21 August 2020
“I sometimes think my earnestness is confused for stupidity, but it shouldn't be.”
This Week
If we were in normal times, tomorrow I would be going to Disney World. Unfortunately, we are not in normal times and I am not going to Disney World tomorrow. While I understand this is a minor grievance in the scope of, well, everything, this is the first year I haven’t gone to Disney World in several years and it is disappointing. I’m making up for it by having something of a Disney weekend at home. We’re going to make some Dole Whips, eat some Mickey ice cream bars and buy some parks merch online. I’ve also put together YouTube playlists of ridethroughs and park walkthroughs. If you want to take a virtual trip to Disney World as well, here you go:
Note: these playlists are cobbled together from what is available on YouTube and quality varies. They’re also not comprehensive: I chose the attractions and events that my daughter and I like best, plus extras unique to our typical experiences at the parks. For example, the Magic Kingdom playlist starts off with a boat ride from Fort Wilderness, because we often stay at Fort Wilderness and I love that boat ride. Anyway, enjoy.
Thank you to everyone who sent a note of appreciation on the occasion of last week’s newsletter. I appreciated it in turn.
Links
How Indigenous writers are changing sci-fi.
How the Criterion Collection crops out African-American directors. The Criterion Channel does a much better job at diverse offerings, as well as highlighting underrepresented directors, but clearly the physical Collection needs to follow suit.
How Twin Peaks’s Denise Bryson was (and wasn’t) ahead of her time. I recently did a Twin Peaks season 1-2 rewatch and I had a lot of these same thoughts about Denise. In any case, “fix your hearts or die” remains a heartfelt rallying cry.
“The blues are not linear; they circle around the listener like smoke or spiral stairs, returning again to the same rounded corner, or what feels like the same. For that, they can sound repetitive, deceptively simple. But it’s not the same stair; you and your ghosts are one floor up. It’s not the same line; there’s a stronger chord, an ‘I said’ where there wasn’t one before, which acts as a streak of lightning in the same dark and illuminates, briefly, the world around you and your place in it.” An incredible piece about Chicago blueswoman Mary Lane—who, by the way could use some support right now. There is a linked GoFundMe at the end of the piece.
Reading/Watching/Listening
I began a new full-time gig this week, so my reading and film watching has been slight. Talk amongst yourselves. For real: I opened up comments on this one for everyone, so feel free to drop a good book, movie, TV show, podcast, etc. in the comments.
And because someone brought it up with me the other day, a reminder that I keep my media log over here.
Figure out some way to have some joy.
Love,
Jen
Connections
Substack archive: https://jenmyers.substack.com/archive
TinyLetter archive: http://tinyletter.com/jenmyers/archive
Essay archive: http://modernadventuress.com/
Website: http://jenmyers.net
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Email: hello@jenmyers.net
Post: P.O. Box 13114 Chicago, IL 60613
Today’s quote is from Jenny Slate.