{"id":48869,"date":"2020-04-14T16:20:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T23:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/?p=48869"},"modified":"2020-04-14T16:20:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T23:20:02","slug":"virtually-here-for-it-an-interview-with-r-eric-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/virtually-here-for-it-an-interview-with-r-eric-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"(Virtually) Here For It"},"content":{"rendered":"

R. Eric Thomas tells the kinds of stories we need. They connect us with the American experience writ large\u2014the trends, the headlines, the important conversations\u2014all filtered through his unique and hilarious perspective. Thomas joined us for a livestreamed conversation on 4\/16<\/a> (watch the full event below) to discuss his new book <\/span>Here For It: Or, How To Save Your Soul In America<\/span><\/i>. But before the broadcast, he spoke with Town Hall\u2019s Alexander Eby to discuss writing rituals, staying busy during quarantine, and ways to find humor in absurdity.<\/span><\/p>\n

AE: News and pop culture happen so fast these days, you have so much to keep track of when writing for <\/b>your column at ELLE.com<\/b><\/a>. How do you decide which topics make it into your articles? What about on a personal level\u2014how do you choose what to consume when there’s <\/b>so much<\/i><\/b> out there?<\/b><\/p>\n

ET: I try to be really judicious with my news diet personally because, like you said, there\u2019s a lot out there and most of it is not great. So typically, I track what\u2019s happening online all-day for work and then purposefully try to separate from the news stream in the evening. Like everyone else I\u2019m addicted to social media, so I\u2019m not able to distance myself completely. But after work I\u2019m much more likely to be tweeting about food or YouTube videos of Broadway stars than I am about a press conference or stimulus package. Then, before bed I find the most distressing article I can and I read that and then go to bed. I don\u2019t mean to but it always ends up that way so I\u2019m just claiming it as a practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

AE: Your job must require you to basically live on social media. It must be exhausting to be exposed to fraught news stories and the Latest Terrible Thing every day! How do you find the humor in current events? What drives you to keep coming back?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

ET: I look for the absurdity, of which there is plenty. I look for the things that make me excited, of which there is also quite a lot. It\u2019s ultimately more enjoyable to write humorously about things that make us happy rather than things that make us angry or sad. So, I take the little things and blow them up, focusing on little strange details or asides that still capture the spirit of the news.<\/span><\/p>\n

AE: If you had to pick one of the essays and stories from your book to tell people in order to give them a sense of what the book is about, which would you choose?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

ET: All of the essays are different in terms of approach and subject, but I think the essay \u201cThere\u2019s Never Any Trouble Here in Bubbleland\u201d is a fun grab bag of all the ingredients I worked with in this book: humor and heart, applying ideas about identity and belonging to one\u2019s lived experience, and pop culture references.<\/span><\/p>\n

AE: Every writer\u2019s process is different, and most tend to look a little strange from the outside. What\u2019s one of your strangest routines or rituals to get yourself in the headspace for writing?<\/b><\/p>\n

ET: My new thing lately is dusting my baseboards. This is sort of a quarantine habit, actually. I used to go buy a baked good when I was trying to get in a writing headspace\u2014I will go to the ends of the earth for a blueberry muffin. But with that off the table for now, I have to resort to things I can do within my house. My baseboards are shining like the top of the Chrysler Building right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

AE: What are your go-to strategies for chasing off boredom while in isolation? What\u2019s the weirdest trend you\u2019ve heard about (or participated in) while in quarantine?<\/b><\/p>\n

ET: I\u2019m actually pretty busy in quarantine, which I\u2019m grateful for. I\u2019ve got my day job and other events and projects that are keeping me tied up. But I\u2019m really appreciating that the lack of access to a larger physical social life does afford more opportunity to watch TV and movies and read, so I\u2019m doing a lot of that in the evenings. I thought about getting really into skincare, like purchasing a lot of products and emerging from my house absolutely gorgeous when this is over. I did the purchasing part but I haven\u2019t really gotten around to the rest. There\u2019s time though. Whenever this is done, I\u2019m going to be a supermodel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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R. Eric Thomas joined us for a livestream on Thursday, 4\/16\u2014and you can watch the entire event below.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n