Things I Won’t Do in 2019
Lists about things you’ve done and things you intend to do are great, but I think lists of things you haven’t done and will likely never do are every bit as illuminating.
Movies
Never Heard the Word Impossible
She laughed too loud and she had a lot of opinions. She wasn’t beautiful by the impossible standards of the day, but there was something beautiful about her.
Season of Revival
Roseanne and Jesus Christ Superstar I was a college student in Cleveland, Mississippi when Roseanne premiered in 1988. My friends and I watched it most weeks. We thought it was funny and irreverent. I particularly loved Jackie, played by the talented Laurie Metcalf. Jackie was always searching for something better—a better job, a better boyfriend, …
Activism is the New Black
I’m not big on awards shows or red carpet frippery. I like a pretty dress as much as the next person, but I grow bored by long discussions of hemlines or necklines or jewelry. All of this is to say that I didn’t see much of the Golden Globes broadcast this weekend, though I later …
I Need a New Story in the New Year
Do you think we are being pranked? Is it possible that we are currently embroiled in some sort of elaborate and absurd political theater? Maybe in 2018 someone will pull back the curtain and reveal that 2017 was one big joke. I mean, who could have predicted that a horse-riding, gun-toting, mall creep would be …
We Must Stop Protecting the Monsters
My husband and I are currently watching the multi-part documentary The Keepers on Netflix. It is hard to watch, even harder to stop watching. We are four episodes in. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it begins with the unsolved murder of a young nun, who was a popular teacher at a Catholic girls school …
Saints, Devils, and the Power of Work
On the day after Christmas, my husband, my mother, and I went to a nearby theater for a matinee of La La Land. On Christmas Eve we’d attended a live performance of the musical Finding Neverland, the story behind the story of Peter Pan. So a movie musical homage to Hollywood seemed like the perfect capper to our holiday entertainment. Plus, …