Re: LA reading
I wanted to share my story from the LA reading because it brought up a lot of frustration about what it means to be a successful artist online.
Just some context: I'm not a "fan" of hers, I went because I'm an artist living nearby and wanted to know more about her process of becoming an author. I didn't read the first book, and I didn't know about Daniel's alt right press or her tweets.
Anywayyyy the reading. Okay so first off, it was supposed to be at Stories (leftist bookstore) and was cancelled last minute. And second, she was supposed to read with another writer, Rhiannon. The event was moved to the afterparty location and it wasn't structured like a typical reading? Like no Q&A. Kind of odd. She starts reading and I have to say, she is a good writer. Its derivative. But it's not trash.
Halfway through the reading, she says something about how she doesn't have bad exes and this girl standing a few feet from me yells "unless they try to kill you!"
You could cut the tension with a knife. Gabi diffuses it pretty quickly, responding, "yeah sure. that's more about self care..." Only then did I realize this was Rhiannon, the other writer. She looked visibly upset and I saw her outside as I was leaving arguing with the publisher.
During the sound bath a homeless woman wandered into the space asking to borrow a phone and the moderators attempted to help her while gently steering her back outdoors. It was one of those moments where you feel embarrassed for participating in this spiritual pageantry in a neighborhood in a city that is struggling in ways the people in the room are willfully blind to.
Idkkkk I'm still processing it tbh. The energy was weird. Cultish. I'm an artist, I like to meditate, I like to collect rocks and read my transit chart. I don't understand how you can be all of those things while supporting right wing ideologies. Did she sell out to get her book published? Was that the sacrifice? Is that genuinely what it takes to pop off on social media now? Or is she just stupid?
EDIT
Just read some of her writing on my own, without hearing her speak it. Its trash. I think this goes back to the cult leader thing. She has this hypnotic ascended master vibe about her. Its the voice. It's the way she weaves in her low income origin as a way to assert her exceptionalism, like "I made it." At the reading she mentioned buying a house that resembled the one she moulded out of clay a few years prior. It was weird.
We need the education and housing infrastructure to support artists and writers at all income levels. Shame on Gabi for weaponizing spiritual practices to spread techno fascist propaganda.