
If it's under, like, I think it was three billion or something. And so all these groups got together and gave him the numbers. And he was like, yeah, whatever. I'm not doing it. So...
01:01:53.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, alright, how is he not universally reviled? I mean, yeah, I think flamethrowers are neat too, but come on. Come on, we're not really just going to forgive that as a society because he made a flamethrower as a troll.
01:02:08.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
Come on.
01:02:10.53
Michael Peach
You know, i
01:02:10.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's...
01:02:12.85
Michael Peach
yeah and
01:02:12.95
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, please, go ahead.
01:02:14.08
Michael Peach
I was going to say, i got off of ah Twitter or X.
01:02:20.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:02:21.31
Michael Peach
ah when he when he did the Nazi salute and no one will ever convince me that it was anything other than a Nazi salute and then he turned around and like the very next day I got off of ah Twitter and I'd been thinking about it um for a while but um as a writer that's that's an important social media because there's still a lot of agents
01:02:30.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:02:51.42
Michael Peach
publishers and other writers and magazines, journals, you know, they're all on Twitter. So, but I just, I, at that point, I just said, okay, I cannot stay on on Twitter and, you know, support this guy.
01:03:08.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, well, and and that's that whole thing about finding your lines. You know, I know a lot of people that shut down their Twitter. Mine's still up. I haven't actually taken it down.
01:03:20.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
i may be checking, like, once a week to see if anything is going on that I need to know about.
01:03:20.28
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:03:24.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
And usually there's not. And if I'm going to post something there, it's like, well, if you're not a fucking fascist, maybe you'd like to know this thing I'm selling. But... ah Yeah, i don't I don't spend time there the way that I do on other platforms. But the thing is, you know, it's it's like computers or or delivery shopping. Like most of the companies that do that thing are evil.
01:03:49.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Where I live, there's no decent company who hasn't given money to Trump where I can get cable or internet access. You know, it's between Comcast and AT&T where I am. And they're both fascists.
01:04:02.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
They're fascist companies that give money to the fascists. But I can't just not have the internet in my home. That's not really an option for me because I work from home and I'm a human being who uses the internet.
01:04:14.41
Wednesday Lee Friday
So that's the trap that you get into.
01:04:15.56
Michael Peach
Well, yeah, yeah. Your line of work.
01:04:19.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like I used to be so anti Walmart and I would seriously judge my friends if they have like if they own homes and cars and have like real grown up money and they're still shopping at Walmart.
01:04:19.13
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:04:31.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
I would judge them. Like, no, you should drive to a real store that pays living wages and doesn't put out donation bins for their own employees.
01:04:33.40
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:04:40.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
And, you know, I was super, super judgy about it. Fast forward 10 years, Amazon is just as bad.
01:04:48.12
Michael Peach
Yep.
01:04:48.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, and I shop at Amazon because I'm disabled and I need things delivered to my home quickly and cheaply and...
01:04:48.74
Michael Peach
yep.
01:04:56.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
I know that Bezos is not a good guy and him buying the Washington Post was awful. And, you know, but as I guess that kind of leads me to my next question, what do we do about it?
01:05:04.26
Michael Peach
yeah
01:05:11.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like you're involved in act activism. What do you regular people that don't have a lot of money, what do we do?
01:05:21.05
Michael Peach
So um let me tell you about my cousin.
01:05:26.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
01:05:28.33
Michael Peach
He's a highly intelligent and observant person. He has a master's degree. He was a high-level administrator in a human services organization.
01:05:43.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
01:05:44.25
Michael Peach
He hates Trump. And he complains about Trump every time I see him. He hates what the administration, Trump's administration is doing to our country.
01:05:56.43
Michael Peach
But he made this comment.
01:05:57.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
Reasonable? That's reasonable.
01:05:58.60
Michael Peach
Huh?
01:06:01.07
Michael Peach
Yep. So he made this comment when we're talking, what can I do?
01:06:10.65
Michael Peach
And of course, the supposition here is that as an individual, there's nothing he can do to counter effect Trump's administration. the tax on our country and the constitution. So he's not going to do anything.
01:06:26.88
Michael Peach
is
01:06:27.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, well...
01:06:27.47
Michael Peach
And even though even though he's highly intelligent, it's like he can't figure out that you can join a collective because it's true individually. He can't do a damn thing.
01:06:41.81
Michael Peach
doesnt He doesn't have wealth and power and influence.
01:06:47.86
Michael Peach
But it it's like it never occurred to him, join ah group, join a collective and may and take collective action. And that's that's where your power is. That's where you can do something.
01:07:03.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. Yeah, I like that. I think ah now that I mention it, it was 2016 that I joined Satanic Temple. When Trump first got elected, I was like, oh man, shit's gonna start now.
01:07:17.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
Who's doing the best work out there? And I mean, I'm not gonna say that Satanic Temple does better work than like the ACLU or anything, but But they they do good work and they do it in ah in a trollish way, which I appreciate as a person who appreciates trolling.
01:07:34.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
like i'm I'm not 100% on Gavin Newsom as a politician, but I love the trolling thing that he's doing. It is cracking me up.
01:07:43.51
Michael Peach
yeah
01:07:44.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
because the well and if Mel Brooks used to talk about this. you know Nazis like it when you are like screaming at them. Because they like making people upset and standing there calmly and saying, wow, boy, don't you look upset.
01:08:00.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, like, they love that shit.
01:08:01.57
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:08:03.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
But Nazis cannot stand being mocked. They fucking hate it So, I i i mean, i want to be the annoying little brother in the backseat toward the Nazis.
01:08:08.34
Michael Peach
yeah
01:08:16.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
that's That's what I want. I want them driven insane by the fact of just knowing that people are laughing at them. That we're not taking you seriously. That we don't think all your gold ridiculous decor makes you look posh and regal.
01:08:31.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, you look like an idiot. We're all laughing at you and you were never shot. Okay, that's that. But again, i don't want to go off on too much of a tangent. But god damn, I hate that guy.
01:08:44.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
And it's it's just so frustrating that people don't see it. That people will look you square in the face and say things like, Oh, well, tell me that he when he lied. Tell me one lie.
01:08:56.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, dude, tell me one truth. What are you even saying? and it's... I mean, it's like Mugatu. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
01:09:10.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
It's, uh... And that's... I think that's part of it, that they want to be overwhelming. That's why every day there there might be nothing going on and Trump will just be like, I think I'm going to pardon Derek Chauvin or, you know, just something like, what can I do to make people furious?
01:09:30.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which is why I love when the response is trolling. Because he's already, Trump has stopped posting in all caps over the last three days. He has not done one post in all caps.
01:09:41.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because Gavin has been making fun of him for it.
01:09:41.56
Michael Peach
Oh, I hadn't noticed that. That's interesting.
01:09:46.28
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
01:09:47.30
Michael Peach
Share that with my wife.
01:09:47.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
if
01:09:49.51
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:09:49.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
Do. Please do. Everyone should know and laugh about that. By all means.
01:09:54.70
Michael Peach
when my When my wife gets home from work, um you know, we're having dinner and i and one of the things I always joke about is, well, let's watch the evening news and see what insanity Trump has done.
01:10:09.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
and
01:10:11.22
Michael Peach
What's the deal?
01:10:11.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
What fresh hell is this?
01:10:13.45
Michael Peach
Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:16.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I guess the question becomes, is it even going to be possible to put America right again without like a war or because I mean, there was a point a couple years ago where I said, well, okay, wait a minute. How did the Nazis get defeated?
01:10:36.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, right. The Americans showed up. I mean, I don't want to say we single-handedly defeated the Nazis, but I think it was our eventual involvement in World War ii that kind of helped swing things in the the right direction.
01:10:50.83
Michael Peach
Absolutely.
01:10:50.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
um there's There's no one coming to help us. that we're We're it. We're the ones with the biggest army, and now we're the ones with all the Nazis. So, unless... i mean, because what seemed to start having an effect...
01:11:05.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
was people getting hit in their wallets. You know, these Dominion lawsuits where Dominion finally said, hang on, we're not gonna just stand here and say you're wrong. You slandered us. You said there was a stolen election.
01:11:18.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
There wasn't. And it took so long, but I mean, Fox News and OANN and it ah ann in Newsmax, and like, they all had to pay money for lying.
01:11:30.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
But yet people still repeat all the lies. Like the damage is not mitigated by the fact that they were proven to be liars. People still take Hannity and Tucker and, you know, Janine Pirro has a government job now.
01:11:38.45
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:11:44.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
It's terrifying because all of those people, not only were they proven to be liars, but their own networks went into court and said no one in their right mind would take Tucker Carlson seriously.
01:11:57.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
No one with a brain would listen to Sean Hannity and think he's telling the truth. And yet, they do.
01:12:06.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
so
01:12:08.23
Michael Peach
Yeah, unfortunately.
01:12:08.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, I'm trying so hard not to get tangenty and I'm failing so bad. But like can there be? i mean, how how does this end? People are still talking about the 2028 election and i have no reason to think there's going to be a free and fair election in 2028.
01:12:26.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
I think the last election was stolen. i think the 2020 election, the reason that they say it was stolen is because they tried to steal it and weren't able to because there were so many mail-in ballots.
01:12:39.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because they really tried to stop mail-in ballots. That was the whole thing about putting Louis DeJoy in charge of the post office.
01:12:46.27
Michael Peach
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:12:46.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because he was getting rid of drop boxes and just really screwing things up. Because I had started a business in 2017,
01:12:55.44
Wednesday Lee Friday
And we were 80% mail owner. So having DeJoy in charge of the post office has been screwing up my business almost since its inception. Like it never occurred to me that the post office would be one of my problems because it is, has always been one of the most efficiently run parts of the government.
01:13:17.56
Michael Peach
Yeah, and it's a service. it's it's It's not a business. It's not meant to make
01:13:20.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right, exactly. Well, that's the thing is people say, oh, it doesn't make a profit. It's not supposed to make a profit. You know, you wouldn't say that about firemen. Oh, firemen are useless. They're not making us any money. Well, that's not what they're for.
01:13:35.20
Michael Peach
That's a good analogy. i hadn't heard that. one I like that one. So
01:13:38.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
Thank you.
01:13:41.18
Michael Peach
so i um i I think it's very important that we hold on to some sort of hope. so And there's there's a few things that I'm holding on to.
01:13:57.45
Michael Peach
i I think the numerous organizations that have sprung up as resistance, in addition to Indivisible, there's like ah voters, not politicians,
01:14:10.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Thank you.
01:14:14.04
Michael Peach
There's a bunch of others to that because I'm getting all these emails um from all these different organizations. They're all they're great. And and I think we need to get more people involved in one of these organizations that is close to their heart, whichever issue is closest to their heart, then that's the organization they need to go with.
01:14:39.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
01:14:43.94
Michael Peach
because Lord knows Trump has given us so many different areas of concern. One of them's gotta be, you know, close to home for you.
01:14:55.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
yeah
01:14:56.24
Michael Peach
So one thing, um, I'm also putting some hope into the 2026 elections. Um, I'm, I'm hoping that, um,
01:15:13.44
Michael Peach
they They will not be able to get away with the redist redistricting in, that's a tough word, in Texas. But if they do, that Newsom in California and New York and Illinois will counteract whatever redistricting the red states do.
01:15:33.50
Michael Peach
And
01:15:34.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, Whitmer hasn't said anything about it.
01:15:34.79
Michael Peach
yeah
01:15:37.15
Michael Peach
now she's way too quiet, way too quiet.
01:15:37.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
And, uh,
01:15:41.35
Michael Peach
She needs to say something about immigration as well and not support.
01:15:45.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, she does. There's way too many ice here. And I honestly didn't think there would be ice here because we're pretty far away from the border that's making everybody angriest.
01:15:56.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, people come into Michigan from Canada and, you know, that to to be frank, they don't typically care if the immigrants are white unless they're outspokenly liberal.
01:15:56.70
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:16:07.35
Michael Peach
Yeah, we have ice up here in the UP.
01:16:11.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, and the thing is, you can't even tell if the ice are real because we had people here at our apartment like very soon, within a week of of Trump saying, yeah, ice is going to be out in full force.
01:16:11.38
Michael Peach
they've been making it. Mm-hmm.
01:16:23.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I don't even know if they were real because I was looking on Amazon recently and it cost less than $100 to get a black vest with an American flag on it like a lot of these ice guys are wearing and a hat that says ice and some decals for your car.
01:16:40.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
And a big thing is zip ties and the stun gun. I mean, it doesn't cost very much money to get kitted up and look like ice.
01:16:45.29
Michael Peach
right.
01:16:47.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because the people that knocked on our building door, they hit the buzzer and it was clear they didn't have a warrant because, and this is ah this is a quote, they said, we're looking for the family upstairs.
01:17:00.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's that's not what cops say when they come to your house. They don't give a vague description of where the person lives. So i I didn't let him in. i don't think anybody else was here because it was like a weekday afternoon.
01:17:16.84
Michael Peach
Yeah,
01:17:17.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
um But it's that's to me, that's one of the scariest parts. Like every part of this is terrifying. But the fact that there are people dressing up as ice and just taking people is... I mean, that is just terrifying. I don't even have the words for it.
01:17:36.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
And... I mean, as far as I'm concerned, law enforcement people, any law enforcement, covering their faces on the job, that's like watchman shit. That should not happen.
01:17:50.15
Michael Peach
No. Yes.
01:17:51.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
And they were saying, what what's her name? Pam Bondi, one of those little Barbie girls that does Trump's bidding, said that ICE people aren't wearing masks.
01:17:57.85
Michael Peach
yes
01:18:00.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
She said that they're not. Which, like... I would translate that isd as, ah oh, ice agents aren't covering their faces, so anyone with a covered face must not be ice.
01:18:13.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
So they're not allowed to take anyone, and you should fight them back as if you're being kidnapped, because you are.
01:18:20.28
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:18:21.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
And... Even that, that alone. i mean, because, you know, like I said, my husband is a black guy and he's over six feet tall, which is the scariest type of black guy, apparently. um And we've had to have those kinds of talks of like, okay, you know not to put your hands in your pocket, right? Like, you know to make sure they can always see what your hands are doing. You know that you shouldn't make any stuff sudden moves, that you shouldn't have your hood up, that, you know...
01:18:51.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
All these different things. And I mean, my husband is... i don't necessarily want to use the word docile, but... He is a very calm person who does not drink, smoke, swear, use profanity at all.
01:19:04.89
Wednesday Lee Friday
he He won't get rid of his Canadian coins on the bus because he thinks it's dishonest. That's the kind of guy I'm married to But yet, I see on Nextdoor once or twice a year, oh, there was a tall black man. I think he's chasing the neighborhood.
01:19:20.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, bitch, he's going to work. He's out late at night at the same time because that's where his job is.
01:19:28.52
Michael Peach
He sounds like a good guy.
01:19:30.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
He is a good guy. Well, I mean, I think he needs his eyesight checked because he tells me I'm beautiful every day and I don't know where he's getting that from. but wait
01:19:41.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, he finally got glasses and he's still saying it. Like, come on, dude. No.
01:19:45.85
Michael Peach
Here you
01:19:49.87
Michael Peach
So think if we can have free and fair elections in 2026, we're going to take back Congress because people are so unhappy with Trump.
01:19:50.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
hello
01:20:03.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, even i think the Epstein files is is the the tipping issue here, because a lot of people I don't know how, but a lot of people really thought that he was serious about stopping child molesters, which I'm sorry, that's ludicrous on its face, because that Epstein shit has been well known since the ninety s
01:20:23.63
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:20:23.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
But a lot of people think he like burst into being on the set of The Apprentice.
01:20:23.81
Michael Peach
Mm-hmm.
01:20:28.53
Wednesday Lee Friday
So they don't like remember any of that. Because I'll say like, oh, yeah, I haven't liked him since he knocked Don Jr. to the ground in front of a bunch of people. Because I was a big fan of Don Jr. long, long time ago.
01:20:40.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
And people didn't know about that either. And because everybody in the family has NDAs, they don't even confirm or deny these things. But yeah, i've I've always, always thought Donald Trump was like, first I thought he was just ridiculous because of all the gold.
01:20:57.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
know, it's just like, how desperate are you to look successful that you cover everything? it i mean, gold isn't even a good metal. It's soft. It's ugly.
01:21:10.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
i mean, electronically, it does very little. Like, it's not even a good metal.
01:21:16.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
and And plus, I'm allergic to it. So I have a bias.
01:21:22.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, so I actually...
01:21:22.23
Michael Peach
well you apply
01:21:24.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah go ahead.
01:21:26.43
Michael Peach
um And then the the third thing is um a massive general strike. That, I think, is is a major hope that I'm holding on to.
01:21:40.78
Michael Peach
um Because if we can't get that coordinated, and that's one thing I'm trying to do, that's been one of my major focuses. And I've actually tried to volunteer for a group that was worked supposedly working towards that. And it's, they never got back to me, but anyways, um, you know, it's part of the, uh, uh, Erica Chenoweth 3.5% of the population. If you can get that kind of participation, then it's going to be effective.
01:22:12.18
Michael Peach
Um, you know, and that's what 11 or 12 million people. If, if we can get that or even better, and you know in a general strike,
01:22:24.84
Michael Peach
um then that may be able to turn the tide and proceed.
01:22:33.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
I love that.
01:22:38.14
Michael Peach
So that's what i'm that's what I'm hoping for. If we can't have that, then my fear is that we will end up having bloodshed.
01:22:48.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it seems like I was always pretty serious. i was I worked on the Kamala campaign. I was a, um what do they call it? It's it's kind of like being an influencer, like an ambassador.
01:23:03.00
Wednesday Lee Friday
And basically, I just talked everybody's ear off and kept lists and got paid for it.
01:23:03.13
Michael Peach
Okay.
01:23:07.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
um But I felt pretty confident that America as we know it would be over. if If he somehow got back in office. And I honestly don't believe that he won fair and square.
01:23:19.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
i think that. You know. I'm very much on team. Elon rigged the count. um But.
01:23:29.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah Damn it. I lost my train of thought again. But that if. ah
01:23:36.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
Damn it. I'm going to end up cutting this out in post. Because I'm so mumbly.
01:23:42.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
It's just that. We all thought that, like, you know, America would would not be the same after a another Trump presidency because they were so ready and in Project 2025 and all that that they were very serious about making permanent changes that did nothing good for the citizenry. It was all about control and fascism.
01:24:05.91
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's exactly what's happening.
01:24:08.07
Michael Peach
Yes.
01:24:08.44
Wednesday Lee Friday
um But if we have midterms, like if we really have midterms and take Congress back, I think impeachments would happen first and foremost and and the files being released.
01:24:20.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, I did see, like a lot of people, the Snopes fact check that 47% of Trump voters said that they would remain Trump voters even if he were implicated in the Epstein files.
01:24:34.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
And we could do a whole show about that, I'm sure. Like, wait, what what is it about Christians that makes them susceptible to thinking that pedophilia is okay?
01:24:39.29
Michael Peach
Holy.
01:24:47.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
Is it because their religion is based on a god impregnating a 14-year-old without consent, even though she already had a fiancé? Who can say?
01:24:58.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
uh... but You know, this is probably a good time to mention that only about 200 people actually listen to this show. And that's why I say whatever the hell I want.
01:25:11.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because like my ah philosophy on internet safety and security has always been that I'm nobody and nobody cares what I say.
01:25:12.52
Michael Peach
Thank you.
01:25:18.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I just say what I want. And it'd be quite the double-edged sword if that ever didn't happen. Where, like, suddenly somebody cares what I have to say. it's like, oh, wait a minute.
01:25:30.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
You're a pot-smoking criminal that talks about a lot of crazy sex things, right? Like, yeah, but you're not supposed to care.
01:25:41.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
So horror actually is not your only genre. And we've talked about that a little bit. You've got a fantasy book coming up. And I love the name of it because it's The Adventures of Argyle Sock.
01:25:52.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
But the Argyle has the capital L in it. And you were telling me there's a reason for that. So I want to hear it.
01:25:59.73
Michael Peach
Okay, so lot of people don't know this. um So this is going to be big news. um There is a left sock and a right sock.
01:26:13.54
Michael Peach
And so the capital L means um that it's the left sock. And so A capital R GYLE would be the right sock.
01:26:24.79
Michael Peach
And that's actually the brother. So um the main character Argyle sock with a capital L is Giles.
01:26:37.50
Michael Peach
And the brother is Giler.
01:26:41.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
No way.
01:26:41.89
Michael Peach
so Oh, yeah. and And by the way, they would really appreciate it if you would wear them on the right foot, you know, the correct foot.
01:26:53.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
That is so wild.
01:26:53.23
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:26:54.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't know if you know this because we don't really follow each other on social media. But I got a bunch of new socks this year and one of them had like a print of a skeleton on it.
01:27:05.44
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I don't typically notice, unless they're toe socks, I rarely pay attention to right sock, left sock, even though I am vaguely aware, as you were saying, I grew up ah with dance.
01:27:05.45
Michael Peach
yeah
01:27:17.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
So when you buy a pair of dance shoes, they don't have a right and left. They develop that after you wear them, but it's very important that you wear them on the right feet so that they... you know, acclimate to your correct feet.
01:27:26.41
Michael Peach
Oh,
01:27:28.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
So anyway, so I'm wearing these, uh, skeleton socks and I take a picture for the internet.
01:27:28.38
Michael Peach
out
01:27:33.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
I'm like, Oh, aren't these cute? They're skeleton socks. and Like six hours later, all these MAGA boys are like, you dumb bitch, you're wearing them on the wrong feet.
01:27:42.45
Michael Peach
jeez.
01:27:42.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, like, okay, you don't have to be so MAGA boy about it, but like, yeah, I am clearly an idiot who doesn't understand socks. So, yeah.
01:27:51.23
Michael Peach
Um... Most the time I can't tell either. I'm just joking about wearing them on the right
01:27:58.57
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah
01:28:02.35
Michael Peach
hand. Anyways, I do write mainstream stuff. I write poetry, essays, scripts, plays, short stories.
01:28:13.63
Michael Peach
But I do have a natural affinity for fantasy. um and Because it lets my imagination run wild. and And that's just fun.
01:28:24.25
Michael Peach
I worked on Argyle Sock for over 30 years off and on.
01:28:30.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
01:28:31.71
Michael Peach
Yeah, I was living with my mother-in-law and her said significant other, Frank, in West Olive, Michigan.
01:28:40.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
01:28:40.92
Michael Peach
This was after losing my job at Hanniville, like we talked about earlier, when I got clinically depressed.
01:28:45.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep, yep.
01:28:48.35
Michael Peach
So we had no money. Monica had just given birth to our second child, Christiana, and she wasn't working. um And I was still too depressed to work.
01:28:59.73
Michael Peach
So we had to move in with them. um yeah And so I decided, um well, I got to do something. You know, i was used to working and it was just driving me nuts not to be doing something. So I decided to start writing a book.
01:29:19.06
Michael Peach
And I wanted to answer that age old question of what happens to the sock when it disappears in the laundry.
01:29:25.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
01:29:26.28
Michael Peach
So I went to the drawer where my socks were and I grabbed what I thought at the time was my most interesting sock, which happened to be a tan and yellow Argyle sock, which i still have 30 some years later.
01:29:37.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
okay
01:29:40.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
sophisticated
01:29:42.98
Michael Peach
um So that was going to be my main character. And then I knew uh, that he was going to go to the lost world. And I needed some secondary characters that tended to get lost as well.
01:29:57.55
Michael Peach
So I opened the drawer of the desk that I was writing at, and i found, some paper clips and, uh, some interesting rubber bands, uh, including a blue one.
01:30:12.70
Michael Peach
And those were the basis for some of my first characters. And, uh, and then I just went from there and I and ended up finishing it after I retired, um, in 2017.
01:30:22.85
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
01:30:30.29
Michael Peach
So I think I, it was 2018 when I, uh, I finally got it finished.
01:30:39.06
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow, okay. So we'll have... Do you have a Linktree? Because we'll put your Linktree in the description.
01:30:47.40
Michael Peach
I don't have a link tree.
01:30:49.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, you need to get one.
01:30:51.03
Michael Peach
Okay.
01:30:51.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
and tip
01:30:51.58
Michael Peach
What's that?
01:30:52.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't like to go around telling people what to do, but Linktree is one of the greatest inventions of the modern age. um Because basically you go to Linktree... You put all your links into it so at all the sites that have they only let you have one link you can put that link and it takes people to all of your different things.
01:31:11.64
Michael Peach
oh
01:31:11.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
So you can put all your socials, your various book series, you know if you write under different names or different genres you can list all of that there.
01:31:12.17
Michael Peach
Oh.
01:31:19.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
So and then it's easier for me because I could say here it is one link.
01:31:25.35
Michael Peach
Okay, you're right. I need to do that. And you know what?
01:31:29.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yes.
01:31:29.71
Michael Peach
Kids will be able to help me with that.
01:31:31.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
01:31:35.03
Michael Peach
Okay.
01:31:35.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
So, I mean, getting into like Zeitgeist related things, what ah books are you looking forward to that are coming out from people that you read?
01:31:44.76
Michael Peach
um
01:31:48.02
Michael Peach
Let's see
01:31:51.26
Michael Peach
So um one, one, writer that I really like, and and you may be familiar with her because she's down in your area, is Kathy Koja.
01:32:03.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
eat
01:32:05.10
Michael Peach
And Meerkat Press is going to be re-releasing her book, Skin.
01:32:12.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, okay.
01:32:13.76
Michael Peach
what When that comes out, I plan to pick up that. And then there's a local writer here in Escanaba named J.L. Hyde. She's having a book launching for her newest novel.
01:32:28.18
Michael Peach
And I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head, but she's going to be doing that at the public library. So I'm going to go there and get a signed copy.
01:32:37.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, cool.
01:32:38.50
Michael Peach
Yeah. So that's what I'm looking forward to. Yeah.
01:32:41.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
i I find also that, yeah, like like what you were saying, that some of the books that I get the most excited for are not even mainstream books. They're stuff that my friend is writing.
01:32:51.66
Michael Peach
yeah
01:32:51.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah My friend Gina is working on a book about... It is nonfiction, too, and I hardly ever get excited for nonfiction, even though I read a lot of it. I'm not like, oh, I can't wait for it to come out.
01:33:03.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
But she's she's working on a book about media representation of different types of mental illness and and how basically how how bad they all are and why people don't understand mental illness because they think they do, because they saw a movie about it.
01:33:20.48
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:33:20.57
Wednesday Lee Friday
And very rarely are these things depicted correctly. They're depicted for dramatic impact. You know, like if if you thought all autistic people were were like the Rain Man, for example, you'd probably have a very skewed idea of of what someone else is saying when they say, oh, my kid's aren autistic.
01:33:42.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, oh, so they like Judge Wapner? Like, no, you idiot. That's not all it is.
01:33:46.16
Michael Peach
but
01:33:48.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, or ah Tourette's is another one of those things that people think they understand, but they do not.
01:33:49.94
Michael Peach
good yeah
01:33:55.67
Michael Peach
yeah
01:33:57.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So wait, was there, we're actually running out of time. We're getting towards the end here, so I want to make sure, was there anything that you wanted to discuss that we did not get to?
01:34:09.03
Michael Peach
um Let's share my website. I've got an author's website.
01:34:13.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, you're going to have a link tree, so all that information will be available in the description.
01:34:16.24
Michael Peach
Oh, okay.
01:34:19.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
But you can tell us your website name, too, you know, for those those audio learners.
01:34:22.62
Michael Peach
yeah's pretty easy. It's mkellypeach.com. mkellypeach, all one word,.com.
01:34:30.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's Kelly, K-E-L-L-Y, extra E. Okay,
01:34:34.71
Michael Peach
And then peach like the fruit.
01:34:36.41
Wednesday Lee Friday
okay because, you know, people be using that extra E. Like, quit hogging all the E's.
01:34:40.24
Michael Peach
Mmm.
01:34:42.49
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right. yeah and And we also... um Oh, you know what? I skipped a question, actually. The question, if someone is unfamiliar with your work, where is the best place to start? Because that's an important question. I know when I discover a new ah author...
01:34:59.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
I never know, like, if, you know, I read whatever the thing is that I discovered them with, but then if I go back, like, could you do imagine if you've never read Stephen King and you just discovered him and wanted to, like, read Stephen King?
01:35:11.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Where on earth would you begin?
01:35:11.75
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:35:13.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
So where where do we begin with you?
01:35:16.36
Michael Peach
I think i would go ahead and direct them to that website, my website.
01:35:22.78
Michael Peach
I've got excerpts um for for my works and but and a lot of you know personal and information about myself is as a person and as a writer.
01:35:28.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, that's helpful.
01:35:36.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, that's really the best way, I think, to go about it when someone like you that's very eclectic writes in different genres to to just give people all of the options and let them decide rather than saying, you know, this is the quintessential me because the more eclectic you are the less likely there is to be one book that's the quintessential you, right?
01:35:59.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, so I also would like to give guests an opportunity to ask me a question if they have one. So if you do, now is the time.
01:36:09.36
Michael Peach
um Well, ah first of all, let me say I really enjoyed this this chat that we've had. It's been fun.
01:36:17.32
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool.
01:36:19.00
Michael Peach
and And your questions are very good. And they allow me to really... just like open up and expand and not be an introvert.
01:36:32.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, and i'm I'm glad that you feel that way because I know it is difficult, particularly for introverts, but kind of for everyone because i think writers in particular may not want to answer a lot of questions about themselves and their work and how it got there, not just because those things are very personal,
01:36:52.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
but because this is the internet and people judge you here. So it's, it's always very gratifying to me. And I'm so grateful when people come and are are so generous with their stories and with their experiences like you've been, because I think, I mean, the reason that I decided to do this in the first place is because there is so much misinformation going around and it's, it's people don't,
01:37:18.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Unless you know someone who's been through these things or had some of these conditions or who is a creative type who works on things, you know, works through things in that way, you just, you don't know.
01:37:30.94
Wednesday Lee Friday
i mean, that's, I'm of the belief that humanity is basically good. And even people that seem like complete fucking assholes are probably working on bad information.
01:37:41.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
So if we have the opportunity to humanize these issues,
01:37:41.80
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:37:46.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
And put them out there where people can see them. I think that it will make a difference. Now again. The problem that I have. Is that only a couple hundred people. Listen to this show.
01:37:57.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which has its its upsides. And its downsides. But but i I am just so grateful. to To the guests. Who come on and and really. Because people dig deep.
01:38:08.89
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I mean. it's These things are difficult to discuss. Because there is so much stigma. And judgment around them.
01:38:16.48
Michael Peach
Yeah, some of them. Yeah.
01:38:17.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh
01:38:18.35
Michael Peach
can So what i would I think what I'd like to ask you is if you could tell me about about yourself and your work a little bit.
01:38:26.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
oh gosh.
01:38:26.91
Michael Peach
Because I know you the magazine and the podcast, and you do write.
01:38:27.80
Wednesday Lee Friday
um
01:38:31.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, i actually, i actually the first episode of the show, the very first one that we did, i invited a neurotypical friend to come on the show. And so that I could talk about all my stuff because i my thinking was that it's not really fair to invite people on and ask them to reveal such such personal, emotionally intimate things without doing it myself.
01:38:40.68
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:38:55.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I did.
01:38:55.58
Michael Peach
oh
01:38:55.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
And if you ever want to go back and hear the first episode, I talk about um like some diagnoses that I had when I was young that were never treated, um being in an abusive household, both of both like emotionally and then in in terms of physical violence.
01:39:11.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
We lived next door to a sex offender for a while, for a long time actually, between second grade and being a junior in high school. Our next door neighbor was a gropey pedophile.
01:39:23.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
um And then later on, you know, I started drinking and smoking a bunch of weed and that it turned out first they told me i had depression. i was bipolar. Maybe I had ADHD like everybody was guessing and guessing and I was trying all these different medications.
01:39:40.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
And i also lost some jobs and made some very stupid mistakes. I was making a lot of bad decisions about men. I had a pretty laissez-faire attitude about crime, ah both committing it and supporting other people who committed it.
01:39:56.48
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because, you know, if you smoke weed every day and weed is illegal, all laws start to seem stupid after a while, depending on whatever else is going on in your life.
01:40:04.78
Michael Peach
yeah
01:40:08.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
So, yeah. And then when I was 29, I met the guy that I eventually married and realized that life is a completely different experience when someone loves you unconditionally.
01:40:22.42
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because I did not find out what that felt like until I was almost 30. And I was like, wait a minute.
01:40:27.91
Michael Peach
Oh, wow.
01:40:28.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
This is awesome. Everyone should have this.
01:40:31.33
Michael Peach
Oh, wow. That's great.
01:40:34.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
So, yeah. And then when I was 30, almost 34, I had lost my job at the at the movie theater.
01:40:46.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
um The theater closed down. And I didn't have a job as of, like, summer. And I was freaking out. So I decided to... Actually, my thinking was, holy shit, I'm not going to have money to buy weed.
01:40:59.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
Maybe I should get some therapy. That was my thinking. So i I joined a program.
01:41:04.40
Michael Peach
you.
01:41:05.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
And because I'm poor, it was a county program.
01:41:08.32
Michael Peach
Thank
01:41:08.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
And they said, okay, well, we can treat you for your mental illness. But this is a dual diagnosis program. So you have to be sober, too. And I was like, well, I'm not going to be doing that. And they kind of talked me into it.
01:41:21.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
and i did uh i did i stopped drinking regularly um i didn't do like acid or mushrooms or whatever every weekend because i was kind of one of those people that was like oh that's gonna alter my consciousness yes thank you i will have some with uh i mean not super hard stuff like i never shot heroin but ah you know no no crack
01:41:36.80
Michael Peach
yeah yeah
01:41:46.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
But you know I did try most things that were available to me, which is not necessarily something I'd recommend. um kids Kids, be smarter than me, please.
01:41:57.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
um but But no, so I was determined ah at age 33 that I was going to use that time to do something valuable And my buddy told me about the NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month.
01:42:13.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I sat down and I wrote what became my first public published novel, which is called A Stabbing for Sadie.
01:42:14.19
Michael Peach
OK.
01:42:21.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
And it's a total Mary Sue. It's about a fat, crazy girl who murders her abusive mother. um
01:42:27.39
Michael Peach
I'm
01:42:27.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
But my my mom is alive. I always make that clear what i when people ask about it.
01:42:30.79
Michael Peach
going to get to clarify.
01:42:32.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that book actually... I'm re-releasing it. I just finished another edit and it's coming out in a third edition in in just a week or two, actually.
01:42:41.23
Michael Peach
OK.
01:42:42.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
So it's a Stabbing for Sadie third edition. And i'm I'm pretty excited to have it back out there. um Having re-read it, I was like, wow, I've changed a lot as a person and a writer since then.
01:42:56.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
But this is still a good book. It still has value. So I'm excited to get it back out there.
01:42:59.54
Michael Peach
Okay. yeah
01:43:02.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
um And then, yeah, I did. This is actually not my first podcast. I did one years ago that was just stories and novel chapters. um I went to college with a guy named Scott Sigler, who sort of invented the podcast novel. I don't know if he was the very first, but he was among the first like dozen or so people.
01:43:23.95
Wednesday Lee Friday
uh that were making podcast novels and like using this new tech to advance books and so i started doing that and didn't really have as much success at it as a lot of other people i'm pretty good at reading um you know doing do an audiobook reads that's what my other podcast is right now we have another podcast called gratis guignol
01:43:32.24
Michael Peach
OK. Yeah.
01:43:46.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
where we give out free horror stories. And it's mostly my stories, but there's some Poe stuff on there. um My husband and I did Cask of Amontillado, and the he he's shy.
01:43:55.49
Michael Peach
yeah
01:43:57.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
He's much more introverted than than I am, but I got him to do it. And Fortunato sounds drunk as hell, which is great, because my husband does not drink, and he still managed to pull it off beautifully.
01:44:03.25
Michael Peach
That's it.
01:44:13.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
so So yeah, and I also, in between all that, I started a soap business, Scared Soapless, and we do horror-themed soaps, and we do resin art, ah candles, lip balms, stuff like that. so So that's how I keep busy.
01:44:28.00
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, and I've also been a sex writer for like the last 20 years.
01:44:32.22
Michael Peach
and and what about your man what about your magazine
01:44:32.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which... What's that?
01:44:38.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
but Sometimes hilarious horror. Yeah, it's great. That's actually not my first magazine either. Yeah.
01:44:43.58
Michael Peach
all okay okay
01:44:44.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
A while ago, I was hired to do the rebrand of e-horror as an imprint of e-fiction, which was pretty big at the time. And then um they were trying to, you know, boost their their readership, which we really did not do. And so that got when that got shut down, i said, oh, well, maybe I'm not really meant to do that.
01:45:06.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then i had a medical thing 2022. um And I almost died. I was sick for a long time. I was bedridden for like six months and I almost died. And when I got better, I decided, you know, I mean, it was kind of like when I lost my job, but times a million. I'm like, OK, I'm still alive. So I'm going to make that mean something.
01:45:29.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
First things first, I'm going to write a new short story at least every week. And then i to to motivate myself to do that, I started a Patreon because I knew if people were watching me, i would be more motivated.
01:45:34.10
Michael Peach
Oh, wow.
01:45:43.56
Michael Peach
ye Yep, yep.
01:45:43.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then I was trying to think of perks and I said, well I'll just put everything together in a magazine. And then I thought, well, shit, if I'm making a magazine, it's kind of stupid to just make it with myself.
01:45:54.65
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because I know a bajillion great writers and people started submitting and I didn't, I never want to be one of those people that doesn't pay contributors.
01:46:05.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
And a lot of people that do small magazines, particularly when they're just e-magazines, their payment, and I'm using air quotes, their payment structure is a royalty share.
01:46:06.34
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:46:18.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
So the agreement, and that's what we did it at eHorror, it was, you know, once we sell a certain number of issues and everybody gets a minimum payment of of X amount, like once we earn that much, we send out the money and the money doesn't materialize.
01:46:18.33
Michael Peach
yeah
01:46:32.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, I was the managing editor, but I was not the editor in chief, so I didn't see the numbers then. um So when I started my own magazine and I see all the numbers, ah right now the magazine is is not making me money. It's costing money. I'm actually selling off my collectibles.
01:46:49.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
I just sold my Michael C. Hall autograph, which kind of bums me out, but I'm funding the new issue because we pay our contributors $25 for their stories.
01:47:00.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's regardless of length. That is a flat fee, $25.
01:47:04.55
Michael Peach
Okay. yeah
01:47:05.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
So if it's a five-line poem 10,000-word story, I feel strongly philosophically that the length of the story does not determine its worth.
01:47:18.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's just, you know, a position I have. And the reason it's $25 is so that if someone wants to join Horror Writers Association at the affiliate level, that is the the sale amount that's required to do that.
01:47:34.32
Wednesday Lee Friday
So that's a gift that we we give writers if if that's something they want to do.
01:47:34.53
Michael Peach
oh
01:47:39.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because I know ah Pete Cale put me in an anthology called Not Your Average Monster years ago that enabled me to join Horror Writers Association. And i found that personally very validating to not just be... Because I was already published at that point, but I wasn't really making, you know, grown-up money.
01:48:00.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
And so I felt very much like like i had... Become part of the the writing community and not just somebody who was trying to be part of the the community That was how I I received it emotionally like it was it was validating in that way So that's what we try to do even though we can't really afford to do it So do find us on coffee where we are sometimes hilarious horror You can support us starting at like two dollars a month and that lets you read everything
01:48:33.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah Starting at the $10 level, you can download everything. And that's past issues too, because that's how those kind of sites work. So you join once, you can download everything and enjoy all of it.
01:48:45.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
We have guests, cover artists every month. My husband does like the graphics end of it, but we always have a different artist come in and do the covers as well. And the stories...
01:48:57.00
Wednesday Lee Friday
They're so good and they come in from all over the world. I'm really lucky and grateful that we have so many contributors that send us stuff. I think people found out we were paying and we just got avalanched with submissions.
01:49:11.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
But I love the combination of horror and comedy. You know, sometimes hilarious horror is, I mean, sometimes murder is hilarious. I can't help that. i don't make the rules.
01:49:27.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right. um Wow, i I talked a lot there, didn't I? All right, so so it's ah it's time for the Mad Libs. So are you ready for that?
01:49:36.66
Michael Peach
Oh, yeah, OK. Oh. Yeah.
01:49:38.42
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because we we always end the show with Mad Lib, and I don't have permission for Mad Libs to do that. so So no one tell them, okay? Again, that's what happens when you have a small following. You just straight up steal people's IP and no one finds out.
01:49:52.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Okay, so let's see. Nouns. One, two, three, four. Looks like four singular nouns. Nope, five.
01:50:04.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Five singular nouns.
01:50:08.24
Michael Peach
Okay.
01:50:12.29
Michael Peach
ah Let's go scarf.
01:50:13.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wait, what is it? Yep.
01:50:18.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
wait what is that
01:50:20.66
Michael Peach
A singular noun.
01:50:21.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
yeah
01:50:30.19
Michael Peach
And rat.
01:50:38.19
Michael Peach
Tennis racket.
01:50:47.24
Michael Peach
Saucepan.
01:50:52.00
Michael Peach
and we need one more. ah
01:50:54.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Actually, I miscounted. I need two more.
01:50:57.26
Michael Peach
Okay. um
01:51:05.53
Michael Peach
Tiger lily.
01:51:10.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
01:51:13.35
Michael Peach
One more?
01:51:14.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep, one more.
01:51:15.73
Michael Peach
Okay. How about
01:51:22.35
Michael Peach
ruler?
01:51:25.53
Wednesday Lee Friday
Alright, I need an adverb.
01:51:35.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Some of these are kind of short, but this one has like a million words. Let's see, actually, one, two, two, two adverbs.
01:51:45.18
Michael Peach
Okay.
01:51:48.01
Michael Peach
Heavily
01:51:53.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:51:55.05
Michael Peach
sorrow flee.
01:52:00.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
Alright, so it says here, person in room. That's always the guest. And i need a verb.
01:52:11.93
Michael Peach
um
01:52:21.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
Actually, it looks like i need two verbs.
01:52:24.27
Michael Peach
okay okay shower and
01:52:25.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
And those are always going to be present tense.
01:52:41.53
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, I need a place
01:52:50.00
Michael Peach
a like a geographic place or
01:52:54.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
Any kind of place Mm-hmm
01:52:56.19
Michael Peach
any kind of place okay go kitchen
01:53:03.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
And a plural noun.
01:53:10.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
i need two of those actually, two plural nouns.
01:53:13.74
Michael Peach
a necklaces and signs
01:53:24.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
Alright, I need a part of the body plural.
01:53:29.12
Michael Peach
Parts of the body.
01:53:37.06
Michael Peach
Eyes.
01:53:41.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, and two adjectives. Nope, three. Three adjectives.
01:53:57.76
Michael Peach
Short.
01:54:06.22
Michael Peach
Blue,
01:54:08.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wait, what was that?
01:54:10.17
Michael Peach
blue the color blue.
01:54:11.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right, and one more.
01:54:34.52
Michael Peach
Mean.
01:54:38.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Alright, and last one is a part of the body plural again.
01:54:44.02
Michael Peach
Hmm. Legs.
01:54:49.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, this is called Little League Hero.
01:54:55.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
Even though i practiced heavily all season long and never missed any practices, Coach Michael didn't think I was ready to shower in a real game.
01:55:07.25
Wednesday Lee Friday
I finally got my shot. The kitchen necklaces were beating us sorrowfully, and our best player was injured.
01:55:16.13
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:55:16.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
So, in the ninth inning, with two outs and the signs loaded, Coach's eyes searched the bench for a pinch rat. His eyes fell on me, and he gave me the nod.
01:55:30.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
My tennis... Oh, I reached for my tennis racket, raced to the plate, and gave the pitcher my most short stare. The pitcher threw a fast tiger lily.
01:55:42.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
I swung and hit it out of the ruler for a Grand Slam home saucepan.
01:55:46.21
Michael Peach
Thank you.
01:55:50.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, the kitchen necklace is one of like that. The crowd went blue as I ran the bases. Oh, no, I i i missed one. Wait, I got I gotta add one here. I missed a part of the body, so I had to add one.
01:56:06.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Alright, as I ran the bases, my teammates patted me on the testicles and shouted, to jump, Wedness! Because there was another person in the room here, so I put me.
01:56:17.08
Wednesday Lee Friday
They carried me off the field on their legs. It was the most mean moment of my life.
01:56:25.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, see, med-libs are always great.
01:56:28.52
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:56:28.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I love them because you can play them with kindergartners or a room full of perverts, and it does not matter. It's always hilarious.
01:56:35.91
Michael Peach
It is. Yeah.
01:56:36.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
We had Mad Libs at my wedding. We made little Mad Lib books, and they were so cute, and people took them home.
01:56:43.74
Michael Peach
Cool. What a good idea.
01:56:44.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right?
01:56:46.27
Michael Peach
Yeah.
01:56:47.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, Mike, I am so glad that you could be here and that we could do this. This was a great conversation, and I hope that people get a lot from it.
01:56:56.09
Michael Peach
too. Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
01:56:58.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool, cool. We want to remind all of our listeners to find us on Ko-Fi, where we are sometimes hilarious horror. um Supporting the magazine is a great way to support the show.
01:57:13.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
It's also a great way to stick it to the man because we do not use AI. We are ah self-supporting and we're a small business. And if you believe that artists should be paid, you hear a lot of that online. People should be paid. We pay people.
01:57:30.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
And the way that we pay people is with the money that we get from subscribers and supporters. So please do that. And if you support the magazine at the $10 level or above, we'll also put your name in there as a donor. And you can put a little message in the issue, too, if you want to.
01:57:48.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
So if you want to say, fight the fash, we'll put that. at Damn, lion, that's in the magazine anyway. You don't have to give us money for that. But you can. So we'll see everybody next week.
01:57:59.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Bye.
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