TONGUES, CAPTIVITY, AND EVERYTHING THAT GOES AWAY

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!!

Breaking rules for a book about boys: I've recommended Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown about seventy times in the last two weeks because I'm rereading. There's a reason I'm breaking my rule of only recommending books by or about women for this section, which is because I'm re-reading this book to better write a book by a woman (me!) and about a woman (Jackie Silva). But seriously, Boys in the Boat is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. It's compelling, heartwarming, full of history, and absolutely enthralling. About nine American rowers going for Gold in Hitler's Olympics. And it's about time we have a smash hit book like this one, but about the great female athletes of our time...don't worry, I'm on it ;)

What I'm writing: Many of you have asked what's happening to Evangeline since I'm starting up Jackie. Easy: still writing! I'm running parallel tracks on these books because they're very different books and thus, processes. One is historical fiction which requires finishing the entire manuscript. The other is historical non-fiction that requires a book proposal (like a 60-page business plan for a book). So, I've got my hands full! Over the last week, I've been doing really fun research for Jackie about Brazil and the USA in the late 80s – what it was like for women, what was going on for women athletes, what cultural and societal shifts were happening at the time. What I've learned? So much is different, and so much is the same.

WOMEN’S STUDIES

What gets passed down becomes our history.

I've got all kinds of stray links for you this week. And they're interestingggg.

What is it like being a girl in America? This great piece in i-d interviewed 8 teenage girls to find out. I actively avoid reading my journals from girlhood because this time in life is so fraught with figuring yourself out...and in the presence of the world figuring you out. And yet, this article made me smile and made me joyous for these girls and their creativity, their big dreams, and their bravery. And despite how not easy I think it is to be a girl in 2025, I'm pumped for these soon-to-be women.

For the first time ever, women over 40 are having more babies than teens. The CDC reported on this historic shift, and to me it screams: yes I love that women are having kids whenever the heck they want AND maybe we're all waiting because financially it's required given how little support there is in the form of maternity leave and affordable childcare.

At the center of this next story is a villain step mother who allegedly kept her step-son in captivity for 20 years in Westbury, Connecticut. When I tell you this story took up most of my afternoon and continues to re-arrange my headspace. It's a horror film playing out in public. He was held captive in his room for decades. Then he set it on fire.

PASS IT ON

Stories are heirlooms. Here's one of mine:

I spent the last two weeks in Rio, with half of that time completely untethered to my computer. Didn't open it once. Instead, I played volleyball on the beach every morning, bought friendship pants (and tops), made and wore flower crowns, ate Brazilian carrot cake, acted like I spoke more Portuguese than I do, got a massage that included jaw muscles from inside my mouth?? and went to acupuncture with a prescription for all the herbs (omg why is showing your tongue to a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor so vulnerable!?!?) Also, follow Matheus Almeida he's an acupuncturist and an artist whose works have been on display all over the world including at the Louvre – so you better believe I purchased his art alongside my two Rio besties. “Friendship art”. And yes that purchase ended in all three of us crying happy tears over what the art meant to us and about each other.

Here's a bit about that, because art is so magical, and artists like Matheus Almeida are pure magic:

a Dois Series: This series is made of 12 artworks made on paper and 7 made on porcelain. For Chinese cosmology 12 represents the terroir, or what we live on earth depicting the duality of Yin/Yang (10+2) orchestrating all the events in the World. 7 is about the potential of every event to occur, like a seed that sprouts or an emotion that happens.

This series was created to always remember that we are never alone and how relevant the other is in our lives. This presence of another human being is the one that will stimulate us to grow and become our better version

May the simplicity of this series reach somewhere inside you that will trigger a transformative response of your mind and body into something even more special.

Arts: O que vai, Volta / Everything that goes away, finds your way back, I think of life in a constant flow of coming and going in an undeniable similitude of events and situations based on “repetition“ or “that again”. I also think of life as a resilient rubber band that allows things that go far away and come back to us. The joy of the return is always based on the bond that was created before and it is strong enough to allow the reencounter to happen. That means that friend, a relative or even someone that we were missing out… moreover, it could also be the return of us facing ourselves once to reconnect to our true self.

Woman on xx