mini media diary: fall 2024

 

Media Diary:

Fall 2024

Okay, I'm prefacing this by saying that it has been a while since I have been faithful in my media tracking. I'm better than this. I know this. You know this. We all know this. 

I thought I would have more time to read, but I think I was a bit deluded. The emphasis during this first semester is really on production of new work; I read in dribs and drabs, but not as much as I would like to. 

Mostly, I've been trying this thing called living - going to museums, going on walks, cooking, taking care of Ponyboy, laughing, taking long showers, taking the train, getting coffee, making new friends. It's all fodder for the mill. I'll check back in with you come winter break. I'm hoping I'll have more to share with you by then. 

I feel very happy and at peace. I like my life. I like where it's going. 

Books

The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht

Ulysses by James Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Dubliners by James Joyce

Antarctica by Claire Keegan

One with Others by C.D. Wright

Heartbreak is the National Anthem by Rob Sheffield

Red Sugar (reread) by Jan Beatty

Motherlove by Rita Dove

Fort Red Border by Kiki Petrosino

Gellar Studies by Erik Fuhrer

Mr. West by Sarah Blake

Meadowlands by Louise Gluck

Poems

If I'm being frank, I have been living so deeply in poetry the past few months that I have failed to record my recent favorites. I'd like to update this list over winter break, though. 

There are some Marie Howe poems that I love that I cannot find at the moment; some Louise Gluck; some other tried-and-true favorites.

"Mock Orange" by Louise Gluck

"A Blessing" by James Wright

"Keeping Things Whole" by Mark Strand

"Anti-Sonnet" by Mag Gabbert

"Pentimento" by Mag Gabbert

"A not admitting of the wound" by Emily Dickinson

"Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath (always and forever)

"Sanity" by Caroline Bird

"Late Summer after a Panic Attack" by Ada Limon

"The Birth" by Dorothea Lasky

"Is it a Burden" by Dorothea Lasky

"Not Horses" by Natalie Shapero

"You Look Like I Feel" by Natalie Shapero

"Stargazer" by Dara Wier

"Cypress, Dateless" by Dara Wier

"Hurry" by Marie Howe

"The Hymn" by Marie Howe

"Without Music" by Marie Howe

"What the Living Do" by Marie Howe

"Eating Poetry" by Mark Strand

Movies and Plays

Gladiator (2000)

Gladiator II (2024) - Jaysus. Saw this at 10:30pm at the AMC Theatre near the Boston Commons. I can't stand the violence, but it was still so very good.

W.E. (2011) - I watched this in part to support my research for my Unhinged Women project. It was aesthetically gorgeous, but god, was it a tough watch.

All of Us Strangers (2023) - Watching this right now (split-screen Hulu for the win).

I went to see La femme a qui rien n'arrive at the Huntington Theatre. I'm preparing for the spring Translation seminar at BU, and I've decided to work in French, which means I need to dust off my six years of beginner/intermediate French. I bought a copy of the play. It was stunningly odd. Such a cool meditation on capitalism, loneliness, advertisements, routines, and how all of those things intersect with relationships with the self/others. Fascinating. 

Visual Art, Essays, and Other Obsessions

• Degas' ballerinas
• Visual clutter; my apartment walls are plastered with postcards and other ephemera from my travels; it brings me a lot of joy to see the life I've created for myself. It's nice to look at beautiful things
• Sheer black tights
• Black ballet flats
• Red ballet flats
• Marie Howe's response to an interview question (see below)

• Soap and Glory body wash, Palmer's Coco Butter, Sol de Janeiro purple perfume
• The way the city looks at night (the Prudential building makes me emotional. Why? When I get driven home, there is a part on Storrow that is my favorite. You can see the ballerinas practicing in the conservatory, and the lights at MGM are all lit. Beautiful)
• Hockey (go Terriers)
• Cucumber sandwiches on my thrifted flower plates
• Decaf coffee in teacups 
• Carrying hot coffee in a thermos, then drinking it in class (the steam lifting from the little plastic cup)
• Scarves - my L.L. Bean scarf in the color "gingerbread" has been a true and faithful companion these past few months
• Works by Salvador Dali, Auguste Rodin, Daniela Astone - Girl with Curls is a favorite
• Fountain pens (violet or green ink)
• The Basement Yard podcast (I play them when I'm getting ready in the mornings; they make me laugh. Very raunchy)
• Pop culture; it is both a symptom of and reflective of our culture; the ways in which popular culture figures like Madonna, etc. intersect and interact with my own experiences
• Really loving the Instagram accounts @girlscarryingshit @doss.discourse @being_on_line and @simoneweilfooddiary (what's new)
• Bonding with Ponyboy; in the wake of Murphy's death, I struggled to feel spiritually connected to animals. Ponyboy keeps me grounded and allows me the opportunity to play, which I am very grateful for. He is an excellent excuse to have friends over (socializing!) 
• Making snack boards for friends when they come over
• Hot chocolate <33 Drinking it makes me feel like a girl again

Albums and Playlists

Honestly, I've been listening to a lot of Taylor Swift. I feel a deep kinship with her writing style and her reputation (I, too, wear red lipstick; I, too, wing my eyeliner; I, too, am told I am too much). I'm toying with the idea of writing a mini-essay, or perhaps a braided mini-essay, about her. Let me know if you're rocking with that idea. If it happens, it'll happen over winter break.

Nothing indie or artsy, but I'm getting back into that headspace now. Do you ever feel like you need to have enough brainspace to seek out new music? 

I did buy a Victrola Eastwood for my new apartment; it has Bluetooth, so I can bump my playlists while I'm in bed. Currently oscillating between a couple of playlists; cool aunt, j chillin, grwm. I've been spinning Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. It sounds stunning on vinyl.

evermore by Taylor Swift - tracks like "champagne problems", "tolerate it", "gold rush"

folklore by Taylor Swift - tracks like "the 1", "cardigan", "the lakes"

Red by Taylor Swift - pretty much just "All Too Well (10-minute version)"

Norman Fucking Rockwell by Lana Del Rey - tracks like "Mariners Apartment Complex", "Venice Bitch", "Cinnamon Girl", "How to Disappear", "Happiness is a butterfly" and "hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have" 

Chemtrails Over the Country Club by Lana Del Rey - pretty much the entire album, just on shuffle

A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships by the 1975 - tracks like "Love It If We Made It"

DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar

GNX by Kendrick Lamar - I don't have favorites yet, but I listened to it while lying in bed, and it was absolutely insane

Solitude by Billie Holiday

Ctrl by SZA