Things I Learned This Week
Okorafor, Ellis on Ice, Heather, Lena, Mila, and Doug Sahm
Welcome to another weekend! We are thawing out (slightly) down here in Texas, but don’t worry. By next Friday we’ll be back to spring weather. That’s how we roll. Here’s what been going on this week in my brain space.
In Form and Theory class last week, somehow I got wrangled into doing a presentation on Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, which under normal circumstances would be fine. Except, it just so happens that she’ll be doing a class visit with us that day, so I have to actually present in front of her. Two weeks from now. Gulp is right. I’ve only just started reading, but the book explores numerous themes, including fame, the Nigerian Diaspora, disability, the writer’s life, AI, and robots. I’m psyched to finish, but needless to say, critical literary theory isn’t my strong suit. My presentation will center around the book, juxtaposed with Roland Barthes’s 1967 essay “The Death of the Author,” that argues a text’s meaning is not determined by the author’s intentions or biography, but is instead created by the reader through their own interpretation. Now, the thing I dig about theory is that it is mingles closely with philosophy, which IS a strong suit. I think I will be OK, but here’s hoping I don’t mispronounce all the names and make a total ass of myself.
Books Are Magic in Brooklyn teamed up with the wonderful artist, illustrator, and children’s book author Carson Ellis to reimagine her infamous Melt the Guns design to melt ICE as well. 100% of the profits from all Melt the Ice items will go to local and on-the-ground organizations in MN through Stand With Minnesota and Unidos MN.
I watched a few movies this week, but most notably was a 1,000th rewatch of Heathers, which still holds up. The writing is so on point and hilarious. I was a little rusty, but I was still able to quote so much of it from heart. It helped that I was watching with similarly aged girlfriends, so we had a riot traveling down memory lane together. What’s nuts to think about is that film was pre-Columbine, pre-school shootings, and in the light of 2026, much of it rings too true to be funny anymore. Oh, to be innocent again. My husband and I also watched Treasure, an indie starring Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham, about a Holocaust survivor father and writer daughter who travel back to the homeland in Poland during the 1990s. Lena might bug some people, but she is so relatable in this movie as an unhinged daughter grappling to understand her family’s generational trauma, and Fry is a delight to watch, as always.
Way back in the day when I followed my friend Gillian into writing for the alternative local paper in San Antonio, we had a fabulous editor named Elaine Wolff. She’s been writing for ages, and I’m excited to say her debut novel (a murder mystery!) is out this summer, Up To Her Neck. It’s being released by a brand spanking new publisher, Empress Editions, which is focused on championing diverse, authentic, and unapologetically bold midlife female voices—all while shifting a lion’s share of the profits to the author. It’s already added to my burgeoning summer reading list! (P.S. She also writes here on Substack about her life in Colorado.)
I know I am behind the curve on this, but every time Mila Textiles shows up in my feed, I get obsessed all over again. I am a total nerd for beadwork, and this stuff hits the sweet spot. Only affordable in the most rarified air, these ski masks are fun to look at and imagine me having the time someday to make my own. lol. From Colossal…
For London-based designer Kamila, who works under the name Mila Textiles, ski masks—also known as balaclavas—provide a fitting canvas for elaborately embroidered, wearable compositions. A 19th-century military staple, balaclavas saw a sartorial rise in 2021. The practical knitwear item takes its name from the Ukrainian port town of Balaclava, a key battle site during the Crimean War of 1854, and in the 20th century, the garment became a trope in movies and television depicting burglaries and heists. Kamila’s colorful reinterpretation of the mask relaxes these associations. “I want my work to make my audience feel happy, forget about their stresses for a bit, and chill,” she tells Colossal.
In writing about Texas in the 1970s from a male POV, I’ve been really focused on the music of the era. My husband and I stayed up late last night riffing, since he is my inspiration and source for coming of age in Texas during that time period. I know so much of his music history, but I need to really dial in to match the music with the moment. One such band rising to the top—especially since it is San Antonio-specific—is The Sir Douglas Quintet, which featured Doug Sahm and longtime friend Augie Meyers. This band has such a hold on my husband’s life story that I was actually worried about calling our son Augie because people would think I named my child after him. Back in those New York days, I thought EVERYBODY knew the band because they were so pivotal to my husband’s young life. Note: They don’t. Doug is long dead, but a few years back, we went to a screening of the film Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove featuring an in-person Q&A with Meyers. It’s a great San Antonio story with international reach. If you are not familiar with Sir Doug, start here, here, and here.
Quote of the day?
"You just can't live in Texas if you don't have a lot of soul."— Doug Sahm
‘Til Tuesday, friends.
Burgin
(An MFA grad student at 50+… follow along and read my story here.)