Hi All,
I have switched my newsletter from Mailchimp to Substack since I heard that’s what all the cool kids are doing. The advantage of this is that anyone an easily find my newsletters on Substack. You can also leave comments, which I will read and respond to—fun! A reminder that you can pre-order Healing now on TheresaBrownRN.com and anyone who orders from City of Asylum Bookstore will get a signed copy!
On the road again…
I am getting back in the saddle for live events, which feels a little weird, but I’m sure will be good once I’m actually on the road, or, um, in the air. This weekend I fly to Dallas to keynote at the “Cowtown Oncology conference.” The name alone is reason enough to be excited! It’s too cute. Next week I’ll be at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, WI doing a gig as a Fellow for the Council of Independent Colleges. Mount Mary is sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame and its motto is “Where Creativity Meets Purpose.” Since that describes my writing career I’m eager to be there and meet their faculty and students.
New book website
Ben Shepherd, originator of the book website Discover the Best Books, asked me to set up a page with them. The idea is that authors discuss one of their own books, and also give recommendations for five relevant books. My list is “The best books about having cancer.” I like the site because the lists are highly personal. There are so many books about having cancer, ranging from the highly technical to personal narratives to novels. I listed the books that were the most useful to me, including memoirs by Anne Boyer and Audre Lorde, Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor, The Emperor of All Maladies, and Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book.
Spring break
Last week was spring break at U Michigan and this week is spring break at U Pitt. This means that our son Conrad came to visit and together we celebrated our twin daughters’ birthday (birthdays?). They turned 23 last Thursday! When they were little I always baked two different cakes for their birthday and decided to bring back that practice: gingerbread cake for Sophia and banana cake for Miranda. There are very few desserts that Sophia likes and I enjoy making her gingerbread for that reason. Banana cake makes me think of the J.D. Salinger story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” which I’ve never actually read. Oops! Maybe it’s time.
It is fun to have the whole family together. Besides the birthday dinner, we had dinner with friends on Saturday, bagels all together on Sunday morning, and Conrad cooked dinner on Sunday night—a cabbage stir fry with Korean rice cakes. Delicious. Monday I made Conrad his favorite bread. As is true of so many people, our family gatherings tend to involve food.
Until next time
I confess to being rattled by the invasion of Ukraine and am very sad about it. We need to create a world where crazy insecure men no longer get to have innocent people die to feed their fragile egos. Could someone get to work on that, please?
I’ll be back in two weeks. I have it on good assurance that spring is coming. May it be soon!
Hugs to all,
Theresa
I so enjoy your emails and hope your travels will bring you back to my neck of the woods! Another book you might enjoy reading is Four Seasons of Grieving: A Nurse's Healing Journey with Nature by Lynne Wagner. Lynne is a friend of mine and wrote the book of poetry reflecting on a tree outside her window as she underwent treatment for breast cancer. Happy Birthday to your girls!
So well said about Putin. If a guy has a fragile ego, can’t he just drive a Lamborghini like normal people? No need to kill anyone!
Happy birthday to Miranda and Sophia! I remember when they were that tiny!