Ask Me Anything

with Berlant & Novak

Subscribe to ask a question

Monthly Top 5 New Restaurants in LA List

We need a must-visit list of food and cocktails for fellow Angelenos. Bless this new venture. We love you! :)

Meaning amidst the chaos!

In your vast philosophical and self-help-adjacent readings, have you come across anything that helps you see your own life as meaningful when lives around the world are treated so carelessly? I’m an academic working on the aesthetics of neoliberalism (nightmare) and it’s been more and more difficult to place any meaning on my own little activities, as I am constantly zooming out to the horrors. Thoughts?!

Helping ADHD teens

I work with a lot of ADHD teens in an educational setting. I don't have ADHD and I am often a bit baffled by their processes, forgetfulness, etc (and really impressed by their creativity, humor, etc). What is helpful for you to hear from non-ADHD people when you are in crisis? What's really condescending to hear ("Well have you tried THIS planner?")? What would have been helpful for you to hear/learn as a teenager? Love you hags

When you read do you experience the reading internally with a voice? Is the voice your voice, or an amalgam of some celebrity and/or someone you know who reminds you of the character? Fyi there are ppl who don't hear anything at all....

OCD

When did you begin to realise that you may have symptoms of OCD? I can imagine it would be like any disorder where you experienced symptoms before knowing what it was. If so, what was your experience early on with OCD?