Greetings from What is California? HQ, where Elsie the HQ Cat and I are getting back up to speed after last week’s much-needed break. What did we miss? (Please don’t mention anything slap-related. If only we’d missed that.)
I’m pleased to return this week with an appearance from Sarah Miller, the writer and podcaster (and Substack sibling) behind The Real Sarah Miller. I’ve been a fan of Sarah’s work for years, starting back when she wrote for the late, lamented website The Awl. In addition to appreciating her keen, dryly funny observations, I also noticed in her bio that she lived in Nevada County. It’s not too often you read writers this good from the Sierra foothills in Northern California, about 50 miles northeast of Sacramento.
But there Sarah was. And now here we are, nearly a decade later, talking about Sarah’s journey from New York to Los Angeles to Nevada County. Along the way, in writing for outlets including The NY Times, NewYorker.com, Harper’s Bazaar, and other publications, her work has chronicled the wonders and tribulations of living in a region faced with constant change. Climate change in particular is front of mind in this conversation; we talk at length about Sarah’s series of essays about fire season and coming to terms with the perennial peril of being a Californian.
And perhaps—maybe, probably, I guess—we talked about The Slap. It happens.
Thanks as always for listening and sharing. Keep your eye on the bear! 🐻 ❤️
Episode Notes
Sarah Miller writes the newsletter The Real Sarah Miller, hosts the podcast “Very Specific Interviews” and co-hosts (with Joshua Clover) the podcast “Didn’t See It, Don’t Need To.”
California is both where I live and also feels like a foreign country. I think sometimes, if you feel like you live in a foreign country, it kind of makes you feel more alive–in the sense that you’re constantly noticing the experience of being.
Notes and references from this episode:
@sarahlovescali - Sarah Miller on Twitter
The Real Sarah Miller - Substack
“Didn’t See It, Don’t Need To: Oscars,” by Sarah Miller and Joshua Clover, The Real Sarah Miller
“People I Punched,” by Sarah Miller, The Real Sarah Miller
“My So-Karen Life,” by Sarah Miller, NY Times
“The Bridge Dog,” by Sarah Miller, The New Yorker
“Fire Season,” by Sarah Miller, The Real Sarah Miller
“The World Is Burning. I'm Renovating My Kitchen Anyway,” by Sarah Miller, Harper’s Bazaar
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Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale
Theme music: Sounds Supreme
Twitter: @WhatCalifornia
Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com
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