Author Deanne Stillman, a widely published, critically acclaimed writer of literary nonfiction joins Tracy on the podcast today. Her latest book, Blood Brothers, won the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for nonfiction, received a starred review in Kirkus, and was excerpted in Newsweek. The book they’ll be discussing today is Deanne’s 2001 work Twentynine Palms, an LA Times bestseller and Best Book of the Year, which Hunter Thompson called “a strange and brilliant story by an important American writer.” Twentynine Palms tells the story of the murders of Mandi Scott and Rosalie Ortega by Marine Valentine Underwood, recently returned from the Gulf War. Through this tragedy, the book takes a deep look at socioeconomic health disparities through the lives of those who choose to call the desert home, living in the shadows of the world’s largest Marine base at the edge of Joshua Tree National Park.
Tracy begins the episode by talking about Twentynine Palms’ relevance to healthcare, pointing out its focus on social determinants of health, specifically the poverty that underlies the book’s desert community. She then hands the discussion over to Deanne, who speaks about her lifelong connection to the desert and its status as a sanctuary for many people looking to start their lives over, before setting out the story of Twentynine Palms and how she came across the murders of Mandi and Rosalie. Tracy points out the link between location and health and wellbeing, and Deanne speaks about the fatherless, rootless desert community depicted in her book and how its real focus is America’s working class. She also points out that, just like the desert, the US military provides escape from dire circumstances for people all over the world, including those women who marry into the armed forces. Tracy and Deanne discuss the #MeToo movement, how sexual violence affects women of all classes, and how important it is for everybody to have a voice in society. Deanne also relates the story of the Mandi Scott Scholarship, set up by Mandi’s mother, Debbie, and discusses how even a seemingly small amount of money can make a huge difference to a young person wanting to change their life. Finally, Deanne gives us a look at her new project, Ghost Cats, a book focusing on the last mountain lions of Los Angeles. An important conversation with a truly ‘important American writer’, today’s episode is one you absolutely do not want to miss. You can find 29 Palms via Angel City Press
Highlights:
- According to a recent Blue Cross Blue Shield survey, zip code predicts up to 60% of our wellbeing and our health. San Bernadino County has California’s highest rate of poverty relating to single mothers.
- Deanne’s essays have appeared in Lit Hub, The Independent, The New York Times, LA Times, High Country News, and The LA Review of Books, where she was formerly a columnist.
- She found her way into Mandi and Rosalie’s story after a hike in Joshua Tree when she stopped in at a local bar and overheard some gossip about two girls who had been “sliced up” by a Marine.
- Mandi’s family came west with the Donner party and managed to survive, settling in California; Rosalie’s family is Filipina, her mother grew up in a shack in the jungles of Batangas, marrying into the military as a means of escape.
- Absent or neglectful fathers are a theme that runs through the book, along with the nationwide epidemic of sexual violence against women.
- The murders took place on dollar drink night at the local bars, which occurs every two weeks on Marine payday and is a night that violence in town spikes.
- Some of the women and girls Deanne talked to had married members of the armed services because that was the only way they could get health insurance.
- Deanne takes on private students—you can reach out to her via the email address on her website.
- Deanne’s next project is a book called Ghost Cats, which is about the last mountain lions of Los Angeles (the only city in the world apart from Mumbai that has mountain lions living on its perimeter).
Quotes:
“I started living inside that poem and traveling along with that night across the wide-open spaces of the desert sands and galloping along with him across the Red Rock Mesas and into this enchanted land called Eldorado.”
“I had never been to the desert, I was living on the mostly frozen shores of northeastern Ohio, which I wasn’t crazy about. You know how you know when you’re born into the wrong place? I just, I don’t know, I never really felt acclimated to it. And I just always longed for wide-open spaces.”
“There’s the military, where men and women are trained to protect the country, but also in many uses of violence. Then there’s this incredible beauty of Joshua Tree National Park. It’s just a stunning place. And the Joshua Tree itself is this very magical cactus, which kind of looks like a radar station. And I feel that, you know, if you get quiet out there and listen, you can hear certain incoming messages.”
“I wanted to give them names and tell their stories.”
“Something I always look for in the stories I tell is, ‘where is the grace in the carnage?’”
“To me, it’s not a story of hopelessness that I was telling. It’s a story of what people do to endure.”
“Everybody has a legacy that can propel them, or maybe it’s hard to shake or both.”
“In a lot of ways, my book is all about class, which is America’s dirty little secret.”
“They took care of Marines. Before they were deployed, they babysat their kids, they cooked for them, they partied with them. They sent them off to war, they greeted them when they came home, and then they ended up being killed by one. So they are collateral damage, and they are patriots, and their bodies were left on the field in a sexual warzone.”
“I would say at any given time, one-third of my female students were writing about sexual violence, being raped, or, you know, other terrible tales involving their lives. And I’ve been hearing these stories, I would say, going on fifteen years now - so a nationwide epidemic of this kind of thing. And as you say, it pervades all classes.”
“Something I look at in my book is, ‘How can we get back to what’s sacred and how can we reconnect with the land?’ You know, it’s really important, and that’s why the desert is a main character in my book because it does, it provides comfort and beauty and solace.”
“One of the reasons I started PLEASE SEE ME, that online lit mag, is to really elevate the voices of vulnerable populations and those who care for them who haven’t had a voice. Everyone should have a voice when it comes to their health and have access to some type of quality care.”
“People would come into the bar where she was working during the months prior to the awarding of this scholarship, and they would donate, like, matchbook collections and food stamps, and it was really amazing. And this was all in service of raising $1,000.”
“That was the idea of this scholarship fund that, you know, was giving away $1,000 to help an average girl get out of town. I mean, that’s all it took. And that, to me, is a beautiful thing. You see what I’m saying? When I say I look for the grace in the carnage. There it is.”
“What’s sacred, and the land, wildlife - those are things that run through all of my work.”
Show Links:
Deanne’s website
Deanne on Twitter
