Othersode #72: Witches In, Children Out / Hocus Pocus 2 with Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

October 18, 2022 The Squad

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Crying in H Mart, My Mom, and a Recipe

December 23, 2021 Mary

Pls ignore the Halloween costume. And yes, I was a very ugly child.

I’m getting ready to celebrate another holiday season without my mom, and it feels just as weird this year as it did last year.

I normally don’t write posts that are so personal, but more and more I’m thinking it’s important to see how other people experience grief, especially during times that are traditionally happy and full of cheer. Earlier in 2021, I read Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (who I got to know first as Japanese Breakfast).

Othersode #61: For Virgins, By Virgins / The 2000s Made Me Gay

December 13, 2021 The Squad

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Othersode #42: Anti-Racist Reading / Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

July 3, 2020 The Squad

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Lessons in Compassion from The Trauma Cleaner

December 21, 2018 Susan

Sandra Pankhurst, subject of The Trauma Cleaner Photo by David Caird — Sandra Pankhurst, subject of *The Trauma Cleaner*
Photo by David Caird

Sarah Krasnostein’s The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay and Destruction is a biographical portrait of a complicated woman. Sandra Pankhurst runs a trauma cleaning service in suburban Melbourne. She and her crew clean up bloody crime scenes, death scenes and cases of extreme squalor (think A&E’s Hoarders). While Sandra’s life in this business is interesting material in and of itself, the book is really about who Sandra is and has been throughout her often pain-filled life. The thread that runs through the book is compassion, both for others and for ourselves, even when compassion is difficult to give.

The Radium Girls and the Believability of Women's Pain

August 17, 2018 Gabriella Geisinger

As a child, losing teeth was a common occurrence.

There was a distinctly unusual feeling, I'm sure you remember, of a tooth coming loose. Held on by a string of nerve or sinew (not a dentist, here). You could wiggle your tongue in the space between your gum and the tooth, pushing it out of its gap.

Then, one day — snap. It would come loose. And for a split second, there was that feeling of panic. Yes, you knew losing your baby-tooth was just a normal process, but for the briefest of moments your mind went: this is not supposed to be here.

For anyone who had that feeling, or can imagine remembering that feeling, that panic when you think something is wrong with you followed by the swift relief remembering it isn't, The Radium Girls will be a tough read.

In fact, it is flat out impossible to read The Radium Girls without crying.