Dear Beloved Readers, Lovers, & Friends,
As those of you who have been following my Musings know, I set out in early 2022 to use this forum to share the things that matter to me: the words I loved, the thoughts that shaped me, and the events that excited me.
I started this project with the belief that sharing these intimate readings and reflections would give you insight into who I am and what moves me. What I didn’t expect—but am so grateful for—is that this project has given back to me in kind: it has brought me thoughtful and generous clients and friends who have shared their passions, books, poems, and so much more with me!
In the last couple of weeks, I have been inspired to turn this project into a podcast to extend it to those who prefer to consume media via audio. I have been slowly working on the backlog of episodes. As of now, I have 6 episodes up and will continue to add more. Please subscribe to Cybele Rain’s Musings wherever you get your podcasts!
Here is an end-of-the-year wrap-up. All of the books and poems and movies and articles that have shaped my Musings in 2023. I hope you’ve enjoyed these, and I can’t wait to see what 2024 brings!
You always know where to find me!
NOVELS
Fredrick Backman: A Man Called Ove
David Santos Donaldson: Greenland
Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone: This Is How You Lose the Time War
NON-FICTION
Barbara Brown Taylor: Learning to Walk in the Dark
Melissa Febos: Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative
Katherine May: Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
MEMOIRS
Chris Belcher: Pretty Baby
Amy Bloom: In Love: A Memoir of Love & Loss
Mike Birbiglia: The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad
Melissa Febos: Whip Smart: The True Story of a Secret Life
Brittany Hailer: Animal You’ll Surely Become
Saeed Jones: How We Fight For Our Lives
Maggie Smith: You Could Make This Place Beautiful
ANTHOLOGIES
Working Girl Press: The Holy Hour: An Anthology of Sex Work, Magic & The Divine
POETRY COLLECTIONS
Kai Cheng Thom: Falling Back in Love With Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
Maggie Smith: Goldenrod
Erin Taylor: Bimboland
ARTICLES/ESSAYS
Nick Anderson, Washington Post, “After Uproar, WVU to Keep Some Foreign Language Classes, But Not All”
Evan Greer: The Daily Beast, “What to Fix Big Tech? Stop Ignoring Sex Workers”
Natalie Hepburn: Tryst Blog, “Digesting ‘The Menu’: An Inversion of Dated Tropes & The Golden Rule”
Merrit Kennedy, NPR, “Craigslist Shuts Down Personals Section After Congress Passes Bill on Trafficking”
Jennifer A. Kingson: Axios, “West Virginia’s Foreign Language Cuts Could Be a ‘Blueprint’ for Higher Ed Attacks”
Moses Moon: Peepshow Magazine, “Face-to-Face, Street-Based, or in Cyberspace—We Are All Prostitutes”
Adi Robertson: The Verge, “Internet Sex Trafficking Law FOSTA-SESTA Is Almost Never Used, Says Government Report”
Jessie Sage: Sex Work CEO Blog, “Who Are the Clients of Sex Workers—And Why Does It Matter?”
Jessie Sage: Tryst Blog, “The Cost of Coming Out as a Sex Worker”
Jessie Sage: Jessie Sage Blog, “What Can Phone Sex Operators Tell Us About Men & Masculinity?”
Jack Shafer: Politico, “So What If a Candidate Livestreamed Sex Acts with Her Husband?”
Leah Shefoe, Huffington Post, “I Was a Virgin at 59. I Chose a Controversial Way to Have Sex—And I Couldn’t Be Happier”
PODCASTS
Ira Glass: This American Life
Cybele Rain: Musings
RubyLynne: Granny Panty Podcast
Jessie Sage & PJ Patella-Rey: Sex Industry Book Club, Dr. Chris Belcher’s Pretty Baby
Jessie Sage & PJ Patella-Rey: Peepshow Podcast
Krista Tippett: On Being, Baratunde Thurston: How to Be a Social Creative
MOVIES
POSTCARDS
Cybele Rain: Cybele Rain’s Handmade Postcards
BOOKING
Cybele Rain: Book
Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
xo,
Cybele
