Ladies & Gents:
Last week, Slate published a story about the “harrowing personal essay.” I could go a lot of ways with this (especially since I disagreed with a lot of points therein), but let’s apply it to something that happened last week.
See that picture above? On the left is me at the New York City marathon in November of 2014. On the right is me in the Fifth Avenue Mile just over a week ago. The difference: 25 pounds. I lost 20 of them this summer.
When I posted the picture on social media, I wrote that I had complex feelings about the whole thing and probably wouldn’t write about it. Outcry! People wanted to know what I thought!
I get that. A lot of my life is public, and a few people told me that I could probably help others by sharing my thoughts. But my gut reaction is to hold this one close to the vest, at least for a little while. Writing about very personal parts of your life can be hard and deeply unsettling. Writing my book this spring took an awful lot out of me, and while my Inquirer column goes personal sometimes (like in the link below), I can’t do it every week. I need to think of myself too, and what I’d go through in sharing that kind of stuff. Not everything is meant to be written about, at least not right away. Maybe down the line, when I can process it a bit better. We’ll see.
Anyone enough about me. A Clip! And recommendations!
Recenty Bylines:
“Winning the race against yourself” for The Philadelphia Inquirer
And that’s it! Just one! But I was also pictured in this story.
What I’m Reading: Train: Riding the Rails that Created the Modern World by Tom Zoellner. I’m not too far into it, but I like trains, so I imagine this will be a good fit.
What I’m Watching: Hooray! The third season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is now on Netflix. I know everyone goes nuts over Downton Abby, but the sets and costuming here are much more lively (probably because the show is more fun). I’m thinking about redoing my spare room. If it ends up jade green, blame Miss Fisher. I also watched the new PBS documentary about Walt Disney. As many people have said, it’s an excellent warts and all portrayal. It’s also a good reminder that even people who are lionized as geniuses made a lot of mistakes. There were points I’d liked to have seen explored further, but they covered a lot of ground in three plus hours. I doubt we’ll ever get a biopic that would be as open and honest as this documentary, so I’ll take it.
Until next time,
Jen A. Miller
jenamiller.com
twitter.com/byjenamiller
instagram.com/jenamillerrunner
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