Body of Work: Belle de Jour

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My dad was mowing strangers' lawns on the day that he died. He woke before sunrise - the habit of a blue collar lifetime - with his schedule for the day…
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Some of my regulars, the couple with early dementia, have a crime fiction and thriller library of frankly mind-boggling size. It’s larger than some…
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Well, this is going to be awkward. In the last few weeks I’ve had a number of people unsubscribe from this newsletter. The ones who have left a comment…
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"I just accepted that as a part of my life, accepted that forever I would always be a little in the place that I was not.." Spalding Gray
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TW: domestic abuse Even if you are not regularly on social media it will have been difficult avoid hearing about the Depp/Heard defamation hearing…
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When I met them they seemed like any other couple enjoying retirement. A modest 3/2 bungalow tucked away in a sunny spot on the edge of high desert and…
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So I was not entirely truthful when I said we threw out or burned everything from inside of Dad’s house, because there was one thing. It’s the box. Back…
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Hardly a day goes by when the news is not up in arms over some aspect of “cancel culture”. But in my lifetime, the greatest sea change in what was and…
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Standing at the door before a client answers is a feeling so much like sex work outcalls that it catches me by surprise sometimes. Knowing that you are…
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Doing turnovers - the cleaning that happens in between successive guests - for an Airbnb is like app Inception. The owners wait for guests to make…
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Content Warning: graphic descriptions of death and decomposition It was a while before my father’s body was found. His girlfriend was out of town, his…
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This is another part where I have to admit I’m bad at telling a chronological story. So, the first time I went to Florida after Dad died, we got a…
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