[past] Health & Safety: A Breakdown - Jan 23, 2025

Let's get lit

Join us for a gathering of friends to discuss the January Book Therapy Project selection, Health & Safety: A Breakdown.

Part memoir, part cultural commentary, Health & Safety reckons with a breakdown in the author’s personal relationships and the wider cultural and societal breakdown wrought by Trump’s first presidency and COVID. Her approach to the turmoil – to take a deep dive into Bushwick’s dance and party scene – isn’t for everyone, but the process of inquiry, observation and attempts at reconciliation are universal. As we approach Trump’s second presidency, this feels like a good time to consider how we will move through and improve the world, while keeping ourselves sane.

Topic & Themes:

Themes: How to survive in turmoil, the intersection of art, community and drugs, how to be an individual and part of a collective, and the changing landscape of NYC

Book: Health & Safety: A Breakdown

Podcast: “Emily Witt’s ‘Health & Safety: A Breakdown’” on LARB Radio Hour

Article: “The Last Rave” (book excerpt in The New Yorker)

More Articles: All of Emily Witt’s writing for The New Yorker