Strawberry fields forever

...and asparagus fields, or is it an asparagus patch?

Jun 03, 2024

May can be summed up as yes, I’m still working my way through The Artist’s Way (a 12-week course aimed at unlocking your capacity for creativity). It’s still overwhelming and I haven’t completed every exercise, or successfully stuck to three morning pages every day—but the activities have helped me be especially mindful of how I'm spending my time and how it aligns—or is misaligned with my creativity. Here are my two of my light bulb moments:

The page-and-a-half truth point
In the week five check-in, author Julia Cameron asks if you’ve discovered this point, and yes, the magic of the morning pages does usually happen at the page-and-a-half mark. It’s after I’ve worked through my to-do list, complaints and anxieties, so there is validity in doing all. three. pages. (as hard as it is).

Making space for the new
I was surprised to have activities like throw out/donate one low self-worth outfit, throw out or give away five ratty pieces of clothing, but paired with listing the things you enjoy, and how you spend your time, I’m finding myself more easily evaluating clothes and other things around the house and choosing to shed them to the donate box.

When it comes time for next month’s send, I should be wrapped up with the course and will share more. In the meantime,

Kirsten Powers

has a couple of great posts about her experience with The Artist’s Way and an interview with Julia Cameron.

On to the recaps:

Answers in the pages

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, Hanif Abdurraqib

“People ask if I will ever leave. I tell them I have carved out a corner of these skies and they are mine. I tell them I love this city because I can move through it while looking up the entire time. I tell them even when I’m gone, I am never gone. I am always returning to someone. Some past self. Some future self. Some world that shifted, even slightly, while I was alive somewhere else.”

I’m always eager to learn from Hanif Abdurraqib. Whether it’s through his writing, a discussion, a profile about him, his Object of Sound podcast, or even his Instagram stories. I’m grateful for how he shares about music, love, Columbus, sports, sneakers, politics and more. I’m not someone who cares about basketball, but of course if you know Abdurraqib, it’s never just one thing—his writing transcends in so many directions I think most readers could pick this up and find a way it resonates with them.

What You Are looking For is in the Library, Michiko Aoyama

“When I buy a book, I also become part of the process as a reader. People working in the book industry are not the only ones who make the publishing world go round; most of all it depends on the readers. Books belong to everybody: the creators, the sellers and the readers. That's what society is all about I believe."

A heartwarming, cozy read to remind you of the magic of libraries and community. You’ll follow along with five characters who are at a crossroads — from retirement to a new mom. As they navigate what’s next in their life a mystifying librarian nudges them with next steps… or was it in them along?

My Last Innocent Year, Dasiy Alpert Florin

I picked this one up on a whim at the library and it was an engaging, fast read focused on one woman’s coming-of-age during her final year of college. She grapples with grief amid being surrounded by scandal, competitiveness, mental illness, sexual assault, and all against the backdrop of the President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky story breaking. If you liked The Secret History, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Welcome to The O.C.: The Oral History, Alan Sepinwall, Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz

A key feature of my personality is that I will never shut up about The O.C. and Gilmore Girls. The dialogue has become my shared language and both have become my comfort shows. I’m learning audiobooks are a great way to get to all the pop culture books on my TBR (looking forward to Kelly Bishop’s book later this year). It’s a great break while I make and and eat lunch during my work day. This one especially so, given it’s an oral history. It was fun to remember moments from the show and hear behind-the-scenes stories from the cast and crew. It you were/are a fan, give this one a listen. (Side note: I love that so many people still talk about The O.C., Paste published this just last week.)

Shit, Actually, Lindy West

Continuing the pop culture books, Lindy West is a movie critic/opinion writer and during lockdown revisited movies—from the beloved to the iconic, to the ridiculous. It made me wish I had some sort of movie club during Covid times where we all revisited our favorites, or the “classics” we haven’t seen to answer important questions of, “does it hold up?” and, “does it live up to the hype?” It was a fun audiobook, and having never seen Twilight, her laugh out loud recap almost makes me want to.