Lightning Round

What is it about Manhattan?

I can't begin to tell you what it is. Maybe it's the grid, and what it does to the light. The orderly streets and then the dramatic slash of Broadway. The narrowness of the numbered trains running north/south, perceived narrowness and actual narrowness, on the stairs, your face mere inches from distressed tile or the flesh-colored shoes of the woman ahead of you.

Pet peeves?

Flesh-colored shoes if they match the color of the flesh of the person wearing them. Feet crammed into shoes that are visibly too small. People dressed in fancy clothes using phones with shattered screens, people overdressed for the weather.

What didn't you expect in your lifetime?

That I would move to New Jersey. That the NYC subway map would get a redesign.

Immeasurable sadness?

My husband has been emailing to no avail with our doctor's office [1] for months, trying to get them to put stickers in the windows of their office high up in City Point to prevent window strike, after seeing a dead woodcock on the balcony while visiting his primary care doctor. Further, that the office has not addressed the distress he felt and continues to feel. And my distress about his distress, and the original situation. I've emailed, too, to no avail, and I'm a writer, and I can't move them. Even if you do not believe that we are guests in the birds' world, the woodcock is very much a guest in our city.

Is there any joy left?

The blue jay that put his whole self into the water trough in the backyard, just after I filled it. When I drop off a pre-labeled package at UPS and it takes two seconds, to the relief of the many people in line behind me. If there's no tissue in the laundry. (But, there was, this week, a tissue in the laundry.)

[1] The office – One Medical – is owned by Amazon.

NEWSY STUFF

In my essay, "You'll know it when you find it," I write about my beloved work-study job at the Harriman Institute, and how that experience informed my search for my first real job after college graduation. (Spoiler alert: I ended up in Rackets, the best bureau at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.) Sneak preview in an earlier letter.

Many thanks to Katie Vermilyea at BPL, Olivia at OR Books, Powerhouse Books, and of course, Rachel Meade Smith!

A Public Space No. 33 – with my story, JUNCO AND WOLF (!) – is coming out in late May 2026!

DIVINITY SCHOOL

Divinity School • a letter every Sunday at sunset • if you’re always looking, after some time you’ll have seen

I make Divinity School from scratch without AI. The writing and the photos here are all my work, always. Thank you for reading, please share near and far, and upgrade to a paid subscription if you can swing it!