pretty minimal list of things i’ve bothered to copy-paste/embed this week, but i’ll go ahead and hit post and start afresh.
read
why Americans don’t use bidets – i have to admit, despite a year as an exchange student, me neither. but it’s one of the fun little house upgrades i’ve been contemplating.
Girl Scouts have too many cookies – today in problems where i feel i can be of service.
A Woman Is No Man – i’m not done with it yet, and i may publicly engage with it more later, but this is my audiobook of the moment. contemplation of immigrant life through the lens of three generations in a Palestinian-American family seems highly timely. i’m hoping my book group can have some spirited discussion around this one. multi-generational trauma and it’s certainly not a cheerful beach read, but i’m appreciating the space for thought.
listen
Dear Therapist podcast – a friend recently linked a column from Lori Gottlieb. i loved her book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone — it was one of the inspirations for getting myself into therapy despite no real personal crisis about a year ago. the column included an ad for her new podcast with another advice columnist. i’ve only listened to one episode, but i got a lot from it… does it make me a junkie if i don’t just want my own weekly therapy, i want other people’s too?
watch
i went to see In the Heights with some friends friday night. a movie in a theater! …i think i was more into it than the rest of the crew, but i loved John Chu’s directorial style in Crazy Rich Asians and i love it here. i can’t resist the combination of whirling color, dancing, and a fascination with cultural specificity — specific products in the mini-market, the clothes on extras and dancers that look like a slightly overheated version of what you might see on the streets, the general joy at shots of people going about their everyday lives. i know the movie’s gotten significant flack for not including enough Afro-Latinx people, but it got enough of the feel of a Latin family party enough to put me in tears a few times over the “barbecues” i’m not invited to anymore. i have had problems with adjusting to some cultural differences within my marriage over the last several years, but i loved the incorporation of music and dancing in nearly every celebration.