Five things that brought me joy in 2025

Hi friends,

I hope your holiday season has been healing and filled with experiences with loved ones. I think we all deserve that after the relentless affront that was 2025. In spite of the emotional toll of this year, I think it is important to reflect and make space for the joys (big or small) that kept us going, just as I did to end last year.

For me and for QSL, this year was a mixed bag. I started a new job in a new city and have found making friends here to be more difficult than expected. But, I am enjoying my new life and my intellectual pursuits. Plus, my work environment is much healthier than the one I had in graduate school.

This year, QSL migrated from Substack to Beehiiv which helped to more closely align my values with the technology I use to reach readers. Thank you so much for sticking with me during this change. I do miss being able to interact with you directly on the Substack feed, but your comments on my posts always warm my heart. Leaving Substack has also made it more difficult to reach new readers, so if like a particular post, please share it with your networks.

I had intended to write more this year. Many days, I stared blankly at my screen but could not summon the words out of exhaustion. I have ideas bouncing around in my brain, so I hope to be able to catch them and write more consistently in 2026. On the upside, I was able to collaborate on a piece with my friend Veronica which was a lovely experience. I also put together two QSL infographics which I hope you find useful! I really enjoyed the design process as an alternate communication style. As always, if there’s something you want to see me write about or create educational materials around, please reach out!

Anyway, without further ado, here’s what brought me joy in 2025:

On my melancholic days, there has been one foolproof way to boost my spirits: walking down to the beach and watching the sun set over the ocean. Each sunset is so different from the one that preceded it, so each evening brings its own delight. Watching the sun slip beneath the horizon as magnificent colors swirl in the air above always inspires my sense of awe and reminds me that beauty is never far away.

I have become so enamored with sunsets that I have considered writing about sunsets, the atmosphere, and human visual perception - mostly because I am fascinated by the colors they produce and want to know the science behind it. If this would be of interest to you too, let me know!!

I think I read less this year than I did in 2024 (so tired…), although I still averaged slightly more than 2 books per month. Here are some of my favorites!

Before moving to SoCal, I lived in the Bay Area for over five years. I spent much of 2025 missing the friends and family that I made during this period of my life. Facetime is great, but it is undeniably more fulfilling to sit in the presence of loved ones. So in mid-November, I took a long weekend to visit them and the ever-beautiful San Francisco. From sitting on a friend’s balcony overlooking SF’s rolling hills to a trip to City Lights Bookstore to (sober) karaoke in a glorified dorm building — this lovely weekend gave me the energy to get out of a rut.

One delightful part of Los Angeles is the amount of great art that is on view at any given time. Even better, much of it is free to see! After weekend stops into lab to feed my cells or check on my mice, I’ll often treat myself by making my way to a museum or gallery with an interesting exhibit on view. When I visited my native northeast Ohio for Christmas, I even dragged my brother to the Cleveland Museum of Art (which was delightful and also free).

In February, I wrote about a really great exhibit on sex and science at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and in the new year I also have plans to write about another exhibit on view in LA until May. In the meantime, here are some of the pieces that have stuck with me in 2025.

I’ve never been a huge fan of going to the movie theater - at least not the mega-cinemas we frequented growing up. But in 2025, I started going to the single-screen theaters that dot the LA area. The closest one to me even offers free screenings of new movies, often with a live Q&A with an actor or director from the film. One of my favorite screenings of the year was Nia DaCosta’s Hedda, a new adaptation of the Ibsen play starring Tessa Thompson. For those familiar with the source material, DaCosta gender-swapped Hedda’s ex-lover, adding bisexual tension to the story of a very messy woman. In the post-screening Q&A, DaCosta said that she had the idea to gender-swap the characters while she was working on her Master’s. If you’re looking for an engaging drama this weekend, Hedda is streaming on Amazon Prime.

As always, thank you for reading. Very soon, I hope to send around some actionable steps to combat the ongoing attempt to end health care for trans adolescents. In the meantime, have a happy new year!

💜ev💜