Things I Learned This Week

Cinema Paradiso, Melissa Monroe, Sylvia Striplin, and How Books Can Save Democracy

You know life is going pretty good when your husband just puts a salt lick in the backyard. Those five fawns soon to be slurping a mineral mix and a brooding box in the works means I’ve got some sweet, sweet country going on. I don’t have a hummingbird feeder at my new office window yet, but the little hummers do fly up to the second floor to sit on a tree branch by my window, so that’s good enough. The only thing holding me back is the awfulness known as I-35, which has grown more congested and atrocious since I moved to Texas more than two decades ago. But I’m not here to complain about the drive from San Antonio to Austin…

At our new, slightly larger space in San Marcos, movie watching is way more conducive as a family, so we’ve been enjoying the viewing digs. That said, I’ve come away from the last week with a reinvigorated appreciation of Rear Window and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and lost some nostalgic love for Cinema Paradiso. That movie hit so hard when I saw it as a young person. As a middle aged women I wish the whole film was like the first half and that the character of Salvatore had stayed young the whole time because the actor Salvatore Cascio was fucking amazing. The story between him and the projectionist is everything. The final scene is still great, too, but the love story between the young adult Salvatore and the drawn-out return to his hometown as a grown man is overly sappy and really drags. What I really learned is that Ferris Bueller holds up almost more than any other Gen X teen classic, Jimmy Stewart still reminds me of my grandfather, and I think my husband is not-so-secretly disappointed that I’m not Grace Kelly. Oh well.

Psyched because a book I worked on before I left Trinity University Press is finally available for preorder. The book was born out of an incredibly moving lecture my literary analysis professor, Michael Fisher, gave about how books can quite literally save democracy. I knew it would make a fabulous read in book form, especially during this rotgut time in the humanities. Michael is a lifelong advocate for literature and has one of the most sensitive and kind hearts of anyone I know. His deep understanding of the importance of words and where they can take us in these divisive times is truly inspiring. Can’t recommend this book enough.

I love it when artists combine talents in fiber and ceramic arts, especially when that person is a female who uses color and animals to tell a visual story. Melissa Monroe is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist based in Portland, Oregon, who brings her infectious imagination to create wild pottery, textiles, furniture, and paintings. They have a very outsider art vibe and are full of a whimsy that is unique and joyful, but doesn’t override the superb craftsmanship underneath. Anyone who gives their life over to chase this sort of visual fever dream is a hero in my book. I want all of it!

I’ll leave you with this groove. Sylvia Striplin’s song from the 80s, “You Can’t Turn Me Away,” famously sampled in the Notorious B.I.G./Junior Mafia song “Get Money”. It’s a real tone-setter from a gorgeous-voiced, all-but-forgotten soul singer who never got her moment in the sun. Let her shine now.

Quote of the week?

“I hope that the United States of America is not so rich that she can afford to let these wildernesses pass by. Or so poor that she cannot afford to keep them.”— Margaret Murie

‘Til Tuesday kids.

Burgin

(I finished college at 50+ and am headed to grad school… follow along and read my story here.)