tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68847980489139885162012-01-28T06:47:47.817-06:00Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comBlogger5171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-73829826018421194892012-01-27T21:47:00.000-06:002012-01-28T06:47:47.828-06:00

Why do you go to strip clubs? I'm looking to hear from men who go to strip clubs about why they go. I have a fetish for big fake boobs. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. I don't know where it comes from. When I was a teenager and started finding porn, that's what I was drawn to. During my decade plus of enforced chastity, I disappeared farther into a fantasy life, and now it seems to be

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-83510040031660181592012-01-26T19:58:00.004-06:002012-01-27T07:40:41.114-06:00

I wrote a post about porn and the new condom law on my Forbes blog. Here's how it came to be. This story broke last week when the LA City Council passed the ordinance requiring porn stars use condoms on porn movie sets. I didn't know what to say about it, though. It's bad! It's good! Most of the time, things are more complicated than that. Especially in porn. But with most issues, a lot of

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-42367232103699054332012-01-25T21:49:00.000-06:002012-01-26T14:46:41.416-06:00

Hi Susanna, I don't disagree for a minute that sexism is alive and well throughout our society. There are some of us who try our best to level the playing field. I'm retired now, but whenever I needed to hire or promote someone over the course of my career, women always had an advantage. If I had two equal candidates, one male and one female, the woman always got the job. My thinking was that

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-67558884632942951182012-01-24T11:10:00.000-06:002012-01-24T11:10:50.252-06:00

Oh, I've learned so much over the last year. So very many profound things. My pores ooze insight. Here’s a fact: I have three regular part-time jobs now, and the reason I have each one of them is because of a white man. That may or may not have been the person who hired me (although in two cases it was), but my point of entry into every position was a white male. What am I supposed to learn

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-16296732362730006282012-01-23T08:11:00.000-06:002012-01-23T08:11:03.253-06:00

If anyone ever tells you to get a real job, you should do something weird, and then you'll get the job you want to have, not the job you should have. There’s a saying that goes, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s really amazing how many people don’t show up. In fact, it’s easier to not show up. To sit there on the sofa, and stare at the TV, and think of all the reasons why showing up

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-20899885935213108752012-01-20T19:16:00.001-06:002012-01-20T19:18:41.117-06:00

Fire Hydrant, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-86929773450171898992012-01-19T08:43:00.000-06:002012-01-19T08:43:33.230-06:00

Did you ever have a job that you liked, that you were good at, but you were sort of ashamed to admit that? I WILL NO LONGER BE SHAMED. So, what was I good at? I had an undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley, a graduate degree in writing, and years of journalism experience, but, it turned out, my real gift, in this case, was pretending to be an inanimate object that, regardless of the fact

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-28224969154571567952012-01-18T18:25:00.000-06:002012-01-18T18:25:20.604-06:00

Three times a week, I create a viral video roundup for Team Coco. Today's includes this video of a digital rug that changes when you walk on it. [MORE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-13677088572500026882012-01-17T10:58:00.000-06:002012-01-17T10:58:10.988-06:00

I got married. Then I got breast cancer. This is my story. The lid of the red garbage can reads, “BIOHAZARD.” The top of the hamper for dirty smocks reads, “SOILED LINEN.” The poster on the wall shows a topless woman, half-flayed, her arm lifted over her head, the skin of her right breast peeled back to expose the muscle, the breast tissue, the cancerous cells.[READ]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-71633150976478205062012-01-16T13:41:00.000-06:002012-01-16T13:41:38.192-06:00

Hi. My name is [Redacted]. I have a story that has recieved national media coverage and will without doubt make alot of money, but I dont have alot of money to get a literary agent or writer. Maybe you know someone that would work payments? Ive been on the today show, inside edition, people magazine, leeza gibbons, jenny jones and many more. The interest is there, but I need a writer. The rest

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-69032579628353983252012-01-13T11:56:00.001-06:002012-01-13T11:57:25.604-06:00

Mannequin, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-24833688526967570932012-01-12T11:57:00.014-06:002012-01-13T12:04:25.559-06:00

Stuck? Want to unstuck? Here's how. Each time, I haven’t really wanted to go to yoga. In fact, one could argue I hate going to yoga. Hating going to yoga is really hard, because then you’re in yoga class, and you’re in this giant ball of violent hate — hating the yoga teacher (who is wearing a headband and nattering on about who knows what), hating your body (I’ve had four breast biopsies

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-6295618943907251022012-01-11T17:49:00.002-06:002012-01-11T17:51:00.744-06:00

If you missed me on CBC Radio Q yesterday talking about Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs, you can listen to it online HERE. [IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-27756484086990528552012-01-10T07:09:00.000-06:002012-01-10T07:09:08.157-06:00

Tune in to CBC Radio Q this morning, and you can hear me discuss Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs. The reason I go to places like this is for those moments when they stay and talk. That's all I wanted. They don't have to be naked. They could be wearing a suit of armor for all I care; I just want to talk to someone who cares, and $1 every 3 minutes is a lot less than $250 an hour for

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-24930692043467490522012-01-09T08:44:00.000-06:002012-01-09T08:44:54.336-06:00

Hello Kitty Waffle Maker, Niles, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-59111171031741581872012-01-06T22:54:00.062-06:002012-01-07T14:23:34.990-06:00

For a variety of reasons, including the fact that my Forbes contract is being renegotiated, I was looking at the 2011 traffic stats for Pink Slipped. I started writing the blog because I got downsized. Along the way, I covered everything from porn to 9/11. The year ended with a post on breast cancer. Here are the most popular blog posts and how many views they got. What patterns do you see?

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-63025962893315535522012-01-05T15:45:00.000-06:002012-01-05T15:45:43.862-06:00

 Via

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-55442237875940440802012-01-04T14:30:00.001-06:002012-01-04T14:31:19.180-06:00

Outtake by Clayton Cubitt

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-8046043599291672972012-01-03T16:21:00.000-06:002012-01-03T16:21:40.130-06:00

Who's the man on the left? Find out here.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-73991398975051396892011-12-30T21:59:00.008-06:002011-12-31T14:11:21.009-06:00

res·o·lu·tion  noun   \re-zə-ˈlü-shən\ Definition of RESOLUTION 1  : the act or process of resolving: as     a : the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones     b : the act of answering : solving     c : the act of determining     d : the passing of a voice part from a dissonant to a consonant tone or the progression of a chord from dissonance to consonance     e : the separating

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-65970143218433926102011-12-29T19:27:00.000-06:002011-12-29T19:27:21.856-06:00

This was a Christmas gift. It smells like if someone threw a hand grenade at you, but the grenade was filled with flowers. It is awesome.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-17444172852438158192011-12-28T06:25:00.001-06:002011-12-28T06:25:41.969-06:00

"Throat cancer," he said, tracing the scar that ran from his ear to his windpipe. It was sort of breathtaking, sitting in an office with a view of the lake in winter, talking to a man in a suit who was making a motion like he was slitting his own throat.[READ, IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-3269836441789028682011-12-27T18:55:00.001-06:002011-12-27T18:55:50.001-06:00

Why do women lowball other women? Let's find out. 1. There is no sisterhood. Read any site devoted to women and business, and you’ll stumble across various essays, articles, and posts in which it’s underscored how women must stick up for other women in the workplace. The reality is that it doesn’t happen. Rather than cry for a sisterhood that doesn’t exist in reality, women would be better off

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-6964490245590155812011-12-26T16:10:00.001-06:002011-12-26T16:10:28.975-06:00

Christmas, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-47456764566397235162011-12-23T14:56:00.002-06:002011-12-23T14:57:31.541-06:00

I work for Team Coco. How awesome is working for Team Coco? This awesome.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-75267227917146818042011-12-22T22:47:00.002-06:002011-12-22T22:49:58.666-06:00

I finally saw "Melancholia," which I thought was terrific. It's very beautiful, and powerful, and complex. Oddly, I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic. In any case, see it.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-44008407082402908692011-12-21T11:52:00.000-06:002011-12-21T11:52:12.790-06:00

Hi Susannah, Forgive me if this comes off as crass, but you make breast cancer sexy, what a wonderful picture. Best wishes for your recovery. Warm regards, [Redacted]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-36263823846274650852011-12-20T17:16:00.003-06:002011-12-20T17:17:11.969-06:00

Biopsy, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-56758257470842908482011-12-19T12:22:00.000-06:002011-12-19T12:22:08.145-06:00

How old am I? Let's find the fuck out today on Forbes! If you live your life in a box, maybe you end up looking perfect on the outside. If you live your life outside the box, you end up with a face like a map, the tributaries revealing all the things you’ve done, and you wear your battle scars for all to see.[READ, IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-21270751731261281252011-12-16T20:32:00.012-06:002011-12-18T08:42:37.438-06:00

Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs has 22 letters so far. If it continues at this pace, it will be the most popular letters project I've done. Salon wrote about the project, it will be mentioned in an upcoming issue of Playboy magazine, and a UK publication will be profiling me in the new year. You can submit your letter HERE. [READ, IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-75339165136924704992011-12-15T19:39:00.001-06:002011-12-16T07:40:05.221-06:00

Snow Boots, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-4771949611959934422011-12-14T08:46:00.000-06:002011-12-14T08:46:09.920-06:00

If you want to be like me, you should probably read this. If you can’t condense your message into a 10-word soundbite, you don’t belong on TV. If you don’t get that part of doing well on TV means cultivating a look, you don’t belong on TV. If you think being on TV is where everyone will understand you, you don’t belong on TV. TV is like gladiators fighting in a stadium. You have to be fast,

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-74695006707054191282011-12-13T15:49:00.002-06:002011-12-13T15:51:00.282-06:00

Exam Room, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-20501961278521803642011-12-12T14:53:00.002-06:002011-12-12T14:54:02.659-06:00

Susannah: What if your next few Forbes postings had nothing at all to do with your current breast cancer battle? What if your next article was entitled "What Strippers Can Teach Trophy Wives and Junior League Members"? (Juvederm and wrinkle fillers injected into the foot pads so the Louboutins don't hurt). The next article could be "How Tampa, Fl Strippers are Gearing up for the GOP

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-68827118919979893072011-12-09T06:50:00.002-06:002011-12-09T06:51:32.671-06:00

MRI, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-42414431039265284472011-12-08T09:02:00.000-06:002011-12-08T09:02:39.066-06:00

I wrote a post on Forbes about my most recent trip to the doctor after my breast cancer diagnosis. Mostly, the piece is about facing questions like: Should I get both my boobs chopped off? These are questions one would prefer not to consider, but then there they are. As I write in the post, I took my camera with me, mostly as a way to deal with the environment, and also as a way of manifesting

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-35560172552641855092011-12-07T07:19:00.005-06:002011-12-07T11:32:55.706-06:00

Dear Susannah, I was wandering if you would be so inclined to attend an office holiday party with me, as my date. With you, I can guarantee a beautiful, yet intelligent type, proven by watching some of your work. You would of course be paid. Could we work this out? best regards, [Redacted] How much? Well, I see that you have not really turned the camera on yourself much since you have taken

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-67558402773514717832011-12-06T13:41:00.000-06:002011-12-06T13:41:33.521-06:00

Waiting, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-85971421108657582502011-12-05T20:50:00.000-06:002011-12-05T20:50:55.259-06:00

The lovely Molly Crabapple created this awesome artwork in homage to my breast cancer diagnosis. Thank you, Molly! I will be tough like brass knuckles for you. She'll be auctioning it off and donating the funds to a breast cancer organization in the future. [MOLLY'S HOUSE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-87279073382503086702011-12-01T14:15:00.004-06:002011-12-01T14:16:41.702-06:00

Xeni made this for me.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-26249954775070143502011-11-30T14:27:00.002-06:002011-11-30T14:28:28.652-06:00

Flowers, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-80386189396411454852011-11-29T16:09:00.002-06:002011-11-29T16:14:33.061-06:00

At least you have breast cancer. Imagine having to deal with everyone who knows you, knowing that they know you have cancer of the asshole!

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-41110096301097278022011-11-28T14:22:00.002-06:002011-11-28T14:23:42.669-06:00

I found out I have breast cancer. The good news is that it appears to be early stage and the most treatable kind. I guess this is what they call a best-case-worst-case scenario. "The Business About My Breasts": I’m at Costco when the call comes the next day. The call was supposed to come between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., but the call comes at 2 p.m., so as soon as I look at the phone, I know

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-11272687623138184672011-11-23T20:51:00.002-06:002011-11-24T08:54:21.286-06:00

Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs is proving to be the most popular letters project thus far. I've posted several new letters. There are a total of 17 letters at this time. A literary agent approached me about turning the project into a book, but I am dubious regarding an editor buying it. Editors don't seem to get the value of these sorts of projects. They come from another world. She’s

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-15806034857922576322011-11-22T13:35:00.001-06:002011-11-22T13:36:14.161-06:00

Salon's Tracy Clark-Flory interviewed me about Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs. "Men's Strip Club Confessions":  Getting back to the latest “Letters” project, what have you learned from it so far? The “Letters” projects have been of varying success, but I love it as a genre because I find the letters very endearing. I’m always kind of surprised by how enamored men are by women. What I

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-68834222875272325212011-11-21T16:51:00.002-06:002011-11-21T17:07:42.367-06:00

The Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-81334606078760549712011-11-18T06:05:00.002-06:002011-11-17T18:07:31.809-06:00

O, HAI, it's my good old friend porn. A Slate blogger wrote an almost willfully stupid assessment of porn, which I saw fit to write about on my Forbes blog. She said porn is misogynist. I say you are not the male sexual fantasy police, feminism. "Why the Porn Business Isn't Misogynist": Here’s the truth about porn: It’s an expression of male desire. Watch a porn movie, and you’re seeing

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-23801563810717567582011-11-17T15:10:00.000-06:002011-11-17T15:10:23.675-06:00

Okay. Just had to weigh in on this. Anybody. ANYBODY who compares you to Andrea Dworkin is a psychopathic F**knuggit who should die screaming their last syllable as they burn in the storm of a thousand suns. Yeah. I'm a big fan, but the whole Drowkin comparison is so wildly off-base. It's like comparing you to Robert DeNiro or Agustus Flavius. WTF??!! Seriously. In what universe is there a

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-5106067545430168322011-11-16T16:42:00.000-06:002011-11-16T16:42:18.534-06:00

My latest Forbes post is a profile of sorts, and it's a how-to. If you're a twenty-something woman looking for a job, you may be interested in reading about Frances Bridges. "How to Get a Job If You're a Twentysomething Woman": But Frances Bridges the person has something else going for her that is very important. She is very pretty. That’s one of the first things I noticed about her. Because

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-28993728309031123272011-11-11T18:43:00.001-06:002011-11-11T18:44:23.693-06:00

Not long ago, I created Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs. The first letters blog I created was Letters from Johns. The strip club one was born out of a series I'm doing on my Forbes blog. So far, I've gotten 12 letters. Email me HERE if you want to add your anonymous letter to this project. Now we live in a suburb up the street from one. She is very serious when she says she would have

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-42830489809189522042011-11-10T16:07:00.002-06:002011-11-10T16:08:29.372-06:00

Hotel, New York City, New York

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-78777806770534829992011-11-09T09:17:00.001-06:002011-11-09T09:17:52.725-06:00

If you're in Chicago, you can see me read tonight as part of The Encyclopedia Show. Tonight's theme is Railroad. I'll be reading a story about a Chinese man. Here's the show info: Date of Event: November 9, 2011 Time: 7:30PM Location of Event: Vittum Theater. 1012 N Noble Street, Chicago Tickets: $8 general admission. $5

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-3235957266102628982011-11-08T13:59:00.001-06:002011-11-08T13:59:48.424-06:00

The only thing more horrifying than going to the doctor and getting bad news is going to the doctor and finding out you have to go back in a week to find out if you get good news or bad news. [IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-81825798965836530762011-11-07T16:14:00.008-06:002011-11-07T16:38:03.447-06:00

Here's something new I wrote on my Forbes blog: "The Best and Worst Advice I've Ever Gotten." 1. Sometimes when you try to do something faster, it takes longer. I learned this one from my father. It’s the only advice he gave me that I remember. Now he’s dead, so it’s all I got. Interestingly, I continue to make this mistake. I fail at this on a regular basis. So, maybe my father’s advice

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-16170054912177533532011-11-04T18:23:00.002-05:002011-11-04T18:51:11.758-05:00

Probably the favorite moment of my trip to New York City is when I was standing in the back of the Beacon Theater filled with several thousand people, and before the show itself started, the band was playing, and Mark Pender, Conan's trumpet player, was doing this thing where he plays a note on the trumpet, non-stop, for this terrifically long time, like so long you can't believe it's real, and

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-11955802153028495952011-11-03T21:42:00.001-05:002011-11-03T21:42:22.740-05:00

"It's really not fit for women," the media-affairs guy had said. "There's nowhere for you to sleep." "Then we'll go," we'd said. "That's where we wanted to be: the place not fit for women."[LINK, IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-47656185187699409212011-11-02T14:52:00.000-05:002011-11-02T14:52:28.848-05:00

I went to NYC to hang out with the Team Coco crew and see Conan tape his show live at the Beacon Theater. (I work with Team Coco.) It was a super great time. The best time I've had in a while. I loved being backstage, and being in the war room, and meeting Conan, and watching the writers perform at a comedy club, and meeting people I work with and hadn't met before. Great trip!

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-37398483279602232602011-11-01T05:57:00.000-05:002011-11-01T05:57:28.035-05:00

Letters from Men Who Go to Strip Clubs. It's not the prettiest name, but it'll do. For those of you who have been following for years, you'll remember in 2008, I created Letters from Johns, a year-long online project featuring email letters I received from men about why they paid for sex. That project became quite popular a few months after it was launched when Eliot Spitzer was busted for

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-19024871161553965642011-10-31T08:43:00.001-05:002011-10-31T08:44:02.422-05:00

I've got a new post up on my Forbes blog about how I went through three interviews and didn't get a job at Yahoo. It was a full-time blogging job. It would've been cool to get it. I was sad I didn't. "How Not to Get a Job at Yahoo": I rocketed out the front door in search of better reception. I think I was wearing a T-shirt from the day before and a pair of sweat pants that were falling down

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-64184538986020187692011-10-28T16:02:00.002-05:002011-10-28T16:04:06.830-05:00

This week was a bear. A lot of work. A lot of stuff. This was the highlight. My favorite panel is the biking-to-the-store one. Her tiny, thin legs. The determined face. Today, I wrote about how to be a journalist:I’m standing in the dressing room of a strip club in Texas interviewing a stripper herpetologist. There are two giggling girls crammed into a toilet stall that isn’t a toilet stall,

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-62734161517720643212011-10-27T09:55:00.002-05:002011-10-27T13:14:24.937-05:00

I've got another installment of my journalism sausage series online. The series focuses on the strip club economy. "Why I Go to Strip Clubs"In an email, a strip club patron offered a poignant peek at why he goes. "The primary reason that I go to strip clubs is #7 on your list: loneliness. In the dead of night, alone at home, the loneliness sometimes becomes unbearable. There aren’t many

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-17992927043102128752011-10-26T11:05:00.004-05:002011-10-26T11:07:40.122-05:00

I'm working on a series on the strip club economy on my Forbes blog. Now, I'm asking my readers to tell me why they go to strip clubs. "Why Men Go to Strip Clubs" Some men go to strip clubs because they’re lonely, and they want someone to talk to who will be judgement-free. Some men are single or not having sex or the sex they want with their partners, and strip clubs are a way for them to

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-49465829920401926262011-10-25T15:01:00.000-05:002011-10-25T15:01:40.239-05:00

A while back, by which I mean, like, this spring, I started doing this series on my Forbes blog about the stripper economy. Then I got bored with it. But then time went by, and I got interested in it again. More recently, some things have happened on Forbes that have made the traffic to my blog there slump. I mean, slump. It really blows. If I don't have a huge influx of traffic before the end

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-90284131768538502922011-10-24T20:00:00.001-05:002011-10-24T20:02:37.445-05:00

I've got a very cool new interview up on my Forbes blog: "How Your Journalism Sausage Gets Made, Part Eight: The Stripper Herpetologist." What’s it like working with the other girls? Is it competitive? Everyone’s always your competition, you know? But we feel for each other, ‘cause we’re all doing the same thing. So it’s like, we’re all out there in big high heels, and we’re all working, we

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-82949104500412845992011-10-21T17:55:00.003-05:002011-10-21T17:58:44.048-05:00

I used to update this blog more often -- well, that's not really the issue. The issue is what I update it with these days. Which, more often than not, is links to other stuff I'm doing elsewhere. Mostly, this is because this has been something of a challenging year. And not necessarily in the sense of challenging as a metaphor for bad. It really has challenged me. After I got downsized in

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-3291533721130398962011-10-20T19:06:00.003-05:002011-10-20T19:07:10.677-05:00

Here's the latest from my novel, which I'm revising online.She gets up and walks to the window. She presses her palms against the glass to open it, but it doesn't open. She puts her head against it. She can see all the way down. Twenty-three floors. The window doesn't open because they don't want you to fall out, or jump, or get so caught up in doing pirouettes you crash through it and fall to

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-86566117294970711022011-10-19T14:34:00.000-05:002011-10-19T14:34:33.065-05:00

My latest on Forbes? The fine art of FAIL.I fail constantly. I did a reading with a group of other writers last week, and the crowd was not really — for lack of a better way of putting it — my demographic, and it was totally awkward, and relatively embarrassing, and after it was done I got out of there like my pants were on fire. After I got downsized, I failed to get another full-time job, and

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-49044458951601209752011-10-18T13:54:00.002-05:002011-10-18T13:56:20.790-05:00

You give me a lot of words so I thought I would offer a few in return. I read your Forbes blog religiously even when I was employed, because I enjoy your writing style immensely. Then I became unemployed, and it occurred to me that it was humorous how your posts had suddenly and unexpectedly gained a new dimension of personal relevance. Then, mostly due to an amazing heap of good luck, but also

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-17800581226959771872011-10-17T00:22:00.002-05:002011-10-16T19:23:49.971-05:00

MetaMaus, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-25260346307919948002011-10-14T19:37:00.001-05:002011-10-14T19:37:37.080-05:00

  They love you, they hate you, but at least they read you. My latest on Forbes is a pondering of how to deal with getting sideswiped in words online.  “Breslin annoys me,” the comment read. “Not sure why. The phrase ‘talentless hack’ comes to mind.”I laughed.[READ, IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-30253513158389807182011-10-12T18:39:00.000-05:002011-10-12T18:39:32.648-05:00

I visited Occupy Chicago to find out why the protestors were there.  [READ]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-29161760466163455262011-10-11T14:49:00.001-05:002011-10-11T14:50:28.062-05:00

If you're in the Chicago area, I'm reading tonight at the Hopleaf at 5148 N. Clark. They have exotic beers and mind-blowing French fries. I'll be reading upstairs along with three other performers. The show starts at 7:30 PM, although apparently it's SRO by 7:00 PM. The reading series is This Much Is True, and I'll be reading a true story. [IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-14472444537030642292011-10-10T22:05:00.000-05:002011-10-10T22:05:47.520-05:00

I have exactly two URLs blocked from my browser: The New York TimesSusannah Breslin’s blog

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-74372776448723696572011-10-06T11:18:00.000-05:002011-10-06T11:18:20.223-05:00

Why do crazy people make better bloggers? Crazy people are constantly in conflict: with themselves, with the world, with the voices in their heads. Want to know why no one reads your blog? You’re boring. You’re not in conflict, or you have no ability to articulate your conflict, or, more likely, you’re unwilling to share your conflict. That makes you boring and cowardly. A blog isn’t

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-72172162374333175422011-10-05T20:45:00.003-05:002011-10-05T20:46:29.764-05:00

Fall, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-29541805251370782872011-10-04T16:27:00.000-05:002011-10-04T16:27:23.522-05:00

Moving forward, I'm posting more frequently on my Forbes blog, PINK SLIPPED. On today's menu: blaxploitation career advice, the self-made panopticon, and failure as #winning.  Policing one’s social media presence to extraordinary lengths is a sign of a disturbing trend, and fundamentally goes against what the internet and social media were supposed to be about: self-expression. Censoring what

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-21479617906645024982011-10-03T18:48:00.001-05:002011-10-03T18:48:55.116-05:00

Next Tuesday, October 11, I'll be reading at This Much Is True. It takes place upstairs at Hopleaf, which is awesome and located at 5148 N. Clark, Chicago, Illinois. Doors open at 6:45, and apparently it is often standing room only by 7:00. The show starts at 7:30.You’ve been warned and yeah sure, this headline could be hyperbole or it could actually happen. We suggest you secure your socks

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-9273778361236348142011-09-30T14:59:00.000-05:002011-09-30T14:59:54.921-05:00

Are you following along as I revise my novel online?At the diner, he unfolds the day's newspaper. This time, the girl with the dog bowl on her head is staring back at him from below the fold. She isn't wearing the dog bowl on her head -- she's smiling vacantly at some point in the distance and her hair is a different color -- but it's still her.[READ, IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-12910487361702721432011-09-29T13:32:00.000-05:002011-09-29T13:32:28.446-05:00

Dear Susannah: I am not sure there is such a dichotomy as you imply between "being nice" and "being an a**hole". In the circles I used to move in (negotiating major weapons contracts for the U.S. Navy), the contracts ran to hundreds of pages--and that's incorporating most of the clauses by reference, and similarly with the specifications and such of the items to be delivered. But the reality was

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-87947103539178063302011-09-28T18:16:00.002-05:002011-09-28T18:16:47.228-05:00

Pardon My Blooper, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-88002234507265517562011-09-27T17:20:00.000-05:002011-09-27T17:20:17.365-05:00

No one reads your blog? Here's why.Sure, you can think of women who are controversialists, but I suspect it’s easier to be a controversialist if you are a man than if you are a woman. To be a controversialist on the internet, you have to deal with writing things that other people don’t want you to say, and you have to deal with all the criticism that gets launched at you, and, after all that,

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-85525141506791928122011-09-26T16:17:00.001-05:002011-09-26T16:18:45.788-05:00

I interviewed a dominatrix named Bettie about the dumbest things about being a dominatrix.  What’s the dumbest thing about being a dominatrix? That I can go to jail for giving a spanking. If someone gets naked, and my client gets aroused while I’m spanking them, that’s technically prostitution. I could not know that he's turned on, I could not even be touching him, and I could go to jail.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-63996365219327175002011-09-23T23:42:00.000-05:002011-09-23T23:42:39.027-05:00

HERE

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-89545553776752771052011-09-22T08:38:00.002-05:002011-09-22T08:40:48.975-05:00

Hello Susannah! I am emailing you in response to your article  “How a Freelance Learned to Be a Hustler.” I found it quite informative, though I still have some reservations possibly caused by my own internal confusion. I graduated college in 2009 with a degree in Journalism, but to be brutally honest, I’m not big on politics and digging through trash bins to find the latest scoop. I am very

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-67356964598850516122011-09-21T09:41:00.001-05:002011-09-21T09:42:21.987-05:00

My latest on Forbes: "How a Freelancer Learned to Be a Hustler."This is capitalism, not a self-help party. Capitalism is not about holding hands, and sharing your feelings, and hugs. It’s about dogs who eat other dogs, and hustlers who play confidence tricks, and winning big. I’m not saying I live in this mentality all the time, but I have come to feel that the endless reams of advice given

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-91317660619839573732011-09-20T10:48:00.001-05:002011-09-20T10:50:04.201-05:00

I'm posting my novel online in blog form while I revise it. Currently, the title is PORN HAPPY. It's about a federal agent search for a missing porn star. If you're interested in murder, Los Angeles, and adult movies, you may enjoy it. He sits on the edge of the bed in the dark, staring at the screen. They are dishwater blondes with silicone boob jobs and fire-engine redheads with myopic tits,

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-27151931518602046342011-09-19T17:36:00.000-05:002011-09-19T17:36:24.329-05:00

Train Station, Chicago, Illinois

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-5676845524815848982011-09-16T20:15:00.003-05:002011-09-18T20:54:52.659-05:00

This Sunday, September 18th, I'll be reading at The Whistler's Orange Alert Reading Series. The literary-and-booze starts at 6 pm. The location is 2421 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, Illinois. [IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-61382316126511482712011-09-15T08:35:00.002-05:002011-09-15T19:38:19.004-05:00

 Parade, Chicago, Illinois.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-29644238095728304532011-09-14T11:35:00.001-05:002011-09-15T19:38:47.532-05:00

Dear Susannah, I’m a regular visitor to your site and also the editor of the popular energy site [oil-related site]. The reason for my writing and i realise it’s a bit of a long shot is to see if you would consider adding us to your Elsewhere section? [Oil-related site] has a lot of great contributors and we try to cover all energy sectors from fossil fuels to alternatives and have a great deal

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-50530246448352918042011-09-13T12:36:00.001-05:002011-09-15T19:39:16.591-05:00

For Harvard's Nieman Storyboard, I wrote a piece on why Tom Junod's famous Esquire profile of Mister Rogers is so good.Occasionally, a fragment of the story will resurface in my mind. Mister Rogers, nude in a locker room, "slightly aswing at the fine bobbing nest of himself." Mister Rogers, visiting his family tomb, "'And now if you don’t mind,' he said without a hint of shame or

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-9029066046261025482011-09-12T10:39:00.004-05:002011-09-15T19:40:09.320-05:00

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I reached out to a former Wall Street lawyer, a novelist, and a combat medic veteran, among others, for their thoughts on how that day changed their lives.An hour or so later, I remember talking to a woman in her fifties, covered in soot, who told me in a calm, unemotional voice, like she was telling me what she had for lunch, how she had been leaving the tower

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-42244997049733122872011-09-09T19:30:00.001-05:002011-09-15T19:39:33.343-05:00

Arcade, Chicago, Illinois.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-83093788777239352812011-09-08T09:14:00.000-05:002011-09-08T09:14:54.015-05:00

If you're not following along as I revise my novel online, you may want to do so. Our hero is Xerxes Xavier, a federal agent searching for a missing adult film star. So far, he's met a whale, had too much to drink, and stuck his head in an oven. (Oh, and I left out the part about the hooker. And the stripper.)  Today, Xavier dreams of Don Rickles. [READ]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-76134552655543413592011-09-07T12:31:00.000-05:002011-09-07T12:31:01.904-05:00

If you have a 9/11 story to tell, anonymously or not, or you know someone who does, email me. [IMAGE]

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-48535086121612767992011-09-06T07:41:00.004-05:002011-09-06T07:45:43.963-05:00

Broken Mannequin, Chicago, Illinois.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-11453667975622852772011-09-02T11:36:00.003-05:002011-09-02T11:37:20.716-05:00

I've rented an apartment in Chicago.  I have no furniture.  If you're looking to sell or unload any of your furniture and you live in Chicago, email me.

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-85744274464611449462011-08-30T20:02:00.001-05:002011-08-30T20:03:37.159-05:00

I was first drawn to your Forbes blog because I had been laid off and, well, misery loves company. But your Atlantic blog on PTSD takes that to a whole new level. I note that one of the comments says it is the 'most well-written' etc and I agree. So why not just post a comment and be done with it? Even with the anonymity barrier of the internet I cannot go there. I went to Tulane so Katrina

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-104131689428928622011-08-29T13:39:00.000-05:002011-08-29T13:39:25.401-05:00

I wrote about my Hurricane Katrina experience for TheAtlantic.com. I took the boxes and my papers from the mostly undisturbed kitchen. From the rest of the house, I picked and chose from the things that didn't appear to have mold or asbestos on them. The following day, I drove out of the city. There was a boat in the middle of the street. The houses gaped, slack-jawed and empty-faced. I drove

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6884798048913988516.post-26116260203972324782011-08-26T15:56:00.000-05:002011-08-26T15:56:21.736-05:00

Hi Susannah, I read today's post and thought to email you again. Your description of unemployment is dead on, and for me, the experience just ended yesterday with me getting lucky and somehow landing the job of my dreams. There was no logic to it - a blind resume drop on monster.com led to an interview where I was completely at ease. I'm excited for the future but don't have any advice My

Susannah Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11385459851471344397noreply@blogger.com