Navel Gazing

In this week’s essay, John remembers dropping his son off at college, and trying to hold onto moments and feelings while you can. 

Notebook Entries:

Notebook 75, page 6. September 2021:

They chose you.

Notebook 15, page 4. April 2004:

Sitting with Brice by waterfall. Throwing rocks in stream. Loading sand from dump truck and loader and back again.

References:

What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

Songwriter Nick Cave

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

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Host

John Dickerson

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In this week’s essay, John Dickerson looks back on a Sunday morning in 2021, and ruminates on the empty spaces left behind by the people that once filled our lives. 

Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.

Notebook Entries:

Notebook 75, page 6. September 5, 2021:

“Oh my god. We dropped our son at college and our dog is dead.” – Anne.

References:

“Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Johnny Cash

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

“When Someone You Love is Upset, Ask This One Question” by Jancee Dunn for the New York Times

“A Case of ‘Sunday Neurosis’” by Jena McGregor for the Washington Post

“Waking Early Sunday Morning” by Robert Lowell

Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing by Brad Stulberg

Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed

“Alabama Pines” by Jason Isbell

 Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Host

John Dickerson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political Gabfest host John Dickerson has been a journalist for more than three decades, reporting about presidential campaigns, political scandals, the evolving state of our democracy. Along the way, he’s also been recording his observations in notebooks he has carried in his back pocket. On the Navel Gazing podcast, John Dickerson invites you to join him in figuring out what these thirty years of notebooks mean: sorting out what makes a life --or a day in a life— noteworthy.

Listen to Navel Gazing every week, starting April 6th, wherever you get your podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.