Over on my Substack I’m talking about why amateur artists persist, I made some guesses, made a list. Please come visit! There’s another list I’ve been thinking about, well, I think in clouds but a list is a cloud from the side.

There are a lot of reasons, but one that I don’t see mentioned is that on the subject of bodily safety, we have gone quite mad. We can’t stop looking, eyes estranged, heart akimbo.

True, I get tired of murder shows and for a while avoid them and instead look for white collar crimes, scams for thrills, and betrayals for a fix. Delish. But then I’ll migrate back to our more stabby offenders. I look for cases where people are killed for something other than being someone’s girlfriend or wife or even for just being a woman. She can be killed as hated family member, I’ll allow that, but not any of the more common men-kill-women scenarios.

So nu? Why do you think woman are the main audience for true crime, perhaps especially of the serial killer variety? Or why does anyone'? Maybe we enjoy seeing the caught criminal because we know that person screwed up their lives more than we did ours, whatever we feel badly off the mark about. I’m kind of joking?

Also, what about the men who watch true crime? Now do we think that they identify with the detectives? Surely all of us may watch to help solve the crime. All of us may watch to empathize with the victims and with the bereaved.

Okay, you’re doing great, stay out of the rain, watch the birds (some walk, some hop!), stay alive, keep your hope in a helium trope, and I shall return to encourage you again.

love,

Jennifer