Things to Read That Might Make You Not Want to Die Yet
Books are balm for the soul, and so are newsletters
One of the best measures of how well one has done as a writer is if one can read one’s own work and not walk to walk into the sea. There are things I’ve written that pass this test, even when I have reservations about some aspects and cringe over others.
It’s easier when I’m closer to the work in terms of time. I just wrote a half-hour single camera dark comedy pilot, MOTHER INFERIOR, about a drunk, latent adolescent Jersey girl who never wanted to be a mom and who is visited by the kid she gave up for adoption 25 years ago. I still like it, but the most recent draft was just done in September, so I should. Give it a few years, and we shall see.
Sometimes the spirit of the thing is still correct, even if I’d revise some of the framework or the details.
To that end, here’s an essay I wrote in 2016 on the night the Electoral College handed the election to Donald Trump. I had been watching the returns come in at the New York Times with the great Ruth Ann Harnisch, and we decided to bail and go home. There are things I would change about this essay, and things I wouldn’t. Here is a part I would not change. It’s about the people who voted for him.
They don’t get to look us in the eye and lie and say they love us or they just did what they thought was best ’cause Pastor Jake told ’em to do it. Their vote — whether it came from a man or a woman — was an insult to every woman in this country, to every queer person, to every person of every shade of the human rainbow that is not lily-white. It was an insult to every immigrant. It was an insult to every son or daughter of every immigrant. It was an insult to every scientist. It was an insult to every Muslim, to every Jew, to every real Christian who sees Trump for the fraud he is — a man who would quite possibly see a camel attempt to go through the eye of a needle and, frustrated by his inability to grasp this or any spiritual metaphor, would loudly brag, “I’ll just write a big check to get into the kingdom of God.” […]
And then, of course, he’d never write that check. Because he lies. He lies all the time. He lies to your white relatives who voted for him. And they love it. They don’t care that it’s not true. Because they don’t care about anyone but themselves.
Tell them, these relatives and friends who say they love you, who scream that they were just worried about the economy or trade or Hillary’s emails. Tell them that their love for you is hollow.
Because it is.
May you gather with good people and leave behind those who don’t deserve your attention. You can detach with love, or simply detach. It’s good for the soul. It’s good for the mind. And the alleviation of stress is good for the body, too. We have enough work to do without playing pretend and making nice.
As I mentioned in my previous newsletter issue (I won’t always publish them so close together, but this week is…special), I’m sick. My voice recently went from a sultry Kathleen Turner type of sore-throat-but-it-ain’t-bad status to a real croaking frog situation. I am relieved to not have any speaking engagements to attend to this week, because I’d feel pretty fucking bad if a great opportunity came up and I had to pass on it because I sound like I ate gravel and gargled with wood chips (mmmm, the hero’s breakfast).
But before I crawl into bed, here are some things I like to read that do not make me want to die.
I like to mention my favorite books and newsletters here in SARATONIN, and one of my top reads for several years now has been The Sunday Long Read. I’ve been a guest editor myself, and it’s a damn delight. Also, it is FREE.
I really hope you check it out. And in honor of The SLR’s tenth (!) anniversary, here’s some more info:
In the free Sunday Long Read email newsletter, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Don Van Natta Jr. highlights the very best longform journalism each week.
You’ll find dozens of entertaining and informative stories from a wide variety of magazines, blogs, and websites. Some weeks, you might even find a guest editor at the helm, like moi!
Since its first edition in 2014, the SLR community has grown tremendously with more than 100 guest contributors and nearly 30,000 readers and writers.
The SLR now publishes exclusive original stories, a journalism podcast, and a monthly spin-off newsletter dedicated to True Crime stories, edited by The Washington Post’s talented Albert Samaha.
You can subscribe to The Sunday Long Read for free! Paying supporters can also receive the newsletter early and get exclusive editions throughout the year.
What/who else do I love to read?
Anything (in various translations) by Rumi
Your kind comments and notes
Thank you for being here. It’s time to take a little rest now. I appreciate you.
Love,
Sara
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