Austinist: I Am So Popular: I Am A Strong Black Woman!

spit4brains

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:55:02 -0600

I see, Seth. What you are saying is that Spike Gillespie is channeling Dick Chaney. And... yes (rubs chin)... It all makes sense now: Spike Gillespie = Dick Chaney. That must be why her "show" is called "Dick Monologues." I KNEW she was mean, but WOW! Dick Chaney?

seth

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:33:52 -0600

@split Well, you've got a perspective that is strongly rooted in relevant examples. I can't argue with that. I skimmed through the recent posting on Spike's blog to see what you were referring to and I found lots of unnecessary dredging up of painful anecdotes. And yes, she's quick to throw down insults in her posts / comments. At least once she has used her column on the Austinist as a bully pulpit to attack people who don't have their own pulpit (I'm thinking of the principal who didn't close her son's high school when he claimed he found a bullet on campus). But there's a bigger picture here that supports Spike as a valuable contributor. Try to imagine her work as a barometer of our times. Several years ago she wrote a clever book about the quilting industry. Colorful, unique, original, and not about herself or her difficulties with relationships. Check the Dow Jones from back then. People were getting filthy rich with 35% returns on investments, knuckleheads were flipping houses, we were doing pretty OK, even if it were all as stable as a house of cards. Fast forward to about six months ago, and you'll see Spike's tortured postings about having her uterus removed and then some kind of ankle surgery that required her to share a bed with an unclothed chainsmoking sister of Marge Simpson. Boom. The economy tanks, and every one of Spike's writings echoes the gloom and doom we see around us as economic conditions force the closing of colorful local businesses such as Radijazz. Some readers are facing such difficult circumstances right now, they're undoubtedly emailing Spike begging for directions to that pantyless reptile woman's bedroom. I'd like to see more of Spike's columns be about positive things that creative people are doing around Austin. But these times don't support those kinds of stories. Instead, these are the days that feel like knives cutting into your groin to remove your reproductive organs. Seth P.S. I'm no Gillespie Groupie. She's called me a pig and essentially responded to every one of my comments by telling me to fuck off. But I respect her because she is a person who doesn't back down from challenges and wakes up every morning to go out and make stuff happen. If we had more people like that, well, maybe this recession wouldn't be knocking America on its ass right now.

spit4brains

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:33:09 -0600

Spike's not mean? She's vengeful and malicious. She writes her incredibly detailed confessionals such that, while she doesn't use a guy's name, everyone knows that Pencil Dick is actually my next door neighbor (to steal a line from Phil Simms). In this most recent article, Spike implies that there is an incestuousness about her ex's relationship with his daughter. She claims her ex-stepson assaulted her, although even from her own description he did not assult her. Now, imagine, Seth, if Spike had slanted her stories for effect or even made parts of them up? What if Spike were to leave out details that leave her audience with a twisted idea of what happened? Would you consider her mean then? Heck, Set, even if what Spike says were absolutely true, her intent is clearly malicious - publishing her confessionals in such a public forum. She wants to hurt these people. She want's her ex's friends to think he is a terrible person. But, Seth, remember that a worm inside a horseradish knows only that the world is made entirely of horseradish... and what we have here is Spike's horseradish. Her audience is her worm. We assume that what she says is true. And we KNOW its true because Spike tells us its true again and again and again. She won't shut up about it. I have had the benefit of seeing outside the horseradish. I have met two people in town who have had the benefit of Spike's public wrath, one being the ex-friend mentioned in her blog, the one Spike says stole her boyfriend. On both occasions, Spike's accounts don't ring true. Spike lies. Maybe Spike doesn't intentionally make stuff up - maybe she really believes her own stories. She might be psycho like that. But, don't tell me that she's not mean.

seth

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:48:28 -0600

@spit- Spike isn't a mean person. She's been through some rough times, many of her own making. As a reflection of those challenges, she writes about them and there is an audience who seem to enjoy commiserating with her. I'll agree she can be vulgar at times, but she's not mean. Seth

spit4brains

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:56:40 -0600

Really? You link to your personal blog where you trash your ex-husband, ex-husband's children, ex-boss and ex-friend? Nice. Very nice. You must be a mean and vulgar person. Perhaps there will be a day when you no longer resort to publicly trashing people who have rejected you, but I doubt it. You seem to be stuck emotionally in junior high.