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?…

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…

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…

5 reasons domestic history is worth studying

I’ve always loved history and in recent years have taken a specific interest in what daily life looked like historically. What did people eat? What were their dishes and utensils made out of? What did they wear on a regular workday, and what about what they would wear to church on Sunday? What did their…

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women

I’ve seen Greta Gerwig’s new adaptation of Little Women twice now. First in January, a week after it was first released, and one earlier this month after its digital release. And it’s been on my mind a lot. It’s difficult to put my finger exactly on why I think it works so well, but here my…

When the world burns

Well, this isn’t the kind of March madness I think any of us were expecting. Let’s recap the last week, shall we? A global pandemic. (No need to dwell on the details of that as I’m sure we’ve heard them reiterated to death. I’ll just add that as someone who falls into a high risk…

In praise of hobbies; or, my year of learning

I started 2019 determined to embrace the hobby-hopper in me. I’m the kind of person who dabbles in an activity or topic for a time and then moves on to other hobbies or interests before coming back to something months or even years later. As I started 2019, I set a goal to honor that.…

9 Things I Learned From a Summer in the 19th Century

For a large part of this year, I worked full time at a living history site as a costumed historical interpreter. This was something I absolutely dreamed about growing up, but never thought I would actually have the opportunity to do. I have always loved history (I’ve written before about how I’m drawn to old…

Listening

Each day this month, I am taking one painting (chosen from an art book I have) and writing a brief text about it in a little notebook. It’s been a great exercise so far, and I wanted to write a blog post about one of the paintings I chose this week: The Creation of Adam by…

A Letter to All My Future Selves

Dear Future Self, I suppose you are more acquainted with me than I am with you. We may not even have that much in common, for all I know. After all, my Self on page 15 of my life was different than my Self on page 20 or 27. But even so, I still think…