Things I Learned This Week
A weekly round up of things I learned in college and beyond
Expect two emails from me a week. A Tuesday essay where I write about going back to college as a 50+-year-old woman, life, and other adjacent stuff. And on Fridays, I will highlight a few things I learned this week. That said...
In a vintage Trivial Pursuit game, the key to playing well is thinking about the answers you would have given as a 12-year-old, circa 1980-something. It’s not easy at first, but the more you play, the easier it is to channel your past self and win the game, or at least come in second, or in my case, third. Out of three.
No matter how screwed up your childhood was, I can guarantee it wasn’t nearly as fucked up as Moon Zappa’s. Her WTF interview is awesome, and her new memoir, Earth to Moon, is excellent, too, though I have only just started it.
This fall, one of the courses I am taking is World Literature: Time and Narrative. The professor just posted the syllabus, and one of the first books we read is Saint Augustine Confessions. I read this book in lit class during my junior year in high school, though I can’t say I remember that much about it. It probably won’t be as much fun as reading the Zappa book. Or Griffin Dunne’s Friday Afternoon Club. FYI, if you write Griffin a fangirl message via Instagram, he probably won’t write you back. ;)
My son has gotten me into using Letterboxd, and my husband and I are dialing back and rewatching some classics. Did you know Night of the Hunter is not nearly as good as you remember? And O Brother, Where Art Thou is even better? For new movies, Didi is good, but not nearly as great as Mid90s, which covered much of the same subject matter. (Is Jonah Hill still canceled?)
If you find a stray kitten, do not try to give it away on Nextdoor because someone will want to feed it to their snake. And even if they don’t, the amount of anxiety you will get from other people warning you that will happen is enough to give you nightmares for weeks.
Barack is still classy, but he doesn’t hold a candle to the queen.
‘Til Tuesday kids.
Burgin
Short and sassy - the perfect combination!
This is just the creative energy and inspiration I need. I have Moon Zappa’s memoir on my to read list. The older I get and the more I see my children thrive under my parenting, the more I recognize how messed up my upbringing was (and is). It is ironic since I always believed that in my older age I would understand and relate to how I was parented. So far from the truth.
I also joined Letterbxd. I remember when Netflix had similar capabilities. I hope Letterbxd is a time saving alternative to those bullet journal lists I fail to complete with any consistency.
I often wish I still had the reading list journal I kept as a kid.