some good things for you
recs & links for these winter days
Hiiiii—Welcome to Be Where You Are. I’m a poet, essayist & writing teacher, and I teach writing workshops for the Madwomen in the Attic. If you look forward to this newsletter in your inbox, please consider paying a few dollars a month for a subscription to help me keep this work going. And, if you can’t pay anything, please share it with someone that you think might need it! 🩵
This is my first December in Los Angeles and wow, it’s strange for it to be mid-December with nary a 20-degree day or dusting of snow. I think this is why I’ve been even slower than usual with my holiday to do list (I mean, can it be Christmas if I haven’t worn gloves yet?)
As a way to procrastinate further, I’ve been gathering some recs & links for you! Maybe you can add something here to your to-read/listen/watch lists while you PUT YOUR DANG FEET UP and rest for a bit? (do it do it)
LISTEN
Here’s my Beat the Winter Doldrums playlist in case you need it (starts with The Bangles & ends with Kishi Bashi—real weird mix in between defined by bangers of all stripes)
Joy Oladokun’s music is a staple for me right now: her latest, Observations from a Crowded Room, is HERE (Proof of Life came out last year, and her first album, in defense of my own happiness, is still one of my faves).
This How Women Made Music playlist of Tiny Desk Concerts by women has so many gems
Loved this interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer at the Emergence Magazine podcast about her new book, The Serviceberry: “Recognizing enough-ness is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more.”
Loved this interview with Violeta Garcia-Mendoza by Han VanderHart at the Of Poetry Podcast
I really enjoyed this conversation on The Way Out Is In podcast about “Bridging Being and Doing”
READ
I just want to hide away and keep reading Chloé Cooper Jones’ book Easy Beauty right now. She writes with nuance, clarity, humor, and never shies away from saying the hard thing. I’m also now reading and loving this essay, “Loving Him Meant Facing My Greatest Fear.”
Ed Simon wrote a brilliant profile of poet Jan Beatty at Poetry Foundation: Simon writes: “For Beatty, poetry is neither intellectual exercise nor fodder for the tenure file, but an incantatory statement of inner life—a protest, a jeremiad, a prophecy, a manifesto.” So many gems in here about her work, but I especially love this line from Beatty: “I believe in women more than I believe in anything.”
This Kristen Radtke Pregnancy in Art essay is stunning & I’m excited to check out more of her work now: “We often talk about motherhood as something that’s hard and draining, which it can be, but it’s also genuinely fun and stimulating,” Radtke says. “I hope we can let the experience fuel us.”
Corina Zappia just started a Substack and you need to go read her writing on Joan Jett, Nikki Giovvani, and Sheila E. She’s got some incredible interviews with cool women coming up you won’t want to miss. Subscribe below.
I was interviewed recently by Erinn Batykefer over at The Long Pause about my long creative pause; you can see a pic of young Emily and hear lots about where I am now in the awkward phase of trying to re-build my writing practice; a Bonus Track podcast is soon to come as well!
WATCH
Kiran Rao’s new film, Laapataa Ladies is so good—here’s the trailer—& a short review of it here. The storytelling is compelling, the characters are well-drawn, and the acting is excellent. There’s been some hubbub about this film & “All We Imagine as Light,” directed by Payal Kapadia this awards season, so I’m looking forward to watching Kapadia’s film next.
We finally watched The Indigo Girls documentary, It’s Only Life After All, and it really hit me in the feels. The Indigo Girls were the first band I fell in love with as I was developing my own taste in music in junior high, and I didn’t realize how deeply their music is embedded in my DNA until I watched this. There’s so much here I’m still thinking about—about making music and the way it moves people and saves people, about queerness and what’s seen as popular in the music industry and society overall, about what it means to be a woman artist and to be taken seriously.
I’d love to know what’s getting you through these days? Songs/books/movies/shows/treats/rituals, etc?
What you may have missed on Be Where You Are
Here’s the replay of the “Do Something” Yoga & Writing Workshop I hosted with last month. We raised $120 dollars for the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Natural Resources Defense Council. As these workshops continue to grow, we’ll keep donating to organizations doing good work. Thank you to everyone who donated!
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Be Where You Are is a newsletter about how to use writing and mindfulness to live more fully where you are. If you have ideas to share for future newsletters, you can reply to this email. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky or my website.⚡⚡
Thank you so much for these round-ups. They always bring me something that I don’t even know I need. Also, that tree (and that gorgeous sky) are definite good things!!! 🧡
I didn’t know about that indigo girls documentary! Excited to check it out