It's really nice, as a writer and as a person, to feel like someone gets you. Words like this that my old friend Laurie Easter recently wrote about my essay "Meditating Underwater" make me feel gotten:
What I love about John’s writing, besides his well-crafted prose, is his vulnerability and honesty. John lays himself bare as a character in his essays, not afraid to expose himself as an example of the complexities inherent in the human condition. This capability engenders not only trust in his narrative voice, but a certain kinship as well.
“Meditating Underwater” is a melancholy and moving essay about family—both the ones we are born into and the ones we choose—and how the very fact of birth into a family doesn’t necessarily cement a longstanding belonging even amidst deep love and caring.
She also interviewed me for her Sunday Spotlight the week before last (sorry, I've been off the map the past couple of weeks) about that piece, my process, family, and other sundries. You can read it all here!