The Notre Dame Fire Revisited: A Year of Setbacks and Adaptations in Paris

An American living above the Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris recalls the fire that stopped the world. One year later, Paris mourns in confinement.

Editor's Picks, Getting Personal, Most PopularJulia NamanApril 15, 2020Notre Dame Fire, Paris, Shakespeare & Co., Bookstore, Bookshop, Tumbleweed, Julia Naman, Covid-19, coronavirus, Quarantine, Notre Dame Cathedral, Beyond The Interview, Personal EssayComment

Crazier Than Fiction: 8 Writers Who Lived a More Exciting Life Than You

Some of these writers barreled headfirst into lives of opulence and indulgence, while others wound up in prisons and insane asylums. In either case, we're thankful they did. It's made for great reading.

Truth SerumJulia NamanJuly 8, 2018Maya Angelou, Paul Bowles, Marquis de Sade, Hunter Thompson, Anais Nin, Salman Rushdie, Oscar Wilde, Henry Miller, Authors, Writing, Exciting Lives, LiteratureComment

The Myth of Busyness

Most of us are not working multiple jobs, solving world hunger, or spearheading a major social movement, unless of course, we are. We are saturated in our own self-importance and we believe that an incomplete task will tip the world and our life's trajectory. We are not that busy.