In November 2010, I tumbled down many Internet rabbit holes while writing a post about 1970s New York style icon/fashion designer/Mudd Club co-founder/Debbie Harry friend Anya Phillips. It was so difficult to find any information about her.
So tonight I almost lost my mind when I saw the New York Times headline: “Overlooked No More: Anya Phillips, Fashion Influencer in New York’s Punk Scene.” The obituary was published nearly 40 years after Anya’s death from cancer thanks to the newspaper’s Overlooked Project, which tells the stories of remarkable people — women, Black people, and people of color — whose passing went unremarked by the Times back in the day. A tip of the hat to the Instagram account of the Mudd Club book for pointing out something thrilling enough to interrupt my streak of activism/political posts.
It’s also kind of weird because if the Times had held this obituary just two weeks longer, it would have been published 10 years to the day after my Anya blog post. Is that a little bit of a creepy coincidence? Anyway, I’ve already ordered the Mudd Club book from Indiebound. Remember, we don’t order from Amazon here!
Please tell me that your next career, once the world is saved, will be writing obits for the NYT. I’m suspect you don’t want that job, or you’d already have it, but I think they need you!
That would be the perfect mix of history and pop culture … is it possible it’s meant to be?! Can I manifest this?