UNIFORMS, MORNING SICKNESS, AND ACADEMIC TRAGEDY

LIFE OF A BOOKMAN

Bookman: 1. a person who has a love of books and especially of reading. 2. a person who is involved in the writing, publishing, or selling of books. Oh, hi that's me!!

Some dark sh*t: I finished the cult favorite The Secret History by Donna Tartt about four misfits at a Vermont college under the influence of their eccentric Classics professor...and controversial opinion: didn't love it. Which is ironic because I couldn't put it down. It was so captivatingly deranged that I needed to keep reading to understand why I needed to keep reading. Ultimately, I never got there. I read some incredible prose by Tartt (no surprise there – this was her debut novel from 1992 and she'd go on to win a Pulitzer for Goldfinch, which I also read and didn't love. Hell of a beautiful writer!). The characters didn't feel like characters to me. They had loads of personality, but I could never get at motivations. Mostly, this book just left me in a weird state and that's not how I like to feel for 544 pages. It wasn't for me, but I also don't watch dark shows or scary movies...The Secret History could be for you if you do! 



What I'm writing: Still not. But at the suggestion of one of the most creative friends in my midst, Libbie Summers, I picked up a sketchbook and some graphite and have been drawing to get into a different brain space. If anyone has any drawing prompts, send them my way (are drawing prompts a thing??) 

WOMEN'S STUDIES

What gets passed down becomes our history. A few for the canon: 

I cannot imagine having such bad morning sickness that I become frail enough to lose a pregnancy...all because a doctor dismissed my morning sickness. But that's exactly what happened to Geneticist Marlena Fejzo. So what'd she do? She found the gene that causes extreme morning sickness. This profile in Time was both maddening (because of how little money is spent on medical research for conditions impacting women) and inspiring (because of how women like Fejzo create huge strides for changing that). Give her story a read.

PASS IT ON

Stories are heirlooms. Here's one of mine: I've spent the majority of my life within arm's reach of a volleyball, and yet...I was astounded to learn that, according to the Olympic Program Commission, volleyball is the most widely played sport globally and has more professional leagues than any other sport. I learned this fun fact (from the first ever Olympic Gold Medalist in beach volleyball, Jackie Silva) while on the beach playing doubles with my bestie, former teammate and Plano East Senior High School Hall-of-Famer and CAL bear Kathleen Vaughan (she's going to kill me for the HOF nod, and I'm fine with that). In matching hot pink suits (ahem, UNIFORMS), we played until our shoulders fell off. That's right, and I have the weird tan line as proof. It's so fun to love this sport again alongside someone I treasure with my whole heart.

xx