"He sat me down and said: 'What did they do to you and what do you want me to do?'"
May 16th, 2020
Sohaila Abdulai with her father.
On episode four of Tell Me About Your Father, Erin and Matt talk to Sohaila Abdulali, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape.
The younger of two children and part of a large, influential family, Sohaila had an idyllic childhood in India and the United States. At the center of it was her eccentric and heroic father, a man who she describes as “So larger than life, everything about him sounds like a Hindi movie.”
Listen as she recounts how he demonstrated what it means to be empathetic, passionate, and fearless, and how—with his help and unconditional love—she managed to triumph over the trauma of a sexual assault.
Thanks for listening and take care,
Erin, Elizabeth and Matthew
Post from an Upcoming Guest:
Brooklyn-based artist Chris Santa Maria wrote this shimmering obituary for his uncle Bunky, who died in Phoenix, Arizona earlier this month at the age of 65. It's unclear to his family yet if he died of Covid-19, an overdose, complications from substance abuse, or a combination of those things.
Per the obituary:
Uncle Bunky burned the candle, and whatever else was handy, at both ends. He spoke in a gravelly patois of wisecracks, mangled metaphors, and inspired profanity that reflected the Arizona dive bars, Colorado ski slopes, and various dodgy establishments where he spent his days and nights. He was a living, breathing "hang loose" sign, a swaggering hybrid of Zoni desert rat, SoCal hobo, and Telluride ski bum.
The obituary ended up exploding on Twitter and a Reddit thread about skiing, with strangers sending Santa Maria that Hunter S. Thompson "wow" quote about death and tweeting to him that they wish they'd known Bunky.
Santa Maria is appearing on our second season to talk about his uncle and what it was like to be left in the exhaust of someone who had the gas pedal floored most of his life. Stay tuned for more.