Roundup 2025

Honestly, it feels like a miracle that anything creative got done this year. I didn’t get to be in a play; I didn’t get to meet Etgar Keret; and I didn’t get to take the Yanis Marshall heels class for which I registered. There’s so much I didn’t do, but I’m coming to terms with the fact that life is long and phases will keep coming and going and that I won’t be sleep deprived forever.

But I did get to read a lot (Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari, The Husbands by Holly Gramazio, Mood Swings by Frankie Barnet, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, among others). I also got to watch a lot (pretty sure I’ve written about all the good ones, but Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and Landman have been continued this year). Thanks to good timing and an old friend, I’m in the process of revisiting a manuscript that I started in 2012 – one that is apparently a period! piece! now! crazy pants!! – and have been going down a collegiate memory lane as a result. I’ve been having actual conversations with my kids, which is wild. I leaned on my village a LOT this year, and it turned out okay. There was a lot that was overwhelming, but we’re here now, and we’ll keep being here.

Accomplishments:

• One baby

• Joined the Skokie Public Library board, and subsequently filled the Vice President position

Writing:

• "The Boys in The Yeshiva Whispered About Her" – flash fiction in The Rush Magazine

• “Recipe to Love Your Post-Bais Yaakov Body” – nonfiction in Rosh by The Pomegranate Tent Collective

• “My Blessed Nightmare” – monologue performed with Orot On Stage (see bootleg video below)

Cheers. And a selfie.

Happy New Year! May it be one for the books!!