Chamblee54

Facebook brought some sad news Wednesday morning. “Dear Friends. On Saturday September 21st 2024, my beloved husband and best friend, astonishing literary talent, adored friend and brother and uncle and teacher, Tom Spanbauer, left us all to continue his exquisite dance beyond what his body could maintain. After years of struggling with Parkinson’s Disease he passed from heart failure after enjoying one of the calmest and most peaceful days he had had in a long time. …”
Tom Spanbauer (no middle name) had a rough old age. In addition to eight years of Parkinson’s, Tom was “diagnosed with “full-blown” AIDS in 1996.” In 2014, Chuck Palahniuk took a journalist out to Tom’s house. “Palahniuk is a little concerned about our arrival time: we are forty-five minutes early. Spanbauer is sick—he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988—and has a strict schedule of when he must eat. We’ll be interrupting his lunch.”
Tom was a writer, who also taught “Dangerous Writing.” Working mostly out of his Portland house, Tom taught workshops for many years. His star student was Chuck Pahlaniuk, the author of “Fight Club,” and an all around piece of work. Chuck mentioned on Joe Rogan Experience that Tom was his teacher. This got me thinking. It turns out that Chuck Palahniuk … the man who invented the first rule of fight club … is gay.
Chuck wrote about Tom’s passing on Chuck Palahniuk’s Plot Spoiler, his substack. “He died two days ago of a heart attack, suddenly while eating, at home with family. As his students, we made buttons printed with the slogans of Minimalism, each a quote from Tom, and we wore the buttons for months. Mine read “Establish Your Authority, and You Can Do Anything” which was a Tom rule.” A year earlier, Chuck had some comments about Dangerous Writing.
“I wasn’t surprised. This is what it takes to write a good book. My best writing teacher, Tom Spanbauer, taught me as much. Tom called it “Dangerous Writing,” and by that he meant that a writer had to explore an unresolved personal issue that couldn’t be resolved. A death, for instance. Something that seemed personally dangerous to delve into. By doing so the writer could exaggerate and vent and eventually exhaust the pain or fear around the issue, and that gradual relief would keep the writer coming back to work on the project despite no promise of a book contract or money or a readership. … These people have no idea how unpleasant the act of writing can be. To go back to Tom Spanbauer, Tom calls writing a first draft “Shitting out the lump of coal.” Meaning it’s slow and painful. Even using the best metaphor in the world, Dangerous Writing requires long chunks of isolation. The isolation is the least of it. But at least when the draft is done you feel relief. It’s your shit. Since we’re on the subject, everyone’s shit smells good to them because it’s the smell of relief. Proof the pain is gone. On the other hand, someone else’s shit just smells bad.”
In 1993, Tom was the keynote speaker at the Gay Spirit Visions conference. Tom was riding high on the popularity of The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon. I decided that I wanted to read TMWFILWTM, but could not find a copy. Finally, Buddy May agreed to lend me his copy, and I spent a few late nights reading it final-exam style.
After the closing circle, Buddy got Tom to autograph his copy of TMWFILWTM. When I looked at it, I noticed that my bookmark was still in the book. I got Tom to autograph my bookmark.
Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. These images are from “… a collection of images of downtown Atlanta streets that were taken before the viaduct construction of 1927 – 1929. Later, some of the covered streets became part of Underground Atlanta.” The renovation at Underground never stops.