Notable: May
Mother's Day, Cuban Mambo, Better Sex, and more...
Sunday is Mother’s Day. I can’t think of a harder job, and I hope all the moms out there are celebrated. Gen Xers like me might remember a time when “momfluencer” culture would’ve been scorned, a time when Ann Landers asked parents if they’d have their kids all over again, a time when 70 percent of those parents said, “NO!” If you’re such a person, or just X-curious, check out my piece on Medium, My Mother Never Wanted Kids, We Bonded Over Psychics.
Spoiler alert: My hope is that we can all find ways back to loving relationships with our moms.
ANNOUNCING… Blissful Thinking: A Memoir of Surviving the Wellness Revolution (May 2022, MILSpeak Press). All I wanted was my share of the bliss. Was that too much to ask?
When my marriage ended—over the phone, from another country—my self worth crashed. What had the man who was supposed to love me for the rest of my life discovered about me that was so terrible he had to run away? Until I could answer this question, I feared I was locked out of love. Then I went about ensuring this would be true.
I spent a decade on the hamster wheel of self-help, visiting various healers, ashrams, and lovers across India, endlessly searching for my Inner Buddha. Then, when and where I least expected it, I realized I'd been asking the wrong question.
It took what happened in the Mother’s Day story above for me to finally end the search. Yet I’d begun pitching the story in 2013 or so, not understanding that the arc of the story I wanted to tell hadn’t finished in my life. I was still living out the problem.
Plus there’s a happy ending! Only time will tell what I mean by that…
✪ AUSTIN FILM FESTIVALS ✪
May 14-16, I’ll be in Austin for the Texas premier of My Dinner with Steve. Is it me or is it not the COOLEST that the Austin Comedy Film Festival screening will happen AT A DRIVE-IN?!? And also that we’re a finalist in that fest for “Most Original Concept.” Get your tickets here.
But wait, there’s more…
My screenplay for Inside Hope will be read as part of the Austin After Dark Film Festival happening Sunday. That one you can join by Zoom.
Yes, please. Cuban MAMBO!
I’ve been working on a historical fiction novel set in Florida, and it’s been an incredible way to get through the pandemic. The research has been grueling, but also amazing, quirky fun.
ARE YOU A MALE FEMINIST?
Move this question to the top of your dating profile! Apparently, men who identify as feminists report giving oral sex to their female partners at higher rates than non-feminists. And it’s not just for the ladies. According to a recent study, feminist men also engaged in intercourse and received oral sex more than non-feminist men.
You’re welcome.
HIDDEN COURAGE ALERT:
From The New Yorker, how Ann Lowe, a Black designer, made her way among the white elite. I did not expect her to be from Florida.
I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT:
This stunning bit of fiction from Courtney Zoffness.
See you next month. xoLisa