Scattered Thoughts
I don’t have many fleshed-out or coherent thoughts at the moment. Usually, I am able to dive into my brain and select one to shape into a nice piece of writing, kind of like when Harry and Dumbledore explore the memories inside of the Pensieve. But not today. All I’ve got today are millions of splinters of thoughts. Fragments that are whizzing around in there, bumping into each other and vying for more of my attention. So, I thought I would just note down here a few of the things that I’m thinking.
I’m moving! Into central DC. Can’t WAIT.
We must all learn the difference between cancel culture and holding bad people accountable for things they’ve said and done.
How do we separate art from the artist? I guess it’s simple!? When there are countless incredible and inspiring artists out there, alive and deceased, why continue to support and adore and consume the work of the ones who are bad people. It’s a loss, sure. But it’s necessary.
Women, especially women of colour, are brave, strong, talented and deserve SO much respect.
My cat is the best cat.
Spring is wonderful. Let’s get out for a walk or a bike ride, take our masks off and let the fresh air fill our lungs.
Just because we lost a year to a pandemic, doesn’t mean we have to make up for it by living twice as hard this year… right?
I’m anxious about playing concerts again, about booking work again.
I’ve been in the US for two and a half years continuously. When will I be able to go home to England? Or is this home now? Also, I miss my family.
I hate it when famous people tell young people to follow their dreams.
Some Interesting Things
I’ve been working my way through Toni Morrison’s work with joy, and my latest read was ‘The Bluest Eye’. How she crafts language and allows the story to reveal itself is hauntingly beautiful. When I got to the end and read her Afterward, I immediately went back to page 1 and began again. I’m looking forward to reading some of her essays and non-fiction next.
Yesterday, I read this poignant piece from the New Yorker about the connection between one’s name and their identity, and racism surrounding foreign names in America. I wonder if this is something that many of us have considered before? I have certainly been known to give a fake name at a coffee shop or on a food order, when I’ve had enough of having to repeat my name a thousand times and spell it out. But what happens when someone’s name has been so weaponised against them that they feel the need to become someone else? And what role have each of us played in that decision?
Promising Young Woman was one of the best films I’ve seen in a while. I found it to be so smart, so fresh in its approach to this subject, so well done (LOVE Carey Mulligan and Emerald Fennell) and I’m not going to stop thinking on this one for a while.
I’m trying out gut strings! It’s all a bit of an adventure and I am sure to write more about it in the future but I am currently playing on a Gamut Heavy Gut G String and it’s loud! It’s strong and round and fills a space easily and also whispers when you want it to. In Love.
The HBO docuseries Allen vs Farrow has been talked about a LOT since it came out. Once again, I find myself in an internal struggle, having wished this story NOT to be true for many, many years and finally not being able to defend this monster anymore. I have been a Woody Allen fan for a long time, and now have to face this loss. All this is completely unimportant and irrelevant, though, compared with the trauma that Dylan Farrow has dealt with and that is why I will not be watching nor rewatching any more of his films. One angle of the docuseries that I found interesting, as presented by Vox in this article, was how Woody manipulated his power over Mia Farrow; he took over her life, becoming her lover, her boss, her sole employer and the father of her children. There are so many forms of abuse tangled up in this web, and examining each one and its effects has helped me to understand the damaging consequences of such evil use of power.
This Extra Hot Ghost Pepper Salsa from Trader Joe’s is FABULOUS.
When you get a snapshot of someone else’s life, their happiness and tragedies, the way they choose to live… This one was quite touching.
I visited a small independent book shop in DC that I hadn't been to before called Bridge Street Books. I thought their selection was brilliant, a real reader’s collection (and not just the big prize-winners or buzzword books). Definitely worth a trip if you are in the Georgetown area.
As someone who has been advised countless times, especially in the last 10 years, to meditate, this was the POV from the Atlantic that I was waiting for!
”I’m not observing my thoughts as they arise one by one, unbidden, from the ever-bubbling bed of the brain; I’m thinking my thoughts. I’m not groping toward the white light of nothingness that irradiates all phenomena; I’m stewing in the somethingness.”Saw this. Thought it was nice!
