Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode I handpick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

One of the things I find fascinating about being human is the mind-body connection.

How we often disconnect our bodies from our minds and how much we suffer for it.

We probably still have lots to learn about how our mental health, how our emotional state

of being affects our physical being.

I think about this when I do the deep breath at the beginning of every podcast episode.

It centers me in the story and it brings an awareness of my physical body that's going

to perform the story.

It also serves as a departure point.

There is what happens before the breath and then there's what happens after the breath

and after the breath we are in a different realm.

In today's story, our protagonist, Isa, is trying to tap into her magical powers, which

she describes as a little wound up ball in her brain with little tendrils that unfurl

outwards.

He says magic seems like it acts somewhat independently of her conscious brain or maybe it's just

that she really has to focus to sink her magic and her brain together.

Kind of like how we have to be really thoughtful about sinking our bodies and minds in order

to work at our most full potential.

The story is called Family Cooking and it's by Ana Maria Curtis.

Now you might recognize her name as the first place winner of last season's writing contest.

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