How to Have a Life (Ep. 238 - Sunday Bloody Sunday/Walt Odets)

My guest this week has noticed something funny about the way we each live our lives: we all fumble through life like we're the first one to have ever figured out how to live. And Walt Odets has had a lot of life; he's worked as a photographer, as a airplane pilot transporting priceless cargo, and as a psychologist working through the worst days of the HIV epidemic. We'll be talking about trauma and loss in this episode, including some pretty heavy topics around mortality -- but also emerging from trauma and finding the optimism and strength to carry on. Walt's new book is called Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives, and provides a pathway for dealing with feelings of loss, pain, and aimlessness -- guiding people to self-acceptance, self-confidence, and self-realization. We'll have that conversation in a minute. First a reminder that I host twice-monthly livestreams where I chat with listeners like you about the book and movies and music and shows that are bringing you joy right now. The next one is on June 22 at 9am pacific, and there's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed. Big thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of support on Patreon -- head over to SewersOfParis.com and click "Support the show on Patreon" to check out the rewards for backers. And for more queer podcasting, check out the show Queens of Adventure, featuring drag queens on an epic Dungeons and Dragons quest! That's at QueensOfAdventure.com. We’re doing a special preview weekend at the end of June, making over 20 hours of backer-exclusive bonus episodes available for anyone to listen to. Visit queensofadventure.com or follow @dungeondrag on twitter, where we’ll post more information in the coming weeks.