hand on heart.

radical love notes | a weekly bonus for radical love letter subscribers <3

Dear ones,

I had planned on taking one week off of substack for the holiday break, but due to an unforeseen tough thing, that break is turning into something closer to two or three weeks. I am so eager to get back to regular Monday essays and juicier Friday notes (and also some exciting new features), but as I navigate this tough thing, a short note and some lists are all I can muster. As I’ve mentioned recently, I’m getting more unapologetic about privacy, even as a memoirist, so this is all I’ll say on the matter for now. I appreciate your patience in the meantime.

I will tell you, by way of an update, that Christmas and New Year’s were quiet and just right. I will tell you that the beautiful lake neighbor you see so often in the pictures above has found itself frozen and foggy, shifting from a freezing week to a balmy one, then back to cold again. I will tell you that this weekend I am hosting a virtual writing retreat and I am so stoked for it! I will tell you that there is a local soup place in Cleveland that has nourished my belly so well. I will tell you that, of course, I love you. <3

love & solidarity,

raechel

Reading

A week late, but Nat Cotterill’s beautiful essay on Christmas and love and nostalgia made me hit the ‘subscribe’ button so fast. Another Christmas-ish essay from Peter Gelderloos (the oft-mentioned ‘P’), on care and expectations in our movements. This wonderful reflection on animal photography and alienation, in LARB. AHP’s interview with the author of a new book on Christian anarchist, Dorothy Day.

Watching

I’m re-watching Enlightened, a show about which I am a bit evangelical. It’s Mike White’s earliest tv work, long before White Lotus, but with hints of the themes. Enlightened is much more earnest, not murder-y, and probably a bit more painful. An absolutely hand-on-heart rendering of the complexity of being human.

Listening