Jeannette Cooperman
@jcooperman.bsky.social
Essayist, reporter, long-ago philosophy major still trying to figure out the world
So if the turkey burns or your team loses and you want a little company in your misery... (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/record-an-au...
Record an Audiobook? It Sounded So Easy.... - Common Reader
There is one blissfully egocentric, thrilling moment: I am introduced as “the talent.” Granted, I ruin the moment by snorting and warning the sound studio team that I have never recorded anything befo...
commonreader.wustl.edu
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
So if the turkey burns or your team loses and you want a little company in your misery... (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/record-an-au...
Such a long, nonsensical, knock-down-drag-out fight we (or rather, i) have had.... (AUDIO 10m) commonreader.wustl.edu/fighting-wit...
Fighting with the Buddha - Common Reader
Why would I not desire a good Camembert, or a sweater soft as a lamb?
commonreader.wustl.edu
November 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Such a long, nonsensical, knock-down-drag-out fight we (or rather, i) have had.... (AUDIO 10m) commonreader.wustl.edu/fighting-wit...
Can we be sure the Epstein files are intact? Asking seriously
November 20, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Can we be sure the Epstein files are intact? Asking seriously
We are so docile, so cheerful, in our tech-driven misery. (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/airport-nigh...
Airport Nightmare, and the Lesson Learned - Common Reader
So many everyday experiences are increasingly costly or exasperating or nightmarish, and we just accept the stress as inevitable....
commonreader.wustl.edu
November 19, 2025 at 2:56 PM
We are so docile, so cheerful, in our tech-driven misery. (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/airport-nigh...
The most mysterious element--invisible, it both destroys us and keeps us alive. commonreader.wustl.edu/c/cast-your-...
Cast Your Fate to the Wind - Common Reader
Wind itself can drive you crazy. Sometimes there is a hysteria to it, a shrill tirade that goes on for days, relentless, unappeasable. Sometimes it is angry, as though Zeus sucked in his breath to roa...
commonreader.wustl.edu
November 1, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The most mysterious element--invisible, it both destroys us and keeps us alive. commonreader.wustl.edu/c/cast-your-...
This is all so ugly. I do not want to be this person. (AUDIO 7m) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-lie-i-te...
The Lie I Tell Myself Daily - Common Reader
It is the most underrated virtue in this culture....
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This is all so ugly. I do not want to be this person. (AUDIO 7m) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-lie-i-te...
Do you trust gut feelings? Would you call them precognition? (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/dig-out-your...
Dig Out Your Crystal Ball - Common Reader
My friend is a little witchy, a little woowoo. She gets “feelings” before something happens.... Does precognition exist?
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 28, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Do you trust gut feelings? Would you call them precognition? (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/dig-out-your...
Spontaneous joy? Let's commodify it! (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/are-flash-mo...
Are Flash Mobs Over or Just Ruined? - Common Reader
I fall for these every time. DId we really have to commodify spontaneous joy?
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 23, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Spontaneous joy? Let's commodify it! (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/are-flash-mo...
The first Anselm Kiefer exhibition in the U.S. in 20 years, and he creates five works, each three stories high, just for the Saint Louis Art Museum's new exhibit. Which is free to all, every day, because it matters that much. (AUDIO 13m) commonreader.wustl.edu/anselm-kiefe...
Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea - Common Reader
Anselm Kiefer begged SLAM not to dust, fuss, or try to explain his work. Then he handed them five new canvases created just for this extraordinary exhibition
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM
The first Anselm Kiefer exhibition in the U.S. in 20 years, and he creates five works, each three stories high, just for the Saint Louis Art Museum's new exhibit. Which is free to all, every day, because it matters that much. (AUDIO 13m) commonreader.wustl.edu/anselm-kiefe...
I loved all those nurse books as a kid...why didn't they rub off? (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/i-was-not-cu...
I Was Not Cut Out for Caregiving - Common Reader
How could I love those nursing books as a girl, yet recoil as a grown-up?
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 16, 2025 at 1:04 PM
I loved all those nurse books as a kid...why didn't they rub off? (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/i-was-not-cu...
How do you savor the fun you once had without resenting its loss? (AUDIO 6m) commonreader.wustl.edu/tennis-anyon...
Tennis, Anyone? Or Is It Too Late? - Common Reader
The answer is grief's own riddle.
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 14, 2025 at 1:41 PM
How do you savor the fun you once had without resenting its loss? (AUDIO 6m) commonreader.wustl.edu/tennis-anyon...
Like a horde of zombies coming over the hill, the dead are returning. (AUDIO 11m) commonreader.wustl.edu/my-mother-th...
My Mother the Griefbot - Common Reader
Do we want to bring our loved ones back?
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Like a horde of zombies coming over the hill, the dead are returning. (AUDIO 11m) commonreader.wustl.edu/my-mother-th...
What AI might conclude about your vocabulary (AUDIO 7m) commonreader.wustl.edu/your-therapi...
Your Therapist Could Use Some Help - Common Reader
And our choice of words reveals us.
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
What AI might conclude about your vocabulary (AUDIO 7m) commonreader.wustl.edu/your-therapi...
Stop prioritizing. (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-psycholo...
The Psychological Beatitudes - Common Reader
Stop prioritizing.
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 2, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Stop prioritizing. (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-psycholo...
Weirdly, psilocybin might be the only thing the right and left agree on. We are entering a new psychedelic age. commonreader.wustl.edu/c/how-to-mee...
How to Meet the Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes - Common Reader
Reverence, serenity, and compassion, courtesy of a mushroom? Well, what would be wrong with that? Humans are a broken species. Negative emotions wired into us for survival have run amok in times we ca...
commonreader.wustl.edu
October 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Weirdly, psilocybin might be the only thing the right and left agree on. We are entering a new psychedelic age. commonreader.wustl.edu/c/how-to-mee...
Our myths and symbols are hollowing out. (AUDIO 10m)
commonreader.wustl.edu/the-reinterp...
commonreader.wustl.edu/the-reinterp...
The Reinterpretation of the American Dream - Common Reader
However you interpreted the American dream, it was all that held us together.
commonreader.wustl.edu
September 30, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Our myths and symbols are hollowing out. (AUDIO 10m)
commonreader.wustl.edu/the-reinterp...
commonreader.wustl.edu/the-reinterp...
The summary by LeMonde's editorial board of Trump's recent UN speech applies to his entire presidency: They said he “gave the embarrassing impression of being a passenger who rails and grumbles about the aimless drift of a ship, after having made its rudder unusable and slashed its sails.”
September 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The summary by LeMonde's editorial board of Trump's recent UN speech applies to his entire presidency: They said he “gave the embarrassing impression of being a passenger who rails and grumbles about the aimless drift of a ship, after having made its rudder unusable and slashed its sails.”
Or how the rational, methodical father of modern taxonomy insisted that Sweden's premier scientific society launch an expedition to find mermaids. (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/and-why-not-...
And Why Not Look for Mermaids? - Common Reader
Or how the father of taxonomy persuaded the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to organize a hunt for mermaids.
commonreader.wustl.edu
September 25, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Or how the rational, methodical father of modern taxonomy insisted that Sweden's premier scientific society launch an expedition to find mermaids. (AUDIO 8m) commonreader.wustl.edu/and-why-not-...
What do we think of Sam? (AUDIO 18m, sorry, there is a lot to say here!) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-st-louis...
The St. Louisan Who Could Rule the World - Common Reader
Brilliant, he admits to an "almost delusional level of self-confidence." Will we pay for his recklessness?
commonreader.wustl.edu
September 23, 2025 at 2:39 PM
What do we think of Sam? (AUDIO 18m, sorry, there is a lot to say here!) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-st-louis...
No more cherry Garcia for me. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...
Jerry of Ben & Jerry’s Resigns, Saying Company Has Been ‘Silenced’
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 1:02 AM
No more cherry Garcia for me. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...
I knew the music but not the man. (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/play-like-sa...
“Play Like Satie” - Common Reader
“Do you know the Gymnopédies?” I had no idea what he was talking about. I was twenty, and just falling in love with classical music—because I was falling in love with him. He could hear the first few ...
commonreader.wustl.edu
September 18, 2025 at 8:04 PM
I knew the music but not the man. (AUDIO 9m) commonreader.wustl.edu/play-like-sa...
First investigative reporting died, but hey, we had good ol 60 Minutes…which got kneecapped, but hey, at least we had late night comedy…
September 18, 2025 at 1:51 PM
First investigative reporting died, but hey, we had good ol 60 Minutes…which got kneecapped, but hey, at least we had late night comedy…
Umbrellas can be romantic, or stuffy, or eccentric; they can kill us or save us. (AUDIO 7m) commonreader.wustl.edu/take-an-umbr...
Take an Umbrella.... - Common Reader
Mary Poppins' umbrella was all about Sufi mysticism, and a Bulgarian umbrella will kill you.
commonreader.wustl.edu
September 16, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Umbrellas can be romantic, or stuffy, or eccentric; they can kill us or save us. (AUDIO 7m) commonreader.wustl.edu/take-an-umbr...
Could Kirk’s killer have been suffering from schizophrenia? Oh well. We have a health secretary who doesn’t want young people screened.
September 13, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Could Kirk’s killer have been suffering from schizophrenia? Oh well. We have a health secretary who doesn’t want young people screened.
My husband, who possesses an honesty I am usually grateful for, told me seven years ago that I looked every bit my age and then some.... (AUDIO 5m) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-vanities...
The Vanities of Age - Common Reader
Want to grow old gracefully? Less striving, more love.
commonreader.wustl.edu
September 11, 2025 at 1:12 PM
My husband, who possesses an honesty I am usually grateful for, told me seven years ago that I looked every bit my age and then some.... (AUDIO 5m) commonreader.wustl.edu/the-vanities...