I know it’s been ages since I’ve updated here. Frankly, my mind was a little fried after finishing the San Francisco Magdalen Asylum names project, which got a nice writeup from KQED’s Rae Alexandra.
May was hectic and, in the midst of it, Courtney Minick (Here Lies A Story) and I began recording episodes of our new podcast, Dead Reckoning (“where death isn’t the end of the story!”). Court and I became friends while I was writing “San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries,” because we’re both fascinated and nerdy about the same stuff, and we love talking to each other about it. You’ll see as you listen to the first three episodes:
“Yerba Buena Cemetery: Everyone had broken noses”
“Fort Mason Burial Pit: The world’s worst layer cake”
“The History of Medical Cadavers: Never enough bodies”
Please listen — I really hope you enjoy these conversations as much as we enjoyed having them. More are on the way, too, so subscribe if you like what you hear.
This spring, an older poem of mine, “False Clover,” was published in a UK collection called “Ten Poems About Weeds” (order here). And in June, I had a new poem, “Red Deer,” published in Nonbinary Review (order here). I’ve been writing a lot of poetry this year and I’m excited to share more as it comes out.
Even though I was a bit done with the Magdalen Asylum for a while, it wasn’t done with me. In August, FoundSF (a great resource for locals interested in our history) published a piece I wrote about my efforts to determine whether our laundry hid a mass grave like some of those in Ireland did. You can read it here.
This month, I have a short story, “I Would Breathe Water,” in the Limbo issue of Club Chicxulub. It’s a modern retelling of Scottish/Orcadian selkie folklore. I rarely write fiction, so it’s a real treat to share this story (written in 2022, I think) with you.
Also, this month and next, I will be appearing at a few events, online and in person. Here are the details:
Friday, Sept. 19, 11 a.m. Pacific: “Dying in the Margins: A Closer Look at Funeral Poverty” (online) with Beth Winegarner, Amy Shea and Evie King, hosted by The Order of the Good Death. Join us for a powerful conversation on funeral poverty and the stark inequalities that shape how we die and how we’re remembered. Register here and go deeper here (PDF).
Thursday, Oct. 16, 6 p.m.: “A Book Tour of Cemeteries.” Beth WInegarner, Amy Shea and Loren Rhoads will read excerpts from their work on death and cemeteries and hold a lively conversation about respect for the dead and the importance of memorialization. In person at the San Francisco Columbarium, 1 Loraine Court, San Francisco. Register here.
Saturday, Oct. 25, Lit Crawl (time and location TBD): “Campfire Stories and Other Ghostly Narratives.” Beth will read at Lit Crawl, the final event in San Francisco’s annual Litquake, along with fellow writers Rowena Leong Singer, Sezin Devi Koehler, Doug Henderson, Jennifer Christgau and Jenny Qi. Keep an eye on my Instagram feed for details.