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Regina Salathe's avatar

I so enjoyed Karen’s memoir and her responses to Eleven Questions are delightfully grounded and life affirming.

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ZM Spalter's avatar

Thank you Regina! Her memoir remains one of my favorite and I enjoyed working with her on 11Qs. I find her choices to prioritize travel inspiring. It was only after moving to Japan that I began to think about trying to experiencing other parts of the globe in meaningful ways - beyond reading books (the second best way to travel if you cannot physically travel ☺️) Do you have any other favorite memoirs to recommend?

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Regina Salathe's avatar

Too many memoirs to count! That said, I was really moved by both Chanel Miller's Know My Name and Tembi Locke's From Scratch. Two very different experiences but both exquisite writers with stories of resilience.

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ZM Spalter's avatar

I have been meaning to read Chanel Miller’s book for a long time. Thank you for reminding me. And it’s funny there was so much I liked about the From Scratch screen adaptation - though I didn’t love all of it - but most of all I can’t stop thinking about how bad Zoe Saldana’s wigs were - they were so distracting 😳 😑. I try not to see things without reading the book first but since I can’t unsee it, lol, I’ll get my hands on a copy. 😁

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Regina Salathe's avatar

Zoe Saldana's fluency with Italian all but guaranteed her that role. Now I have to go back and look at a few episodes. I am insisting you read 🙇‍♀️ Tembi's book (Chanel Miller's too!) or better yet listen to her narrate the audiobook. She is a gifted writer but her training as an actor makes the audiobook stand out.

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Natalie Love Cruz's avatar

She has lived such an interesting life! I love the quote "What used to be home is as alien to me now as a place I’ve never visited." Very fascinating outlook on origin and home.

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ZM Spalter's avatar

I agree Natalie! I really want to be able to look back after my kids are grown and flown, and I've accumulated more years under my belt, that I can look back on the life I've lived thus far and feel satisfied that more often than not, I made choices that I relish. And I have so many conflicting feelings about origin and home. I'm really coming to this idea that home is always with you no matter where you are. So does that mean that no matter where you are, you are home? If so, where does nostalgia fall into this? The home I long for - for me at least, Brooklyn growing up and through my early adulthood - doesn't exist the way I remember - how could it? I don't pine for it the way I used to. Everything changes and that's all we can count on. Brooklyn, like everywhere, is always changing and different but always familiar. And where I live now, is becoming familiar but will always be different. And I'm changing too in part because of the influences of this place I call home now. Ahem (thank you for coming to my Ted Talk in the comments section 😳😁) Does the idea that home can be "as alien as a place I never visited" resonate because you feel similarly?

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Natalie Love Cruz's avatar

I think it kind of does! As someone who has lived in other places outside of NYC and then moved back, I feel like I considered each place "home" while I lived there. I think the concept of home for me is the community I build, the friendships I forge in each place, and the cozy nest that I create to rest my head at night. I do think that for some origin is home, which makes sense, especially for people who long for familiarity and belonging in foreign places. I guess I lean more towards Karen's thinking on separating the two.

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ZM Spalter's avatar

I think you're right. I guess there are multiple definitions of home. Cause you're right, building community, friendships, and purpose and a comfortable and welcoming place to lay my head at night is home and my priority wherever I live. The language barrier here makes this slower-going for me beyond the expat community but it's happening bit by bit. So I guess my conclusion is home is 3fold. Home is always within, home is also origin, and home is where you make it.

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Susan Gitlitz's avatar

Wow- I feel fulfilled

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Susan Gitlitz's avatar

Xxxxxxxxx

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ZM Spalter's avatar

Sue, I am so glad you enjoyed this! I really think you'd like her memoir, especially as someone who has traveled as much as you! The older I get the more blown-away I am by folks' lived experiences. Should you ever decide to write about your life and travels, I'd read it in a heartbeat. ❤️

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Susan Gitlitz's avatar

Didn’t u give Gary her book for me. I read it , blew my mind.she articulated so many obscure deep experiences I had! And she knows Carlos sister Margie in vt! Tell her yr husbands god mom is sister in law w Margie! Crazzzy

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ZM Spalter's avatar

I did! You're right I forgot! I'll pass along the connection too - you cannot convince me the world isn't small! Love you!

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