What I’m Reading:
I want to start this piece by congratulating my friend Alok Kohrana, M.D., for his nomination for a Pushcart Prize. Needle Exchange was one of my favorite fiction pieces of 2023.
Jessmyn Ward’s newest book, “Let Us Descend,” is a reimagining of American slavery, and is as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.
wrote a poem that made it into Stone Poetry Quarterly, and even now, after reading it for what feels like the hundredth time, It Does Go Faster brings me to tears.Eva Oscura has been writing Ayla’s Erotica Advent Calendar, filled with sensual, carnal delights on Medium for
’s Ranch Hand Agency. This is not safe for work but is guaranteed to help keep you warm during the cold winter season.From earlier in November, this piece by
“When your job is your identity, what’s left when you leave it?” I often think about this in the context of widowhood, parenting, and writing as I search for my own identity and next steps in life. wrote about The Art of Hibernation, and I find that I often do this too well. She talks about the reflective period of midwinter and ruminates, “A space opens here to feel the kind of emotions that tend to get buried in the rush of the lighter months, the regret, the sadness, the grief.” I read Katherine’s book Wintering for the first time in 2020 and reread it starting each October. My copy is bookmarked, underlined, and filled with notes. The pages within a chaotic collection of thought as I delve deeper into who I am and release what no longer serves me.What I’m Listening To:
The new Rolling Stones album “Hackney Diamonds” has been on repeat for weeks. You might notice some young up-and-coming whippersnappers who join the Stones on an album that is just as good as 1971’s Sticky Fingers. There’s a fellow on bass who will surely be a success named Paul McCartney. He was a member of this relatively unknown band called The Beatles. Pianists Elton John and Stevie Wonder join him, alongside a young lady who goes by Gaga.
Tis the season to be… something. I think they call it jolly, but I’m a little melancholy. So James Taylor it is. This was one of my husband’s favorite Christmas albums, and I miss hearing his sweet voice sing.
Another song in pretty heavy rotation is Release by Pearl Jam. It symbolizes a desire to be seen and accepted for who he truly is in a sincere attempt to bridge the gap between father and son. My father destroyed the bridge, and it is one that will never be repaired, but sometimes you ruminate.
What I’m scrolling:
Awareness month and fundraising season are over at my day job for the year, and my iPhone tells me that I have increased the number of hours I am connected to social networks.
TikTok - You can usually find me laughing at videos that lighten my mood and heart. It is also great research as I manage TikTok accounts for work.
Social media predictions for 2024. The nature of the beast allows me to continue to be relevant.
Instagram - My closest friends and I send each other memes and other ridiculousness daily. Which really does mess with your algorithm. Meta thinks I am a bodybuilder from Germany who enjoys protein powder and speedos.
I’d love to hear about what you are reading and listening to, friends.