Quote of the Week:
“Alone is a feeling you can get used to, and it’s hard to believe in a better alternative.” — Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji
What I’m reading:
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
What I’m listening to:
That’s Mental: Painfully Funny Things That Drive Me Crazy About Being Mentally Ill by Amanda Rosenberg
What I’m watching:
“Love Fraud” (Showtime) — the end of the last episode was…WHOA
“The Social Dilemma” (Netflix) — very thought-provoking (and a little scary)
“My Octopus Teacher” (Netflix) — yes, I am one of the people who cried during this
“All-In: The Fight for Democracy” (Amazon Prime) — eye-opening (and more-than-a-little scary)
“RBG” (Amazon Prime) — Ruth Bader Ginsburg was awesome. The end.
Writing news:
- My newest essay is now up on Scary Mommy: “My Against-the-Odds Pregnancy Losses Impacted the Way I Think About Luck”
- All the Acorns on the Forest Floor will be officially released on October 20
- All the Love: Healing Your Heart and Finding Meaning After Pregnancy Loss will be out on March 23. Follow us @allthelovetalk on Twitter and Instagram
- People Who Knew Me will be re-released on May 12 (new cover reveal coming soon!)
What I’m talking about:
- The police shooting of a homeless Black man 10 minutes from where I live. He was confronted for jaywalking and killed a few minutes later. Apparently there is an investigation underway, but I don’t know if the public will ever know the full story (read here)
- The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (The New York Times obituary is great). I feel bad that my first thought upon hearing of her death was, “Oh crap.” That’s not the nicest way to honor someone. So I’ll say here: Thank you, Justice Ginsburg, for everything
- The failure of the justice system for Breonna Taylor (read here). I have to admit, the world is very depressing right now
- How personal changes in the face of climate change are great, but we need larger policy changes (SO GO VOTE!) (read here)
- The 2020 National Book Awards Longlists. I haven’t read all the books yet, but I would love to see The Vanishing Half win
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
This is a new category that I had to add because, as a writer, I google very weird things. This week’s winner: “Who invented the kitchen whisk?” This one wasn’t related to research for a novel. I happened to be using a whisk and marveling at its abilities, which made me wonder if there was some whisk-creating family still earning royalties on every whisk purchase. I think the answer is no. According to Wikipedia, the wire whisk was invented sometime before 1841, but it gained popularity in the 1960s when Julia Child used it in a televised appearance.
What I’m grateful for:
My kid. She’s awesome. She turns 3 on October 4 and, at the risk of sounding like every patient who ever existed, I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. She has become so funny. The other night, as I started singing a lullaby to her, she said, “That’s enough, Mom.” She very often says, “Mom, you’re so annoying.” Whoever invented the term “threenager” wasn’t kidding.
I could say “my kid” for every one of these “What I’m grateful for” posts. I’ve been trying to be more creative than that because my gratitude for my daughter feels like such a given. But, today, I just had to say it. I’m so, so, so lucky.
