Hi-ho readers,
A long time ago (five years ago), in a galaxy far, far away (the United Kingdom), I wrote a weekly newsletter while I studied abroad in London. I’m glad I wrote that frequently; it served as a public diary for a time during which I was worried I’d forget details. Now it seems overly ambitious. I was 20 and I had few responsibilities other than deeply feeling my feelings. I certainly have those experiences at 25 as well, but with less frequency. I hope that writing about my life and things I find interesting will make those experiences seem a little more precious.
I’m planning to send these out every other Friday¹ (which are also my paydays, so will be easy to remember). I’ve often thought of personal newsletters as the poor man’s podcast, but most podcasts have topics as opposed to being general interest. I can’t really speak to the month ahead but I can reflect on the month that’s passed. So, November! (including footnotes)
Places to Go, People to See
I attended my first family wedding in 12 years—the union of my cousin Becca and her new husband Tom in Middletown, CT. Despite being born and raised in small Connecticut, it has many towns I have never visited, so the drives up and back were exciting for me. I have a large family (my mom is one of eight kids) so it was great to be with all of my aunts and uncles and a gaggle of cousins. On the way home, we stopped in New Haven, where my mom lived in her early 20s, and walked through Yale’s campus.
Downtown Voices (my choir) had a concert in November, performing Arvo Part’s Passio with soloists from the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. In two weeks we have our annual Christmas concert, which is free (as all of our concerts are). It’s on Sunday, December 15 at 3:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Chapel (Fulton and Broadway).
I visited my friends Kate and Galina at their home in Somerville, MA, with my friend Alex. We saw Kim Petras in concert, went to Salem, MA, and spoke on a panel at Wheaton, our alma mater, about post-grad life for the Women’s and Gender Studies program. Salem in the off-season (i.e., not-October) is spookier than it is around Halloween. It’s less “fun,” which causes you to contend with the facts of the Witchcraft Trials. We went to the Salem Witch Museum, which like most museums in Salem is filled with very dated mannequin dioramas. I hadn’t thought a lot about the Trials since my college field trip there for a sociology class, but they are increasingly relevant to modern politics.
For Thanksgiving, I played only child for my parents while my sister decamped to the West Coast with her boyfriend’s family. I ate so much bread and was horizontal for approximately 75% of the hours I was in Connecticut. We also watched my favorite Christmas movie film, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). “The child mentioned a check?”
Realizing Things
- Face ID on my iPhone doesn’t recognize me when I’m chewing, yawning, or wearing a scarf.
- I am happy I am not in school.
- I might need to re-learn how to drive a car (don’t tell my dad).
- The best time to eat Thanksgiving dinner is right after the dog show/post-parade nap (2:00 p.m.), because then you can have Thanksgiving food again for actual dinner later.
- I am better than my mom at bowling, but far worse than my dad.
- Trying to suppress your enthusiasm about someone/something for the purposes of being enigmatic is overrated!
What I Read and Liked
- People Dancing to Steely Dan (Twitter)²
- Many explainers about the five ballot questions in NYC’s recent elections, but mostly The New York Times and Ballotpedia. I felt fully informed at the polls, which rarely happens.
- The Mystery of Duane Reade (New York Magazine)³
Songs in My Heart (with Spotify playlist)
- “Dirty Work” – The Pointer Sisters
- “Dirty Work” – Steely Dan
- “Here You Come Again” – Dolly Parton
- “He Touched Me” – Barbra Streisand
- “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” – Caroline Polachek
- “Hit the Back” – King Princess
- “Want You in My Room” – Carly Rae Jepsen
Other Business
- I wrote a new poem in November called “Same Train.” Inspirations included, but were not limited to, “NASA” by Ariana Grande, Steve Reich’s Different Trains, and Will Ferrell vehicle Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I am aware that I am deeply unwell.
- If you ever are curious about what I’m listening to or reading, you can follow my Last.fm (music) or Goodreads (books). My writing is all on my website.
- I need a background image for the subscribe page and a header image for the emails themselves. Got any ideas?
- A friend asks what the “K” in my initials stands for. I am open to suggestions, but my initial thought is “Kwality.”
See you in two,
Emily
¹ The name of this newsletter is a riff on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me on a Sunday, which I have never listened to and never will. However, I WILL be seeing the Cats movie on opening day, if anyone wants to go with me.
² I think the theme of November was Steely Dan?
³ I was recently very upset that the Duane Reade/Walgreens next door to my therapist’s office closed (it frequently served as pre or post session refuge). I guess this dubious honor now belongs to The Container Store on 18th and 6th. Are there any Container Store memes? I would follow that Instagram account yesterday.