Work From Bed Friday

Chapter 17 is so long and juicy, that our discussion was long enough and juicy enough to to warrant TWO episodes. Welcome to Part 1! How long does real transformation take? In the twelve hours of this chapter, our reliably unreliable narrator transforms from a fixation on summoning Davey to an openness to having sex with the world. All because of a mind-altering bodily experience. It's the mo...

In our discussion of Chapter 16 in Miranda July’s All Fours , we cover solo parenting, self loathing, authenticity, and holding on to our wildness. Also, what does "ass-prone" really mean? But it’s our discussion of personal change as a constant that really brings this episode to its eerily meta level. Note Tommy’s sudden tendency to mansplaining, heretofore absent from the pod. Here&apo...

The title of this episode was inspired by Portland writer Jenn Lalime. Her comment on Miranda July’s Substack piece spurred many juicy conversations, both in the comment section and in Amy and Tommy’s kitchen!  Here’s the exact quote:  “It look me nearly 20 years of marriage before I stopped living in the shadow of male sex entitlement and fucking the grumpy out of my husband.”  Whoa. Right? She g...

In Chapter 14 of Miranda July's All Fours , our increasingly unhinged heroine realizes that she has most certainly cried "Wolf!" or, in her case, "Menopause!" Now officially experiencing perimenopause, we follow her faulty reasoning as she concludes that her newfound libido may soon disappear along with her estrogen—she, and all women, will eventually fall off of a cliff....

Amy delivers that line with so much enthusiasm (and only flubbing one word) that it's as if she's hoping it will be considered as her audition for the next incarnation of the audio book. Or the Starz series?? One can dream... In Chapter 13 of Miranda July's All Fours , our increasingly unhinged heroine pleads menopause, finally agrees to adopt a puppy, and witnesses the moment that...

Oh, heartbreak. You are so maddeningly universal. The sick feeling. The roboticism.  The detachment from reality. As our character re-enters her domestic life, heartbreak haunts her. She lives the image from the beginning of the chapter: a frozen soul, in her basement, between a trampoline and a couple of suitcases.  Amy & Tommy examine the bleakness of this chapter, but not without cackles of...

"I'm thinking something, what am I thinking?" In fact, there is no thinking at all. Just action, sensation, and a new understanding occurring at a subterranean level. Chapter 11 of Miranda July's All Fours is a veritable feast of subconscious mystery: sex dreams, uncharted intimacy, and the perilous territory of goodbye. Amy & Tommy dig right into the middle of it, excavati...

Unbridled emotion, soul-connected dance, and strobe lights as sex toys—Amy and Tommy don’t miss any of it in their discussion of Chapter 10 in Miranda July’s All Fours . Amy calls it the “love chapter” and perhaps it is, sprinkled with the tension of fraught desire and the finitude of time. A strange irony exists in the very best moments both in love and in sex: the deep desire to stay right there...

When our character learns that Davey’s first sexual encounters were orchestrated by his mother with his mother’s very experienced friend, she is, understandably, flabbergasted. But the thought that emerges later has morphed into something of a motto or a mantra for Amy and Tommy.  Miranda July writes, “An overly skilled lover was kind of icky—desire should make you clumsy.” Indeed. Clumsy indeed....

"He reached across the table and touched the back of his hand to the back of mine..." and so begins the erotically charged emotional affair between our main character and Davey. As readers, Amy and Tommy are pulled into the weightless madness that comes the realization that our feelings are mirrored by the object of our desire. As a long-time married couple, they examine this hilarious a...

In Chapter 7 of Miranda July’s All Fours, our character wrestles with two realities: her sudden and unhinged desire for Davey's body AND her grim awareness of her aging self. Amy & Tommy use this chapter as a framework to discuss the surprise of primal desire, inner voices,  and the intersection of life and art. They also realize that solo orgasms are like cookies. Read along or just enjo...

In Chapter 6 of Miranda July’s All Fours , our character enters a world of mirrors in which the women of Monrovia and beyond reflect the different seasons of her life. Amy & Tommy can’t stop analyzing the relatively minor character of Helen—wise woman, pleasure seeker, housekeeper. And then there are secrets—which ones do we keep and which ones do we divulge?  Are the transgressions of our pas...

Is the universe just a big wonky pinball machine? As our character keeps the ball in motion without making much forward progress toward her destination, Amy & Tommy discuss a magical land called Monrovia, interactions with strangers, and the Piña Colada song, to which Amy gets the concept right, but bungles the lyrics and details. In Chapter 5 of Miranda July’s All Fours, the action of the roa...

Our character prepares to leave on her cross country road trip, checking off a list of mundane tasks, including marching into her husband's room wearing nothing but high heels. Which begs the question: why is intimacy with our partner sometimes so hard? Even when once you get going you find yourself "sex's biggest fan??" Amy & Tommy dive into Chapter 4 of Miranda July'...

In Chapter 3 of Miranda July’s All Fours, our character sips clandestine strawberry milkshakes with her bestie before sneaking back into her house like a thief. This episode is about secrets and disclosure, fantasy and reality, mind-rooted and body-rooted fucks—so many binaries! Where do you find your self? Amy & Tommy find them selves embarking on a spicy discussion featuring childhood favori...

Chapter 2 of Miranda July’s All Fours is rather short. Which might have meant a short episode trying to figure out who is a parker and who is a driver or if it's all bullshit if it weren’t for that darn can of worms: what DOES happen to relationships and identities when a couple has a child? Amy & Tommy talk about transformative experiences, first dates, parenting, and standing ovations f...

Amy and Tommy kick off their Season 1 discussion of Miranda July’s All Fours with an in-depth look at Chapter 1, which they’ve both read (and listened to) multiple times by now! Do we all have an imaginary telephotographer peering into our lives? Or is that just Amy’s younger self? Who do you send your sexy selfies to? Or to whom? How do we manage our constantly evolving selves in the context of a...

In their debut episode, Amy Hoffmann and Tommy Borden give a quick history of their 30-year relationship and the recent breakthrough that changed everything. They start with their meet-cute at a polka-dot party in San Francisco’s Marina district in 1994 and sprint through their long-distance courtship to trailer living, marriage, children and moving eight times in three years before settling in Po...

A committed couple of 30+ years, Amy and Tommy get ready to launch their first podcast! Funny, spicy, and insightful, they discuss marriage, sex, and connection through the lens of contemporary books and media. Every Friday. From bed.  Their two-person way-better-than-a-bookclub discussion starts by analyzing Miranda July's All Fours. They dissect one chapter per episode, using it as a jumpin...