June’22 Madhouse Recap
Hello Friends and Fiends—
Well, it’s July.
It’s hard to write from a place of happiness right now considering everything that’s going on in the country, and I’ve certainly spent my share of time crying and staring blankly at the walls these past couple of days. Collectively, I feel like we’re all just so overwhelmed and mentally tapped, and it seems like there’s something new every day to panic over (and I’m not being hyperbolic–I literally mean “to panic over”). I often wonder how we’re supposed to just get up every day and pretend this stuff isn’t happening and go to our jobs and resume a normal routine. It makes me nervous as a woman and as a woman raising a daughter, but I feel like outside of educating in my profession and remaining a safe zone space on campus, the best thing for me to do is continue to make art (radical, violent art) and act with radical kindness.
You know, unless radical kindness doesn’t work.
Then I hope my vagina just grows teeth.
Dennis and I attended Three Rivers ComicCon, Pittsburgh Pride, and the Three Rivers Art Festival, and then Jennifer came in to visit and we talked books, publishing, and future projects. We also got to check out the Monet in Bloom installation at Phipps Conservatory.
Evie got to meet her second cousins on the Wytovich side this month, and then I popped into SHU’s IYWM for a quick dinner with some friends, and even though it was only for a short bit, it felt nice to see some friends, hug them, and laugh. I’m looking forward to more of that in the future and I’m really working hard to start making that a priority. It’s something that I’ve actually been talking about in therapy a lot because I so often equate success in life with how much work I’ve accomplished, and yeah, that’s just no way to live. The laundry can wait. The email can be sent tomorrow. I need to make sure I’m nourishing my body and my brain and so much of that means doing things that might not necessarily count as “being productive.” This means sitting outside, watching the birds, and drinking my morning coffee instead of slamming coffee down while I read through my emails; this means taking some time to read poetry in bed instead of trying to read and take notes while I’m on the elliptical; this means taking time to cook and prepare a meal with my hands instead of ordering take out while I pitch just one more article. I really want to try to be kinder to myself and it’s past time I made that a priority.
I turned in my next poetry collection (fingers crossed!), but you folks are going to have to wait for a title reveal. I will say that this book was a different speed for me. It wasn’t planned and I started writing it a month postpartum and finished it three months later. There’s a lot of rage, fear, and grief in it, plus themes of identity, hauntings, disappearance….and hunger.
Writing Poetry in the Dark is currently in layout and we’re working on some marketing plans for it. If you’re a reviewer or interested in a desk copy for your class, please reach out and let me know!
My article “Five Poetry Collections to Read This Summer” was published on LitReactor
I interviewed Stephanie Ellis and Cindy O’Quinn about their collaborative poetry collection Foundlings. You can read it here.
My poem “Such Secrets, These Stones” will be published in Daughter of Sarpedon, a Medusa-themed anthology forthcoming from Brigids Gate Press.
I’ll be running my Witch Lit class again with LitReactor this August. If you’re interested in signing up or getting some more information on it, you can check out this link. As always, if there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me as well.
This isn’t necessarily writing or teaching-oriented, but it is student-driven! I’m taking a tea blending class right now with Herbal Academy, and I’m learning a lot. My goal is to be able to make homemade chai tea this winter. Maybe that will be my next party trick?
This month, I read:
Lore: Monstrous Creatures by Aaron Mahnke
I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer
The Sorrow Festival by Erin Slaughter
Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
Nightmare Country, Issue #2 by James Tynion IV
Refrigerator Full of Heads, Issues 1-5 by Rio Youers
Something is Killing the Children, Vol 3 by James Tynion IV
Something is Killing the Children, Vol 4 by James Tynion IV
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
On the media front:
Men (2022), We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2022), The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018), Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022), Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2020), Brahms: The Boy II (2020), Master (2022), Crimes of the Future (2022).
On the lighter side of things: A Netflix is a Joke Festival: Stand Out, an LGBTQ+ Celebration, Fortune Feimster: Sweet and Salty, The Lost City (2022).
I finished Stranger Things, Season 4. I, personally, really loved everything about this season. I’ve read here and there that some people found it repetitive, but I don’t mind that we consistently have this group of kids growing and fighting evil. It reminds me of IT a little, but just instead of getting older and coming back to fight The Mindflayer (Pennywise), they’re just doing it as kids (albeit slightly more mature kids). I appreciated the growth of the characters, the inclusion of The Satanic Panic (which I predict is going to come back strong again in real life), and I loved all the callbacks to earlier seasons and episodes; narratively, I thought this was a beautiful win, and I loved how episode 7 wrapped up. Also, can we talk about how utterly amazing Robert Englund was as Victor Creel? The references to Freddy Kruger throughout the season and then having him literally there made my horror heart so fucking happy!
Episode 2 and 3 of Obi-Wan Kenobi: I’m enjoying this but I’m painfully behind. I got distracted with other shows this month and I need to go back and finish it. Maybe that will happen in July? Maybe I’ll just end up watching Mandalorian for the third time. Who knows!
Ms.Marvel, episodes 1 and 2: Everything about this show speaks to me. I love seeing a young girl embrace her powers and grapple with them. I super love the diversity, the culture, the notes of female empowerment, and reminders to vote for our rights. It’s honestly such a breath of fresh air and I’m looking forward to watching more of it soon.
The Umbrella Academy: Okay, so I’m only five episodes in so NO SPOILERS but I adore everything about this season so far and Klaus remains my all-time favorite of the umbrellas. I literally LOL’d when they had the Footloose dance-off at the beginning of the show, and then I sobbed with Victor’s character arc. How insanely beautiful and perfect and magical was that? To see that on TV was just so long overdue and my favorite part about it all was how not a big deal it was to his family. The umbrellas were just like “cool,” “rock on,” “your hair looks great,” and then talked about how they had bigger things to tackle, and while that might seem dismissive to some, I read that as an immediate acceptance and it felt kind of amazing at how easily it all went down when he came out. Kind of like, I don’t know, that how it should be? Hmm…
Inventing Anna: I absolutely loved this, and I wish I wouldn’t have put it off for as long as I did. The entire story was insane to me, and I loved the legal ins and outs of this case, how it unfolded, and honestly, what’s happening with it now. Did you know Anna is exhibiting her artwork and is like, legitimately rich because of it? INSANE. It’s like a trainwreck I can’t look away from, and there is supposed to be a part two being made, a where-is-she-now kind of deal. Needless to say, I’ll be watching that. Something else I will also say is that seeing Vivian Kent be this badass journalist who stopped at nothing was super empowering. Pregnant? Not a problem. Dickhead boss? Fuck him. Bad reputation? BRING IT. That’s the kind of woman I want to see more of on television/in film. Unstoppable female energy. Yes, please!
I [finally] started watching the Jordan Peele remake/retake of The Twilight Zone this month. I’m going to do some short reviews of the episodes below, but overall I’m really enjoying it so far and I’m excited to check out more.
“The Comedian”: Phew, karma is a bitch. I liked the energy of this one and I’m always a fan of plots that have some sort of deal-with-the-devil vibe to them.
“Nightmare at 30,000 Feet”: I absolutely loved this one and I was so nervous the whole time…for everyone. The idea of listening to a podcast about something horrible that you’re literally experiencing in real life is just about one of the scariest things I can imagine, and the way it got all Shirley Jackson, in the end, was just perfect.
“Replay”: This one hit me right in the feels. A very timely episode and one that put my heart directly in my throat.
“A. Traveler”: Needed more alien. Meh.
“The Wunderkind”: I feel like this episode gave me political PTSD. Then again, I feel like I have that without watching The Twilight Zone so what do I know?
“Six Degrees of Freedom”: I really liked this one, but you should all know by now that altered-reality plots tend to work for me (and I’m learning this is because it’s a lived experience for me due to having OCD), but I digress. I was a fan of the ending and the suspense throughout but especially with how grief was handled. Brava!
“Not All Men”: I feel like I’ve seen the “anger virus” a lot lately, and that gives me pause for a lot of reasons. Honestly though? I’m kind of sick of seeing stuff about men getting angry and being assholes. Show me female rage and then we’ll talk.
“Point of Origin”: This one was definitely more my speed, and the commentary on immigration was heartbreaking. Plus, anything that Ginnifer Goodwin is in it is an automatic win for me. I just love her.
Them, Episodes 1 & 2. This show started off really intense for me, and with the violence against the baby and the dog, I started to get a little bit anxious and my PPD started throwing out some red and white flags; with that said, I thought the horror and the study in race, gender, and class were beyond well done and interesting, so I kept watching. Shortly after, I tweeted about how scary I was finding the show (like, who or what is Ms. Vera?), and a friend reached out to me about the graphic nature of the rest of the series, and considering my issues right now, I’ve decided to hit pause on this until I’m in a better/stronger mind frame to deal with it.
Podcasts:
Until next time,
Stephanie
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