I spoke with Mother Culture pod about Britney’s new memoir. Listen here.
I also talked with Natalie Serianni about connection, consent, and care for Literary Mama. Read here
A powerful review of Touched Out + choice, bodies, ghosts, and freedom at Matriarchy Report
“All that is constant about the California of my childhood is the rate at which it disappears,” Joan Didion wrote.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles; now I live in Northern California, sort of by accident. I miss LA all the time. Last week, I took a quick trip to Southern CA to read at a beautiful event for the wonderful Mother Tongue Magazine (issue 5 is out now!) for the launch of their I Am A Voter campaign. Whenever I’m in LA, I’m struck by how much of the city— at least the city that I knew growing up— has disappeared, become other to me. I am also struck by how much of it remains: the sound of the Santa Anas, the smell of the air, the shadows of the palm trees, each of which bring back sense memories of my childhood.
LA is symbolic of so much of American culture— celebrity, money, beauty, illusion, fantasy, desire, destiny—which makes it a polarizing city, but I’ve found that usually people who simply love it or hate it are not from there. The place is more complicated than it seems.
Recently, someone asked me what I cut from Touched Out— I had a whole thread about LA that I excised. Here’s one full passage that didn’t make it to the final book:
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