Badass Writer of the Week: Debra Hill

Debra Hill

By Sean Tuohy

Despite only having a handful of writing credits to her name, producer/writer Debra Hill did more to change Hollywood than most. During her 30-year career, Hill helped bring some of the most beloved films to the big screen.

Hill started off her filmmaking career as a script supervisor. She found herself on the set of an ultra-low budget film “Assault On Precinct 13,” which was being filmed by first-time director John Carpenter. The two struck up a friendship and partnership that would last till the end of Hill’s career. They ended up working on a script about babysitters being terrorized by a masked serial killer on Halloween.

“Halloween” became a surprise box office smash when it was released. The film’s success transformed John Carpenter into a well respected and sought after director and Hill into a top-level producer. The pair also worked together on cult classics like The Fog”, “Escape from New York,” and “Halloween 2.”

When not working with Carpenter, Hill was busy producing films of her own. “The Dead Zone,” “The Fisher King,” and “World Trade Center” are some of the 30 titles that she helped produce. Her body of work is even more impressive because she came to fame during a time when women in film were mostly relegated to hair and makeup.

Hill also produced films that most people assumed woman would not like, including horror, action, and thrillers. She is also credited with helping to create the booming “teen slasher” subgenre.

In 2004, Hill discovered she was had cancer. At the time of her death in 2005, she was working on “World Trade Center.” We assume she’s twirling a knife somewhere, crafting new, unsuspecting victims for Michael Myers. 

Badass Writers of the Week

Badass Writer of the Week: Rudyard Kipling

By Sean Tuohy

With Jon Favreau’s "The Jungle Book" currently roaring through the box office, it’s time to look at the badass who first brought us the story about an orphan in the jungle. 

Rudyard Kipling. 

Kipling's work changed the landscape of modern storytelling. Born to an English father stationed in India, Kipling absorbed lessons from his ayahs (nurses) and the native tongue. He was sent to study in England, and during his time there he worked on his craft. He created wild stories that took place in world filled with science and thrilling plots. Kipling's work is often cited as the first form of modern science fiction.

Returning back to India, Kipling worked as a journalist and his writings quickly gained international attention. By the time he returned back to England once again, he was already a literary celebrity. After marrying an American woman, the author moved with her to Vermont where he worked on his first installment of The Jungle Book. 

At the outbreak of World War I, Kipling pushed for England to enter the conflict. When his son John was denied military service, Kipling used his power and status to allow him to join the army. Kipling's tone about the war changed after John was killed in battle. Kipling spent the remainder of the war working for the Graves Commission, which was in charge of maintaining military graveyards. Kipling was known to mark the graves of unknown soldiers with a marker that read:

“A Soldier of the Great War, Known Unto God.”

Kipling continued to write, and even became the first Briton to with the Pulitzer Prize. He was also the youngest man awarded the Nobel Prize. 

We should mention that Kipling made a fanboy stop in America in 1889 to meet his literary hero Mark Twain. According to Brain Pickings, Twain became enamored with Kipling’s work. At age 70, Twain is quoted as saying,

“I am not acquainted with my own books but I know Kipling’s books. They never grow pale to me; they keep their colour; they are always fresh.”

Kipling passed away in 1936. We assume he and Twain are drinking and smoking heavily while viciously editing each other’s work.  

Badass Writer of the Week Archive

Badass Writer of the Week: Joel Edgerton

Joel Edgerton

“Time...time and the world swallows events. And it's sad but that's how it is.”—Detective Carl Summer

By Sean Tuohy

Australian screenwriter, director, and actor Joel Edgerton is a triple threat. He is able to bring fully formed characters to life on the page, the screen, and from the director’s chair.

Edgerton’s credits include “Warrior,” "Smokin’ Aces," “Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones,” and his 2015 directorial debut “The Gift.” As a screenwriter, Edgerton as created some of the most tension-filled stories in recent memory. His characters are pushed to the brink and forced to examine themselves while the audience watches in wide-eye shock.

Edgerton’s 2013 script “Felony” presented us with a story that asked, “What would you do?” When a good-hearted police officer accidently hits a child with his car, he works with a cynical co-worker to cover up the crime while a rookie tries to uncover the truth. Edergton makes us feel for a man, who really isn’t a bad guy, ripped to shreds by a tragic mistake. It also doesn’t hurt that the dialogue flows smoothly out of his well-formed characters’ mouths.

Edgerton also wrote the screen story for 2014’s “Rover,” one of the best films of the year. “The Gift,” the film that marked Edgerton’s directorial debut, makes you squirm in your seat and brews a sick feeling at the bottom of the stomach. The story was well paced, the characters felt real, and the lingering moments of tension left viewers breathless.

As much as I like to watch Edgerton lighting up screen as an actor, I would love to see him stretch his badass screenwriting muscles more in the future.

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Frederick Forsyth

Frederick Forsyth

By Sean Tuohy

This Friday's Badass Writer of the Week has seen the brutal conflicts of Africa, been an ace fighter pilot, met with gunrunners, worked along side the most elite special forces, and was once a journalist.

No, this isn’t the background of some classic adventure hero; this is the real life of best-selling author Frederick Forsyth, the father of the modern thriller novel. Forsyth is known for his in-depth research, which has helped him plan the assassination of a President, the overthrow of the government, and how to track down international terrorists. In addition to setting the bar that all thriller authors must meet, Forsyth has been reviewed by several governments because of the security risk his novels offer.

Born in Kent, England, in 1938, Forsyth became the youngest pilot in the Royal Air Force, but he decided to leave the great blue skies behind and become a reporter. Forsyth bounced around Europe for years as a journalist before deciding to write his first novel.

Using the turmoil of France, Forsyth created a highly trained and deadly professional assassin hired to kill the country’s President. The Day of the Jackal became an international best-selling book and Hollywood film. The book became the gold standard and has been studied ever since because of the realistic approach of the would-be killer.

Forsyth, now 76 years old, continues to write and publish mystery and suspense novels (his most recent, The Kill List, came out in August 2014). We will assume he will continue to do so until one of his main characters breaks free from the page and hunts him down.

In August 2015, Fredrick admitted to working for the British intelligence while working as  a journalist and novelist. Yes, the badass writer is also a badass spy!

Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth reveals he was a M16 agent for more than 20 years http://t.co/MOJjxo8wcZ pic.twitter.com/NyHtwpq4nQ

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 30, 2015

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Stephen King

Stephen King

By Sean Tuohy

Boo! Are you scared?

No?

Then go read a Stephen King story because for the past 40 years, the Maine-born writer has been causing readers to wet their beds out of fear. King's works can also regularly be found being turned into a movie, television show, or mini series. The man pumps out books like Babe Ruth hitting homers.

We couldn't summarize King's massive and impressive career. We'd have to shut down Writer's Bone for a year to do that. In the spirit of Halloween, we're going to share a couple of key frighting moments from some of King's adapted works. However, the selected scenes do appear in the original work.

Enjoy!

They All Float Down Here

Best Bartender From Portland, Maine to Portland, Ore.

Not Going Anywhere

That Bathroom One

Pay Back

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly

By Daniel Ford

“Who is Nellie Bly?”

This question was poised to me by someone after I mentioned her in the latest installment of The Newspapermen.

I figured it was only appropriate to give everyone a refresher on the ground-breaking female journalist by honoring her as this Friday’s Badass Writer of the Week.

Bly was actually born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in Cochran’s Mills, Pa (which was named after her father). Unfortunately, her father died when she was 6 years old, and the family was left without an inheritance. Seeking financial security, Bly’s mother re-married. However, the man was an abusive thug and Bly’s mother sued for divorce (which in the mid-1800s was pretty rare, even for abused women). According to PBS, Bly testified at the trial saying, “My stepfather has been generally drunk since he married my mother. When drunk he is very cross and cross when sober."

So, like many of the badasses on our list, it wasn't a great start for our heroine.

Bly didn’t let her tumultuous upbringing get her down. In fact, in 1885, Bly read an editorial in The Pittsburgh Dispatch entitled “What Girls Are Good For.” It was the 19th Century’s version of trolling. Essentially, the article told women to stay in the home. Bly did what badass writers do; she penned a terse and sensational reply that so impressed the paper’s editor that he urged the “Little Orphan Girl” to come forward so he could give her a job. She accepted. According to The New Yorker, the newly christened Nellie Bly spent a year working on stories that fell into “the pink ghetto—pieces on fashion, decorating, entertaining, and gardening.” Unsatisfied, Bly decided to hightail it to Mexico and file dispatches as a freelance writer.

She made her way back to the United States and got a job at The New York World, which was owned at the time by Joseph Pulitzer (there’s a minor writing award named after him). Rather than being cornered into writing about women’s issues, Bly was at the frontlines of the newspaper wars between Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. She convinced doctors and judges she was insane and was committed to Blackwell's Island, a nefarious New York City mental institution, for 10 days. Following her experience, Bly wrote “Behind Asylum Bars,” a series that “showcased her reportorial skills and her wry way with language.” She also caused somewhat of an uproar in New York City and the local government was forced to spend additional funds to improve conditions at the mental institution. This was muckraking journalism at its finest.

Here’s an excerpt:

We were taken into a cold, wet bathroom, and I was ordered to undress. Did I protest? Well, I never grew so earnest in my life as when I tried to beg off. They said if I did not they would use force and that it would not be very gentle. At this I noticed one of the craziest women in the ward standing by the filled bathtub with a large, discolored rag in her hands. She was chattering away to herself and chuckling in a manner which seemed to me fiendish. I knew now what was to be done with me. I shivered. They began to undress me, and one by one they pulled off my clothes. At last everything was gone excepting one garment. "I will not remove it," I said vehemently, but they took it off. I gave one glance at the group of patients gathered at the door watching the scene, and I jumped into the bathtub with more energy than grace.

Bly lost a little steam as a reporter after everyone starting duplicating her style. Determined not to be a forgotten byline, Bly decided to take on Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg and travel around the world in less than 80 days. The newspaper brass took some convincing. According to Mental Floss, Bly had an answer ready when the paper suggested they send a man instead: “Very well. Start the man and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.” Bly got her way.

She set out on the journey alone; just one badass writer against the world. Bly returned from her journey in only 72 days, six hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds. Bly wrote that upon her arrival back in the United States, “I took off my cap and wanted to yell with the crowd, not because I had gone around the world in seventy-two days, but because I was home again.”

Needless to say, her account detailing the trip was a sensation. Chapter 1 is entitled, “A Proposal to Girdle the Earth.” Here’s how she recounts coming up with the idea:

What gave me the idea? It is sometimes difficult to tell exactly what gives birth to an idea. Ideas are the chief stock in trade of newspaper writers and generally they are the scarcest stock in market, but they do come occasionally.

This idea came to me one Sunday. I had spent a greater part of the day and half the night vainly trying to fasten on some idea for a newspaper article. It was my custom to think up ideas on Sunday and lay them before my editor for his approval or disapproval on Monday. But ideas did not come that day and three o'clock in the morning found me weary and with an aching head tossing about in my bed. At last tired and provoked at my slowness in finding a subject, something for the week's work, I thought fretfully:

"I wish I was at the other end of the earth!"

"And why not?" the thought came: "I need a vacation; why not take a trip around the world?"

It is easy to see how one thought followed another. The idea of a trip around the world pleased me and I added: "If I could do it as quickly as Phileas Fogg did, I should go.

Following her historic trip, Bly married a millionaire, became a leading female industrialist when her husband died, became the country’s first female war correspondent during World War I, and continued to write a column for The Evening Journal until her death from pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 57.

So now if someone asks you who Nellie Bly is, you can reply, “She was a complete badass and could write circles the size of the globe around you.”

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

By Daniel Ford  

I saw Joan Rivers live at Foxwoods Casino last year with Stephanie Schaefer.

I wasn’t supposed to go. Stephanie only had two tickets and she was taking her mother. I was tasked with palling around with her grandmother while she played the slots. I was looking forward to a few free drinks and some conversation about the good old days when an elderly couple shoved an envelope in my hand.

“You want to see Joan Rivers?” The old man said.

“How much are you selling them for?” I asked.

“Take em,” he said.

So I did. Stephanie’s grandmother reluctantly agreed to be my date and we settled in for Rivers’ act.

Holy cow did that woman put on a show.

For an 80-something-year-old, Rivers had no fear of physical comedy or offending every race, gender, and sexual preference known to man. I laughed my ass off the entire time.

Sadly, the trailblazing comedian died Sept. 4, 2014 at the age of 81. Here at Writer’s Bone, we could think of no better way to honor her than naming her Badass Writer of the Week and discussing some of the highlights of her career (Stephanie Schaefer is going to handle Rivers’ "Fashion Police" era for obvious reasons).

“I’m Wearing 1965 Hair”

Joan Rivers got her break on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” She was named Carson’s permanent guest host in 1983. She made people fall out of their chairs with her biting humor and quick wit. She did all of this in an era defined by white men treating women (and most of the rest of humanity) like a public toilet. Rivers told them to shut the fuck up. And did it while make them soil themselves from laughing too hard.

Rivers would eventually “betray” Carson by launching her own late night show in 1986. He never spoke to her again. The rift would in large part define her narrative for the rest of her career, but from the above clip, one can see she was every bit his equal and would have never settled for being his second banana. Rivers explained why she thought Carson got so upset in an article she wrote for The Hollywood Reporter:

“I think he really felt because I was a woman that I just was his. That I wouldn’t leave him. I know this sounds very warped. But I don’t understand otherwise what was going on. For years, I thought that maybe he liked me better than the others. But I think it was a question of, “I found you, and you’re my property.” He didn’t like that as a woman, I went up against him.”

Predictably, Carson’s show wiped the floor with her. But a glass ceiling had been shattered and Joan Rivers proved women were every bit as funny and conniving as their male counterparts.

“It Doesn’t Get Better. You Get Better”

It doesn’t get more honest than this. Louie CK has a wonderful ability to get pitch-perfect performances from his guest stars on “Louie.” Joan Rivers was no exception.

“It’s a calling," she says, "We make people happy.” There’s a beat there where you realize how miserable comedians can become despite bringing joy to others. Her monologue is both inspiring and soul-crushing. 

And then Louie totally ruins the moment by trying to make out with Rivers. She’s appalled at first, gives it a second thought, and then shrugs. “Why not. But don’t tell anyone. No one likes a necrophiliac.”

Can you imagine any other comedian delivering that line?

“It Looks Like She Just B$%^ the Grinch” 

By Stephanie Schaefer

I’ll admit that over the past few years while most 20-somethings were out taking shots on a Friday night, I was more often than not sitting on my couch laughing out loud from the witty, hilarious, and usually off-color jokes of an 80-year-old.

Rivers gained a whole new generation of fans (#JoanRangers)—myself included—when her television show “Fashion Police,” which critiqued red carpet looks, premiered on E! in 2010.

No matter how rough a week I was having, up until last week I could count on Rivers to make me laugh with her sassy sayings and fearlessness to say what everyone else was thinking (or wish they were clever enough to think of).

RIP Joan Rivers. You were one of a kind and you will be missed.

“If there is a secret to being a comedian, it’s just loving what you do. It is my drug of choice. I don’t need real drugs. I don’t need liquor. It’s the joy that I get performing. That is my rush. I get it nowhere else.”—Joan Rivers, The Hollywood Reporter, 2012

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Ponyboy Curtis

Ponyboy. 

Yeah, he's not real.

By Sean Tuohy

We know. You don't have to say, "Hey, Writer's Bone, Ponyboy is not a real person!" Duh. He's a beloved fictional character from The Outsiders, a book most of us had to read in school and a movie that features the Karate Kid getting burnt to a crisp. When we started Badass Writer of the Week, we never said that the writer we choose had to be, you know, an actual person.

So...

Now that we got that our of the way, we can get back to Ponyboy. The well-meaning young greaser who reads Gone With The Wind to his buddy Johnny, and gets in rumbles with the Socs is a badass writer in our book.

How is he a writer? In the book, Ponyboy talks about doing well in English class and talks about how he likes to write. Also, in the movie, he is shown writing "The Outsiders" story down. Ponyboy is a natural storyteller and it shows throughout the book and movie.

We believe in what Ponyboy Curtis believes in here at the Bone. We believe that good things come out of bad things. We believe that teenagers need to go through a lot of shit to mold them into valuable adults. We believe that Pony left his poor Midwestern town for the East Coast and became a brooding, dark writer like Cormac McCarthy.

Oh, you need more reasons for his badassey, Judgy McJudgerson? How about the fact that he always sticks by his friends and family no matter what? Or that he  loves his brothers more than anything else? Or that he runs into a burning school to save children? He put himself in danger to rescue his best friend and a group of scared kids he didn't even know.

And again, he's a teenager. Fictional or not, that's an impressive badass resume.

We should note that S.E. Hinton struggled so much with the fame and pressure from the success of The Outsiders that she lapsed into a three-year writer's block. Ponyboy's awesomeness was too much for even his creator to handle (According to her website, Hinton eventually started writing again after her husband got sick of her being depressed. He demanded she write two pages a day).

What other fictional characters would you add to our Badass Writers of the Week? Let us know in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer Moment: Yukio Mishima Starts A Coup

Yukio Mishima

By Sean Tuohy

The Writer 

Yukio Mishima was one of the most important Japanese writer's of the 20th Century.

During his lifetime, he was nominated for a Nobel Prize Award three times. His work included novels, poems, and several films that he directed. Outside the creative world, Mishima modeled and was a weight lifter. Yukio was also known for right-wing actives in Japan and created his own style of nationalism during the mid-1960s. After serving in the Japanese Ground Forces, Mishima created his own private militia comprised of his students.

Mishima saw himself as the savior of Japan and in 1970 tried to start a coup.

Whatcha doing?

Thinking about starting a coup.

Oh.

The Moment

In November 1970, Yukio and several members of his private militia entered the main offices of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, sealed themselves in the commander's office, and took the commander hostage. Yukio stepped out on to the balcony and gave a heartfelt speech to the soldiers below, hoping to start a coup. After finishing his speech Yukio was ready to hear cheers from the soldiers, but instead they made fun of him.

Yukio was disheartened and stepped back in to the office.

The pen might not be mightier than this sword.

The Result

So how did Yukio's attempt to overthrow the government go?

Knowing his coup was a failure Yukio took a moment to collect himself before he committed sukkio (aka disemboweling yourself with a sword) in the office. Like all great failed military heroes, his plan didn't work out so he knifed himself.

Makes total sense.

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: George V. Higgins

George V. Higgins

By Sean Tuohy

Daniel Ford and I have both recently made the city of Boston the place we call home. The small New England city is famous for its wicked accents, heavy drinking, love of winning and losing sports teams, and hardscrabble attitude. Because Boston is our home base, I figured we make this Friday’s Badass Writer of the Week a local.

Ladies and gents, please meet George V. Higgins. The Boston native was part writer, part lawyer, part teacher, and all-around all Boston badass. Go grab a Red Sox hat (Note from former New Yorker Daniel: “Over my pinstriped dead body”), gather round the water bubbler, and pound some chowdah as we explore the dark and well-written world of George V. Higgins.

To say Higgins was a Boston native is a bit of an understatement. He was born in Brockton, Mass., and then decided he didn’t need to leave Beantown to go to college. He went to Boston College (Another note from St. John’s alum Daniel: “Ugh”) for both his undergrad and law degree.

Higgins in 1980

However, Higgins didn't jump right in to law after graduating. First, he spent several years working for newspapers as a reporter and columnist. Growing bored with the beat, Higgins decided to go return to law. He had his own law firm for 10 years, but before that worked with the government to go up against the Mafia. The Boston Mafia. You know, some of the meanest, scariest, thugs on the planet. Higgins shrugged his shoulders and said, “Why not?”

It was during his time working to stop the mob that Higgins started writing. Higgins did for the Boston underworld what Elmore Leonard did for Detroit. He wrote about real thugs and let them speak to each other like human beings. Gritty dialog between two hardened criminals that really had nothing to do with the plot, but it was so well-written and so real you can't pull your eyes away. There was in fact little plot in Higgins books. What draws the read to his books is that he just let the characters speak clearly and live their lives. Higgins knew that the mean streets were the same as the Roman stage; drama unfolded in both places.

Growing bored with being a lawyer, Higgins became a college professional. Geez, what would this guy's LinkedIn profile have looked like?

And his career just got better over time. In the 1970s, Hollywood came knocking and bought the rights to The Friends Of Eddie Coyle. The film, made by Peter Yates and starring Robert Mitchum, is considered one of the best crime films of all time.

Higgins kept writing and doing all sorts of badass jobs until his death in 2000. His style and dialogue-heavy tough guys influenced writers like Shawn Ryan of “The Shield,” Quentin Tarantino, and dozen of other writers.

We assume he’s now ghostwriting for God and teaching St. Peter the finer points of the Boston accent.

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Kurt Sutter

Kurt Sutter

By Daniel Ford

In a scene in the first season of “Sons of Anarchy,” a couple fucks next to a fresh corpse one of them has just murdered.

If you weren’t sure before, that should have given you a clue as to the kind of writer Kurt Sutter is.

There is no mistaking Sutter for anything other than a badass. If you saw him walking down the street or riding his motorcycle—he’s covered in tattoos and has long hair—“writer” would not be in the top five professions you’d project on him. You’d think something like, “That guy kills men with broken toothbrushes in the shower” and not, “He must sit in front of a computer typing for extended periods of time.”

Sutter started out living in the “shadow of Rahway prison” in New Jersey. His IMDB biography goes on to say he spent a good portion of his childhood “away from people, three feet from a television screen.” Is there any better recipe for making a badass writer?

His bio on a GQ post he wrote in 2012 reads like this:

“Kurt barely graduated high school, had the lowest SAT's in his class and went to the only state college that would take him. A fucked-up home, childhood obesity, food/drug addiction, and relentless television watching all contributed to his absurd, insular world of violent fantasies and sexual dreams. He hardly reads books, he plays a fuckload of games, and his only marketable skill is his imagination. If he respects you, he'd gladly take a bullet for you. If he doesn't, he may very well be holding the gun.”

The Los Angeles Times wrote a piece on Sutter before the premiere of “Sons of Anarchy’s” third season, which recounts his battle with addiction, colorful language, and developing his persona.

“I can be arrogant, I can be insufferable," Sutter said according to the Los Angeles Times. “You really have to have a big ego and a strong personality to do this job."

At the beginning of his television career, he used that ego and personality to land a gig writing for a little show called “The Shield”—a show that is considered by some to be one of the best to ever to be on television.

How does one top working on one of the most original cop concepts in recent memory? By creating a show called “Sons of Anarchy” about an emotional, angsty, violent, troubled, addicted, loyal, and warring motorcycle club in California. Sutter even stars as incarcerated Son Otto, who is respected and feared even though he’s behind bars. You could even argue that Otto drives the course of the show.

The first two seasons of “Sons of Anarchy” are near perfect television. The dialogue and the tone Sutter creates, along with the grittiness and believability of his main characters, are wildly original and pop off the screen even when compared to characters like Walter White and Don Draper. Jax Teller, played superbly by Charlie Hunnan, is powered by a heart and energy that works so well because it’s essentially Sutter’s own.

Sutter is also a writer who isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Every writer needs a venue where he or she can write, rant, or speak without a filter. Sutter has chosen Twitter, which benefits everyone. Here are a couple of my recent favorites:

TV peabody award is given to those who provide a public service in social awareness and good taste. so who's dick do i have to suck get one?

— kurt sutter (@sutterink) April 2, 2014

Knocked out my front teeth, keep losing the temps. Going gangsta or I guess, white trash Jersey, until next week. pic.twitter.com/3XYBPblSLP

— kurt sutter (@sutterink) March 14, 2014

we can't stop you from pirating our art, that's between you and your black heart. but we can stop the corporations who enable it. #wtfgoogle

— kurt sutter (@sutterink) February 20, 2014

You know what the best part about Sutter’s badassery is? He married arguably the Queen of Badass Actresses Katey Sagal. Her heart thumps on “Sons of Anarchy” just as loud as Sutter’s own and we look forward to the next generation of badasses they are currently cultivating (the couple has three children).

The show is headed into its seventh, and reportedly final season, which I’m assuming will end with everyone dying in the most vicious way possible—like a version of Hamlet that includes brass knuckles, automatic assault weapons, and heavy chains.

And it will for fuck sure be badass as hell. Sutter wouldn’t write it any other way.

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: James Baldwin

James Baldwin

By Sean Tuohy

Not all badass writers are rough, tough, people of action (example: Nora Ephron). A true badass writer is one who is willing to stand up for what he or she believes in, to stay strong during turbulent times, and always comes out on top.

James Baldwin was a true writer; a man who brought the world to life whenever his pen touched paper. Baldwin's work brought to light hot button issues, such as sex, race, and economic disparity between social groups, during radical change in America. Throughout his life, whenever he was not busy writing novel-length essays, Baldwin fought for social change and was a major part of the Civil Rights movement.

Okay, can we point out that James Baldwin was an openly gay black man fighting for change in 1950s and 1960s America? Do you know how hard that is? Baldwin lived in a time when the southern part of the United States was socially stuck in 1859 and in some states it was still legal to lynch a black man. Also, being openly gay was no easy play back then for anyone of any color. Despite all the hate that was sent Baldwin's way, he never changed who or what he was. He simply embraced it.

Baldwin had a rough start. He was born in Harlem to a drug addict father. His mother later got remarried to a preacher who was abusive toward Baldwin and his siblings. Baldwin was a decent student, but found school boring. It wasn’t until Baldwin was 15 years old that he began exploring the new age neighborhood of Greenwich Village. It was here, living among artist and thinkers, that Baldwin started contemplating the struggles of African-Americans and confronting his own sexuality. During this time, he also met actor Marlon Brando and the two became friends.

Wait, what?! Why did those two not make a sitcom together?

Baldwin worked odd jobs during the day, and at night he would write. In 1955, he published his first work Notes of a Native Son. Baldwin's writing was thoughtful and always looked to expand the mindset of his reader. During the 1950s he tired of the racial tension within the United States and moved to France for several years.

When Baldwin returned to the United States, the Civil Rights movement was just beginning. Baldwin threw himself right in the middle of it and began recruiting, interviewing people, and writing essays. Baldwin gave several noted speeches during this time, the most famous of which was "The Latest Slave Rebellion" at UC Berkeley. He also partnered with Malcom X during this time.

Baldwin died of cancer in 1987 at his home in France and was later laid to rest near New York City. He used his talent to share his outlook on the world and to share the fear, anger, and wonder he felt thought out his life.

Despite a lifetime of being mistreated for what he was and what he believed in, James Baldwin did the most badass thing a person can do: He accepted who he was and lived one hell of a life.

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE