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“Range of Motion” is a term I heard a lot as I endured cancer treatment, two broken bones, and months of occupational and physical therapy over the past few years. Here, it’s also a lens through which to understand the expansion of agency and possibility that can occur at midlife and in the aftermath of serious illness or trauma. When range of motion is limited, possibilities are cut off. It can take a lot of slow, boring, mindful work to expand that range, whether in your shoulder girdle, your ankle, your career, or your emotional life. My own post-cancer re-engagement with ballet and modern dance, and aerial circus arts, has grounded me in my aging and fragile body in ways that feel powerful and revelatory.

I was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, just days before my wedding; I am finding new joy in my body as I also grapple its inevitable limitations. This newsletter attempts to make sense of the absurd tension between the hardest and the happiest parts of life. Some people get religion after cancer, in other words, but I got this movement practice and it is giving life.

While I am leery of overpromising (I learned the hard way as a journalist how dicey it can be to report on what people say they’re going to do), you can expect here a mix of personal essays, memoir, and interviews, with a dash of practical how-to stuff.

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