A (Bio)stimulating Confusion

plus, I am not my neck

Welcome readers, old and new!

Please tap that ❤️ above for news suggesting “scarred for life” may one day be a thing of the past.

The friends I traveled with last week deposited photos they’d taken into a shared album, so we could collectively access memories of our trip. Handy! One of the photos showed a woman with a sagging neck and a noteworthy pot belly. I’m bringing it up here because that woman was me.

I immediately got this feeling that I’m slouching around in a body I have no awareness of. Like it was just some random old body that I, Val, a person I think of with a much more flattering profile, had got inadvertently attached to.

Why am I telling you this? Because it’s disturbing. Because being haunted by a bad photo or a glimpse of an unflattering moment is universal. Because even a person who’s overwhelmed with gratitude, joy, and wonder can feel bad about her neck when she sees it from the side.

Sometimes it seems like our body is taking us with it, rather than being one of the vehicles through which we experience the world. Then it’s time to say: “I am not my neck.”

👨🏽 👨🏽 👨🏽

I stumbled across a podcast the other night that blew my socks off (if I wore socks). It’s about a Black American icon you’ve probably heard almost nothing about. The delicious—if slightly bitter—context is magnificently presented in an auditory spread you shouldn’t miss.

Another recommendation: Virginia Heffernan’s Substack (“Politics for English majors”) always makes me feel like I’m sitting in on a fascinating class; she gives “thinking” a good name.

😖 😖 😖

What’s the difference between a filler and a biostimulator? One confused reader wants to know. Tunnel under the paywall for clarity.

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