The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop
The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez lives up to its title. So often I will leave leftist trainings frustrated, whether they be in person or online, as they do not have actionable steps. (A friend generously called me an "advanced learner" because of how many classes I seek out. If it is free or reasonably affordable, I'll be taking it.) This book is an antidote to that feeling.
Chavez breaks down, step by laborious step, how a traditional creative writing workshop runs, why it runs that way, why it needs to run differently, how it can run differently, why that way works, and how you can run it that way yourself. She is exacting and thorough and generous throughout. This book is unlike most books I read on craft or teaching or leadership. It is lean and precise.
This book made me want to run a writing workshop just to feel the electricity of what she described.
If you care about curating healthy creative communities and the resilient spaces they occupy, then read this book. Even if you don't and you just want to know more about your own writing craft, or if you just want to hear about one woman's experience with teaching, or how there can be and are different ways of holding power as a leader, read this book. Read this book.
Glass Onion
Glass Onion (A Knives Out Mystery) started streaming on Netflix today so of course I watched it!
This movie was delightful and I can't wait to rewatch it. I've noticed that some of my favorite mysteries come from the story being revealed to us bit by bit in an off-kilter order. Rian Johnson really expertly manuevers all of the different threads at play - when my brother shouted out how a character died right after they died, it didn't feel cheap, it felt perfectly set up with a flawless execution. Similarly, there was a line around the 40 minute mark and I said "Oh that foreshadowing!" that was paid off around the 2 hour 10 minute mark, and it felt like a promise kept rather than a foregone conclusion. I want to watch it again and see all the little bits fit together.
Having only seen it once (and admittedly on my kind of small and far away living room TV while dying from a migraine), I have a bit of a preference for Knives Out 1, buuuuut... this is a fantastic movie. Saying I prefer the first to the second is like saying I love a home cooked meal compared to someone ordering me food. I really like them both, it's just a little bit of a different quality.
Part of what made this one not really love it as much is that some of the characters felt a bit too extraneous for my liking. The girlfriend, Whiskey, the assistant, Peg, and the random-ass stoner all struck me as either under-utilized or, in the latter's case, worth cutting entirely. (Seriously why tf was that guy there??) I enjoyed Peg's actor but she had approximately four lines and didn't do a whole lot with any of them. Whiskey was important but similarly didn't have enough screentime for her to be able to shine as the player with agency that she seemed to want to be (structurally if not as a character). Why were they included if they weren't going to be utilized? I realize that part of the story's critique/note is that these rich idiots use the people around them without consideration, but then why don't we get to see them? It felt much weaker than the razer sharp edge of Knives Out. Maybe I'm just holding it to too high a standard, but that's what happens when you set the bar so high to begin with.
There's a couple other things I want to mention. I loved the colors of this movie. What a pretty film to just look at. I want to watch it again when my eyes don't hurt so bad. The costume design was to die for, especially for Blanc. (Bless that dickie.) Notably, this is may be the first movie I've seen that depicts covid, which I was really eager to see!
Also Janelle Monáe gets the one PG-13 approved f-bomb and I love that for her.
The Migraines Are Still In Power
And We Absolutely Hate Them
My singular saving grace in having a migraine every day since Thanksgiving (except for One (1) day) has been Wednesday fanfiction and behind the scenes/interview videos. It's the maximum amount of input my brain has been able to handle, curled up in a blanket nest.
Looking Towards 2023
I had a very busy 2022, in both positive and negative ways (sometimes simultaneously). I have a more or less regular job lined up through June, which I'm hoping will let me save up for a while. I'm considering where I may want to move for the summer. I've found that trying on a town/city for a season (usually a summer) has been a nice way to get to know a place while still having my home base to come back to later.
I've been considering Atlanta, but I don't have many connections there, so I'll have to do some digging and ask around to see who I may know who could connect me with some friendly faces. (I will fully admit that this is at least partially fuelled by how jazzed all of the details of Wednesday got me; I love over the top fantasy and watching a bunch of good tv and movies to close out my year? I'm really spoiling myself right now. It's a hard path, but I have the hard skills to wrestle into production, or even acting if I wanted to.) I have a lot to consider, but over half a year to hammer out details and decide, so there's time.
In lesser, but still fun, news: this blog has gotten 2,000 views! That's super cool! Hello! I hope have you enjoyed your time here. Happy new year. I hope you are staying warm in the northern hemisphere and cool in the southern hemisphere!