6 Facts About Early Music

I have been interested in early music for quite a while, and even though I am far from an expert on the subject, here is some of what I’ve learned.* First things first: what is early music? The simplest way to think of it is music primarily from the medieval and Renaissance periods. Basically any…

Reality and the placebo effect

There’s a well-known moment near the end of the last Harry Potter book where Harry “meets” (hallucinates? imagines?) Dumbledore and they have a discussion together. Before it ends, Harry stops his late Headmaster and says, “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?” Dumbledore tells him: Of course it is all happening…

Language is dumb. And also amazing.

Language and communication have fascinated me as long as I can remember. The fact that I can make random scratches on a piece of processed dead plants and be able to share an idea across space and time? It’s crazy. And that I can make specific weird sounds with my mouth to share something else?…

Will it poet-ify? #1: Mosaic of Frozen Thought

She read a great deal– devouring ink like soul-water overwhelmed at the monstrous mountains, massive mosaic of frozen thought preserved then thawed in a spongy mind. But the sponge is full, puddles on the floor. We don’t know the details but it’s all over the printer and the glasses and stove and will take more…

Change and recognition

It’s a strange thing to feel yourself changing. The first time I realized that was sometime in my early twenties, and I have felt it quite a few times since then. Most recently, I have discovered a newfound love of salad, and as I was fixing a big bowl of weeds for myself the other…

Gray Sky

I woke up to a gray sky throwing cold, diffused light through my window. Everything coated in a thick, sticky dullness the flaming chariot too tired to burn dropping a blanket instead to smother glowing neon signs and even the Venetian red bricks across the street. I’ve never seen the world so muted all faded…

In which an ogre makes the life he wants and maybe we can too

Let’s talk about Shrek: The Musical again. By far my favorite song in the show is “Who I’d Be” which takes place (quite a few story beats before “When Words Fail,” which I wrote about recently) right after Shrek and Fiona meet for the first time and escape the tower. Shrek sings about who he…

Something to say

Let’s get meta. Ever since I first really became aware of the concept of being a writer, it’s something I’ve been drawn to. But as I’ve gotten older, I have found that I censor myself more and more before I even get any words on the page or screen. That’s too cliche. That’s too sappy.…

When Words Fail

One of the lovely pieces of media I have been introduced to in the last year is Shrek The Musical. (I know, I know, I’m more than a decade late to the party, but what’s your point?) In the play, there is a moment where Shrek sings about how inadequate he feels in his ability…

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is one of those books that I was almost embarrassed not to have read yet. I’m glad to have finally read it now, and although I don’t have much to say about it, I do have a few thoughts. I should have known going into it that it was never…

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron is a piece of medieval Italian literature. It is the story of a group of ten wealthy nobles (seven ladies, three gentlemen) who decide to “escape” Florence during an outbreak of the Plague. They go to the country and entertain themselves for ten days by telling each other stories. I’ll be honest, I…

Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton

Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton is a novella based on the life of Margaret Cavendish, an English poet and scientist in the 17th century, and the first woman in England to write for publication. Knowing nothing else about Cavendish or this novella, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Much to my delight (after…

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I can always tell a book is special when any attempt to describe what it means to me ends with me sitting in a pool of my own feelings and wishing that language wasn’t quite so limited. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is one of those books. It’s been on my radar for…

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is the sixth and final book in the Queen’s Thief series. I first came across these books in high school and grew to love them, but when Return of the Thief was released earlier this week, I was a little bit nervous. Very excited, too, of course,…

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

In Piranesi, we follow the titular character who lives in a seemingly infinite house—vast rooms and labyrinthine corridors—that is, at the very least, large enough to contain an entire ocean that can flood hallways in an instant. But how did Piranesi get there? We quickly get the sense that something isn’t quite right as Piranesi…