Things I Learned This Week

Honor societies, Oscars, and Thoughts on the Next Four Years

Another week closer to graduation. To toot my own horn, at 52 years old I made the Dean’s list and got invited into Phi Beta Kappa. I’m not bragging (or am I?); I’ve just worked my butt off over the last eight years and having success academically is an enormous source of pride for 19-year-old, terrible student me. I know she is out there, watching me from an alternate timeline, cheering me on. That said, there was a lot this week. I hope everyone is settling in. Here are a few things that stuck with me.

In another IMK with my husband, we went down the rabbit hole by asking the question… who invented the Nerf gun? That led us to Lonnie Johnson, the man behind the Supersoaker and the engineer of the Nerf gun. The guy has a degree in nuclear engineering from Tuskegee University! He is a total badass. As the mother to a son, Nerf guns ruled my life for a long while, but reading more into the history reminds me that even the most annoying things in life are often fueled by brilliance. He has a great TedTalk from ten years ago about developing designs for alternative energy. Check it.

I read Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and then watched the Julie Taymor version from 2010 that is (almost) faithful to the play except for some moving around of scenes and slight trimming. The main reason it’s unique is that it reimagines the main character of Prospero as a woman. In the “Decolonizing Shakespeares” class I am taking, this play runs on themes of colonization and the enslavement of indigenous people more than most. It's an allegory for dominance; the island as a place to be conquered and exploited by an outside kingdom, and the people and spirits that live there, pawns to be controlled. Really, it might take me a while to get into all this class is about, but viewing the work through the lens of Shakespeare as a system is exciting.

Go see The Brutalist. The physical intimacy with which Adrian Brody interacts with the other actors in this film is next level. Give this guy the Oscar already. Plus, the soundtrack is fire. British artist Daniel Blumberg created it, and you feel it in your gut profoundly throughout the film. His debut solo album Minus, came out in 2018, and it’s pretty great. Anytime anyone used strings in an album, I’m in. He’s done a few albums since, so I’ll do the slow, deep dive.

Of all the stupid shit you know who did this week, one story from December sprang to mind. Texas Observer published a piece by a trans professor named April Maria Ortiz about what life is like for her and her wife in Uvalde, Texas. In that article, she cited a book called Evolution’s Rainbow, wherein every biological sexual distinction has naturally occurring exceptions, but convincing readers that trans people exist wasn’t the point of the story. More than that, she expressed just wanting to be who she is in the light of day without fear. Isn’t that something we can all ask for?

Speaking of… the day of the inauguration Heather Cox Richardson posted this breakdown about the man’s newly launched cryptocurrency, which means he will be able to receive payments from anybody, in any amount, with zero tracking. Let that sink in. Right after that bombshell of ick, I read a piece by Robert Reich that gave me some semblance of hope for the next four years. He has a six-point breakdown of things to work towards, with a reminder that it takes a while for democracies to crumble based on what he saw in Turkey. When I showed the list to my husband, he replied, “It only took Hitler 53 days.” Touché.

Quote of the week?

“I'm grateful to women who have the privilege and ability to tell their stories and applaud them for doing that. And also recognize that there are many, many women in this country who will never have that opportunity.” —Cecile Richards (RIP)

‘Til Tuesday kids.

Burgin

(I’m finishing college at 50+, follow along and read my story here.)