Tom Tuong
Don’t be fooled by Mary Houlihan’s soft-spoken demeanor — the host of a just-launched eponymous podcast isn’t afraid of getting on your nerves when it comes to discussing social issues.
In the span of 20 minutes, the Ziwe collaborator and Comedy Central writer manages to unpack the subtle similarities between Gaza and the Catholic Church, and name-check the abolitionist who inspired her zine. Ahead, Houlihan reveals what’s on her potentially contentious, eccentric Shelf.
“I watched the whole thing last year and became totally Wire-pilled. To me, the overarching message of The Wire is that in every single industry, whether it's news, police, selling drugs, or teaching, there are good apples and bad apples. You can go in with the best intentions, but you might realize ‘I have to play politics to move up in this,’ and it's kind of depressing. But I find it weirdly encouraging because accepting that those are the rules helps me. It also gets rid of that fantasy of ‘I hate what I'm doing. I wish I could just go do something else.’ Because ‘something else’ is also going to have conniving, power-hungry people, no matter where you work.”
"Spotlight is about the scandals in the Catholic Church. My family's culturally Catholic. We don't really go to church, but I remember as a kid hearing grown-ups talk about the scandals and the people in real life who worked on the stories for The Boston Globe. All of them were culturally Catholic — had grown up with it, but maybe didn't still practice — and I think that's a really interesting thing, because they exposed all this stuff even though it would maybe upset their parents or grandparents. And in a way, they were more reputable and able to write about this because they had grown up in it.
I think the same thing is happening now with Gaza. [For] a lot of Jewish writers, it's so important for them to get the story out because people listen to them, and they're not going to be accused of being antisemitic. Well, they will be, but they can say that's not true. I think the Catholic Church scandals is a good lesson about holding your own people accountable instead of just rounding the wagons and keeping it a secret.”
There’s a Riot Goin’ On by Sly & the Family Stone
“A lot of their early stuff was party music that had a message but was fun and dance-y. And then There’s a Riot Goin’ On, I think most or all of it is recorded solo, [Sly] doing everything. And it's like an emo album. It's sad, kind of hard to dance to, kind of slow, and more radical. It's him being overtly pissed about what's going on in the world instead of trying to sneak it into these pop-y dance songs. And I like both, so it's fun to be able to compare.”
Harry’s House by Harry Styles
“Everything I've mentioned to you is an allegory for social justice. And for this, I just think the music is good. And whoever is running [Harry Styles’s] brand, I think they're doing a great job. I want more people to check out his music because I think they would like it.”
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
“I used to write and distribute zines through a Patreon. I moved into a cabin in New Jersey, and you know the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau? He writes about being a writer in the big city and moving to this cabin as a social experiment. So I started incorporating that into my zines, and I would title them ‘Walden, but Good.’ And it would just be stories about crazy neighbors, interactions I had, or little tasks fixing up my cabin.
I think Henry David Thoreau is a very interesting guy. He was an abolitionist, and people who write about him say, if you could picture this happening in contemporary times, people probably would think he's annoying and virtue signaling. So maybe it's OK to be a little bit annoying about this kind of stuff because, obviously, he was on the right side of history. And then the Civil War happened two years after the book was published. I think he's very interesting.”
“I really like The Boondocks because I relate to Huey. I think that's the kind of kid I was and still am. Kind of like Henry David Thoreau — being very annoying about social issues, and everyone is kind of like, ‘Can you just shut up about it?’ I find that really relatable. Anytime I see a clip of [Boondocks creator] Aaron McGruder just ranting about something, I always have to watch.”
What else is Mary Houlihan is into? Get real-time updates at shelf.im/maryhoulihan.
