May ERBs

A monthly roundup of everything I think you should know about!

The core of my writing life is community. My hope is that by being vocal about the work that influences me, I will do a small part to foster connection in the community that does so much to sustain me.

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Bambino’s Hot Pep!

Eats

• many Irish breakfasts (also see: mushy peas)

• Bambino pizza, which Carolyn loved and Jack said was ‘mid’ (I got their hot pep slice and thought it was delicious)

• Masa tacos (recommended by my tattoo artist and did not disappoint)

• Zots! A candy I’ve loved since I was a kid, which I found at a local candy shop (Evolution Candy in Doylestown, PA if you’re local!)

Reads

• Carolyn’s essay! She won first place in a youth essay contest. Very proud mom, here.

• Kristine Kopperud
  wrote a piece for
  Oldster Magazine
  that took my breath away.

• Alyssa Burgart, MD, MA
  on the atrocity of using women as human incubators

• Caylin Capra-Thomas in Longreads, a stunning essay on the sublime

• Brittany Paige’s hilarious essay about a discontinued vibrator in Belladonna

• the late Karen Kao in SmokeLong Quarterly

• Whitney Walters in The Linden Review

• Writing Bad in Dublin

• On Feminine Muscle in The New Yorker

• that NYT Interview with Ocean Vuong

• this piece on cleaning out a mother’s hoarded house wrecked me

• Suleika Jaouad on illness, love, and friendship in The Atlantic

• a stunning Mother’s Day piece by Roxane Gay in The Audacity

• the history of Goth culture. Yes.

• on the cost of remission in ProPublica

• building muscle, building a life

• how siblings shape our lives

• how a mother’s TBI shaped a daughter’s life

• Substack and the next great American novel

• why are we going back in the closet?

• advice on cleaning out your phone’s camera roll

• Hanif Abdurraqib never misses

• hiking a trail in Japan through centuries-old villages

• brilliant, moving piece on grandparents raising their own grandchildren

• an older but lovely piece on diaries

• social media and book promotion via NPR

• CNN hires Choire Sicha!

• a gorgeous essay on manufacturing ghosts

• Melissa Febos’s year of celibacy

• Meghan O’Rourke on writing through crisis

Buys

• perfect high-waisted ripped denim shorts

• a hat for Jack, his unexpected pick for a souvenir from Ireland

• a forest green wool sweater for my mother that we all agreed looked like it was made for her

• new chargers- a charger overhaul!- because every cord we had was frayed and falling apart (does anyone else do this?? wait until there’s a charger crisis and then restock en masse?)

• Sand Cloud towels, which came highly recommended

• You Must Go On, a new book on writing and creativity from Brian Gresko

Bonus: Watched & Went To

Watched

• a very frank interview with a group of agents on what they think about writers and the publishing industry as a whole

• Pride and Prejudice on the big screen with Carolyn! It’s the 20th anniversary of the movie’s release and after my 407th watch I can attest that it’s as timeless as ever.

Went to

• Oh, Mary! (where I ran into writer and friend

  Sammi LaBue
  — running into a friend at the theater? So chic! So cultured!)

• beach weekend in Avalon with two of my best friends from high school and their partners. I love that I have friendships that have lasted this long.

• Connecticut, visiting my cousin and celebrating her daughter’s graduation

• celebration reception honoring Carolyn’s essay

• Narrative Mindworks Salon

• craft session w/ Melissa Febos as part of her launch for The Dry Season

• a special screening of Fargo at our local theater, which was Jack’s first Coen brother’s film!