TREE CIRCLES, HISTORY CLASS, AND ASTROLOGY SCENES

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!!

A banned book: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is blacklisted by a bunch of school systems, and having finished it last night...I'm surprised??? Like what is literature if not dealing with the full human experience. This book was a really interesting (to me) deep dive into false gods, and where the line is between people we're influenced by and people we're manipulated by. In 1960 when this published, it was the role of teacher. But now in 2026 era, I think it's fair for all of us to examine how these relationships show up with podcasters we're devoted to, social media stars we loyally follow, authors we spend hours with. Because as a friend once told me while we were giving feedback to his presentation: our survival depends on who we listen to. And The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie examines that relationship closely and not everyone survives.

What I've been writing: I only have 3 scenes left in Evangeline. Which is WILD, wild, wild to me. Given I started working on this bad girl two years ago. And it's so fun watching her arc coincide with my own, which is something along the lines of: f*ck what people think. Daisy was a really similar experience, that what I was writing was enacting itself upon me, as I enacted myself upon the pages. And here we are doing it all over again. Astrology typically gets really popular in really uncertain times, both today and Evangeline's era (1910s-1920s) were no different. I went into this book wondering how she would learn the true might of her powers, and I'm laying down some of the final scenes realizing that it's helping me learn the height of mine...which are only possible when we really, truly, stop hearing what other people think.

WOMEN’S STUDIES

What gets passed down becomes our history.

The Evolution of Gender and Trashing Misogyny

Do you ever wonder how we got here? To one half of the population who literally depends on the other half of the population for the species survival, trying to crush the other half? IT'S INSANE. And historian Dr. Roy Casagranda goes all the way back to our species beginning state to explain just how insane it all is. This is an amazing, amazing lecture that I cannot stop thinking about, because it proves that patriarchy wasn't inevitable. And it's downright disturbing.

Single women are buying more houses. The men they're dating aren't responding well.

Single women are buying homes at twice the rate of single men. And the reporting in this piece describes the combativeness and hostility single women face on dates when sharing that fact. I read this and was like oof, ya, I didn't realize until now how often I don't share anything about my homeownership in early dating. But like f*ck that!!!! I believe men want to be called into guardian roles to us all thriving, themselves included, so we need a better society that doesn't identify them as anything less than man just because they're not the breadwinner. That, to me, would really be growing a pair.

How to create art and work that lasts.

I randomly stumbled across this long-form article from Ryan Holiday in my inbox...from 2018. One of my besties had sent it to me, and I sorta cannot deal with how kismet it is to find a motivational think piece from 8 years ago at the exact time I needed it. There's some real, solid advice for creatives, like settle in for a HARD road. I think about how crushing it was when Daisy didn't get purchased. How it sidelined me for a good 9 months. And how now, two years later, I can see so clearly how it's just par for the artists' course. Oh, and the best part was seeing a quote from an agent in here that I did not know at the time I first read this, but who became a great advocate for my ghostwriting since. So it was fun to channel 2018 me reading this, having no idea who he was or that he'd hook me up with one of the most meaningful projects I've ever worked on.

The Best Argument I've heard for Why AI Won't Take Your Job.

Casey Newton is my favorite tech writer, and this interview with Box CEO, Aaron Levie, is seriously one of the best conversations I've read on AI and it's role in our work, in a while. I can see the AI red-pill losing it's dosage. Because we can all see that when we use it, it creates more need for really good talent, not less need. And if the commencement speakers getting booed on stage for trying to hawk AI isn't telling about where public sentiment is, this piece will give some substance to that vibe.

Other Stray Links: I finished The Pitt, szn 2, and have so much to discuss. Watched Project Hail Mary over the weekend, and wow if not for Ryan Gosling that movie so totally may not have worked (PS loved the book! Go read the book!) And I had to read another girlboss takedown piece from a writer I really admire, and I'm totally getting over it. I agree with her that AI isn't inherently feminist, but I also wonder if the argument that the middle of the labor pyramid is broken, the career ladders are broken, misses the point that this is actually a time that individual leverage ramps....and ambition and builders and teachers and creators are part of that.

PASS IT ON

Stories are heirlooms. Here's one of mine:

I've been skipping the gym to take two-hour walks through the Presidio the last week. And loving it. San Francisco is having some unique weather: 70-degree days, blue bird skies, no fog in sight. And so Skye and I have been walking..it...up. It's so funny to me that going on a super long trail walk is so easy to fit into my day, but 30-minutes of gym time feels..hard? LOL. Whatever. I bring this up because the effects on my outlook, from some serious time spent walking through trees, has been pure magic. I know we know this, but it's another thing to know and feel it.

I don't know where or if there's a forest or an ocean near you. But seriously, go spend some time there. Good for our mental health. Good for our nervous system. Just...good. And if there's a bench at the base of a tree circle, I highly recommend you lay on it.

Woman on xx