10 Things
If this list seems asynchronous, it is. Some unpublished bits and pieces from the past couple of weeks, that I am rounding up now. Will return to an every Friday cadence!
When my mom sent me “In Defense of Never Learning to Cook” by Iva Dixit, I first avoided it. (“Cute article about becoming an adult,” she wrote. Oh, am I..not?) It was beautifully done, and it made me think more about the Letter of Recommendation genre in general. It’s an antidote to so much criticism, which is “the exercise of critically taking something apart.” What makes an excellent one is the unexpected, or sideways approach to looking at things. If I were to do one. Probably I would write abut finally buying spoon a rest as a metaphor for decisiveness.
An essay in Dirt called “Conspicuously absent”by Naomi Kanakia on what happens when novels aren’t clear about money — the character’s stakes don’t make psychological sense. It’s a type of conspicuous omission, there but repressed. Writers especially want to believe in the idea of meritocracy.
Really enjoyed In Restless Dreams, the new Paul Simon documentary from Alex Gibney’s production company (also, there is nothing like access to a screener!). Paul Simon hadn’t recorded new music in several years, and then, for his newest album, the concept, the lyrics all came to him in a dream. During the production of the album, he loses his hearing, and sees it as part of his challenge, which is a lovely way of viewing the world. A few years ago, Ben and I went to see one one of his last concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. I was blown away by how great of a mystical presence he possessed, and how physically small he stood in stature. I remember him closing the show by saying, “We are not mountains so we will meet again.”
Reading The Creative Act by Rick Rubin felt like a meditation, an experience in and of itself. I jotted down notes all throughout, but one idea that stuck out was how we talk about the Beginner’s Mind and its childlike superpowers: “When you start to see what’s present around you as if for the first time, you start to realize how astonishing it all is.” This feels so apt with Liv and pointing things out in her world that she is actually seeing for the first time.
I am a freak for hot power yoga but I’ve been all around the world and really only love one specific place, so I’ve more or less stopped pursuing it. Nonetheless, I crave a hot room. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten a real workout unless I am a spent in a puddle on the floor. On a whim, (or subconsciously as a result of watching this actually very funny SNL sketch with Chloe Fineman and Kristin Wiig, and realizing the class I’ve been going to is actually so…boring?) I tried a new hot HIIT studio around the corner, and loved it. If you snap a hair elastic during a workout, is it like breaking a guitar string while playing rock music?
Had a nice café moment with the new Broccoli mag. I appreciated the editor’s note too. It is nice holding the object in your hands. Another Julie and Julia observation: They are all supposed to be in their thirties snd yet they all dress to look so old, in power blazers and dark lipstick. Now everyone in their thirties dresses to look so young. Why am I still so obsessed with this movie? I keep coming back to the idea that it’s because a person decides to write and just does it. That must be it.
This tweet and an opening that reeled me right in.
Mock chopped liver at out Passover Seder, made from my Grammy’s recipe. Walnuts, hard boiled egg, and lentil in a food processor, I swear there is some ancient wisdom in here.
Why did the term “cloud seeding” sound so poetic to me the other week?
It finally happened, I was reading The Giving Tree to Liv and it made me cry.