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Stunningly beautiful essay by @bkjackson on searching for her mom and discovering family. "The blankness of her engulfed and bewildered me. I looked for her in every woman I saw and wondered what I’d done to make her leave." janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/bk-jackson-o…

"I tell my kids, "I don't love you despite all you have been through, I love you including it." There is immense joy in a love like that, one that encompasses the pain and suffering of others and says to them, you are welcome in my heart." @ReneDenfeld janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/the-body-bra…

The Body, Brain, & Books: Rene Denfeld, by Jane Ratcliffe open.substack.com/pub/janeratcli… What a wonderful interview with one of my writing heroes, Rene Denfeld. Please enjoy her wisdom!

"We read a lot about midlife crisis. For me, this was the opposite. It was a midlife recovery." What a pleasure to speak with the wildly gifted Maggie Smith! janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/carrying-tru…

"I have a strong sense of self, which includes both a somewhat stern morality rooted in empathy and a call towards freedom and pleasure. Those things can be in conflict, but mostly I experience them as providing me with balance." Beauty from @zoezolbrod. janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/dismiss-what…

"The heart can hold both love and grief." I wrote about how walking my neighbor's dog pulled me out of the darkest-darkest time in my life. janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/the-way-home…

"I think about belonging in terms of who I belong with, who I feel at home with. For me, belonging means that you can be your whole self; there isn't any part of you that you feel like you need to hide." Nicole Chung | @nicolechung on Bluesky janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/a-place-of-c…

I wanted to share some of my thoughts on today's Supreme Court decision on affirmative action:

“Writing is a way to turn your worst experiences into the most beautiful art.” Wisdom from the brilliant Susan Shapiro janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/a-gefilte-fi…

So thrilled to be included! 😺

Gorgeous essay from Cindy Lamothe on motherhood, grieving, and tending to the heart. "No one warned me that giving birth, just like grieving, could shatter you wide open." janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/cindy-lamothe

I'm delighted to share my NYT essay below. And it will appear in print tomorrow in Sunday's NYT. nytimes.com/2023/07/08/sty…

"In Latinx culture, mother is everything. But what if mother can’t mother in the way that you need as a child, or in that very vulnerable, weird time that is adolescence? What happens to the child when mother can’t be that for them?" @Vanessa_LaLoba janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/unmothered-a…

Writing is glorious & terrifying, both. Struggling to capture the mysterious joy of Aegina's Paleochora. So I’m committing to a flash for this week’s newsletter. Not the chapter I need but it’s a start. If I can pull it off. Not on the list? Subscribe: eepurl.com/hewm69

"I think in order to have hope, you need to be actively thinking about not just today, or tomorrow, but 3 years from now, 30 years, 300 years." Tender, wise, thought-provoking answers from kellymcmasters! janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/kelly-mcmast…

So pleased to have my essay called Pommes Frites published in this amazing newsletter by Jane Ratcliffe. A quick read, about taking my 10 year old daughter to Paris. Please take a look! The Past, Present, and Paris, by Jane Ratcliffe open.substack.com/pub/janeratcli…

"One thing I would add is the difference between a good Substack and a great Substack is courage. The more you lean into courage, the more meaningful your Substack can be and the more you can connect with people." Hamish McKenzie janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/hamish-mcken…

"Plenty is wrong, and you should complain loudly. With rocks. I’m referring to your state of mind. Internally, the closer you can get to stillness, the better your responses to chaos will be." Dennard Dayle / Blind Monkey janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/dennard-dayl…

"Toast developed new preferences too—eating sand at the beach, stretching his entire body out dangerously close to the fireplace—and passions, which boiled down to fetch." Leslie Stephens on how her dog helped her through divorce. janeratcliffe.substack.com/p/leslie-steph…

Beautiful interview with the brilliant and gifted @ingrid_rojas_c "When we’re talking about ghosts, we're talking about the edge of perception to the point where we're not sure what our senses are transmitting back to us. I think that's such an interesting place for nonfiction."