You have heard me talk about the story that consumed me for the last three years. Today I woke up painfully early, I think because I knew it was the day I would finally get to share a piece of the book with you.
This has been my little private thing for a long time. Today it becomes shared — ours. There are nerves with that, and much joy.
The New Yorker, a magazine I have revered ever since I could pronounce the word “magazine,” today runs an excerpt from MAN IN THE MIRROR. It is a chronicle of a night I spent in Penn Station in New York, observing kind and savvy outreach workers trying to coax homeless people into shelters.
The essay just posted on their website. I wanted to hop on here and share it with this community, which has made the work I do possible in so many ways, and whose curiosity and civic spirit inspire me daily.
And now we get to begin reading together.
On Monday, September 28, at noon ET, my beloved, Priya Parker, will host a community reading party for MAN IN THE MIRROR, right here on Substack Live. Special guests from the book will take turns reading aloud. After so long living with these pages, I’m looking forward to hearing them in other voices, with you there.
The book comes out this Tuesday, September 29. If you’d like to keep reading with us, you can preorder your copy here, or via any of these retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Powell’s, Target, or, for a signed copy, McNally Jackson.
And tell me what you think of the excerpt:
Hi. I very much appreciate your account of all the different kinds of people who are out and about overnight while those of us with homes and day jobs sleep. I am a retired geriatrician who helped create a new kind of housing + health care for older, frail, chronically homeless Veterans. The people! The stories! The unattended suffering! It's so important for those of us who live differently to come to know the stories, have conversations and think about how we might make the world a better place for all of us. Thanks for helping to make that happen. It's important and meaningful work.
Yeah. Such an empathetic description of unhoused culture in NYC. Each person presented with care and individuality and personality. Listen, talk, let them take the lead. It's the best message. I have many stories of my own relationships with unhoused folks in NYC, New Haven, and Philly. I learned it could be me or any of us. I get that you learned that lesson on your journey, as well.