A Weekend Prompt on Culture

Sent from the Ragdale Residency!

Hi friends.

Greetings from the Ragdale Residency, where I’ve been writing and thriving and also helping to support this wonderful cultural institution all weekend through a series of fundraising events. It’s a really beautiful spot.

Here are some of my comrades for the weekend, the brilliant novelists Ramona Ausubel and Xochitl Gonzalez, gamely posing in the wind.

There were many conversations about the important of supporting the arts right now (but really always) and it was exhilarating to think about what these kinds of places can do for an artist. Even for the few days I was there I got a tremendous amount of work done. So thank you to Ragdale for having me.

And now here’s just a quick, thoughtful little weekend prompt for you.

Last week I went to a launch party for my friend Dan Brook’s new book The Einstein of Sex, and it was one of the best book parties I’ve been to in a long time. The party took its inspiration from the Weimar Berlin cabaret scene, of which the subject of the book, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, was considered the “intellectual impresario.” There were gorgeous musical performances, a corresponding lecture on the emergence of queer acceptance, and a weird little dancing marionette. It felt worldly, eccentric and chic.