May 28, 2025, premium episode
This week, I share an essay from The Catastrophe Hour. There’s no audiobook available (yet), so I offer this reading of the final essay in the collection, The End Of The Personal. It’s a meditation on first-person writing in a world that seems to have overdosed on oversharing.
The era of the personal is over. The writer sees this now. One day, she just gets it. Everything is personal so nothing is personal. The erosion has been a long time coming. First, the personal became political. Then it became porn. Now it has become dust.
The Catastrophe Hour book club begins on June 11 and runs every Wednesday from 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET for 14 consecutive weeks. We will read one essay each week, starting from the beginning of the book. Audio excerpts of each essay will be released every week as special podcast episodes. (They’ll be excerpts, so you’ll still want to get the book.)
To join the book club, become a paying subscriber to the Substack at the annual level. More info here.
By the way, this October 11-12 in NYC, The Unspeakeasy is offering a retreat unlike any we’ve done. It’s coed and it’s bigger than ever, accommodating more attendees and featuring lots of speakers. We’re still adding speakers, but so far the lineup includes John McWhorter, Carole Hooven, Mike Pesca, Peter Moskos (who was on the pod last week), Alana Newhouse, Andrew Hartz, Ben Appel, and Lisa Selin Davis.
If you’re a yearly subscriber, you get 40% off your retreat fee until June 2 at midnight (the coupon code is below the paywall way at the bottom of the “Housekeeping” section). Interested? Update your subscription now and book the retreat here.
Housekeeping
📖 Order my new book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here.
📘 The Catastrophe Hour book club for yearly paying subscribers starts June 11 and will run for 14 consecutive Wednesdays, 3-4 pm ET. We will meet on Zoom.
📹 The Unspeakeasy Live livestream takes place every Thursday at 3:00 p.m. ET. Look for a notification on your Substack app when we’re live.
Stuff to read and listen to:
New York Times, Jan 31, 2025: The L.A. Fires Taught Me To Accept Help
Recent(ish) solo episodes :
January 9: The First 24 Hours
January 16: The Immaterial World
January 27: Housing Wars
February 5: Remembrance Of Things Past
February 13: What Is A "Catastrophe?"
March 2: A Mental Infection
March 31: Dignity Is Out Of Style
📺 Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube.
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