Six Word Letters from Love With Elizabeth Gilbert & Friends
Six Word Letters from Love with Liz G. and Larry S.; Reflections on 2023; Larry David and 359 others wrestle with Judaism
Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Letters From Love” — in Six Words & More
I was truly honored to be invited to share a guest essay in Elizabeth Gilbert’s new Substack, “Letters From Love.” In her intro, Gilbert writes, “I wanted to bring some healthy masculine energy into our community this week, to balance out all the amazing feminine energy and love that is happening here!”
As a guy who grew up with two sisters and tries to teach his son how important it is for men to be comfortable with vulnerability, I wanted to bring my most authentic self to Liz’s “Letters From Love” (you can read and watch my letter here). I ended my essay with these six words — “Love the process. Process the love.” — and invited everyone to share their own “Six Word Letter From Love.” Now, I encourage you to add to the 500+ lovely and inspired comments and share your own six word letter from love. (Note: a modest subscription fee is required to access all the videos on “Letters From Love”; and you can also see my video below). I’ll feature a few of my favorites in the next issue of this newsletter.
SixContest #154: Lessons From 2023
What will you take away from 2023 and what would you prefer to leave behind? Was the year full of new experiences or well-loved old ones? Share your reflections on the year that’s almost over by telling us your 2023 story in our newest SixContest, “Loved, lost, and lessons from 2023.”
Plus: Our last SixContest was a winner with some 900 musings and meditations on “Fall Feels Like [Add Three Words]”. Among our Top 6 picks: “Fall feels like books needing reading;” “Fall feels like fireplace and chill;” and “Fall feels like my favorite F-word.” And the winner? Click here to see our favorite six words of the season.
Six Words on Jewish Life (Back in Stock!)
“Israel Means to Wrestle: Explain Everything.” —Tiffany Shlain
The above six words shared when I first published Oy! Only Six? Why Not More: Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life back in 2012 have never felt more timely. The expanded edition — including six perfect words from the inimitable Rabbi Sharon Brous (above) is now available.
The book is largely agnostic to politics and includes contributions from Larry David, Amy Schumer, Henry Winkler, Jonathan Safran Foer, Liana Finck, Josh Gondelman, Maira Kalman, Walter Mosley, Gary Shteyngart, and Art Spiegelman, along with hundreds of never-before-published writers. It’s a warm, funny, and heartfelt collection with stories of faith and family, duty and identity, celebration and tsuris (what’s tsuris? Let’s just say you’ll know it if you got it). And it goes without saying that it’s a great gift for the sixth night of Hanukkah.
Find Six Words on Jewish Life on Amazon and the other usual places. If you’d like to purchase discounted orders of ten or more copies, head to our Shopify store. If you’re interested in lots of copies for your synagogue, JCC, B’Nai Mitzvah, or other occasion contact me directly.
Short Cuts: Six-Word Reviews
From the World: In his timeless book, How to Be an Artist, art critic and 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner Jerry Saltz provides crisp, refreshing insight on creativity, navigating an artistic career, and discovering one's originality in a world brimming with talent. When thinking about art, "don't think good or bad. Think useful, pleasurable, strange, lucky," offers Saltz. The stories critic also shares a mix of historical and contemporary art and includes photos of artists like painter Henri Matisse and pop artist Andy Warhol working on their craft. How To Be An Artist reads like a practical conversation, offering artists (and non-artists) advice on developing habits that can help overcome mental blocks and nagging questions about talent.
Danielle's Six-Word Review: "Staccato-like chapters, probing questions, empowered philosophies."
From Substack: Billing itself as a newsletter designed to give you “information, not a panic attack,” News Not Noise fills a much-needed vacuum in modern journalism. Jessica Yellin, former Chief White House Correspondent for CNN, channels her disenchantment with television journalism’s practice of framing news in a negative light to pump up ratings into a news experience that encourages learning and discourages polarization and cynicism. With Yellin’s newsletter, readers can expect to receive information without unnecessary negativity, as well as a special edition newsletter on Fridays, dubbed News That Doesn’t Suck, that offers feel-good news stories to kick off the weekend.
Leah Schroeder’s Six-Word Review: “Necessary news providing clarity, not concern.”
Parting Six: Sit on It!
I loved your letter from love Larry!!! 😍