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Emma Lazarus. Engraving by T. Johnson, 1872.
“Until we are all free,” Emma Lazarus wrote some hundred and fifty years ago, “we are none of us free.” I continue to wonder about freedom, about how anyone can achieve the wide embrace of human diversity that is implied in Lazarus’s words. I continue to lecture on Far from the Tree and to focus on the civil rights issues of our time, with a particular emphasis on LGBTQ rights and disability rights, and on the construction of nuanced identities.
In the last few months, I’ve also been working on a new epilogue for The Noonday Demon, which brings my research on depression up to date. I’ve addressed the most urgent questions in the field, including the emergence of so-called electroceuticals, the efficacy of medications versus placebos, the risks and advantages of using antidepressants during pregnancy, and many others. I’ve also had the privilege of reinterviewing many of my original subjects and bringing their stories up to date.
I’m assembling an anthology of my reporting from around the globe, and I’m about to begin a new book about parenthood and how it’s being redefined in our time as many women work, many men help with childcare, and many people have children outside the traditional, heterosexual, nuclear family. I’m always interested in stories and insights that could be part of the new book, so feel free to send me any ideas that spring to mind.
