We’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming this week to tell you a bit about what we’ve been up to. So, keep reading for fantastic book recommendations, recipes, and podcasts. And from all of us at 12th Street, we hope that you are staying safe and keeping company in mutual uncertainty, literature, and good TV.
What’ve you been watching?
ABBY (INTERVIEWS EDITOR): I’ve been blowing through The Office. The characters are my quarantine friends. It’s so funny and light-hearted and the laughs feel especially good right now.
RILEY (CO-BLOG EDITOR): I binge watched Amazon Primes Hunters, which is about Jewish Nazi hunters in the 70s/Operation Paperclip and Hulu’s mockumentary about vampires on Staten Island called What We Do in the Shadows.
SARAH (ASSISTANT FICTION EDITOR): Homeland, Homeland, Homeland! Can’t recommend it enough (maybe because Carrie Mathison is an A1 bad-ass who is wildly underrated). I’ve also been watching Season 3 of Ozark. If you’re into dark thrillers about the nuts and bolts of the Mexican cartel, I’d highly recommend it. Finally, who else is still reeling over the tragic termination of Friends on Netflix? I’ve resorted to watching random clips from Season 1 and 2 on YouTube, but it’s just not the same.
SOPHIA (ASSISTANT FICTION EDITOR): I cannot watch any scary/sad movies or shows right now. Recently, I watched Knives Out (amazing), Jojo Rabbit (kind of sad, so watch out), and Bridesmaids (a classic!) and the entire Harold and Kumar series. I’ve been rewatching some favorite sitcoms like New Girl and Parks and Rec. I also recommend keeping up with John Kransinski aka Jim Halpert’s new YouTube channel called Some Good News where he dedicates each episode to reporting on only good news! Which we desperately need right now. Two episodes so far. Hoping for more.
ALINA (SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR): LOVE ISLAND UK!!!! (Does this count as learning a new language? Because I literally have to use subtitles and now all my dreams are in British.) #Thankful for this show because now Tom Holland will be impressed with my knowledge and love me more because of it. And I’ve been watching Happy Endings! THIS SHOW NEEDS TO COME BACK. WATCH THIS SHOW. YOU WILL SIGN MY ONLINE PETITION. OF THIS I AM SURE!
What have you been listening to?
SOPHIA: I made a very *eclectic* playlist on Spotify called holding it together! And the first song on it is called, you guessed it, “Hold it Together” by The Marías. It’s basically about anxiety and wanting time with the person you love. It’s really been hitting recently, for obvious reasons. Other than that, I’ve been listening to a wide range of things: Ariana Grande, the Velvet Underground, Jhené Aiko, Doja Cat, Chaka Kahn, Girl Ultra, Jay Electronica, João Gilberto, Arlo Parks, King Krule, Raveena, Phony Ppl, Erik Satie, Yumi Zouma, Snoh Aalegra. And a few great podcasts that I have been loving recently are Death, Sex and Money, Planet Money,and Behind the Bastards.
SETH (FACULTY ADVISOR): I have been listening to a WNYC/NPR podcast about the life of Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton’s America. The program, in which Parton is a regular voice as an interview subject, presents the complex life and wealth of talents of this beloved fellow Tennessean. In fact, my quarantine is not so far from her house. The podcast gives service to the often overlooked complexities of her songs, the long history of sexism directed towards Parton and the incredible ways she wields rehtroical truth-to-power to flip those scripts. I haven’t been able to get enough of the character, ethic, and legendary tale presented.
ALINA: I’ve been loving a few podcasts recently. First, The Brilliant Idiots. This is my favorite podcast ever made. No one who I know likes it and I can understand why, but yeah, it’s just the best. I also love Laguna Biotch. I have said it and I will say it again: 2003-2010 are the best years in the history of the world and this podcast is recapping The Hills (All episodes of Laguna Beach have already been recapped. You are welcome.) and it also talks about today’s pop culture and early 2000s pop culture. It’s EVERYTHING!! Some of my other favorites are: Oh, Hello: the p’dcast (pure comedy, baby, pure comedy), Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, (he is Conan. I am Alina and I need a job but I will settle for being the biggest fan of his podcast), and Make Speidi Famous Again.
JO (FICTION EDITOR): Podcasts have always been everything to me, but I quickly realized that I was consuming way too much covid-centric information. This over-exposure was heavily contributing to my overall dread and anxiety, so I’ve pared down significantly. It’s important to me to stay well-informed, especially since things are changing hour-by-hour, so I let myself listen to Up First and The Daily, but then switch to things that are decidedly non-corona (like the fantastic interviews from the Longform podcast) or at least serve me the news with a good helping of humor (like Lovett or Leave It, which has never been better).
What’ve you been cooking?
ABBY: I’ve been cooking a lot healthier than usual these days. Trying to keep my immune system boosted. There is a kale salad that I love and a turmeric tea that is amazing. Both are super easy to make.
Kale Salad:
- Tuscan kale de-stemmed
- Red quinoa
- Toasted almonds with smoked paprika, olive oil, and salt chopped up
- Ricotta salata
- Balsamic vinegar
- Poached egg on top
Turmeric Tea:
- A handful of turmeric and ginger juiced (if you don’t have a juicer just grate and strain at the end), boiled in about a gallon of water and reduced for about two hours
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Honey
- Lemon juice to taste
SOPHIA: For the mildly adventurous cook in me, I made a chickpea orzo pasta stew that I found in the NYT. I also made brownies and a buckwheat banana bread that I can’t share easily because the recipes are in a cookbook entitled I Can Cook Vegan (Amazing! Highly recommended for any veggie beginner/intermediate chefs out there!) And simple 4 ingredient chocolate chip cookies (spoiler: chocolate chips, any kind of flour, maple syrup, and applesauce). Oh! And I also made a healthy apple granola crisp thing. But we basically tripled the maple syrup in the recipe, so I don’t know if that still counts as healthy..
KITTY (ASSISTANT POETRY EDITOR): Cheese everything. Grilled cheese sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, hot ham and cheese sandwiches, nacho cheese, goat cheese scrambled eggs, cheese fondue. . .and Lucky Charms cereal (hold the cheese).
CHLOE (SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR): I haven’t been cooking much recently since my motivation is low and I’ve mostly made classic and simple meals that nobody wants to read about. However, I have been trying my hand at some smoothies/shakes for something quick and tasty. My favorite simple recipe right now for a dessert shake is:
- 1 TBS of peanut butter
- 1 frozen banana
- 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream or soy ice cream
- 1 dash of almond milk
JO: Cooking has been a great source of peace and nourishment for me and that hasn’t always been the case. In my early twenties, I used to think it was this chaotic charm of mine that I couldn’t cook (a third of my meals were Chipotle; the other thirds were “cereal” and “skipped”) but, like most things I thought in my twenties, I was completely wrong (see: every man I’ve ever dated). Thanks to platforms like Basically, from Bon Appetit, I’ve been able to teach myself some staples and even hone my newfound skills. It presents thorough, non-intimidating, accessible recipes with step-by-step videos so you never wonder if you’re doing it wrong. This pasta pomdoro is a favorite and I whip up this fried rice once a week. Cooking has been a medium in which I find new ways to provide and take care of myself, as well as reflect on how far I’ve come from the days where even my cereal was too dry.
What’ve you been reading?
SARAH: I have a tendency of not being able to focus on one book at a time, so I’m currently in the middle of Syria by Samer Abboud and Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. Actually, I had the privilege of hearing directly from Mr. Abboud as he taught one of my classes this week (one of the few perks of going online) and we engaged in thought-provoking discussions about his book and the ongoing conflict in Syria. Now to get Mr. Gladwell to teach my nonfiction writing seminar…
SETH: I just finished reading Lost Empress by Sergio de la Pava (Vintage, 2018), a wild, fairly long novel about a woman who leads a fictional minor league football team to victory to actualize a sibling rivalry, as well as about a man who checks himself into and then breaks out of Rikers to perform a heist. The plot doesn’t really speak to the stuff: it’s weird, with often gorgeous prose, and explores a huge range of styles. There’s also a strange Joni Mitchell obsession going on in it that works for me. And there’s philosophical waxing, which might not always get to me but has been grounding during dissertation writing. De la Pava’s previous novel, A Naked Singularity, was also a joyous read.
KITTY: My horoscope. On Sanctuary, Co-Star, and The Pattern apps (every single day religiously).
CHLOE: I started reading Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit. It’s a wonderful collection of short essays. I’ve also been browsing the digital magazines @cakemagazine and @vulkanmag for some beautiful photography and fashion styling concepts.
How’ve you been feeling? How have you been caring for yourself?
SARAH: Generally? I’m okay. I’m hanging in there. I was thriving in NYC; I loved my school and life there. The abrupt (and forced) departure was jolting. I had to take a couple of steps back and determine what I wanted this time to be about. I realize how fortunate I am to have a safe place to escape the madness and that nobody in my immediate circles has been infected. I also realize that, in the global scheme, this isn’t most people’s first curfew, lockdown, or shelter-in-place. I’ve been thinking a lot about my friends in refugee camps and how they are coping. I’ve been thinking about my female friends who have lived through a real war, and how they were unable to go outside and buy menstrual products during their periods, for fear of being killed by a gun or shelling. I have to continually put things into perspective, as the media can easily distort it. Personally, I don’t mind online classes. The convenience of showing up in sweatpants and brewing my own coffee instead of paying $7 for a lukewarm oat cappuccino largely outweighs the negatives. I’ve also been preoccupied with my own projects, and I feel like this kind of universal respite won’t come again for a long time, so I want to make the most of it. I’m excited about what I’ve been working on, and can’t wait to share it! Practically, I’ve been keeping a pretty straight routine. I get up before 9. I take screen breaks as much as I can. I walk a mile each day. I call my best friends and limit my calls with those who just want to catch up (there’s nothing wrong with catching up, but at the moment, my brain and eyes can’t handle it.) And I spend an hour with God each morning before opening my inbox, Instagram, or anything else.
SETH: I feel homesick. I’m operating from East Tennessee, about a half-hour from the Smoky Mountains (which, by the way, are closed). The purple irises are in full bloom. I miss my students, a lot a lot—seeing them and hearing about their lives face-to-face. Zoom is better than nothing, but it’s not the same. A friend of mine is living in our apartment so that his roommates can spread out a little bit, and for whatever logic this makes me feel a little better—that our space is getting some human warmth. I’m immunocompromised big time, so social isolation has been the MO for quite a while, but I keep up with friends—whom I feel love for more than ever—via emails and shared writing, and I’ll never be too old for Nintendo. I miss New York. I miss my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I miss taking a walk in the rain after work in the city and smelling the giant tea jars at McNulty’s.
JO: Honestly? Not great. I’ve had some incredibly dark days where I can scarcely stop crying. I’m originally from California and it’s been tough to be so far away from my family and friends during such a bizarre and vulnerable time. So much of my identity comes from being a writer and a student, and because I’ve hardly been able to write and, with school closed, I’m barely a student, it feels like I’ve been stripped of who I am and instead am now just “NEW YORKER LIVING THROUGH UNPRECEDENTED GLOBAL PANDEMIC.” It’s been dizzying and depressing to say the least. I try to get by through clinging to these identifiers, by trying to remain a student, by trying to remain a writer, but when I fail by falling behind on assignments or hardly touching my thesis, I fall headfirst into a shame and depression spiral, one that brings me that much lower and darker, makes me that much more afraid. Of course, I’m incredibly lucky to have professors and advisors who are understanding, thoughtful, helpful, and kind, but that doesn’t change that I simply cannot get done what I do not wish to do. I’m doing my best to rest, to be soft and kind with myself, to seek out mental health resources, and hopefully soon the spiral will release, or at least its grip will slacken. For now, I will play the next episode of Ozark and continue coloring in my Mindfulness Coloring Books, wishing in vain for some semblance of peace.
What is the silliest thing you have cried over in quarantine?
ABBY D: The silliest thing I cried over….Listing to the album Rumors by Fleetwood Mac. I was leaking throughout the whole thing the other day.
RILEY: I bought a laminator. This laminator was like the best purchase of the year so far. I cried over how beautiful it looks and works.
SOPHIA: My favorite silliest cry was when I watched a video of a bear pick up a highway cone and reposition it for us while we are self-isolating. The caption read, “We are in good hands. Paws.” I’m about to bawl again thinking about it because it was so precious. I also saw a pretty bird outside my window today and I teared up too because nature is amazing and yes, that’s the quarantine talking. If you want to check out some more responses to the Silly Cry, I wrote a little thing for an assignment, but want to share here as well. It might make you smile or snort-laugh or may just make you feel okay if you’re having silly cries! Either way here it is: Crying at Everything aka The Silly Cry.
SETH: On my way to Tennessee, in order to assure we wouldn’t inadvertently spread the virus to my parents, we quarantined in an AirBnB in West Virginia—in a place pretty much as isolated as we could muster. It was a good 40 miles from the nearest gas station or food source. They had a serious ladybug problem. I mean, I love ladybugs, but not necessarily waking up with dozens of them crawling all over my body in the morning. That elicited a variety of hoots, hollers, and a tear or two. Overall that’s a pretty lucky thing, that we had the resources to do that. Real bowls of tears shed over the real center of the thing, the real abject: the death.
ALINA: Tom Brady leaving the New England Patriots. I literally cry about it twice a week. I can happily have this quarantine go on so I won’t ever have to see Tom never play in a uniform that’s not the Patriots’.
KITTY: I watched Airplane! for the first time in years the other day, and I laughed so hard, it brought tears to my eyes. Surely, I can’t be serious? I am serious. And don’t call me “Shirley.”