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This summer has been full for our family! We have been traveling a lot, including to Alaska, and next week we’re heading to New York to catch Broadway shows like Six, Death Becomes Her, Hamilton, and Maybe Happy Ending. So, the time to read, write, and cast has been compressed!
But here is what I am working on:
For Gay Thoughts, I am working on an essay bringing together Judith Butler, Martha Nussbaum, and Adam Phillips on the purposes of theory. I will call it When (Not) To Play Around.
Speaking of Butler, I was enjoying a dry cappuccino at Cup of Joe in Raleigh yesterday–rereading Gender Trouble–and the only reality that perplexed me at all was the young woman dressed like a cat, acting like a cat, and talking (in that voice we sometimes speak to cats) to her cat stuffies that she had laid out on her table as she … studied? (Sometimes she would scold them, making me laugh— but I physically jumped when she unexpectedly lunged into my space!).
As for Butler’s writing, it was not only thrilling but entirely comprehensible. I loved rereading it as much as when I first read it (although the pleasures associated with reading Gender Trouble now are informed by decades more study, whereby I earned my views about gender, identification, and many of the primary sources Butler reads).
If you have not read Gender Trouble, why not? Alternatively, here’s a great, short YouTube video of Butler explaining gender.
For New Thoughts, I am working on two new episodes. The first, Sex Changes: On Trans* Desire(s)–will feature Butler, specifically their recent book, Who’s Afraid of Gender? Kara Fisher has a great interview with Butler on her podcast. Listen in here.
I am also working on an episode regarding Social Media Changes and Teens. It will feature a conversation between Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, and Matt Ritchel’s book, How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence.
Change: The People Call It Ragtime – The NEW Thoughts Podcast
Thanks for staying tuned in!
And remember: even if you are (headed) back to school, there is still time left to enjoy the summer!
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