Wanderings in Brookline (Day 22)

As I said, I feel a need to connect to certain places frequently. I'm a little saddened that heavy snow tomorrow is going to prevent me from my walk around the North End (but then I think about the projected snowfall, and no, really, it's fine, the North End will be there next Tuesday). But there are some spaces I like to visit to reconnect with, but not as often.

My husband had an appointment in the medical area today. I got excited and asked him to take me with him so I could walk into Brookline from there. I haven't been to Brookline in a while, but it was a place I used to go to twice a week when my children were in Hebrew School. (I know, I should call it Religious School, but the idea was sold to me as Hebrew School, and some habits persist.) I spent hours upon hours walking down Harvard, Beacon, and Longwood. There were some charms--it's a popular place to live for a reason--but by the summer of 2022, Harvard Ave was beginning to be infested with the usual upwardly urban suspects: a Tatte, overly large housing developments, and, of course, phone stores. I hadn't been in a while, and it was okay. However, I did find myself craving some dried beans (no, seriously) from one of the newer shops on Harvard Street, and I found myself walking the same routes I walked for a decade.

My husband's appointment took less than an hour. In that time, I was able to walk to Harvard Street and back, getting my dried bean (and honey), and then picking up some treats at the Japanese cafe for the remaining child at home. Are donuts and carbonated juice healthy? No, but it's better than the fast food he asked for. Plus he loves the rice balls, and it's nice to give someone a little thrill. I'll have to go back there sometime as it looks like they've expanded the seating area.

The Brookline Booksmith, which has been there since before I was born, has expanded a little bit since I last visited. That may or may not make up for the Taco Bell across the street, but it doesn't do much to ameliorate the vacancies on the first two blocks, including a corner CVS. Whatever rot is infecting Boston has also made it to Brookline.

It was nice to visit, but that's enough for now. My son likes the rice balls, so maybe that's my excuse to go back in about a month. Then again, some things aren't good for you in large measure.

Deb in the City

Power spots (Day 21)

As sleep deprived as I was yesterday, I was determined to go for a walk. I made tea--an emergency measure--and waited for my husband to get home from the gym. (Why he wanted to go for a long walk after he worked out can only be chalked up to how much he loves me.) 

We took the Orange Line to the Mass Ave stop, walked to the Charles (after a detour on Newbury Street), walked along it to Beacon Hill, walked down Cambridge Street to Government Center, crossed into Haymarket and the edge of the North End, then walked to Long Wharf. We walked along Atlantic until we got to Essex, which is one of the borders of Chinatown, and followed Essex as it turned into Boylston and walked into Back Bay.

The pond in my area just doesn't compare to the Harbor

When I think of Boston, this is what I think of

 

The energy of the city changed once we were in Back Bay, and not in the good way. It felt more stagnant. We ended up at the Prudential Center to walk to the train station, and wow, was it packed. Weirdly so; almost as if people didn't have anywhere else to go. I was grateful to finally get back to my sleepier part of Boston after a slow train ride.

Should I avoid Back Bay during the weekends? Maybe, now that I don't have to take a child there anymore. But I can't avoid that part of the city entirely, because much as I recoil from what it's becoming, I do get a buzz in certain parts of it.

Does anything show your love of a city more than whining about it?

Deb in the City

Alternative universes are overrated (Day 20)

My husband and I finished The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin last night. He lived in NYC longer than I did, so his feelings are a little different,  but I loved it. It read like a love letter to cities, period. It also drew on the idea of alternate universes, which is maybe why they're on the brain now.

There is an alternate universe, for example, in which I got enough sleep last night, and because of that I can take one of my signature long walks. I'm also able to make good choices, in that other reality, in which I stay away from tea because it ends up bothering my stomach, instead of gravitating toward it because of the caffeine. 

Sounds like a nice place, at least for today. But in that alternate reality, I wasn't the person not one but two young adult children wanted to call when they were concerned or upset, in the middle of the night. Yes, maybe I do sleep better there, but I suspect I'm not as much of a source of comfort.

So I'll take it here, sip some tea, maybe be able to power through a walk after all, and check in on my children. It's not so bad here.

Deb in the City

Books, again, for the win (Day 19)

There's a bunch of things I suddenly find myself not wanting to spend time on right now: newsletters that people, while well-meaning, aren't qualified to write (yes, of course, anyone can write about anything they want, but when it's quasi-medical advice, that should be left to people with trainings), webinars, news wrap-ups...even *gas* possibly the Economist daily briefings. (Is that wrong?) 

I enjoy reading, and I think I have a responsibility to keep up with events, but as I find myself digging harder into books, I find myself, once again, less impressed with more digestible bits of information. This isn't about me being better than the news; it's about context. And no, I'm not talking about the talking heads everyone rightfully rolls their eyes at. Some things--many things--really are complex, and they require a lot of background. More and more, I find myself reading the news and feeling cheated. I want more, but I'm not going to get it from the news outlets.

I worry that I'm possibly making my universe just a little smaller, but I'm using that time wisely, learning new things and completing some projects. That, probably, is more important than the Daily Briefings (right?!).

Deb in the City

Narrative Control (Day 18)

American entertainment made a show of diversifying during the pandemic protests in light of George Floyd's murder. They caught the moment, and good. I'd like to think they realized that, in addition to profits they could generate, they also realized that stories that featured people who weren't exclusively white and straight could be just as interesting as those that did.

That did not last long. People felt their stomachs drop when the Batgirl movie was canceled; sounded like it needed some editing, but it's hard to believe that it was in worse shape than the majority of the movies in the DC franchise. The fact that the lead actor is a woman who isn't white was not lost on people.

There have been many other stories; one that sticks out for me is the cancellation of the series Tom Swift, which was headlined by a Black gay man. I don't think that was a coincidence.

I don't watch soap operas very much, but I do keep up with what's going on. I caught the news this summer about a Day of Our Lives producer being fired after consistent, egregiously inappropriate behavior toward actresses. Still, I was surprised to see yesterday that one of their front-burner actresses is now suing the production company for retaliation; she is apparently the one who escalated the matter, and as a result the show seemed to play games with her contract renewal.

Of note is that the show also lost a slew of actresses in the last year, many of whom were very long-time favorites of the audience. Let me remind you: soap operas tend to be watched by more women than men, and the focus has traditionally been on the women's stories. 

In 2022, when this contraction began, Sarah Kendzior, one of my favorite writers, made a chilling pronouncement on Twitter. This, she said, wasn't about profits; this was about narrative control. Sarah has tended to be correct, even when her predictions are awful (see: the Trump presidency). And yet this prediction I had trouble wrapping my head around, until I remembered something: Backlash by Susan Faludi.

I read this when my young husband and I were expecting our first baby, thirty years ago. There's a lot of good stuff there, and when I identify as a feminist, I think about what Faludi wrote about: the systematic degradation of women in the legal system, health care system, workplace, and culture. (Yes, she talked about women who weren't white in addition to those who were.) Part of her thesis is that women started being inundated with objectifying images and products (see: Victoria's Secret, Designer Rape Sequences) not in spite of legal gains made in the 1970s, but because of it. That, in essence, was the backlash.

Yep, Kendzior was right again. Here we are, thirty years later, rhyming with our recent history.

I want to be able to say that there is something we can do about this, but what? It's not like people don't want to see these movies--but even when they make hundreds of millions of dollars, they still manage to get in a backhand. Ironically, for all of our veneration of money and profit, culture is surprisingly immune to commercial success when it's threatened by change.

It's still, frankly, dangerous to be a woman, but the backlash of the 1980s had no small effect on the women who ran for seats in the House of Representatives, not to mention state offices. That is, ultimately, the lesson of Backlash: they push us, and then we push back. 

It shouldn't have to be this way, but here we are.

Deb in the City

Distractions (Day 17)

I got things done today. I guess you could call me productive: I checked off most of the boxes I made for myself today. And yet I did not experience as much satisfaction or "accomplishment" as you would think. Who knows why, but I think it's due to being constantly interrupted, and even distracted. 

Do I need to restructure my days? I thought I'd shaken off the Cult of Multi-Tasking, but now that I think of it, I actually look for opportunities to "be efficient". Yesterday, for example, I took a long walk to a cafe so I could read for all of thirty minutes (and since the music was loud, I didn't get as much read as I might have in the same amount of time).

This is different from the idea of "mental candy", an idea I'm taking from Andrea Chalupa of Gaslit Nation; it's the opposite of rewarding yourself for powering through, and I've found it more, er, effective. (Yeah, I know, but I suspect anyone who's ever tried to create something understands the perverse instinct to do anything but.)

Do I need to cut down on my work? But...I don't want to. Something's got to give, but not sure what. More later!

Deb in the City

Finally into K-Pop (Day 16)

And it is all thanks to Nile Rodgers, who collaborated with Le Sserafim last year on Unforgiven. (If you were listening to good pop music in the 1980s, you heard people saying "produced by Nile Rodgers" all the time; if he approves or collaborates, it's a good bet.)

My current K-pop favorites include:

Any Song by Zico

Somewhere by Song Yerin

OMG by New Jeans--who am I kidding, I like pretty much their whole catalog

And July by Heize, Dean, and dj frizz

BOOM by DPR Live and DPR Ian (no, seriously--watch the video)

zombie pop by DPR Ian

(I still can't get into BTS. It's okay, I'll think they'll be okay without me.)

There's a little more, but not much (I'm picky). Please send suggestions my way!

 

Deb in the City