A summary of the May posts from the MORE TO COME newsletter (sent a couple of days earlier than usual this month).
Earlier this week I returned to AFI Silver to watch a film on the big screen that I first saw days before the pandemic lockdown. As I wrote at the time, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a gorgeous movie where perspective is all-important. A stirring romance coupled with a meditation on remembrance and regret, Portrait is a stunning work of art seen through a woman’s eyes.*
During the month of May I’ve been thinking a great deal about perspective. As well as fragility.
And gaps.
In this era of moral cynicism I find myself questioning the perspective of many of the traditional narrators of our national story. Our news feeds reinforce the fragility of life and community. Throughout our busy days, as we rush from here to there, we should constantly remind ourselves that life is more than scenery.
In the post that ranked at the top of reader views this month, I also thought—probably more than is healthy—about the gaps in life. So let’s jump in to see what piqued my interest in the May MTC newsletter.
TOP READER FAVORITES
A gap in my front teeth—inherited from my father—had bothered me through the years. But a recent comment from a fellow traveler, my resolve to accept and even enjoy life’s imperfections, and a photo shoot led me to realize that the gap in my smile—rather than something to be ashamed of—was really about openness. Possibility. Room to savor. Gaps make life interesting was the top post in terms of reader views in May. Pair this with Bashing into joy and you just might decide that I’m throwing caution to the wind in my old age. I’m not there yet, but that’s the road I’m taking.
THE BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH
In May I highlighted four terrific books. It doesn’t happen every month, but I can honestly say I’d highly recommend them all.
- As the winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the novel James by Percival Everett is the best known among the four. Reimagining perspective and agency is my review of Everett’s magnificent reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective—there’s that word again—of Huck’s enslaved sidekick Jim. Do yourself a favor. Read this book.
- How to live—and think—through the challenges of our era of moral cynicism is my review of We Are Free to Change the World, a compelling biography of the political theorist Hannah Arendt. Author Lyndsey Stonebridge has also written a primer for how to think if we want to be free.
- A classic journey of self-discovery is about my reading of a major work of the Harlem Renaissance for the first time: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
- A good friend and brilliant MTC reader loaned me her copy of A Better Man by Louise Penny, the fifteenth work in the Canadian author’s long-running Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. She thought I’d enjoy it. I did, as you can discover in Be not afraid.
And I wrap up last month’s readings in From the bookshelf: April 2025.
MUSIC, A MOVIE, AND A BIT OF MISCELLANY
- The I’m With Her band has a new album out which I review in Songs of ancestry, lineage, and the collective human experience. When you die and go to heaven, the singing you’ll hear will be like these three exceptional artists.
- A conversation about the Oscar-winning film I’m Still Here led to thoughts on our own agency. Bringing our unique strengths to the task is a film review plus a bonus: music by Bruce Springsteen and Woody Guthrie.
- We see things as we are explores another conversation, which led me to ponder how many of our memories are based on misunderstandings or misremembrances.
- Travel can change us. In Traveling in order to be moved I share three instances of times where I was moved during our April visit along the Dutch waterways.
COMMENTS I LOVED
Two different comments this month jumped out and grabbed me. In response to Gaps make life interesting, brilliant reader Ellen wrote:
“I inherited my dad’s front teeth as well. My great-aunt once told me to tell my dad that I needed braces. I was about 10 years old at that time and I relayed her message to Dad at the dinner table that night. Dad looked at me and said ‘that space between your teeth gives you character!’ Thanks for your story!”
Brilliant reader Sarah was responding to We see things as we are when she wrote:
“This post gave me a lot to think about and helped me understand more of what you were saying at dinner the other night. It strikes me that contemplative prayer, sitting with the divine and simply being, allowing our thoughts to come and go, is a way of letting the manufactured self go to see things as they are. The former monk who gave that seminar recommended using a sacred word or phrase and sitting for a minimum of 21 minutes, because he said it takes 20 minutes to quiet our brains.”
CONCLUSION
Thanks, as always, for reading. Your friendship, support and feedback mean more than I can ever express.
As you travel life’s highways be open to love; thirst for wonder; undertake some mindful, transformative walking every day. Recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, public servants, and others can feel especially vulnerable . . . because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy as the fight never ends.
When times get rough, let your memories wander back to some wonderful place with remembrances of family and friends. But don’t be too hard on yourself if a few of the facts slip. Just get the poetry right.
Remember that “we are here to keep watch, not to keep.” Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. And bash into some joy along the way.
Life is finite . . . love is not. Try to be nice. Always be kind.
More to come . . .
DJB
*The last showings at AFI are, alas, today and Thursday, May 28th and 29th.
For the April 2025 summary, click here.
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Photo of bees at work at Giverny by Claire Holsey Brown
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