Small pleasures in end times

Happy May Day! Tens of thousands of people are planning to be in the streets in protest today in protest against the Trump administration. It’s invigorating to see people starting to awaken from the shock of the past 100 days. I have also been working in community (more on that in the next newsletter) and it’s been great for the soul. Along those lines, here are a couple of pictures I liked, from Houston and San Francisco:

One of the most charming things I came across this month was this project from the lovely people at Transpo Maps to let you find the San Francisco trees that were planted on your birthday. If nothing was planted on the exact day you were born, it’ll show you the trees that were planted on or around your birthday. There were 16 trees (!) planted on the day I was born, and I teared up when I saw this one, in the Haight.

Last month a number of you responded to my reader poll and book picks were far and away the winner in terms of what you were interested in, content-wise. Boy do I get it. I’d love nothing more these days than to go to bed with a stack of books and come out in 2029. (At that point it’ll be because a robot is dragging me out of bed, because our overlords need bodies to be shot into space.) Here are a few interesting and timely choices:

Mario Vargos Llosa’s The Time of the Hero - Llosa was a great Peruvian novelist and what we’d now call a problematic figure. (This reappraisal notes that The Time of the Hero is the book that put him on the American literary radar, thanks to John Updike, another problematic figure.) But we live in an era of problematic figures and it’s not the worst time to look at how one of them may have gotten that way. This early novel, about the experiences of cadets at a brutal military academy, shows both the charismatic and damaging aspects of machismo with tremendous style and power.

Lydia Kiesling’s Mobility - This novel is about how a young white American woman, wishing for a sense of security and maybe more than a few creature comforts along the way, first slowly and then quickly sells out her values to become a cog in the wheel of a multinational oil company. You can read it on that level and it’s terrific - sharp and moving and funny and wise. You can also read it as a fable of how we all became complicit in the terrible systems that keep the planet burning and keep authoritarianism churning in this country and beyond. Either way it’s a novel you won’t be able to stop thinking about.

Nettie Jones’ Fish Tales - I love a comeback story and boy does this book, and Nettie Jones, have a comeback story! A raunchy, tender story about a married woman’s search for free love and freedom in the Big Apple, Fish Tales was too much for the delicate sensibilities of the Reagan 80s. (It was originally published in 1984, thanks to Toni Morrison in her day job as a publishing house editor.) It was recently reissued with an awesome new cover and this time, the Internet kids are ready.

Finally, if you’re looking for something a little less serious, get into Big Freedia’s God Save the Queen Diva. Ideally pair it with this New Orleans bounce legend’s guest turn on the charming Your Mama’s Kitchen podcast to get the full effect of how important small pleasures like food and music can be.

*Here’s the One Beautiful Thing

My friends at the Sonoma County Writers Camp were able to secure scholarships for BIPOC female or nonbinary writers for their upcoming camp from July 16-20. The theme is “What Happens Next? Plot and Story” and the setting will be beautiful — Ratna Ling in Cazadero is the real, California-dream deal. If you’re interested in applying, don’t delay! The application is short but the deadline is today, May 1.

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