Doing Just Fine

September 2025

Dear Reader,

I hope you had a good August. That month has always seemed to run me down. It wasn't historically hot, if anything it was cooler than years past. But my body only knows the press of humidity and heat, and it is weary of it. We decided against taking any big trips this year, and that too casts its own pallor over me. Everything becomes same-sy on top of the daily dissonance of living and working in the states.

I've noticed the stories I'm pulled toward these days are of outcasts. Like Spinoza who was expelled from his community for his viewpoint. And then I was sent this interview with Katrina Dodson where she says, "maybe there’s something appealing to me about being an outsider by choice rather than by default."

That feels about right. I've been studying a couple of languages, and one morning when I was writing, I typed frase instead of phrase which isn't how I would firstly translate frase but I was amused. And then there is a tombstone I sometimes drive past that reads ULIT, and my brain hears du lịch (pronounce a bit like yu-lit) I'm slipping into something (someone) else.

As the year wears on, I've also noticed I haven't been taking care of myself as well as ought to. I've been consistently trying to do too many things at once. So, my new goals include time to space out as well as being able to do proper push ups.

Don't forget to take care of yourself.

With love,

Thao

Recent reads:

• ​The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke
• ​The Hidden History of Burma by Thant Myint-U
• ​A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
• ​Space by James A. Michener

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