Sunday Session with Kevin Sessums: Pride Edition

Savas Abadsidis June 30, 2019

From left to right: Diane Sawyer, Kevin Sessums, and Peter Staley at Joe Allen’s in NYC.

Kevin Sessums, the former executive editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview and former contributing editor to Vanity Fair has continually manifested new iterations over the last few years, in 2017 he began his eponymous online magazine and more recently, The Daily.

The San Francisco Chronicle, said of the site in 2017, KevinSessums.com, will be “a culmination of everything the native Southerner and longtime New Yorker loves, from celebrity to art — cultural anchors that held him but that he eventually lost, when he veered into methamphetamine addiction soon after he wrote his first book, the 2007 memoir Mississippi Sissy.”

Sessums spoke to #Gaynrd.

What is The Daily at Sessums magazine? And how did it come to be?

The Daily is my anti-Facebook. I had a pretty big following on Facebook that I’d built up over the years by posting about politics and culture and using it as a sort of meta-memoir. But it had gotten to the point that others were using my page to hold forth in ways that I didn’t appreciate and I hated having to police my own page. And I hated the rabbit holes that were dug there by others for others to follow them down in angry ways. I got tired of the anger and ugliness. And Facebook itself in a cultural and political sense was becoming problematic to me to be a part of in such a way. So I decided it was time to move on but I missed the holding forth and having a bit of an audience for my voice on a daily basis. So I began to build this new feature the Daily at sessumsMagazine.com which is a refined version of my Facebook postings.

It’s Pride today. What does Pride mean to you now?

It makes me feel more humble than prideful at this point. I remember those who have gone on and are no longer here and am moved by these young folks who are finding new ways to move forward.

How has living in Hudson changed you?

Living in Hudson? I call it Mayberry if it were directed by Wes Anderson and Aunt Bee were played by Tilda Swinton. Since I’m in the Aunt Bee phase of my own life right now, I guess I feel a bit taller living here based on the Tilda analogy.

From Kevin Sessums’ FB page: *To celebrate the DAILY rubric being added to* *sessumsMagazine.com*‘s menu bar at the top of its Home Page yesterday – you don’t have to scroll down the Home Page now to find its placement there as well – I have put up a specially curated Saturday DAILY filled with Small-Town Hudson photos. Enjoy. Subscribe for only $20 a year to find your DAILY dose of content there from Monday – Friday. Today’s images of small-town life here in Hudson begins with Teddy two-timing me with our buddy Matthew Camp in the photo below. Enjoy.

From KS’ FB page [while living in San Francisco, Sessums began a deep and lasting friendship with Gerry]: Small-town SF. With my dear dear dear Gerry today. She is the reason for this trip. I knew I missed her but until I spent time with her today I really didn’t know how much I truly do. Like old times buzzing her door and sitting down for one of our talks. I told her when I get stuck in my life I often ask myself, “What would Gerry do?” She continues to inspire me. And I love her.

Sessums Magazine does beautiful long form interviews with gorgeous photos—is it resonating with you audience?

I hope it is resonating with my audience. I think all editors are finally their own audiences. The interviews resonate with me – and give me a creative purpose. I hope others find them interesting and challenging and informative and moving – and even, at times, funny.