Okay, here I am. Only two months since my last post. I feel almost as if I’m meeting my own deadlines. Only one month late. Pretty good.
January and February 2016
Books read:
1. Felix Holt, the Radical, by George Eliot (finally finished it!)
2. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (half finished) and annotated by Susanne Alleyn
3. Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise, by Oscar Hijuelos
4. Romola, by George Eliot (I just started it)
5. How to Make White People Laugh, by Negin Farad
6. The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of the Middle Class, by Bernie Sanders
Read on Kindle:
- The Life of George Eliot, a Critical Biography, written by Nancy Henry
Listened to, Audible
- Presence, written and read by Amy Cuddy
- A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, read by Simon Vance
- The As If Principle, written by Richard Wiseman, read by Ralph Lister
- Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives, written and read by Gretchen Rubin
- Detroit, written by Charlie LeDuff and read by Eric Martin (half finished)
Well… hmmm… where to start…
“How to Make White People Laugh” is the funniest book I’ve read in a long, long time. It comes out in May. I met Negin at the TED conference. I can’t tell you how much you should read this book. It’s really, really funny. But it’s also smart and insightful and painful and enlightening and just… everything. I think this book is going to be a big hit and a comedy classic. I really do.
I have to admit I’m having a hard time with “A Tale of Two Cities.” Am I spoiled by George Eliot? I’m reading it along with my daughter who has it assigned for her at school. The characters are so one dimensional. The comedy seems forced. Lucy Manette is a a ridiculous character, the “perfect” woman who is always kind and loving and blonde and good. The only character I like is Carton. Some of the character stories, like Cruncher who beats his wife - well, it seems like Dickens is playing it for comedy. Where George Eliot would take the same plot line (like in “Scenes of Clerical Life” where one of the characters is a wife who is beaten) and make it nuanced. And still horrifying-funny. But okay, I’m going to give it more time. I haven’t read other Dickens books, and I should. I know I should. I will get to them. Also, the annotated book I’m reading is fantastic. Susanne Alleyn did the notes and I like her notes better than the actual book. She points out how wrong Dickens was about the details of the French Revolution, which I find hilarious.
I wish I could be 20 and become a George Eliot scholar. I want to become a specialist in George Eliot. I’m so excited about reading “Romola.”
“Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise” was really enjoyable too. I knew almost nothing about Henry Stanley, the famous explorer of Africa. What a complicated, difficult, fascinating person. The book is about the friendship between these very different men. It’s fictionalized, but based on some historical accuracy. I’m about to embark on a big Mark Twain jag - I have an idea for a script about him. So the Twain parts of this book held special attention for me. Anyway, I recommend it. I haven’t read Oscar Hijuelos’ most well-known book: “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.” Oh there is so much I want to read!
Of the audio books, what did I like best? I’m in the thick of “Detroit” right now and I love it so much I’m tempted to buy the actual book. I got so much out of “Presence” - Amy Cuddy is a TED star. Her TED talk on posture and how it affects performance, the brain, and self confidence was a major hit. I have thought quite a bit about her research. “The As If Principle” is along the same lines in a way — the whole idea (William James wrote about it first) that our bodies tell our minds how to feel. Isn’t that wild?
My mother, when I was being petulant as a kid, used to grab me by the arm - put her face right up to mine and say “Act happy and you’ll become happy.” And that turns out to be scientifically true! We should all be singing “When you’re smiling” I suppose.
Now, let’s move on to movies:
Movies watched in January and February 2016:
- Microcosmos, 1996, directed by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou
- The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, 1993, directed by Ray Muller
- Shaun the Sheep Movie, 2015, directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
- No Regrets for Our Youth, 1946, directed by Akira Kurosaw
- Brief Encounter, 1945, directed by David Lean
- 45 Years, 2015, directed by Andrew Haigh
- Blithe Spirit, 1945, directed by David Lean
- This Happy Breed, 1944, directed by David Lean
- In Which We Serve, 1942, directed by David Lean and Noel Coward
- The Girl Can’t Help It, 1956, directed by Frank Tashlin
- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? 1957, directed by Frank Tashlin
- Amy, 2015, directed by Asif Kapadia
- Diary of a Teenage Girl, 2015, directed by Marielle Heller
- On Cukor, American Masters Doc about George Cukor, 2000, directed by Robert Trachtenberg
- Do the Right Thing, 1989, directed by Spike Lee
- Reds, 1981, directed by Warren Beatty
- That Night’s Wife, 1930, directed by Yasojiro Ozu
- Olympia Festival of Nations, 1938, directed by Leni Riefenstahl
- A Tale of Two Cities, 1935, directed by Jack Conway
- Experimenter, 2015, directed by Michael Almereyda
- Magnificent Ambersons, 1942, directed by Orson Welles
- Ex Machina, 2015, directed by Alex Garland
- Truth, 2015, directed by James Vanderbilt
- Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015, directed by George Miller
- 99 Homes, 2014, directed by Ramin Bahrani
- Pat and Mike, 1952, directed by George Cukor
- The Look of Silence, 2014, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
- The Fireman’s Ball, 1967, directed by Milos Forman
- Goodbye Solo, 2008, directed by Ramin Bahrani
- When Marnie was There, 2014, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Okay. Hmmm… Well, what threw me into a new universe? What do I mean by that? Some of these films I saw over, and over. They entered my subconscious. Brief Encounter - for sure. I owned it but had never seen it. (!!) A friend told me about how a beginning plot devise in Brief Encounter was used to inspire the script for Carol. So I figured it was time. Oh! Oh! Oh! I loved Brief Encounter so much. I guess it’s been much parodied in England. People laugh at the fact that the lovers show so much restraint. But I bought it as real: hook, line and sinker. I think it’s a perfect movie. For me, it’s the best thing Noel Coward ever wrote. Of the Lean-Coward collaborations, I also really liked This Happy Breed.
I thought the Oscar for Best Picture should have gone to: Diary of a Teenage Girl. There’s another perfect movie in my opinion. Not one false note. I watched it over and over and then got other people to watch it. The young star, Bel Powley, is going to be a big star - or at least she should be. Kristen Wiig is really good, so is Alexander Skarsgard. The material is so edgy, cringe-worthy, goes places you cannot believe it dares to go - and does it well! It skirts (and dives into) the most awkward issues and rings absolutely true. And on top of it all, it’s hilarious! Really really funny.
I hadn’t seen Reds since it came out in 1981. I saw it so many times then. I remember playing hookey from work - from my accounting job at Columbia Pictures, and going to a matinee of Reds because I just had to see it again! When I love a movie that much I wonder if it will hold up. And remarkably, it did. I did have to laugh at the clothes. Those communists were uncommonly well-dressed.
I also watched the Leni Reifenstahl documentary a few times. I’m obsessively fascinated by the life of Len Riefenstahl. I liked watching the Olympia films - I’d watched Triumph of the Will in December.
I hated Ex Machina. I loved Truth and felt it didn’t get it’s due, awards-wise. I enjoyed Mad Max, but I have a hard time when a movie when the laws of physics are blatantly ignored. How do you care about a character’s physical safety when so many people in the film defy physical laws?
99 Homes - oh it’s so good. There’s another movie that should have been nominated for many awards! I love Ramin Bahrani. He’s my favorite working filmmaker right now. I saw 99 Homes twice - then watched Goodbye Solo - which I consider his masterpiece - about four times. Oh Goodbye Solo!!!!! I thought those characters were real and they lived (and still live) in my head. How does Bahrani do it? My god, he is a great filmmaker.
Pat and Mike was a big dissapointment. I’m starting to think the only truly great Hepburn-Tracy film is Adam’s Rib. I saw The Desk Set a month of so ago and my god - it was so unpleasantly hammy and awkward. Almost unwatchable, for me. Woman of the Year has moments of greatness. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (I’m due to see that again) also has it’s moments. I haven’t seen State of the Union, The Sea of Grass, Without Love and Keeper of the Flame yet. That could be a nice film-watching goal for this year - watch all the Hepburn-Tracy movies and see what I think about them. Hmmm….
I watched Magnificent Ambersons four or five times. I just couldn’t stop. It’s so tragic that there isn’t a full orginial cut of that film available. I’m amazed at how good the film is in it’s butchered state! I’d seen Magnificent Ambersons before, but not in twenty years or so. Wow. It’s really great. I might like it more than Citizen Kane — which is another film I’m due to see again soon.
I loved, loved, loved When Marnie was There. Watched it twice. I want to go back and watch all the Ghibli Studio movies again - My Neighbor Totoro is Mulan’s favorite film. I still haven’t watched Miyazaki’s last film: The Wind Rises. Oh dear, oh dear there is so much to watch.
And read.
Here’s my dream life: I watch a movie every day and I read for two or three hours every day.
Ah….
But then there’s all the other things I want to do. Like create art. I do that by writing. (Or I like to think it’s eventually going to be art.) And sometimes by performing.
And then there’s other things I want to spend time on: like being with family, and friends. Also I really enjoy cooking, and crafts. I like all those things. And what about exercise? I’m one of those people who loves to exercise. I’ve been doing really well lately with a new thing - I’ve been doing 30 minutes of yoga on my own in the morning. This cuts out a lot of time I used to spend going to yoga classes. Also, I do the treadmill in the basement a few times a week. This cuts down time going to spin classes. But then there’s swimming. I love to swim so much. But it takes time to go - time I could be reading.
I know that all this is the ultimate in first-world problems. I’m so lucky in that I do not have to spend much time on sustanance. If I could just read and watch movies, I might. I could live in a one room space. I could have very few things (I am guilty of collecting some things: movies, quilts, movie posters, books.) But when I see things that depict the lives of the rich and famous - the yachts, the big houses, all the stuff - I just wonder… why? Time is the most precious resource of all. And how does that time get spent? Oh Lordy, I realize I bring this up every time I write my blog which is truly insufferable. I may have written a sentence exactly like the last one in a past blog entry. How embarrassing. My apologies. I guess I bring it up because when I do my blog, and list the things I’ve seen and read - I just get so agitated about how much more I wish I had read and seen.
I’m trying to cut down on some things that take my time and which I do not deem worth it. Two hours of MSNBC every night is not a good use of time. (Even though, oh my, what a lovely time that is to sit and watch my favorite news shows: Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow.) And what about all the other TV? I’m well aware that the most interesting things happening artistically right now are on TV.
But I cannot be trusted with TV. When I get hooked on a show, I cannot stop myself. When I watched Making a Murderer - the Netflix 10 hour series by Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, I fell down a rabbit hole. I couldn’t not watch it day and night. I had no control over myself. I could not NOT watch the next episode. Then, I became obsessed with the facts and the people on the show. I spent hours and hours on Reddit. So I cannot trust myself. When people tell be about new series they think I’ll enjoy - I have to be careful. If I get hooked, it’s like I’ve taken heroin. I’m lost to the world. I’ll yell at my daughter when she comes in the door from high school, and tell her to be quiet because I’m watching my show. And could she just find something to eat on her own? And is there any food in the house? Because momma is busy! And I’ll half-heartedly ask: “How was your day darling? But make it quick, make it take less than a minute, love… Becasue I have to get back to my shoooooooowwwwww.” And while she talks my eyes are darting around like I’m a drunk who has the shakes. YES! This is why I need to watch movies, not TV shows.
BTW, I’ve given money to both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Not a lot. But some. My husband asked me, “What? Why? Do you just enjoy watching them duke it out?” He’s a firm Hillary person, I am a wavering Hillary person. I adore Bernie Sanders. Oh, I just love that guy. I cannot stand it how much I love Bernie Sanders.
I get email every day from both Hillary and Bernie and they don’t know that I’m seeing their rival too. Their emails assume I’m not for their opponent.
I think there are a lot of people like me. I ‘d be happy with either one as a nominee. I wish Hillary were more Bernie-like. Don’t get me started on Hillary and her views on Israel, or her ties to Wall Street. My eyes spit venom over these issues. When she bragged that Kissinger approved of her, I was practically throwing furniture around, I was so aghast. And angry. How could she be so clueless?
But in fact, I do like Hillary. I always have. When in doubt, I think about her at the Benghazi hearings and I love her again. I want her to be President. I want Bill back in the White house as… what? My friend, Pam and I, were musing the other day about what Bill would be called. The First Man? That’s hilarious. Would they be Mr. and Mrs. President or Mr. President and Mrs. President?
All right people. I have to go. I have to go swim. Then write a couple of hours. Then read - pssst: I think I’m going to give up on A Tale of Two Cities. I want to read Romola.
March 08, 2016 at 11:04 am, Mark Thoma said:
I look at the four potential candidates for POTUS and say to myself “which of these people have I caught in a lie?” Because frankly when you goal is to get elected you’re going to do/say anything to make that happen. Right?
Bernie is the only one among the group which includes, Don, Ted, Hillary that I haven’t heard tell a lie. Yet.
That’s not say he hasn’t because I’m sure has. I just haven’t heard it yet.
And he doesn’t flip-flop.
The debate in Flint the other night was a perfect example. Hillary tried to get him to walk back his positional against allowing ‘product liability lawsuits’ on gun-makers and dealers. Bernie correctly said if allowed those lawsuits would drive each and every gun-maker out of business. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some 2nd Amendment nut, but I had disingenuous politicians and Hillary is pretty high on the scale in my book! She was for TPP before she was against it. She was for Keystone XL before she was against it.
Fifty years ago she would have been considered a liberal Republican, and the last thing this country needs is another Republican in the White House.
Come election day is the choice is Trump or Clinton, I’ll do the right thing, but I’ll be holding my nose!
March 08, 2016 at 11:53 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I know. I know. I agree with you on everything. I want Hillary to be better. But I guess I give her a pass on some things. I feel she learned early and young that she had to compromise in order to be ambitious. It’s something I have struggled with. I hate to use the gal-card, but the truth is that it may have been her only realistic way to get ahead. On the other hand, Bernie’s focus on what he believes, what he truly believes is astounding. He is someone to be deeply inspired by. Pure. And yes, I’m sure he’s lied, or voiced opposing opinions - because we all contradict ourselves. Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken, all these people are heroes to me. I am worried about Hillary’s offhand remarks which reveal her true self. The Kissinger quip was one of them. Frighteningly and disturbing. Uh. Uh. Uh.
March 08, 2016 at 12:03 pm, Brent Rueff said:
Hi, Julia! What were your thoughts on No Regrets for Our Youth? I know you love Setsuko Hara. Did you enjoy her performance in a non-Ozu film?
March 08, 2016 at 1:48 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
ACK! How did I not write about that? I loved “No Regrets For Our Youth” so much. I saw it three times! I made my daughter watch it - I think I had to bribe her, but she did watch with me and she liked it too. What about when Setsuko Hara is living with the in-laws and the old friend comes to visit and she’s dressed practically like a samurai? She is so cool, so fierce. She wrings out her apron in the most elegant not-taking-shit-from-anyone way! And in the rain, so it’s just this tough gesture. Oh, that was so great. I wish I had a poster of that image.
March 08, 2016 at 12:06 pm, joejp71 said:
I read Beth Harpaz’s “Girls In the Van” on covering Hillary Clinton’s first race for Senate and came off impressed by her and that was fifteen years back. She’s clearly flawed, but not there aren’t many people who aren’t. Thanks for the recap as well.
March 08, 2016 at 12:35 pm, mark thoma said:
You know where I come down on this Julia. I think at this point we are all rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic both in terms of the political system, and more importantly the biosphere! But do the right thing support that candidate who most closely matches your ideals. & I think you know who that is
March 08, 2016 at 1:22 pm, snowdenlit said:
You’d probably have a better time with Great Expectations. The characters are better drawn, without the cloying sentimentality of some of Dickens’s lazier creations (Tiny Tim comes to mind).
I remember reading A Tale of Two Cities in 9th grade, partly because it sounded like an important book (I was all about reading books that sounded important. Living in small town Utah made it extra crucial for me to be a literary snob.) and partly because Star Trek II quoted from it when it wasn’t quoting from (or modifying quotes from) Moby Dick. I finished it, though I don’t count it as a far, far better thing I did than I had ever done before.
March 08, 2016 at 1:29 pm, Barbi said:
What about the Benghazi hearings makes you love Hillary?
March 08, 2016 at 3:04 pm, Michelle (@defygravity1974) said:
Oh, wow, I’d love to know what you hated about “Ex Machina.” I really loved it, and we’re usually so similar right down the line with books and movies.
I think it would make a great (but grim) triple feature with Under the Skin and Let the Right One In.
…And we have the same dream life.
March 08, 2016 at 4:25 pm, MrsB said:
I cannot READ Dickens. I think he was meant to be listened to. I adore listening to Dickens on Audible.
I’d rather be hung up by my toenails that read him.
March 08, 2016 at 9:24 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
It’s true - I listened to the audio of the whole book and found it quite engaging. That’s a really good point!
March 08, 2016 at 7:05 pm, Jane Sullivan said:
My heart says Bernie but my head says Hillary.
On an entirely different topic, Miyazaki is a treasure to humanity. I adore all of his films. I wear a Totoro necklace (sterling silver on Etsy in case you are looking for a gift someone, just saying). If I had a bazillion dollars my fantasy would be to create a live action/animation movie of Howl’s Moving Castle. Says so much about the stupidity of war. Of course I would only move forward with Miyazki’s approval and help from John Lassiter. A girl can dream.
March 08, 2016 at 9:25 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
I am SO going to Etsy to get that necklace. I don’t know this: Howl’s Moving Castle. I must know more!
March 08, 2016 at 8:33 pm, Andy Bodnar said:
I am glad you finally posted. I post snarky comments on the blog but I still like reading it. I read the blogs of anyone I was a fan of growing up. Your era of SNL was my favorite. I know a lot of people would disagree with me because the frat boy humor of Sandler and Farley dominated so much of your time on the show. I still think that there was a lot of good stuff during that time thanks to you, Phil Hartman, and Ellen Cleghorne. When I was thirteen my brother and I would watch It’s Pat and think parts of that were hysterical. All the scenes with you and Kathy Griffin were great.
March 08, 2016 at 9:25 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
Aw! Thanks for writing that. I loved doing those scenes with Kathy, and I did think they were funny.
March 08, 2016 at 9:27 pm, Corey Eubanks (@CoreyPortland) said:
Yay! I always look forward to your list and perspective.
Funny….I just recently rewatched REDS again for the first time since way back then, and it does hold up. I just loved it. Is something in the air making it relevant again?
So true about Amy Cuddy. I’ve learned so much about how harnessing our own nonverbal skills can help us be better, stronger communicators. (In the same vein, you should check out Sari de la Motte here in Portland…no books yet, but one of the most stellar presenters on communication I’ve ever seen)
OK…off to watch 99 Homes….been meaning to see that one. Michael Shannon is just the best, as well.
March 09, 2016 at 8:34 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I will look up Sari de la Motte! Thanks for the tip. You will love 99 Homes. It’s really good. Painful. Beautiful. Cathartic.
March 08, 2016 at 10:06 pm, Andy Bodnar said:
I shudder to say this but I even thought Victoria Jackson was funny. It pains me to say that because of what she’s become. It’s kind of like people who thought Dennis Miller was great on Weekend Update. Most people I know always gringe when they admit that Dennis Miller was funny on SNL. I have never watched a full episode or even half an episode of Bill O’Reilly. But for some reason I always make a point to watch when Dennis Miller goes on Bill O’Reilly and it is literally one of the most painful things I have ever seen. Watching Dennis Miller on Bill O’Reilly is fascinatingly awful. I don’t know if you know Dennis but I don’t know how he can put himself through that and make a fool of himself every week when Bill O’Reilly trots him out and uses him like that.
March 09, 2016 at 8:31 am, Julia Sweeney said:
Victoria Jackson was funny! Really funny. Don’t feel bad about that:)
March 08, 2016 at 10:58 pm, Mark Thoma said:
Listening to any conservative is fascinatingly awful…listening to the ones you suppose are somewhat intelligent only the more so! I’ve been canvassing our neighborhood for the Sanders campaign. Talking with a few Hillary supporters and my ex-newsman’s feel for it is their support for her is ‘soft’, whereas the Sanders supporters are much more committed! And tonight I talked at length with a Trump voter (we’re not supposed to do that but I couldn’t resist) and I was just struck by how willfully ignorant this person was on just about every topic we discussed. I can’t help but think that the America championed by those who have worked so hard to bring us historical revisionism, weakened education standards, reality TV shows, and a religious resurgence IS FINALLY AN UGLY REALITY!
The movie “Idiocracy” comes to mind.. (sign)
March 09, 2016 at 8:30 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I agree with you about Sanders supporters versus Hillary supporters. I have to say, it makes me feel really bad for Hillary. I think this is because I feel part of the “softness” on Hillary is that she’s just been around for so long. My god, that woman has paid her dues over and over again and she just keeps getting up and charging forward. After the debacle of her health care overhall when Bill was first elected - uh. If I were her, I might have backed off any type of political future. It was so awful. On the other hand, when she answers questions - for example, about Edward Snowden (Who I think is a hero) her answer is not only wrong, it appears she doesn’t even really understand all the sides of the issue correctly at all. Then I am dismayed. I think about this all the time - wavering between Bernie and Hillary. It really takes up a lot of space in my brain. I can’t let it go, like it’s up to me somehow. My own narcissism at work, maybe? Anyway, I am terrified of Trump. I know Cruz is worse, but I seriously can’t see him winning. I think Trump could win. I really do. It gives me a sick feeling.
March 09, 2016 at 5:39 am, Susanne Alleyn said:
Thank you for your nice remarks about my _A Tale of Two Cities: A Reader’s Companion_! I loved your work on SNL, by the way, and am deeply flattered. Don’t give up on the novel — it gets better (although the history doesn’t get any more accurate).
March 09, 2016 at 8:22 am, Julia Sweeney said:
Oh My God! I can’t believe you wrote to me. This is just great. I have your book right in front of me. Really, your notes are so good. I want to tell my daughter’s teacher that the class should be reading your edition and not the one they have. I’ve looked at the notes in hers and they are not nearly as good as the ones you did. I just love how you go into all this stuff - I have learned so much. For example, when you write about how ubiquitous oysters were in Victorian England and how they were the food of the poor people! And how saucers were deeper than they are now, and oh! Seriously, I love your notes better than the book. O.K.! I will continue on. But mostly because I get to read your notes. How wonderful that you wrote. This makes my day!
March 09, 2016 at 6:53 am, Andy Bodnar said:
I just found a youtube clip on Leni Riefenstahl being interviewed which has English subtitles. It’s from 2002. It’s titled. Leni Riefenstahl The immoderation of me 2002. This must have been filmed a years or less before she died. Also you should read the Autobiography Leni wrote. It’s excellent. It’s challenging but a good type of challenging.
March 09, 2016 at 8:18 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I do want to read Leni’s autobiography. I will get to that one. I really think she was innocent of the charges levelled against her about being a Nazi. She was actually too much of a narcissist and too focused on her own art to be really aware of what was going on. If she is guilty, then we’re all guilty of aiding and abbetting the worst of the worst. Anyway, thanks for writing!
March 09, 2016 at 1:17 pm, Susanne Alleyn said:
I think the trouble with most of those annotated editions of classics is that the notes were written by literature professors and not by obsessive history geeks like me!
I hope you keep on enjoying the notes. I don’t know how far along you are, but as the French Revolution progresses, there will be more notes and more and more and more . . . though I will always be grateful to Dickens and AToTC for getting me interested in the Revolution in the first place.
March 09, 2016 at 2:14 pm, Kathleen Kakacek said:
You didn’t like Dr. Manette?
March 10, 2016 at 2:38 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
Yes. Okay, I admit it. I did like Dr. Manette. I’m going to finish it! I swear I am going to.
March 09, 2016 at 4:00 pm, Jon said:
First Gentleman.
Love your work, thanks for taking the time to update us occasionally.
March 10, 2016 at 2:38 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
Yes! That’s what my husband said. With the intonation: duh. But I didn’t think of that. Yes! First Gentleman.
April 08, 2016 at 9:35 pm, Lisa W. said:
Julia, your posts are so accessible and full of emotion. Since discovering your blog a few years ago, it has really made a difference in my life. Can you please provide an update with regard to your spirituality? Do you still consider yourself an atheist? When I briefly spoke with you at Powell’s Books in Oregon you mentioned that you might have one more book inside of you about that topic. (I hope that’s true!)