culture consumed (December, 2024)

[hermionesviolin]

books

• read Abby approximately 16 picturebooks -- mostly (entirely?) from Betsy Bird's 31 Days 31 Lists
• finished The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk (2023) for December DEI book club (we started it in November for Native American Heritage Month, but spread it out over 2 months)
• [YA sequential art] girlmode written by Magdalene Visaggio & illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau (2024)
• [YA] Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia (2024)

tv

• Abby and I finished watching Agatha All Along (1.05-1.09)
  
• Tumblr had been informing me that there was an Agatha Harkness episode of  What If...? S3, so we watched What If...? 3.02 "What If... Agatha Went to Hollywood?" -- which I was pretty meh on (I maybe would have been more into it if I had seen Eternals and cared about the Celestials?)
• we also watched Marvel Studios: Assembled 2.09 "The Making of Agatha All Along" thanks to Tumblr informing me of its existence

theatr

• The Thanksgiving Play with Abby and Jo (Bridget had covid, alas)

  Isn’t it time we rethink Thanksgiving?  That’s the question on the table when four politically correct performers get together to create a new take on the traditional holiday pageant.  Good intentions turn into outright tension as the group struggles to re-envision history, all without ruffling any feathers.  Rambunctious, wild, and fearless, The Thanksgiving Play serves up history and humor with a steaming side dish of uniquely American hypocrisy.  Are you ready to eat your words?

  The blurb (above) didn't particularly sell me, but the Wiki kinda did:

  The main ideas explored in The Thanksgiving Play involve the attempt of an all-white cast to create a respectful and politically correct Thanksgiving play that includes Native American themes. This idea is paradoxical, considering the play is written by a Native American playwright. Larissa FastHorse wrote the play in response to the common notion that her works couldn't be produced due to the perceived difficulty in finding Native American actors. To challenge this casting limitation, FastHorse crafted a play that tackles Native American issues without relying on Native American actors.^[11]

  In the play, white characters take on the task of writing and producing a play about Native Americans without consulting them directly, highlighting the complexities and impossibilities of the endeavor. The play sheds light on issues such as the underrepresentation of indigenous actors, misguided attempts to represent Native Americans in American society, the presumption of a homogenous Native American identity instead of recognizing diverse tribal identities, and other challenges faced by indigenous people in America.^[12]

  Through its satirical tone, The Thanksgiving Play humorously delves into the conflict of creating a politically correct portrayal of Thanksgiving without involving Native Americans. Beneath the humor and satire, the play subtly critiques the historical and ongoing misrepresentation of Native Americans by referencing past portrayals involving redface and the inaccurate portrayal of indigenous culture.

  I also loved this from the playwright's Wiki: "As a playwright, FastHorse requests that theaters who produce her work hire at least one other Indigenous artist for the production, and showcase at least one other Indigenous artist's work in the building."  (For this production, the Director is Seminole. And the Dramaturg is Cherokee.)
  
  It's a satire, which I think is not my favorite genre? I appreciated that during the community conversation after the show, an audience member noted that it felt uncomfortable because they saw themself in the characters. Because some of it's so over-the-top (see above, satire), I think it can be easy (as an audience member) to experience it as criticism of Others who are Not Like Ourselves.
  
  There's a scene that re-enacts a massacre, and in the community conversation, the Director talked about the intentional choice to use shaving cream instead of fake stage blood, given the reality of school shootings.
  
  The Director's Note in the digital program notes that:

  In the first few pages of the published script of The Thanksgiving Play there is a casting note that reads, "...BIPOC that can pass as white should be considered for all characters". This play has had countless productions all over the world, on Broadway, and even right here in the greater Boston area; however, this is the first production that has honored that note with a full cast of Native and actors of color. Additionally, this is also the first major production that has been led by a Native director.

  During the community conversation, I asked the director to say more about the choice to cast all BIPOC actors. I think I still wasn't entirely satisfied? Though I do appreciate the idea of having BIPOC folks in the room shaping the development of the production.

short stories

So, Bethany of The Transfeminine Review did Reader's Choice Awards this year (as I posted about earlier).

The night of Dec 24, Bethany posted:

Okay in the context of having just read a short story:

The “Outstanding Short Story” category is *by far* the least definitive right now, and I would very much like to not have to break a sixteen-way tie.

If you have a favorite short story from this year and haven’t voted yet, 🥺🙏

The morning of Dec 25, Bethany posted:

THE 60-HOUR TRANSFEM SHORT STORY CHALLENGE

There’s just 2.5 days left in the 2024 TFR Awards. Feel like you haven’t read enough to vote? It’s not too late!

Before the Dec. 27th deadline at 11:59pm EST, I challenge you to read as many of these stories as possible and vote for your favorite! 🔥

with a link to this GoogleDoc.

I definitely kinda wished I had bought Embodied Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures since a whole bunch of the nominated short stories were in that and our local bookstores (and library network) didn't have it.  (I could have bought it in ebook, but that's really not my preferred way to read things.)

But some stories were available online, and some I even managed to read.


• "The V*mpire" by P H Lee -- okay, I started reading this and took a break.

  Author’s Note: This story is set on tumblr in the early 2010s. It depicts, among other things: internalized and externalized transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny; grooming; alcoholism; intimate partner violence, including both physical and sexual assault; murder; cannibalism; gaslighting; the online culture of the period and the weaponization of that culture to silence, manipulate, and abuse.

  I think I'm used to content warnings having become where you cover all the things that come up even a little bit in your story Just In Case, but these warnings are really warranted here.
  
  (I did come back and finish it, though.)
  
  
• "Can You Hear Me?" by Grace Byron -- this is sort of like a Casey Plett story
• "Rachel Is at a Protest" by Esther Alter

  And after the deadline:
  

• "Sim City" by Erica "ERN" Rivera -- trans-masc protagonist
  
• "Kindly Basilisk" by AutumnalWalker -- "A human mech pilot who wants to be a machine, an AI who wants to be human, and the relationship they form."
  

• Oh, and I forgot that earlier in the month I had read Sascha Stronach's hopepunk story "Tomorrow, Dawn".  She had written:

  alright it's here, the short story where I poured all my disappointments in 'hopepunk' as a concept, and tried to write what I thought when I first heard the term, which electrified me with its promise, a promise I found unfulfilled
  
  cw for shitloads of gore

  She had posted Dec 11, and Bethany's using publishing standard, so, "The book must have been published in between December 1st 2023 and November 31st 2024.  We’ll push new titles from this Dec. to next year." [x] and I assume that applies to short stories as well.

other live stuff

• Melissa Ferrick concert at Passim -- Abby and I went with Bridget+Jo and Bridget's cousin who was visiting
  
  I thought I knew "Drive" (2000) but I listened to it before the show and was like, "I maybe only knew OF it?"  But no, the chorus felt familiar -- "I'll hold you up / And drive you all night / I'll hold you up / And drive you, baby, till you feel the daylight"
  
  Ferrick talked about coming up at a time that The Indigo Girls, Suzanne Vega, and others were playing shows in the Boston area. It makes sense, but it still felt sort of wild to be like, "Yeah, those are artists I associate with e.g. my first year of college [2001-2002] when I also was introduced to the one song I know of yours." Like, very throwback to such specific memories of a time in my life (sitting at my desktop computer in my first year dorm room, with Ethernet connection for the first time, downloading music from Internet friends...).
  
  She played a song written very intentionally in the style of Shawn Colvin (whose best-known song was from a 1996 album, so also very much of that era).
  
  She opened for Morrissey's 1991 "Kill Uncle" tour. She played "Closer" -- sad words to a happy tune, a la The Smiths.
  
  She talked about doing a song-writing sort of thing with Mary Gauthier (whose name I didn't recognize) and Lori McKenna and being the one to provide prompts & follow up &c. -- "I'm a Virgo." ♍
  
  She grew up in Ipswich and now lives in Newburyport, which I definitely did not know. I'm not used to thinking of artists as being from around here.
  
  
• Midwinter Revels with my mom and Abby

  Midwinter Revels: The Selkie Girl and the Seal Woman
  A Celtic and Cabo Verdean Celebration of the Solstice 
  
  About This Year’s Production:
  In a small fishing village off the shores of Galway Bay, a community gathers in the local pub to celebrate the season. A child enters looking for a package that may have been delivered for his mother, who comes from another coastal town – in Cabo Verde. Songs and dances are shared, and the pub dissolves into a portal for fantasy with a transformative retelling of the Selkie story, a Celtic myth about living between two worlds. Irish songs, jigs, and reels share the stage with dance, drumming, and traditional songs from Cabo Verde. In the Revels tradition, new community is catalyzed, and with it hopes for a new year.

  I was hoping for more selkie, and Abby was maybe hoping for more Cabo Verde?
  
  Abby and I appreciated that in one of the selkie stories, the selkie gets a wife.

***

Currently Reading:

Nothing?

I was expecting to have seen more yuletide on my feed -- like, people have been posting recs in the comm, but I was expecting to see more from the individual people I know. And I've been tired and it literally hasn't occurred to me to just dive into the archive myself 😂

I have so far read one AgathaRio fic thanks to Tumblr.

Reading Next:

[Jan 9 MPL LGBTQ+ Book Group] Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (2023)

At December's meeting, the facilitator was like, "This should be fun," and I was like, "I mean, the jacket says it's his horror debut, so..."  Also, I know that Tingle is mostly known for his self-pub erotica, but it was kind of wild to me that the facilitator (an older lesbian who's been an Adult Services librarian for years) did not know anything about Tingle.  She does a bunch of research in the month leading up to the discussion of any given book, but I also assume she does research (besides just, "Does the library network have enough copies of this book?") when she selects the titles?

Last July, I'd sent a bunch of suggestions for this season (primarily sff, since she has named that that isn't really her area) including saying:

A couple more horror/thriller options I'd be interested to read:

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (2023)
"A searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down."

Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns (2023)
"novel about a queer South Asian rideshare driver scraping by in a Toronto-esque city"
satire, inspired by Taxi Driver

So I don't feel like I mis-sold the book.

[Jan 29 DEI book club] The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras (Colombian descent) - memoir (2022)

Revenge Body, which we read for Hispanic Heritage Month in September, didn't get into Hispanic-ness a lot, so we talked at that meeting about doing a second Hispanic book during a month that didn't have another topic, and ultimately voted on the other books remaining on the list librarian-Jeremy had offered us for September.

Our voting was tied between this and: Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo (Mexican descent) - novel.  And I, who had ranked PP low (this bookclub does ranked choice voting), said, "One of the top GoodReads reviews says, '[this book] is a descent into the hell of human memory, a plunge into an abyss of the dire past..." and people were like, "Yeah, maybe not that rn."

[Jan 31 work book club] Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (2019)

The blurb says, "Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with," so I'm intrigued.  I know almost nothing about The Troubles, so I expect I'll find it interesting and informative.

[bff book club] Once Out of Nature: Selected Essays on the Transformation of Gender by Joy Ladin (2024)

I got Ari this book for Christmas, noting that I hadn't read it but had also bought myself a copy and if/when ze read it I would be interested to co-read it.  So we are gonna attempt bff bookclub :)

This did not get even 1 vote for Best Nonfiction in TFR, so we'll see how sad I am about that 😂 (I really liked Ladin's 2018 book The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective.)

Comments

[lunabee34]

I don't know if you've read this, but Dylan asked for it for Christmas and said a lot of the short stories are good:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZDZT2N2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

[hermionesviolin]

I'm not a big horror reader, but I appreciate that one of the public libraries in my network owns this anthology.

[lunabee34]

Yay!

FWIW, Dylan said the stories are more body horror than traditional horror.