Dear friends,
I’m writing to share a visionary essay, written by an abortion provider for the Feminist Utopia Project, which feels as pertinent as ever. In the essay, the author reimagines reproductive healthcare holistically from childhood on. Returning to it, after editing it with Alexandra Brodsky back in 2015, I feel even more anger at how far we are from this world. But it also reorients my attention away from feeling like chattel and towards starting small, with what’s in front of me. I’d love to hear what this essay opens up for you. Read it HERE (many thanks to the Feminist Press for making the essay freely available).
I also recommend listening to this episode of my favorite doomsday healthcare podcast, The Death Panel, which provoked me to take a longer view of this moment in reproductive justice.
In a totally other vein, though perhaps similar spirit, Theater Magazine invited me over a year ago to write about how the pandemic has shifted my relationship to theater. The essay is out now.
(I encourage you to check out the whole collection of reflections by a dozen theater artists HERE. I especially loved reading Ernesto Pujol’s essay and looking at Maria Baranova’s photographs.)
Stages has been out for two years and I’m so grateful to all of you for your generous responses to this book and, as ever, to Thick Press (if you believe in independent publishing, support these people!). This spring, I was interviewed through Upenn’s Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies podcast about how the past two years have altered and underlined various questions raised in the book. The episode is out as of this week. Listen HERE!
This week also marks the end of my first year of teaching nonfiction writing at Yale. Some guest visitors to my classes have included Kendra Dawsey, Cassie da Costa, Ethan Kuperberg, Laurelin Kruse, and Patty Marx. Nothing worthwhile is ever done alone. A little view from my commute on Metro North where I grade and enjoy spacing out.
I’ll have more news coming very soon, news about a new book. It spans generations and traverses the scales of family and friendship and my most intimate life, and I can’t wait to share it with you soon.
With love,
Rachel