Strength, courage & wisdom

It's funny how flat—and flat-out incorrect—my assumptions about Los Angeles were before I visited it for the first time in 2017. My whole life, popular culture had me thinking it was just Hollywood and Beverly Hills and grainy images of South Central circa 1993, so imagine my goggle-eyed surprise when I finally experienced all its texture firsthand. All that bougainvillea, all those vistas, all the tacos and noodles and late-night chicken & waffles. The scents, the sounds, the faces, the energy, all sprawling in from the sea.

That place is like no other in the US, but it's also exactly like everywhere: full of people just trying to live their lives, for god's sake. People rushing to get to work on time and eat something good sometimes; people taking care of their families and friends. People living without an address, kicked in the teeth by life itself one or twelve or a hundred times too many; a few insufferable narcissists, sure, with too much wealth, doing a lot of the kicking; and plenty of folks living somewhere between thriving and just getting by.

I'm thinking about LA today, and about a lot of other places. I know you are, too.

This week's dapples of sunlight:

1. This India.Arie song took hold of me two decades ago and hasn't let go since. Maybe you'd like to listen to it today.
2. Allow me to direct you to Texas-based artist Laree Evelyn (whose practice goes by the name "Hard Shapes") discovering their first wrinkle. Trust me, you're gonna wanna see this.
3. I don't know about you, but I am straight-up guzzling down every drop of wholesome human interaction I can find in the world right now, and if you're not currently in the vicinity of a hug, the PS22 children's choir singing "Pictures of You" by The Cure (back in 2009—they're grownups now!!) is the next best thing.
4. If you're less in the mood for something soothing and more in the mood for a "fvck yeah" fist in the air, I present to you this recent moment onstage from Kate Nash.
5. I spend a lot of time on bridges, metaphorically speaking: bridges between generations, time zones, city/suburb, questions/answers, blue/white collars, book learning/life experience, middle/left, old/new. As a result, I am very, very wary of anything leaning too far (for me, anyway) into the practical or the mystical; you'll rarely find me without at least one grain of salt in hand. If it's too hyperbolic or arcane, or god forbid somehow both, I don't want it. So, I'm fascinated by the fact that this piece of writing by Nellie Rose Coffy—which, incidentally, has the word bridge in the title—doesn't make me want to put it down and walk away. It actually has me hearing echoes of people like Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin, whose offerings are evergreen. Do gather me if I've lost it, please, but I don't think I have.
6. And now for some absolute nonsense: humorist Emmanuel Reddish reciting "Bills Bills Bills" by Destiny's Child in the voice of Maya Angelou.
7. Til next week, y'all. Here's a poem from the late Mahmoud Darwish.

Strength and love to Gaza, to Greta, to immigrants, to queer folks, to brown folks, to Black folks, to all of us.

"Go all the way with it. Do not back off. For once, go all the goddamn way with what matters."

—Ernest Hemingway

09 June 2025

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