Jubilation

Yesterday morning may have been the first time I fully exhaled in two years. It was certainly the first time I rejoiced, increasingly loudly, as I read the news on 1440. Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and all of the hateful scourges we’ve lately been subject to did not win. It’s amazing what the restoration of hope can do for the spirits.

Of course, things aren’t going to change overnight; it’ll take years to undo the damage that’s been done. Things might even get worse before they get better. (The parallels to leaving a marriage characterized by narcissistic abuse are stunning. And, as in that situation, we must be careful to rebuild thoughtfully rather than simply reverting to the status quo.) Today, I celebrate, basking in the confirmation that cruelty, corruption, and greed are not what most of us want, and that we stood up and said so.

I invite you to join me.

Ways I Found Joy This Week

Hanging fairy lights around my entertainment center

Moving girl's movie night to the theater for a change of pace

Finding and buying a Jean-Michel Basquiat tee shirt

Reorganizing and tarnish-proofing my jewelry display and loving the result

Whipping up a pot of my famous sauce and meatballs for the first time in a while

Allowing the CWP to continue my education in the horror canon (see below), which elicited plenty of screams and one of our trademark laughing fits

Hitting a mother lode of new “must reads” at the library

Reading about all of the inspirational people involved in realizing the blue wave

Things I Learned This Week

A bit about Minnie Evans (1892-1987), a self-taught artist from Wilmington, North Carolina whose work combined images from her Afro-Caribbean heritage with mythology, religion and popular culture

A bit about the history of Taiwan

Quotes That Resonated This Week

…our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future.

Barack Obama

Lawyer up.

Rep. Robert Garcia

What I Watched This Week

The CWP is a cinephile and a huge Halloween fan, so each year she furthers my education. This year she chose two that I missed back in the early 80s while living overseas: Friday the 13^th (Netflix) and Nightmare on Elm Street (Philo). Both were campy and gruesome; I found Friday the 13^th a lot more fun.

Nobody Wants This (Netflix). A young rabbi and his edgy podcaster girlfriend navigate blending their very different lives and families. A little cloying at times but a great mental massage.

Wicker (Theaters). A single fisherwoman is tired of the pity and ridicule of almost everyone in her medieval village, so asks the basket weaver to make her a husband. The result is funny, charming, touching—at one point I whispered “I want one!—and provides food for thought about love and marriage.

Dexter: Resurrection (Paramount+). Dexter is in New York, trying to connect with his son and doing what he does. So excited he was back, and then realized I will have to wait for a new episode to drop each week.

Phony (Hulu). When he wakes up from a coma a week after a car accident, Sonny is convinced an imposter has taken his mother’s place.

What I Read This Week

Ordinary Wife: The True Story of America’s Forgotten Serial Killer, by Gregg Olsen and Morgan Olsen. Wild account of a woman who poisoned four husbands, a brother-in-law, and her toddler before being apprehended (and subsequently masterminding a jailbreak during which she married yet another husband). Highlights early 20^th century deficiencies in crime detection and misconception that women are incapable of murder.

Culpability, by Bruce Holsinger. The Cassidy-Shaw family are in a horrific accident in their self-driving minivan and every member is hiding a secret. An examination of some of the moral and ethical aspects of artificial intelligence set against a backdrop of thorny family dynamics.

Taipei Story, by R.F. Kuang. Lily Chen is the daughter of immigrants, spending a summer between Yale semesters in an intensive Chinese language course in Taipei. It’s a coming-of-age tale and also a great exploration of language, communication, and culture shock. Loved learning a bit about Taiwan’s history and seeing the included author’s photos.

Peck & Peck, by Bonnie Garmus. The author of Lessons in Chemistry has done it again. I’ve been glued to this story of Batter Gray and his obsession with an obscure poetry journal. Well-developed quirky characters, fabulous dialogue, slightly insane situations and all you want to know about poetry make this an enchanting read.

***

Thanks for reading!