The Atlantic — 50 Best Podcasts of the Year

My dad is the gift that keeps on giving.  When Esquire Classic made #20 in a list of best podcasts of the year, My Father the Bachelor was singled out as the “gateway” episode.  I love that we beat out The New Yorker Radio Hour (#23) and Fresh Air (#24)

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20. Esquire Classic
Most literary podcasts adopt a familiar highbrow voice, but Esquire Classic makes English lit conversational. Each episode sees the show reexamine one great piece from the magazine, poring over all the insider details: what Susan Orlean was thinking when she profiled a 10-year-old boy, or why Richard Ben Cramer was the perfect foil for Ted Williams. By interweaving readings of the essays with conversations between the host and someone close to the piece (usually a writer or editor), the podcast contextualizes the making of essential literature.

Gateway Episode: “My Father the Bachelor, by Martha Sherrill

Banner Episode: “What It Takes, by Richard Ben Cramer

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/12/the-50-best-podcasts-of-2016/510698/

MAGICAL CLOTHING: FARRAH’S JERSEY

I have a terrible habit of borrowing clothes. (Hand-me-downs are great too.) Here’s a light-hearted essay I wrote for today’s New York Times about the best thing I ever borrowed — a roller derby jersey worn by Farrah Fawcett on Charlie’s Angels. It tells how I got it. And, painfully, how I had to give it back.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/fashion/charlies-angels-didnt-look-that-sexy-without-help.html

SAILING CAPE COD — for Conde Nast Traveler

click on this photo to read the Conde Nast Traveler article

 . . .  If we’d tried to come by car, we wouldn’t have been allowed to park until after five without a beach sticker. But arriving by boat, the dreamlike Lambert’s Cove and its sandy beach are ours. Brad sets up a halyard on the bow, and we swing on the line like Tarzan, soaring into air so soft that it feels like fur. And then, one by one, we fall into the warm water and linger there. Back on the boat, we change our minds about dinner again: The Blue Whale is too good to leave, and everyone has arrived with food. Instead of a beach picnic, we have a loud and rather raucous feast of smoked mussels and sushi from Martha’s Vineyard, smoked bluefish and bread from Nantucket, cheese from Chatham, and ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil from my garden. Our towels and swimsuits, pinned to the railing of the boat, flap in the balmy night air.

    (Excerpt from Briny Flight to Summer, Conde Nast Traveler, August 2010)

New Collection from Esquire: Fathers and Sons

I’m not sure if I should be flattered — or very troubled — that I am the only woman writer in the new Esquire collection or that the subtitle is “What it Means To Be A  Man.”    Hey, I may not be a porcelain doll but I’m not a man, either!  Seriously, though, I’m very happy to be in great company, and to be able to read Tom Junod’s great essay again about his father’s fashion tips. It is one of the best things he’s ever done.

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