July 2025 Shell Exchange

Honestly, I’m debating deleting this newsletter entirely. More and more people are unsubscribing, with no one new to replace them. It’s disheartening and contributing to my troubles with my writing. If you still want to see this continue, please say so in the comments.

Welcome to the July 2025 Shell Exchange!

Midway through each month, I drop a list of recommended reads. I try to feature winning hermit crab essays when possible (🦀). But those charming crabbies aren’t always easy to find. So I also make it a point to share pieces on invisible illness.

If you come across an essay or article I haven’t mentioned that you feel warrants attention, drop the link in the comments, and I’ll add it to the rotation next month.

1. “Fall Dictionary” by Diane Zinna from Cleaver Magazine 🦀

“Birthday: Testimony, confession, lie. A bonk on the head, the evening of the day my daughter turned eight. I was getting something from the fridge, stood up too fast, and hit my head on the freezer door. I felt dizzy for a moment, screamed. I always cry when I get hurt. A feeling that I am a bad person rushes forward, but physically, that day, I was okay.”

2. “How I Learned to Read: An Abecedarian Primer” by Alexis M. Wright from Shenandoah Literary Magazine 🦀

“Grammy, the matriarch of our multigenerational household, made sure I could read for real: she taught me how to scan, how to interpret, how to read a room, how to be fluent.”1. “Trump administration removing 988 hotline service tailored to LGBTQ+ youth in July” by Devi Shastri from The Associated Press

“The Trevor Project said it received official notice Tuesday that the program was ending. The nonprofit is one of seven centers that provides 988 crisis support services for LGBTQ+ people — and serves nearly half of the people who contact the lifeline.”

**Note: 20% of all purchases from my Pride Collection go to The Trevor Project. And, yes, I am working on more of them**

3. “Amid alarm over a US ‘autism registry’, people are using these tactics to avoid disability surveillance - podcast” from The Conversation Weekly

“When first announced this plan was dubbed an autism registry, though the government later denied that’s what it was creating, instead calling it a “ real-world platform” to allow researchers to study comprehensive data on people with autism.”

4. “The Next Acetaminophen Tablet You Take Could be Made From PET” by Fernanda Gonzalez from Wired

“Importantly, this conversion was done at room temperature and with virtually no carbon emissions, suggesting that the drug can be produced in a more environmentally friendly way.”

5. “Doctors don’t get much menopause training. State lawmakers are trying to change that” by Megan Myscofski from NPR

“People experiencing perimenopause and menopause symptoms — which can range from hot flashes and night sweats to mood changes, decreased libido and cognitive issues — often complain of unresponsive doctors and inconsistent care. Symptoms can impact quality of life in the moment, and long-term health.”

6. “Cuts to Medicaid, Eugenics, and Rural Healthcare” by Rebecca Upton from Disability, Chronic Illness, & Culture

“If you think it won't impact you or your parents or your children or your spouse, unless you happen to be a billionaire, you are in for a wakeup call. I don't know what it will take to get through to people that anyone can develop a chronic health condition at any time no matter how healthy you currently think you are, no matter how good your diet is, no matter how much you exercise.”

7. “RFK Jr. Says We’ll Soon Know What’s Fueling the ‘Autism Epidemic’ - And His Prediction is Absolutely Wild” by Nina Golgowski from HuffPost

“Kennedy, a prolific vaccine skeptic who along with President Donald Trump has spread widely disproven claims that the shots are linked to autism, went on to stress that autism rates are rising in the U.S., with about 1 in 31 children diagnosed today, as opposed to 1 in 10,000 ‘when I was a kid.’”

8. “An Eating Disorder Got in the Way of My Travel Dreams—but My Recovery Helped Me Reclaim the World” by Hannah Howard from Travel & Leisure

“In my early 20s, I entered treatment. I met other women—some my age, others in their 30s, 40s, 60s—who had lived their whole lives in the shadow of that same lie. They hadn’t taken the trip, or eaten the cake, or worn the dress. They were still waiting to be ‘ready.’ And I saw, with a kind of clarity that felt like heartbreak, how long a person could wait.”

9. “The Maggot” by Emese Illyés from The Audacity

“My mother’s death approached. I heard its breath getting closer and closer as my mother’s grew more and more raspy. These visits became more beautiful, more precious as my mother began to fade. Awareness of a beyond outside of our contained now intruded in our mundane sense of the everyday.”

10. “How I Learned to Accept the Fact That I’m Disabled” by Rebecca Upton from Disability, Chronic Illness, & Culture

“The first step was learning that the term ‘disability’ was a lot broader than most people realize, and that there are many different kinds of disability. When I didn't know this, I didn't know I could call myself disabled - even though I had a 504 plan and received accommodations growing up.”

11. “Why a new opioid alternative is out of reach for some pain patients” by Sydney Lupkin from NPR

“But the new pills are expensive, and not everyone has been able to access them, thanks to a narrowly-focused FDA approval and limited insurance coverage”