When the credits roll, it’s just the beginning.

That’s when we return to ourselves, and let the story we just experienced settle into us. It’s when we turn to the person next to us and ask, “What did you think?” Once the story is over, we begin the work of figuring out what it all means.

That’s the goal of this newsletter: to engage deeply with the stories I encounter — in film, literature, music, and more — and offer some thoughts on what they mean to me. There’s no endgame, here, no conclusion we’re working towards. Just some honest thoughts in the moment, which will hopefully get you thinking (or, if nothing else, offer you some good recommendations).

Who am I?

I’m not an expert on any of the above, except in the sense that I’ve been thinking and writing about the stories that fascinate me my whole life. My work on film, culture, and faith has appeared in America Magazine, the National Catholic Reporter, and Grotto Network, among others. I write the weekly Catholic Movie Club column for America Magazine, where we seek to “find God in all films.”

This newsletter won’t be exclusively focused on movies or on faith/spirituality, but it won’t not be about those things, either. I want this to be a looser space for reflection on various forms of fiction and media, without necessarily having to be review-based or faith-based every week (I might even share some fiction in this space, if the mood strikes). But I’m also incurably Catholic, so that’s going to be a big part of how I engage with stuff, explicitly or implicitly.

To learn more about me and follow my writing, visit www.johndocwrites.com

Why subscribe?

It’s free, it’s fun, all of the cool kids are doing it! I’m planning to publish something at least once a week, so subscribing means you’ll never miss an update. It also allows you to engage with posts and access the publication archives.

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