This week I’m reading about poetry as prayer and thinking about the pain of compulsive caretaking.

I discuss her letter to "the compulsive caregivers" and relate it to my life as a young mom, and later, as a sex worker.

You can find the written version of this episode on my website: https://cybelerain.com/2023/12/15/when-we-hear-need-do-we-join-its-cries-or-answer-its-call/.

Mentioned in this episode:

Books:

Kai Cheng Thom's Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls.

Podcasts:

RubyLynn's https://thegrannypantypodcast.com/

You can find me at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter: @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain

This week I’m reading arguments about why sex workers should get “real jobs" and (re)thinking the notion of labor.

You can find a written version of this episode on my website: https://cybelerain.com/2023/12/08/whats-so-great-about-work-anyway/

You can find me at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter; @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain

This week I’m reading about the power of correspondence and thinking about my nostalgia for hand-written letters.

You can find a written version of this episode on my website: https://cybelerain.com/2023/12/01/dear-lover/

Books mentioned in this episode:

Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone's This Is How You Lose the Time War.

Order your handwritten card: cybelerain.com/postcards

You can find me at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter: @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain

This week I’m reading about the power of humor and thinking about its role in creating intimacy.

I discuss Mike Birbiglia's new book, The New One, which he co-wrote with his wife, J. Hope Stein.

I also call back to an On Being interview with comedian Baratunde Thurston, who discusses the power of comedy to digest the undigestable.

You can find the written version of this episode on my website: https://cybelerain.com/2023/11/17/two-ways-out/

Mentioned in this episode:

Books:

Mike Birbiglia's The New One: Painfully True Stories From a Reluctant Dad.

https://www.birbigs.com/the-new-one-book

Podcasts:

On Being: Baratunde Thurston, How to be a social creative.

https://onbeing.org/programs/baratunde-thurston-how-to-be-a-social-creative/

You can find me at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter: @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain

This week I’m thinking about the pleasure and pain of intimate relationships.

This week, while I don't share reflections on a book I read, I do share one on Krista Tippett's podcast interview with comedian Baratude Thurston. I highlight their discussion of comedy as a spiritual quest, and also their discussion on rupture and repair in intimate relationships.

You can find the written version of this episode on my website: https://cybelerain.com/2023/11/10/rupture-repair/

Mentioned in this episode:

Books:

Beratude Thurston's How to Be Black

Podcasts:

Krista Tippett's On Being

You can find me at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter: @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain

This week I’m reading about the depth of love and thinking about who gets to have bodily autonomy.

Amy Bloom's memoir about helping her husband seek medically assisted suicide deeply touched me. In this episode, I talk about the book and who gets to decide how they live and die.

You can find the written version of this episode on my website:

https://cybelerain.com/2023/10/06/there-is-more-to-life-than-being-alive/

Mentioned in this episode:

Books:

Amy Bloom: In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss

You can find me at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter: @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain

This week I’m reading about the things we erase about ourselves for others and thinking about a future with less shame and fear.

In this Musing, I pick up on the theme of coming out in Saeed Jones' coming-of-age memoir How We Fight For Our Lives. I talk about coming out as a sex worker and the problems that it causes. I also touch on the notion of being outed, covering Virginia House candidate Susanna Gibson's story.

Mentioned in this episode:

Saeed Jones' How We Fight For Our Lives

Jessie Sage's "The Cost of Coming Out as a Sex Worker": https://tryst.link/blog/the-cost-of-coming-out-as-a-sex-worker/"

Jack Shafer, "So What if a Candidate Livestreamed Sex Acts with Her Husband?" https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/12/candidate-livestreamed-sex-acts-00115395

You Can find me on my website at cybelerain.com or on socials:

Twitter: @cybelerain

Instagram: @cybele_rain