Virtual Memories Show 385:
Ellen Lindner
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“Women have always played baseball; it just hasn’t been discussed. In the late 19th century, in concert with American imperialism, white men looked at baseball and said, ‘This is something we want for ourselves.'”
Batter up! Let’s celebrate Major League Baseball’s 2020 Opening Day by talking with cartoonist, illustrator and baseball fan Ellen Lindner. We get into Ellen’s great ‘zine about the role of women in the history of baseball, Cranklet’s Chronicle (1 & 2), her own history with baseball, why she’s a Mets fan, her theories about Aaron Judge’s mystery-injury, and what it’s like being in the narrow Venn overlap of comics-makers and sports fans. We also explore her comics upbringing, the education she got by volunteering at the Words and Pictures Museum of Sequential Art, the comics festivals she misses the most in Pandemic World, the time she impressed David B. with her French, how to tell family stories without alienating one’s family, her side-project of sewing masks and biking around NYC to deliver them, the cut-out figure she submitted to the Mets, and more. Give it a listen! And go read issues 1 & 2 of Cranklet’s Chronicle, as well as Ellen’s contribution to the new Pandemix anthology!
“The fine art world was totally focused on money, and so comics was an escape for me.”
“Just telling a family story can open so many old wounds.”
“I will admit I did go to Smith College partly because of its proximity to the Words And Pictures Museum.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Ellen Lindner is the author of the Ignatz-nominated graphic novel The Black Feather Falls, as well as The Cranklet’s Chronicle, a history of women, baseball and social change in America. Her comics have appeared in The Lily, Spiralbound, World War 3 Illustrated, and a variety of other publications and anthologies. Ellen is also an editor and educator, and her activist art has been acquired by the Smithsonian Institution. A member of the ART HQ cartooning studio, she lives in Upper Manhattan.
Follow Ellen on Twitter and Instagram.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded remotely via Zencastr. I used a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone
