weekly retro #49: dude that sucked
my body is finally free of covid, but it wasn't until friday that i actually went outside - so you can understand why i don't have any photographs to offer in this retro besides my primary view of the week:
jenn nation, this week fucking sucked - pumagreg aside, of course. my body is still healing from putting up quite a fight, and continuing to hold me back from feeling like it's a new year. also, i don't do well when locked up for long periods of time, and the last time i had to do that was during quarantine where i could commiserate with everyone on social media.
understandably, most folks have been commiserating this week over the federally-sanctioned murder of citizens in the false name of making citizens safer, normalization of csam being created and shared on a major tech platform...also football, which i've been wondering if i should start to get into. i also was thinking about re-joining instagram after deleting it like 8 years ago. see? i actually need to touch grass so fucking bad.
this week is about doing just that. i get to go back to yoga and the gym, start my new semester of ceramics - which i missed the first day of, and that's okay - and reopen bugs rock. literally nothing bad happened because i took time to heal and not spread covid - except that i feel like i'm losing my marbles, but that's nothing that making art, reading and moving can't cure.
things i enjoyed this week
- i finished reading another country. i've talked about james baldwin's books before, and how i've missed out on a lot of fiction because i had mostly been satiated by non-fiction, but i'm so glad i finally read this one as it's one of my favorite novels taking place in new york city by one of my favorite authors. baldwin does a great job of writing about different characters intertwined and damaged by the same systems of racism, nationalism, misogyny, etc - the same ones we're watching play out today.
- today we finished watching listers, a documentary about a couple guys (brothers?) who are new to birding and do it in a big way across the country. the birds are great, the footage they get is awesome, they are hilarious, and it's a really cool view of a community that i knew nothing about. i don't see myself going birding, but i'll for sure be looking up and listening more - which i guess is literally birding lol.
- i loved this conversation between open mike eagle and questlove, did not have mike having to explain to questlove what roblox is on my bingo card and i'm sure they didn't either. but the conversation goes beyond fatherhood and the fears today that go with it, there's a lot about the microscope one is put under by one's own friends and collaborators when taking jobs. it makes me wonder if younger musicians even have the pressure anymore to not "sell out".
i wish i had more to show and say. i don't know! i guess, stay safe, hopeful, vigilant, whimsical, angry and joyful.
xoxo jenn