<description>&lt;div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grave dirt makes the best mud pies… &lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Leila Taylor, writer, designer, cultural critic and Creative Director of Brooklyn Public Library, joins Joanna Ebenstein for a rich, wide-ranging conversation about the Gothic as both a cultural form and a lived sensibility—one that moves through memory, history, music, and space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drawing from her acclaimed books &lt;em&gt;Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread&lt;/em&gt;, Taylor explores how Gothic feeling is not confined to aesthetics or subculture, but emerges through lived experience: in architecture that unsettles, in histories that refuse resolution, and in the emotional residue of place. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She reflects on growing up as a “spooky kid” in Massachusetts, playing funeral in a cemetery with friends—lying in open graves, performing rituals of death, and making mud pies from “grave dirt.” These early encounters with mortality become a lens for understanding how we learn to live alongside death, even as children.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The conversation moves through Black Gothic traditions, literary and musical influences—tracing back to  Billie Holiday’s &lt;em&gt;Strange Fruit&lt;/em&gt; and moving into Joy Division, The Cure, and Siouxsie and the Banshees—as well as Gothic literature from &lt;em&gt;Frankenstein&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;Wuthering Heights&lt;/em&gt;. Taylor also reflects on haunting media, brutalist architecture, and theories of residual memory, sound, and haunting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to &lt;a href="https://wa.me/message/GFWDJDKM26K3F1%20"&gt;+44 2921 690468&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Host: Joanna Ebenstein&lt;br&gt; Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara&lt;br&gt; Studio Engineer: Fernando Robleto Vargas&lt;br&gt; Additional Production and Sound Design: Katie Hill&lt;br&gt; Production Coordinator: Janice Jardine&lt;br&gt; Executive Producer: Steven Rajam&lt;br&gt; Artwork: Lauren Seeley&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href="http://substack.com/@mementomorbid"&gt;substack.com/@mementomorbid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>

Memento Morbid

Memento Morbid

3: Leila Taylor

MAY 7, 202649 MIN
Memento Morbid

3: Leila Taylor

MAY 7, 202649 MIN

Description

<div> <p><strong>Grave dirt makes the best mud pies… <br></strong><br>Leila Taylor, writer, designer, cultural critic and Creative Director of Brooklyn Public Library, joins Joanna Ebenstein for a rich, wide-ranging conversation about the Gothic as both a cultural form and a lived sensibility—one that moves through memory, history, music, and space.</p><p>Drawing from her acclaimed books <em>Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul</em> and <em>Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread</em>, Taylor explores how Gothic feeling is not confined to aesthetics or subculture, but emerges through lived experience: in architecture that unsettles, in histories that refuse resolution, and in the emotional residue of place. </p><p>She reflects on growing up as a “spooky kid” in Massachusetts, playing funeral in a cemetery with friends—lying in open graves, performing rituals of death, and making mud pies from “grave dirt.” These early encounters with mortality become a lens for understanding how we learn to live alongside death, even as children.</p><p>The conversation moves through Black Gothic traditions, literary and musical influences—tracing back to  Billie Holiday’s <em>Strange Fruit</em> and moving into Joy Division, The Cure, and Siouxsie and the Banshees—as well as Gothic literature from <em>Frankenstein</em> to <em>Wuthering Heights</em>. Taylor also reflects on haunting media, brutalist architecture, and theories of residual memory, sound, and haunting.</p><p>📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to <a href="https://wa.me/message/GFWDJDKM26K3F1%20">+44 2921 690468</a>.</p><p>💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy.</p><p> Host: Joanna Ebenstein<br> Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara<br> Studio Engineer: Fernando Robleto Vargas<br> Additional Production and Sound Design: Katie Hill<br> Production Coordinator: Janice Jardine<br> Executive Producer: Steven Rajam<br> Artwork: Lauren Seeley</p><p> <a href="http://substack.com/@mementomorbid">substack.com/@mementomorbid</a></p></div>