A roundup of stories from our week together at Catapult.
This week we launched a new column by Catherine LaSota, Portrait of the Artist as a New Parent, which explores the challenges of living in New York as an artist and new mom.
In which the Magpie goes to Washington
Lisa Mecham on the things she’s lost and the family she still has: “Do you see us? This is our constellation, my family.”
Morgan Jerkins interviewed poet Morgan Parker about writing, black womanhood, and her new book, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé:
In the book and as a poetic practice, I’m trying to build a profile of a black woman and a lot of that is about not being desirable—whether or not that is happening in reality to each and every one of us. That is our profile and the narrative that is placed on us. Also there’s this idea of sacrificing intimacy in order to be powerful or to take care of one’s self. I think it is kind of important that the characters in my book are single or solitary, whether or not they are coupled or with a group of friends. They are on their own. There is so much external language and influence in the book, but as much as there is that, the other half of the book takes place in quiet moments. It’s very reflective. Loneliness is directly linked to being hurt and traumatized. As black women, that is a legacy we carry. There’s also the idea of not being seen the right way.
“Past the EconoLodge,” by Brandon Hobson, is the latest in a series of wonderful stories we are republishing from the archives of NOON.
“I wanted to be the one Father Tom winked at, the one whose hair he gently touched with his large, sturdy hands.”
What does Kate Schapira do in her free time? Talk with strangers about their climate-related anxieties.
Tracy O’Neill on scars and their importance:
But scars inscribe more than trauma, and if there is any romance to them at all it is because scars remember openness in the flesh, the places where the boundary of selves are punctured momentarily, when the skin is interrupted and we are porous. In the moment before the scar, we are not sure if we will close up the border, be able to preserve the line where the self meets its environment. We are precarious, wondering whether the line where the body lops off will reconstitute, or how.
Austin Gilkeson wrote for us about parenting with hearing loss:
I’ve adjusted to living with single-sided deafness, but I still worry I won’t hear something dangerous, or important, or adorable. And then there’s the lingering fear that one morning I’ll wake up and my other ear will have suddenly gone out, too, and I’ll no longer be able to hear my son’s voice—or his laughter, or his heartbeat, which fill me with electric joy every time I hear them.
“In cemeteries, I am reminded of the shimmering joy behind the practical and analytical aspects of history: that something ancient has, against all odds, endured.”
Introducing TinyLetter of the Month: Each month we’ll republish a recent TinyLetter issue and chat with the writer. First up: Author Teri Vlassopoulous (Bats and Swallows, Escape Plans) with a poem, a haircut, and an immigrant story near and dear to her. Know of a writer whose newsletter we should feature? Let us know in the comments!
Nicole Chung is the author of All You Can Ever Know, a national bestseller and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the forthcoming memoir A Living Remedy. Find her on Twitter: @nicolesjchung
