I had hoped to be able to share a recording of our first meeting for Tender is the Flesh, but I have not been able to download the recording from Zoom. I am not sure why, because we did record it, but it is not available in my zoom storage. I will reach out and see if their support team can help, but as of now, I don't have access to it.

If and when that changes, I'll share it, but for now, here is what you need to know:

Our conversation focused on a few key points. We discussed:

• Systems of oppression are designed to illicit complicity from even those who resist them

• While this specific story is a horrific display, it is meant to help us reflect on the way we, ourselves, justify the complicity our everyday lives require from us

• Tejo's history of neglect and abuse and how he uses those memories, and the relationships in his life, to justify his choices

• The contrast between the people at the bottom of this system and the people at the top

• Tejo's relationship with himself and the world around him

We also discussed specific scenes in the book and how we felt about them, but overall, we stuck to these larger conversations.

I also dropped a blog last week asking people when we would like to meet to discuss the second half of the book, and it looks like the date that worked best for everyone is Next Tuesday, July 14th, at 7pm CST

HERE is the Zoom link for that meeting. Based on our last meeting, I would expect this one to last from an hour to an hour and a half. Come ready with your questions, observations and challenges!

Also, at the end of that meeting, I would love to get some feedback from all of you on how we can do this better with our next book! I want to cultivate a really good experience for everyone and would love to know what would make that easier for you. So think on that this week too so that we can talk about it when we meet!

Thanks everyone! Look forward to speaking with you Tuesday!