5 Culture Recs for October
1) Concentrate by Courtney Faye Taylor
Courtney Faye Taylor was the moderator for an event with Taylor Byas on her new book of poetry, and afterward, I got both of their books because the conversation was so good. Courtney Faye Taylor’s book I’d seen at the Graywolf table at the popular creative writing conference AWP, and I remember just standing there looking at it for a moment because it was such a perfect cover, and a Black woman running the booth smiled at me, and I smiled at her, and then back at the book, but because I’d already bought like 20 (!) books at this conference, I didn’t have the suitcase space or the $$ to buy it then and there. At the event with Taylor Byas, I got it, and to my surprise (how did I not know this!), Concentrate orbits Latasha Harlins, the 15-year-old girl who was killed by a convenience store worker in L.A. just 13 days after the police brutality toward Rodney King. Because I have a weird fixation with the O.J. Simpson story, I knew about Latasha Harlins peripherally, but I’d never read anything that really focused on her. Taylor’s book of poetry not only focuses on Latasha, but beautifully reflects on the larger forces that cause things like this to happen and the personal way violence toward one Black girl shakes out and affects all the other Black girls that could’ve been her. It’s really well done and good.
Image of Courtney Faye Taylor’s Concentrate
2) Mirror Trick: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
I’ve been writing more creative nonfiction, and I’ve been trying to make sure I read more too, which is great because this book (!) is so good (!) in its exploration of culture and power and in the way it breaks down how we understand ourselves and each other. The opening essay about how the Internet has shifted from a place you could visit and has become your own identity curated and projected online was so striking and has changed how I see the time I spend online (is there a way to switch the Internet back to a place we’re visiting and can LEAVE?). Tolentino’s essay “Ecstasy,” on religion and drugs was also super interesting and grounded in Houston culture in a way that I really appreciated. If you’re looking for something a little meatier than short articles on culture, but with that same propulsive vibe (Tolentino writes for The New Yorker), I highly recommend!
3) Long Story Short (Netflix)
As I’ve written about before, I have a reluctance to watch animated shows, but I loved the little preview of this one on Netflix, and pretty soon, I was sitting down watching the whole thing. It’s about a Jewish family (two brothers, a sister and their parents) during different times in their lives. One thing that’s really cool about the show is how it jumps in time—each episode starts with a moment from the kids’ childhood that’s like this core, defining memory and then the show jumps forward to show how this moment affects their worldview and their dynamics with each other years and even decades later. Long Story Short is created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, who also created BoJack Horseman, and it has an all-star cast (!): Abbi Jacobsen plays the sister, Nicole Byer plays her wife, Max Greenfield from New Girl plays the youngest brother, Dave Franco plays his best friend. As a dramedy, I thought this show balanced vulnerability and humor really well, and the mom character is so well-done in the sense that she is both so easily irritated by anything anyone does that isn’t to her standards, and also, very endearing in how much she cares about everyone in her life? I guess I’m coming around to liking animation more, especially the broad strokes, minimalist animation of a show like this one.
4) Wayward (Netflix)
I feel like once a season, I need some thriller-esque show to carry me through for a while, and this was the one that came upon me this season. Me and my boyfriend watched all of Wayward in a weekend, and it’s kind of YA vibes, in the sense that it’s about teenagers who get sent to this school to straighten out their rebellious behavior, except the school is very unhinged and very culty. The teenage main characters have to figure out how to deal with that while the adult main character (played by Mae Martin, who also created the show!) has to figure out how to help them without setting off the alarms of everyone who’s already drinken the culty Kool-Aid. It was fun to watch and had all of the campy elements of shows like Nine Perfect Strangers, which might make the scary parts feel a bit more bearable to someone who’s only marginally into scary things.
In a strange but maybe lovely twist of personality, I’ve been getting really into listening to house DJ sets while I grade?? What this says about me, I don’t know, but I can say that I cannot stop listening to them and that this DJ on Youtube is one of my favorites. I feel like the Black music undertones in the way he approaches house music makes his sets feel more familiar to me while also throwing me into a genre that I haven’t spent that much time in. Listening to these sets while I grade both makes me feel like time is zooming in a good way and like the music isn’t so distracting that I can’t focus on what I’m reading (is anybody else like way too sensitive to sound when trying to read—I need there to be no voices around for miles??). @LesinFocus has a bunch of sets with different vibes like “Jazzy Soulful” and “Chill Grooves” and just stands there dancing to the music he’s making for the whole hour he DJs. I don’t know, I think in a time like this which is very depressing and scary, it’s nice to see somebody just doing what they love and sharing it with other people, in case it helps.
Some quick hits:
— I really liked this piece by Zadie Smith on how she started writing essays and how that process has evolved (and stayed the same) over time.
— I also am weirdly so taken in by the Taylor Swift discourse?? I liked this essay by a Taylor Swift fan on why some of her die-hard fans aren’t with her on this album.
— I also kind of singularly listened to the song “Actually Romantic,” which is allegedly about Charlie XCX and which them has described as “unfortunately [Taylor Swift’s] gayest song yet” But we love latent bi vibes omg
— There’s also a lot of really interesting discourse around race in Taylor Swift’s music and the tension between her and some of her boyfriends’ Black exes (!). It was broken down smartly, I think, in this Instagram post (which hopefully stays up?).
— I used to listen to Taylor Swift a lot when I was in high school and college and less as I’ve gotten older, and I don’t think anybody who’s vulnerable enough to make art and share it deserves like a takedown unless they’ve abused someone, but it is energizing—if you can detangle this human person who made the work from the work itself—to have a moment where people are coming together to talk about art! To share what they think is interesting about it, for better or for worse.
