Life Lives is a a diary of a life lived reading, writing, traveling, and w(a)(o)ndering. I started this newsletter in January 2024 to encourage myself to think about the books, movies, art, and television that challenge me, inspire me, and keep me up at night.
The name of this Substack is plucked from a Charles Baudelaire quote that I love:
“Looking from outside into an open window one never sees as much as when one looks through a closed window. There is nothing more profound, more mysterious, more pregnant, more insidious, more dazzling than a window lighted by a single candle. What one can see out in the sunlight is always less interesting than what goes on behind a windowpane. In that black or luminous square life lives, life dreams, life suffers.”
Reading is my favorite form of storytelling, but I like to think deeply about all forms of narrative. Movies, TV shows, museums, particularly meaty New Yorker cartoons—etc. In this space, I share what art I’m currently obsessed with and why I think it’s so great to (hopefully) get you excited about the stories around you.
I post once weekly, sometimes twice if I’m feeling verbose. Some of these posts will be free, but a paid subscription will gain you access to my best posts and literary recommendations.
That’s me! I’m a health and wellness writer living in Los Angeles. My journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Well+Good, Fortune, Runner’s World, and Outside, among others. But, honestly, my heart belongs to reading and creative writing.
If you want to support me and Life Lives, please consider upgrading to paid. Paid subscribers receive four full posts a month, as well as the occasional bonus post. That means: all the recommendations, essays, and takes I dish out. Going behind the paywall also means that you’ll be supporting my writing dreams, and that means the world to me. In fact, it makes me feel like this:
If you’re not ready to sign up for a paid membership, consider paying what you can. It helps me continue to do the work I love.
What Haunts You?
And now we enter the time of the year when we walk side-by-side with our fears. It’s not so much that the shortening days and pumpkins and ghosts are spooky, but that this time of year actively invites us to confront what frightens us: spiritually, psychologically, physically.
What If You Just Wrote a Little Something?
I’ve been thinking about how Substack provides a platform for so many people who thought their writing lives were over after they filed their last high school or college paper.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Elena Ferrante
I grew up with a best friend. We met at the neighborhood park when we were both eighteen months old. Over the years, we played pretend. We “rescued” barnacles off rocks at the beach. We took ballet lessons. We made Photo Booth music videos that I hope will never resurface. We did all of this together, and to this day (many fights and reconciliations later), she remains one of the most glorious human beings I know. Being around her feels childlike and warm. She’s still, in many ways, my
So You Hate the Ending
Reading is a deeply hopeful practice. At the beginning of a novel, the possibilities are endless. The author has the power to lead us in any direction. We close our eyes and hold their hands. We pray they don’t f*ck it up, but more than that, we wonder what
Why I Write, 02: Shelter From the Storm
There's a day I remember well from last summer in the Adirondacks. Like many mountainous places, the Adirondacks possess their own weather system, unpredictable and feisty. They can give you ten straight days of rain or a 30-minute downpour that folds over to reveal the most deliriously blue day you've ever seen. You never quite know; it's all part of t…
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