First things first: How to help if you’re outside Minnesota and Stand with Minnesota.
If you’re in Bellingham: I’ll be donating a good chunk of what I make from teaching in February to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (and going through my day job’s match program to double it). I teach vinyasa + mantra and a very chill restorative + meditation class. Something for everyone. Happy to chat details.
Ok, let’s dive in.
Reading
Books
Devotions, Mary Oliver. Sometimes my heart feels too jaded to fully embrace Mary Oliver, but I dog-eared the hell out of this. Spending time immersed in her poetry really did change the way I looked at the world around me for a few days. That’s not nothing.
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert. The Uncut Gems of provincial 1800s France. My girl could not stop making poor financial decisions and stressing me out! Who has the math on how much 8000 francs is in 2026 USD?
The Third Reich, Roberto Bolaño. On the one hand it’s a really timely read for its portrayal of a vacant loser’s gamification of fascism. On the other, you may be getting enough of that irl.
Essays, articles, newsletters
Waiting is Revelation, by L. M. Sacasas. Lovely reflection on waiting as a practice in our age of instant gratification.
Aging Out of Beauty, by Mindy Isser. I’m generally feeling ok with looking my age but sometimes it really is hard! So appreciated this.
A few pieces about Minneapolis that have stuck with me:
Watching
We finished our Mad Men rewatch this month. I try to get into new shows, I really do. But then you go back to this, and like…they really don’t make ‘em like they used to.
Movies
The Secret Agent (2025). We caught the very last screening of this at our local indie and I’m so, so glad. I knew halfway through that it’s one I’ll want to watch again and again. It’s a fractured, brutal, tender glimpse into the lives of a handful of people trying to stay alive under a violent regime. I won’t be surprised if this is my favorite film of the year. I’m in love with Dona Sebastiana.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023). We sweat out all this pain. We sweat out all this fear. I feel like saunas are really having a moment right now, no? I’ve been sauna-ing a lot, I know that. Anyway this has been on my radar since it came out and I finally made the time for it. Being a woman is hard and also pretty beautiful. I would love something like this with men and the stories they share in private.
The Lives of Others (2006). Can anyone who has heard this music, I mean truly heard it, really be a bad person? I needed reassurance the other night that art and love and the human spirit are stronger than violent fascism. Please send your recs for other movies that fulfill this need.
The Testament of Ann Lee (2026). I wanted to love this, but I only kinda liked it. As an ex (former? non-practicing? fallen?) Catholic who was raised on Jesus Christ Superstar and has since found the closest thing to god I think I ever will in somatic movement practices and breath work it seemed made for me. Alas. There’s still a lot I find compelling about it. Maybe I’ll write more later.
Listening
Music
The music substackers put out some extensive year-end lists that I’ve been slowly making my way through. I’ve been delighted by some real gems! Some favs so far:
LOWER, Benjamin Booker
Egotrip, John Michel & Anthony James
Now Would Be A Good Time, Folk Bitch Trio
SAYA, Saya Gray
Baby, Dijon
What of Our Nature, Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover
soft shakes, Go Kurosawa
Podcasts
Fair Folk, Irish folk song and the feeling of leaving home with Chan Reid. I loved this entire conversation. You’re holding the hand of your ancestor who gave you this song. And they’re walking with you. And your voice, when it goes out into the universe is eternal. And one day it might reach their voice. Because sound never dies.
Living Myth, The Importance of Creative Practice. Pairs well with the above. Everyone has a capacity to sing, and particularly I’d say to chant, because in chanting, the issue is not…how good are you? The issue becomes how present are you? And so it isn’t that everybody sings well, it’s that everyone can add their breath to the song.
Fashion Neurosis with Debbie Harry. Debbie forever <3
Blindboy, The Mythology of Rain Smell on a hot day. I was introduced to this by Christian Näthler’s post on it and it’s every bit as good as it’s made out to be.
LARB, Sally Mann’s “Art Work”. You really just gotta do the work! Every day! For your whole life!
The Interview with George Saunders. He says he got a late start at the age of 38, so look out, this is my year.
The New Yorker: Poetry, April Bernard Reads John Ashbery. So often it happens that the time we turn around in / soon becomes the shoal our pathetic skiff will run aground in. / And just as waves are anchored to the bottom of the sea / we must reach the shallows before God cuts us free.
Eating
We’ve been on a real chimichurri kick lately, just putting it on everything. I also can’t stop eating salted mango with a little chili powder, not a seasonal snack by any means but it really hits post-sauna.
A few other things we made 2+ times this month:
This cilantro lime chicken with rice
A vegetarian chili from a beloved Milwaukee staple that closed after 50 years because their building got sold 😭 it’s not my recipe to share so you’ll have to come over and I’ll make it for you.
Local: Pho from Soy House. Burritos from Neto’s Market. (Bham folks, I’m always taking recommendations.)
Bits & Bobs
New Years Day ramen tradition; new year tarot spread (pray for me in April); a cute and dangerous little hummingbird a friend gifted me for my bday (ty Annie <3); sous chef Marge reporting for duty; the snugglers snuggled up; a couple great exhibits at the Vancouver Art Gallery — Nan Goldin: Stendhal Syndrome, We who have known tides: Indigenous Art from the Collection, and Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama (an incredible body of work, you can browse the whole exhibit here).
We are turning towards tides / Longing and / longing / and / longing / and longing
Until next time, don’t be that monster.
glad you enjoyed the blindboy episode! thanks for the shoutout 🖤
wait--beans and barley closed?!
also really loved that episode on sean-nos singing with Chan Reid! such a lovely conversation, from the sharing of song to the crackling of the fire in the background