Cherry blossoms at Chanticleer Garden
A lovely Easter Sunday in Pennsylvania
2024 Reading Challenge: A Prayer for the Crown Shy
I liked this, but not as much as the first book in the series. It was fun to follow the adventures of the tea monk and the robot, and I loved that it was so short, but Psalm for the Wild-Built is a very hard act to follow.
On the socialist history of International Women's Day
Happy 8 March!
It’s been a busy day so far and it’s still the afternoon. Check out some of the things I’ve been up to so far
Listen to Kristen Ghodsee's IWD guest appearance on the Upstream Podcast
Watch Kristen Ghodsee's IWD guest appearance on the Total Liberation Podcast
Read Kristen Ghodsee's 2019 Op-Ed in the New York Times on IWD
Read an Associated Press article about 8 March 2024
Read a Bucks County Beacon article about IWD
Today at 12:30 EST! →
Four years without Freeman
It’s been four years, and he is still very much missed. My last photo with him in November 2019.
Clip from the forthcoming documentary film: The Power of Friendship →
I am once again a talking head in a forthcoming documentary film about the power of friendship and the worldwide epidemic of social isolation and loneliness. If you are in London on March 11, catch the premiere at the Kiln Cinema on Kilburn High Road. There will be a Q&A with the director and a reception afterwards.
From Électrons libres: A New Documentary Film about Women in Science →
I’m so thrilled that my books got featured in this new and important Belgian documentary film about women in science.
2024 Reading Challenge: Psalm for the Wild-Built
I loved this little novella so much, that I actually wrote a good old fashioned piece of fan mail to the author:
Dear Becky Chambers,
I'm a cultural anthropologist and a 53-year-old professor of Russian and East European Studies at Penn that never has time to read for leisure. It was snowing in Philadelphia today so I stayed in bed and did something I almost never do: I read your wonderful little book, Psalm for the Wild-Built, cover-to-cover on my stomach and under my covers in my pajamas like a teenager. It was the most luxurious thing in the world and it so suited the message of your book.
Anyway, as I fellow author, I always love it when readers reach out to tell me how much they were moved by my words. So I just wanted to do the same.
No expectation of a reply here; just know that your writing reached out on a cold winter's day in Philadelphia and made this sometimes cynical intellectual smile.
In solidarity,
Kristen R. Ghodsee
A fun article for Valentine's Day! →
SO fun to be interviewed by Beatrice and Aseem for this article on Philly’s singles.
My daily open water swim in Rincón, Puerto Rico
Thanks to my partner’s amazing drone skills, I have a wonderful video of my daily two kilometer open water swim from the Villa Cofresi to the Tres Palmas Marina. I did this swim each day for eight days and it was absolutely glorious.
2024 Reading Challenge: The Seep by Chana Porter
A new year and a new goal for reading fiction and non-fiction. Although I did not reach my 2023 goal of 50 books, I did manage to read most of 17 books of fiction and 21 books of non-fiction (which included 3 audio books). Thirty-eight books isn’t bad given how busy my year was.
But now I’m starting fresh and my first book was The Seep by Chana Porter. I loved this little book mostly because I kept thinking that the aliens would turn out to be evil and the author did not fall for the tired old tropes. A fun and hopeful book about how some of us are too resistant to change for our own good.
The most amazing note I've ever received!
Today was the first day of classes at Penn for the spring semester and I checked my snail mail for the first time since December. I received this absolutely lovely little bird card from Margaret Atwood! I doubted it at first, but checked the signature online and realized that it’s really from her. I was over the moon!
A first concept for the Spanish cover of Everyday Utopia
Coming out in March 2024!
A nice review of my podcast in The Hollywood Progressive →
Originally published on Znet, I am grateful to Alexandria Shaner for her generous engagement and her shout out for my daughter.
My interview on Dan Snow's History Hit Podcast →
This was such a fun conversation! Dan Snow knows how to ask all the right questions. Give a listen here on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
A.K. 47 year in review
This is the first time I have noticed this “backtrack” feature of my podcast host, Buzzsprout. It’s nice to have an overview of these things sometimes, especially since I post new episodes so sporadically. January will be the 5th year anniversary of A.K. 47. Although I only recorded, edited, and published 20 episodes in 2023, I am quite pleased that they have reached listeners in 99 countries.
Some more foreign media for Everyday Utopia
I got a bit of a grumpy review on the German equivalent of NPR, but a very nice shout out as the most important non-fiction book of the year on the biggest Leftist news platform in Czechia.
A 2023 Notable Book for Behavioral Scientist →
So pleased for this recognition