“You’re doing the work.” My therapist said this to me recently. I’ve heard this from therapists before. It’s a phrase that’s both flattering and irritating in its vagueness. What is “the work?” Why am I doing it? And how long do I have to keep it up?
Tag Archives: new york city
The Time Traveling Sweatshirt: A Pandemic Carol
“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.” Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix My grey Star Wars sweatshirt lay unassumingly on top of my boyfriend’s bed, wrinkled and unremarkable. And yet, the sight of it caused me to stopContinue reading “The Time Traveling Sweatshirt: A Pandemic Carol”
The Long Pause
But the main reason I struggled to write lately is I finally realized one of my fatal flaws as a writer: I’m overly fond of a neat ending. I love to put a bow on things. I love a pithy last line. And the story I’m in, that we’re all in, will not enjoy a neat ending.
Filter Bubbles and Close Encounters: Reflections on City Life
I’m coming up on the one year anniversary of my move to New York City, and have been thinking a lot about how where we live impacts our perspective on life and how we interact with the people around us. I just finished a fascinating book called “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” by Jenny Odell. The premise of Odell’s book is that “in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity…doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance.”
One Year Later
I was alone so longI didn’t even know that I was lonelyOut in the cold so longI didn’t even know that I was coldTurned my collar to the windThis is how it’s always been All I’ve ever known is how to hold my ownAll I’ve ever known is how to hold my ownBut now IContinue reading “One Year Later”
Natalie Bograd 