BREB CLASS!

Hi folks! I've spent this period of global pandemic and quarantine here in the Catskills (in addition to such activities like gardening TOO MUCH and sobbing) launching a bread-baking cooking series on YouTube called BREB CLASS.

It's been produced by my lovely and talented husband Rob Dubbin. We created a four-episode series that teaches you how to make sourdough step-by-step and how to make fun stuff like pancakes and crackers from the discard. It's been so awesome hearing from bakers who've been figuring out sourdough; I've gotten photos of brebs made as far away as Spain and New Zealand.

I hope to make more BREB CLASS eventually, though as of June 12, 2020, I am pausing the project indefinitely. I need to spend some time resting, healing in various ways (including baking breb!), reading books, looking off into the distance and loudly sighing, etc., and being out in the streets supporting the movement for black lives as much as I can.

Coupla housekeeping-type-notes:

- I have at last deleted my Instagram account. I'm too tired of Facebook being so wrong about so much.

- I'm also going to stop posting on this blog (mostly trying to simplify things, reduce the volume of stressful nonsense, to use a word my friend Hannah coined)

- If you're eager to receive updates about me, my assistant Alex will still occasionally tweet on my behalf

- I expect I will still send out a newsletter when I've got news to share; I encourage you to subscribe if you are interested in hearing about whatever is next from me.

- Otherwise, please read my book if you've not already and / or listen to Mad Chat and / or read through my back-catalogue of already-published writing.

Love to you all! Black lives matter! Black disabled lives matter! Black trans lives matter! Defund the police!

Ishmall Had Won!,

Sandy

p.s. Here's a photo of me being happy as heck the other day when my entire garden was at last planted (ish... the work goes on):

Three New 'Between the Binary' columns

I've had a few more Between the Binary columns publish over at them. the last few months... It's taken me a moment to post them here because, well, I've been a little busy!

First, I spoke about the fear and uncertainty I had about getting top surgery in this column that ran before I got surgery in late November. I called it: "A Farewell to Boobs." (I am very proud of this punny title, not sorry.)

(Illo by Lucy Sherston)

In December, I wrote about the annoying fact that many brands still don't bother marketing products to anybody but "men" or "women." I asked: Where are nonbinary people supposed to buy socks, razors or hiking boots? Dear Brands: Consider Selling Me Stuff

Cheryl Strayed (known friend of Oprah) said this about the column:

(I died.)

And finally, this week I published my latest column, about how doing yoga has helped me transform my relationship with myself. It talks about recovering from top surgery. Which has been intense! How Yoga Changed My Relationship with My Body — And Myself. This one once again featured an illo by Ohni Lisle:

Thanks for reading.

99% Invisible!

For the last few months I've been hard at work on an episode of 99% Invisible and it's out now! It's about The Kirkbride Plan — a surprising and relatively forgotten chapter in the history of American mental health care. It's an answer to the question of why this country has so many huge abandoned asylums. I hope you'll check it out.

It was an honor to be able to create this piece with the awesome 99PI team. 99PI is a podcast I truly love and I'm very grateful to be able to tell this story to their audience.  BTW I realized I hadn't mentioned here that, some weeks back, I was on another of my favorite podcasts, albeit doing a fairly different thing. Anyway, ICYMI, here was my guest appearance on Slate's Dear Prudence.