What's the texture of summer?
Travels with Charley #4
Hi readers,
Thanks for subscribing to Travels with Charley. I send these dispatches around once a month, writing on four different fronts: where I’m living, what I’m reading (lines I’m adding to my commonplace book this month), what I’m wondering (questions for future stories), and what I’m writing. If you feel moved to write back, the questions are genuine! I’d love to hear from you.
Where I’m living
Portland summer: hot and breezy, light until 9:30 pm, roses everywhere. I want to spend all my time outside. Meanwhile, we’re slowly-but-surely putting together an apartment after three years on the road, unpacking boxes and saying to each other, “Do you remember owning this bowl???” My greatest triumph so far: unpacking our books and spending a sublime afternoon organizing bookshelves in the living room (fiction, alphabetically by author) and in my office (!), which opens onto a balcony and bright blue sky. By mid-afternoon, the balcony smells like grilled meat and vegetables from the Mexican restaurant nearby. No complaints here.
What I’m reading
The one and only Marilynne Robinson on the emotionally exhilarating, exhausting experience that is growing up (The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought):
Metamorphosis is an unsentimental business, and I was a long time in the thick of it, knees scraped, clothes awry, nerves strained and wearied… Asked if I romanticize or exaggerate the world she saw and felt, she would reply, she does not touch the hem of it.
I finally read Detransition, Baby (Torrey Peters), which pushed at how I think about femininity and motherhood:
“Divorce is a transition story,” said Reese. “Of course, not all divorced women go through it. I’m talking about the ones who felt their divorce as a fall, or as a total reframing of their lives. The ones who have seen how the narratives given to them since girlhood have failed them, and who know there is nothing to replace it all. But who still have to move forward without investing in new illusions or turning bitter — all with no plan to guide them. That’s as close to a trans woman as you can get. Divorced women are the only people who know anything like what I know. And, since I don’t really have trans elders, divorced women are the only ones I think have anything to teach me, or who I care to teach in return.”
Richard Hugo showing how sometimes the high-wire act of writing in second person really works in “Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg” (as referenced by Lorrie Moore in this great NYT Mag profile of her):
You might come here Sunday on a whim.
Say your life broke down. The last good kiss
you had was years ago. You walk these streets
laid out by the insane, past hotels
that didn’t last, bars that did, the tortured try
of local drivers to accelerate their lives.
Edward P. Jones with a graceful description of a type of love (The Known World):
This was in the spring and early summer of their lives together. There was a saying in that part of Virginia that candles burned brighter in the spring and summer of a year because of how the wind came down from the mountains and gave the flames more air to breathe. Other people said no, that they had seen candles burn just as brightly in the fall, and even in the winter when the air wasn’t as nice. Fern Elston subscribed to the latter notion.
What I’m wondering
What’s your texture of summer? What texture feels most like the season to you? (The sun drying salty skin after a dip in the ocean? The crumbly sweetness of biting into a slice of watermelon? The dense, anticipatory air of a hot summer night?)
What’s the best gift you ever received? Ever gave?
Do you feel like the pandemic aged you, or changed how you think about your age?
What I’m writing
I’ve recently written for The New York Times for Kids about how to steal a base, what “The Little Mermaid” means for young Black girls, and how grief camp can be a transformative experience for kids who’ve lost a parent. At the end of July, keep your eyes peeled for news from my latest investigation: Do summer birthdays rule or suck? (I welcome your take, but I can’t quote you if you’re over 13 years old.)
I also recorded an audio story for The New York Times’ new audio app about one of my favorite stories from last year, featuring the Old Gays. If you’re interested in listening me talk about what these joyful senior icons taught me about aging and sequined swimwear, download the NYT Audio app and search “Old Gays.”
And I’m producing a live show in LA in a couple weeks! Wish me luck as I dust off my stage-producing persona. (She wears a headset and pants with many pockets.)
yours,
Charley