Recently when my friend Maria asked me what I was writing, I told her I was working on an essay about a pond I visited again and again and again during the month I spent with my kids and parents in Wellfleet.| Refreshments
At the Quad Cinema this week, I went to see the talky indie drama “Or Something,” which tells the story of a young man and woman who must kill hours of time together in Manhattan before retrieving money owed to them by the same deadbeat.| lizziesimon.substack.com
In a terrific new comedy now in previews at the Soho Playhouse, musician/comedian Morgan Bassichis unearths the life and work of Frank Maya, who was amongst the most successful out gay comedians in America before dying of AIDS in 1995.| Refreshments
A recording from Lizzie Simon's live video| Refreshments
A new documentary, now in theaters, takes a thorough, artful look at the life and work of Meredith Monk.| lizziesimon.substack.com
Give Why no-one knows what’s happening tonight, Gabe Kahane’s feature in the Atlantic about the disappearance on listings, a read.| Refreshments
While I figure out how to hold on to a rope for long enough to have a graceful swing from a tree into Dyer Pond, I’ll share this week’s letter from my cousin Jack Bernstein, a screenwriter whose credits include the legendary comedy Ace Venture Pet Detective| lizziesimon.substack.com
Life & Arts served cozy on a tray by Lizzie Simon (author of DETOUR, former WSJ Theater Columnist, screenwriter and travel writer.)| lizziesimon.substack.com
A jewel box of smart, refreshing gems for grown-ups: part personal essay, part writerly wisdom, part cultural mixtape. Assiduously assembled by Lizzie Simon—author of DETOUR (Atria Books) and former WSJ arts columnist.| lizziesimon.substack.com
My kids’ elementary school has a therapist who has sessions with kids during the school day and after.| Refreshments
Recently the brilliant memoirist Deborah Taffa visited with me and my students and amongst the many gems she laid out before us was the idea that a memoir process could start off like this: imagine that your best friend has died.| lizziesimon.substack.com
Turtles are small, shy and slow if you’re only casually involved with them but if you let one into your life, eventually they demand their own bathroom and live for seventy years.| Refreshments
That feeling of not being able to put a book or an essay down? That’s tension, that’s a writer generating an invisible but deeply felt sequence underneath their sentences, and it typically goes something like this: tension, escalation, escalation, unpredictable ending. | Refreshments
Yes. That's what they're saying.| lizziesimon.substack.com