This week, I share an essay from The Catastrophe Hour. There’s no audiobook available (yet), so I offer this reading of the final essay in the collection, The End Of The Personal. It’s a meditation on first-person writing in a world that seems to have overdosed on oversharing.

The era of the personal is over. The writer sees this now. One day, she just gets it. Everything is personal so nothing is personal. The erosion has been a long time coming. First, the personal became political. Then it became porn. Now it has become dust.

The Catastrophe Hour book club begins on June 11 and runs every Wednesday from 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET for 14 consecutive weeks. We will read one essay each week, starting from the beginning of the book. Audio excerpts of each essay will be released every week as special podcast episodes. (They’ll be excerpts, so you’ll still want to get the book.)

To join the book club, become a paying subscriber to the Substack at the annual level. More info here.

HOUSEKEEPING

📺 Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube!

📖 Order my new book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here.

📘 The Catastrophe Hour book club for yearly paying subscribers starts June 11 and will run for 14 consecutive Wednesdays 3-4pm ET. We will meet on Zoom. I’ll make a post about it very soon with more info.

📹 The Unspeakeasy Live livestream happens every Thursday at 3pm ET. Look for a notification on your Substack app when we’re live.

✈️ The Unspeakeasy’s 2025 retreat season is underway. It includes a just-announced COED retreat with more attendees and multiple speakers. October 11-12 in New York City. Programming and ticketing info here.

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[DESCRIPTION]

You can upgrade your subscription here: http://bit.ly/3OJJRO9

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GUEST BIO

Peter Moskos teaches in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Moskos, a Princeton and Harvard-trained sociologist, is a former Baltimore City Police Officer and is the director of John Jay College’s NYPD Executive Master’s Leadership Program.

Also, check out Peter’s previous Unspeakable interviews:

Can We Get Smarter About Policing? A conversation with Professor of Police Science (and former Baltimore cop) Peter Moskos: https://bit.ly/3H0209F

How Are We Feeling About Policing These Days? https://bit.ly/4ms8rCP

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HOUSEKEEPING

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In this much-anticipated interview (at least by me), humorist and journalist Henry Alford joins me to discuss his recent bestselling book I Dream Of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots. In a Joni nerd-off that may be unrivaled in podcast history, Henry and I talk about his research and reporting for this book, what he learned about Mitchell’s contradictions and complexities, why he thinks she might be on the autism spectrum, and, above all, why Mitchell’s music holds such a profound place in so many people’s emotional and even intellectual lives.

GUEST BIO

Henry Alford is a humorist and journalist who has contributed to the New Yorker since 1998. He is the author of seven books, including Big Kiss, which won a Thurber Prize, and the recent I Dream of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots, a national bestseller.

Want to hear the whole conversation? Upgrade your subscription here.

HOUSEKEEPING

New feature! The Unspeakeasy Live is a twice-weekly livestream featuring casual, spontaneous conversations with guests, friends, and sometimes just myself. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 pm ET. Recordings of livestreams are posted the next day (or soon thereafter) for paying subscribers.

📖 Order my new book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here.

May 17 I’ll be in Denver at The Process discussing my new book, The Catastrophe Hour. 7pm. Info here.

Stuff to read and listen to:

New York Times, Jan 31, 2025: The L.A. Fires Taught Me To Accept Help

Recent solo episodes :

• January 9: The First 24 Hours
• January 16: The Immaterial World
• January 27: Housing Wars
• February 5: Remembrance Of Things Past
• February 13: What Is A "Catastrophe?"
• March 2: A Mental Infection
• March 31: Dignity Is Out Of Style

📺 Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube.

✈️ The Unspeakeasy’s 2025 retreat season is underway. Find out where we’ll be!

🥂 Join The Unspeakeasy, my community for freethinking women.

🔥 Make a donation of any amount to help me recover from the fire by using the tip jar.