On the podcast Still Processing hosts Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham discuss pop culture and life in America circa now. On a recent episode while discussing Wortham's tour of Thomas Jefferson's plantation Monticello, alongside Bong Joon Ho's film Parasite and the HBO series Watchmen, Morris says, "[Black people,] as a people, we are allergic to … Continue reading Memory, Family, Trauma: The Deep and The Yellow House
memoir
With a Monkey on Your Back: Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’
I finished Patti Smith's newest memoir, Year of the Monkey, within earshot of the Crooked River in, fortuitously enough, Smith Rock State Park. Several birds and an airplane added to the river's babbling. In the morning, M and I climbed, then he went for a run and I hunted up this sheltered spot to finish … Continue reading With a Monkey on Your Back: Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’
Notions, Summer 2019 edition
This weekend I went on a climbing trip and, assuming I wouldn't have much time for reading, I only brought one book, of which I was two-thirds of the way done. (I know!) I finished it on the way there, leaving the drive home bereft and bookless. I used that time to catch up on … Continue reading Notions, Summer 2019 edition
Inescapable Inheritance: On Dani Shapiro and Complicated Fathers
This post contains spoilers for Dani Shapiro’s memoir Inheritance. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Leo Tolstoy My father filled my childhood with music. An accomplished guitar player, he performed during church worship services and parties, led his brothers in singing around campfires, provided an instrumental constant throughout evenings at … Continue reading Inescapable Inheritance: On Dani Shapiro and Complicated Fathers
Odds and Ends
Short post this week as I’m noodling on a couple of more substantive pieces that are not yet ready for public sharing. Here are some snapshot reviews of a few things I’ve read recently. Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot – This slim memoir lays bare a woman’s issues with love, motherhood, and mental health, … Continue reading Odds and Ends
On Toggling Between Books, or the Strange Fixed Marriage of Julia Child and Carlo Rovelli
Listening to: A Spotify playlist where I'm dumping one-off songs I want to keep listening to. Drinking: A Firestone Walker IPA. Traditionally—since childhood—I've been a one-book-at-a-time kind of reader. The first cracks in that tendency probably came in graduate school, a time when it's relatively impossible to be reading only one thing at a time. … Continue reading On Toggling Between Books, or the Strange Fixed Marriage of Julia Child and Carlo Rovelli
Paris and Patti Smith’s ‘Devotion’
Listening to, Patti Smith, Horses. Drinking, chai green tea with honey Recently a dear friend gave me Patti Smith's newest memoir, Devotion, as a birthday gift. This friend and I have a shared love affair with Smith's recent spate of memoirs, from Just Kids to M Train. At one point in Devotion, Smith is in … Continue reading Paris and Patti Smith’s ‘Devotion’
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 