Hey everyone, before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to remind you that we have an open call for story pitches for our upcoming show in New York City on November 4th on the theme of taking care.

And that's the show that we're producing in collaboration with the amazing medical literary magazine Bellevue Literary Review.

Anyone who's been involved in the caregiving experience can pitch their story for that show.

You don't have to be a doctor or a nurse.

You could be a patient or a family caregiver or really anyone.

So if you're interested in that opportunity, visit our website.

And remember that the deadline for pitches is the end of the month, so that's

May 31st. And we're really looking forward to hearing some of your stories. Now on to today's

episode. Support for the Nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association.

At the Nocturnist, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with health care privacy laws.

Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality.

All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer.

You're listening to The Nocturnous Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman.

Today we'll be hearing from brilliant writer and philosophy professor Chloe Cooper Jones.

Chloe lives with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, and recently wrote a memoir called

Easy Beauty, in which she gives us a glimpse into what it's like to live in her body, and takes us

with her all around the world as she quests for an understanding of beauty, what it is, and how it can

change our perspective on ourselves and each other.

Chloe is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, a whiting creative nonfiction

grant recipient, and in 2020 was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing.

Easy Beauty was named a best book of 2022 by the New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, and more.

And I can definitely see why, because this book completely changed the way I think about aesthetics, disability, and how those two things relate to each other.

...