Jun 16, 2015 A brief short Q&A with Jessica Hopper
A few weeks ago, I shared a little bit about Jessica Hopper’s reading, conversation, and book signing at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. Her book, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, provides rare and cutting insight into popular culture and DIY subculture but also shows Hopper’s own journey from punk and riot grrrl zinester to music editor of well-regarded media outlets Pitchfork and Rookie.
After the signing, I sent her just a few questions without really expecting her to actually respond considering her multiple jobs and family, but guess what? I got some answers and here they are.
When did you start seeing your writing as a professional body of work and not just dispatches out into the world? And is the voice that we read exactly the real you?
Probably after I had been writing for the Chicago Reader for a while. I saw that I was going into the journalism zone, and that I was accountable if I was in the paper every week. When I insisted I was just an amateur music writer, an editor dispelled me of that pretty quickly by saying, “That’s only going to be a usable excuse for a few more months. You need to hold yourself to the standards of journalism.” Basically saying I needed to rise to the occasion and see my work as legit.
I’m super impressed how you’ve expanded upon your writing’s scope and audience without leaving your punk, feminist, and zine roots. Can you talk about the challenge of evolving your craft and outlook without ditching where you came from?
The sometimes strange and self-taught way I write has long been an asset for me, and because editors often knew my work from my zine or my blog, they come to me for those things: for the scope of what I understand, for the feminist lens I bring. So the evolution came out having trusted editors who did not want me to be something other than what I was. I was able to hone and refine being a writer and a punk-bred feminist.
It’s kind of funny that these questions aren’t that different from what you’d ask someone in a band. Does being on the road make you miss being a touring musician?
Not at all.
Just one question about your day job: Jonathan Gold, a food writer I know, said that he has the ability to make a restaurant popular overnight but that he’s closed a few of them over the years, too. Do you ever think about that sort of thing at Pitchfork?
I mostly run the op-ed/blog section The Pitch so all I ever really consider is “Does this essay work?” and whether it’s a fresh and incisive and thoughtful take on an issue.
Check out Jessica’s writing at Pitchfork and Rookie, as well as her book, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic. Follow Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too.