7 things I loved on the last week of February
A life-affirming poem, a devastating TV show, and a sneak peek of my new zine
A life-affirming poem: “A Course in Creative Writing” by William Stafford (full text here)
Things come toward you when you walk.
You go along singing a song that says
where you are going becomes its own
because you start. You blow a little whistle—And a world begins under the map.
Normal People, the 2020 TV show on BBC and Hulu adapted from Sally Rooney’s novel1. I never bothered to watch since I assumed that reading the book was more than enough. How wrong I was! All these years I have been missing out on Connell and Marianne’s blazing on-screen chemistry. I know everyone is watching the new buzzy romantic drama series One Day but let me tell you, nothing beats the emotional devastation and deeply flawed yet relatable characters of Normal People.
This hazy, sentimental song of young love that I listened to on repeat while tending to my heavy heart post-Normal People.
Making final edits and doing test prints of a new zine. Excited to share more widely soon!
Collaboration Cookbook, a repository of "recipes" for real creative projects. I recommend the recipes for quitting the rat race and building a DIY artist residency.
Unearthing, Kyo Maclear’s memoir untangling a family secret revealed by a DNA test. I love how the story intentionally meanders and tangles in a non-linear way. Life doesn’t unfold in clear-cut stories, and this book was a reminder to see beauty in that lack of clarity.
Dear daughter,
I know you need to write stories. I know I am a story inside of you just like you are a story inside of me. I was never against stories. I was just against what I had been told about them—that they had to be organized and fancy. That they had to be big and you had to act big to tell them. I wanted you to see that not everything can be woven into a pattern, some dots don’t have a line to connect them. I wanted you to know I put holes in your story so we would always find a place for ourselves on the page but also a clean getaway!A useful free library of textures for your creative needs. I’m gonna have to tangentially mention One Day again—Dexter’s teenage passion for taking pictures of gravel has so much practical use! Take that, mum!
Speaking of Sally Rooney, her latest novel Intermezzo will be out in September!
Been subscribed for two weeks Carolyn and to be honest, I'm adoring these weekend small little nuggets about our sources of joy. Just cared to say it! <3 (obviously I've been diving also in the rest of the posts of the past year and have loved all of those, still have many saved I wish to dive into!)
Have a peaceful weekend :)