Examining Life

a bit of my own

The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine publishes a beautiful literary journal called the Examined Life Journal, and I just received issue #13. I am honored to be included in this issue with a short piece of prose titled “Dragon Mother.” You can buy the journal on the Behemoth’s website as it isn’t available in independent bookstores (I don’t think). There are some gorgeous essays, poetry and fiction in it — plus, “literary” and “medicine” coupled is a good thing, don’t you think? Here’s the link.

In other news, I’ve seen two excellent movies in the last few weeks and highly recommend both. One is Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s sublime book from 2020, and the other is Sentimental Value, a Norwegian film that’s just plain gorgeous. I’m in the middle of the series Cemetary Road that stars Emma Thompson — who doesn’t love Emma Thompson — but had to stop watching the Claire Danes series The Beast in Me when one of the characters beats someone’s head in with a gun and a grimace. You’re welcome. I just finished the unputdownable novel Flashlight by Susan Choi and am in the middle of St. Augustine’s Confessions under the brilliant tutelage of writer Garth Greenwell. The backlog is growing, but I’m most excited about Patti Smith’s new memoir Bread of Angels. I’ll keep you posted.

It’s a beautiful winter day in Los Angeles — yes, we have winter (43 degrees this morning) — and my house is filled with boxes of Christmas stuff. I’m watching the million or so little birds in our birdbath right outside the dining room window (despite my beloved partners being one of the most accomplished bird photographers in California, I still don’t remember names) and feeling unusually content this morning. I’d love to know what you’re thinking about these days, what you’re reading and watching and doing to cope with the clusterfu*^kery that is our country.