Observables #4
on Miriam Toews, parenthetical details and the capsule wardrobe
I went to visit my writing group this weekend, a group we call “People Talking” after Miriam Toews’ book Women Talking. We all took a course together with Miriam Toews in our MFA and loved her teaching style and books, so the name is our little wink to her and the moment we had in her class. Our group has met regularly online during the pandemic, but wanted to seize this moment to meet in person when Brendon, who is normally in Berlin and can now travel, was in Canada on his family tour. So for one brief rendezvous in Thornbury, Ontario (where the other member Katie lives), we renamed ourselves “People Touching” so we could do side hugs and chat all things writing.
This visit turned into having an extra night to myself sans family, so I watched the show I have been dying to see. Hacks is about a struggling young female comedian writer who teams up with a megastar Las Vegas comedian, both of them finding themselves in a time of need! The lead is Jean Smart who I remember from Designing Women! She and the show have been getting a lot of well deserved hype. I’m excited to binge the rest of Season 1 one day when I can pull myself away from the children. “Oh look, there goes Mommy,” is what they say about me when we sit down as a family to watch something and then I get bored in the middle (of their Marvel movie) and try to sneak away.
I immediately followed episode 1 of Hacks with episode 1 of Mr. Corman. This show follows a grade 5 teacher and failed musician questioning his existence with “is this what it all was leading to?” kind of vibe. Thumbs up as well, although only if you like ennui, which I do. A lot. Anybody else?
We are wearing a capsule wardrobe. Accidentally. Which means I’m wearing the same pants but rotating my shirt. Or I’m rotating my pants with the same shirt. It’s an efficient way to get dressed in the morning. My sister, who is the master re-framer, has re-named this sameness my capsule wardrobe.
These pants with a white tank.
These same pants with a body suit.
And yes, there’s a lot that might be distracting you in these pictures: Simon in the background using a gigantic TV for a monitor, the orange walls, the mattress I’m standing on, the strewn vacuum, but once you’ve absorbed all. . . that, see if you can find the capsule wardrobe. Here’s to wearing the same thing and then calling it something fancy.
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad is a memoir about the author’s journey through cancer treatments as a very young person (22) and then her reentry into “normal” life. Having had some experiences with hospitals in my own journey through Violet’s heart surgery when she was a baby, I am interested in how other people navigate painful things, particularly medical ones. Suleika has her own newsletter called The Isolation Journals. You can read about it here, where she invites people to deepen their artistic practice amidst “life’s interruptions.” I can’t say no to that!
Natalie and I recorded our first episode of Sister On! yesterday with comedian Steve Patterson who is a father to two little sisters. Coming soon to your ears!
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