My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Last fall I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. This novel is about a depressed and alienated rich young woman. Her parents have died, she is just out of college, and she has a large inheritance. Unable to find a way to engage in life, disgusted by everything around her, she embarks on a project of trying to sleep for a year. She does this with large amounts of medication that is procured through a hilarious and bizarre psychiatrist (this was my favorite part of the book). The protagonist has a friend from college, a kind of adrift girl, endlessly and obsessively and unhappily striving for improvement and control over her own life. They are mismatched and the protagonist has nothing but disdain for her. Although there are many moments of glimmering insight and strong writing, what is most memorable, especially because of the ending, is her treatment of her friend.

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Last fall I read Rachel Maddow's book Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power, about US military operations since Vietnam. This is not a topic I know much about or have ever shown particular interest in. I read it because of how much I like the perspective on contemporary politics that she offers on her show.

I loved this book! It was informative and kind of mind boggling. She describes the policy shifts over the years that have expanded executive power and moved the country toward privatization (without, I think, using the term "neoliberal", thankfully). Drift is chronological, from one war or military action over the other, and for someone of my generation it was fascinating to review events that I lived through. I remember the Gulf War and Bosnia. I had opinions about that at the time. But the truth is,  I wasn't paying that much attention. So it awakened an awareness of my own lived past. And gave me perspective on events that are happening right now.

Drift has a clearly articulated argument about the way American wars have drifted out of a central place in our political or social discourses. This argument is laid out through really quite incredible writing. Her sentences are very well crafted, and this strain of history is told with a sense of humor, employing colorful examples and surprising detail. In addition, in spite of the grim and disturbing subject matter, Maddow conveys a sense of the absurd, a kind of agog delight in the audacity of political actors and the often strange unfolding events. Because of this, in addition to being informative, it was also very much an enjoyable read

Between the World and Me

Over the summer I read Ta-Nehisi Coates' beautiful letter to his son. A meditation on race and the experiences of being black in the US, Between the World and Me insightfully and painfully conveys the impact and enduring suffering of racism. It is written in simple yet exquisite prose, and is a quiet, intimate read that made me feel closer to Coates as well as changed by story he tells.

McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls

I watched the HBO documentary McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls last summer, months before he passed. The documentary is a sentimental tribute and only briefly looks at him from a critical perspective. Straight line story from the torture he endured in Vietnam to his final days as senator voicing some resistance to Trump. There are interviews with him at his home as he struggles with the brain cancer that he knows it terminal. In spite of resenting how un-critical it was, I was quite moved and teary at the end.

Meridith McNeal: A Portrait of My Mother

On Sunday I went to an incredibly beautiful exhibition at Kentler International Drawing Space. Spotlight on the Flatfiles featured a body of work by Meridith McNeal, Portrait of My Mother. One wall of her exquisite watercolors features small painting of items that once belonged to her mother. These keenly focused works are each unique, and you feel the presence of the person who owned the simple, lovely objects. McNeal's eye for detail captures not just the texture of an item, but the subtle texturing of all our possessions from the years we handle them and use them -- that is, what they reveal about us. McNeal's mother passed a little over a year ago, yet the force of the woman was keenly felt.

Also in the exhibition are selections from McNeal's series on windows. These larger pieces expertly engage light and reflections and transparency of fabric with a delicacy that is stunning.  The images in the paintings are framed with specificity that is mysterious and inviting. I have long admired Meridith McNeal's artwork and this exhibition shows the full force of her talent.

Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal

Over the summer I saw the most amazing, moving, transporting event at BAM. Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal created a dance performance with the music and words of Leonard Cohen that was such a deep tribute and interpretation of his work. It brought me in to his music more, and there was something so lovely and special about the whole evening. The choreography was incredible, breathtaking. The poetic eroticism of his songs, and his unique lugubrious voice were lifted by these amazing bodies and surprising and intelligent movements. It was a total, immersive experience that I am so glad I was able to see. There's nothing else like Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal.

The Book of Merman

Last summer I saw an exuberant and quirky musical, The Book of Merman. It is a take on The Book of Mormon which I never saw, so I'm sure I didn't get a number of references and gags. But it didn't matter. This was totally fun. Two Mormon are proselytizing door to door. One is very uptight, in a sweet, naive way, and the other is holding in his fabulosity. They knock on the door of "Ethel Merman" and the play is the three of them interacting. It's a musical and the numbers are fantastic. Each is different -- something I hate about some musicals is how one number resembles another so much that it is hard to distinguish them and they blur into each other. The actors were very talented and the show was uplifting in a light but smart way.