Reading. Watching. Listening.

February 16

Hi All,

Putting this newsletter together is always an interesting way for me to look back at my week. I am reading the same books I was reading last week which says something for me. These books are not long but it appears I did not leave a lot of time for reading. I also didn’t listen to that many podcasts or watch that much tv which means only one thing for me- I spent far much time doom scrolling. I am disappointed to see this but also glad to know it as it will hopefully motivate me to spend a bit more time off my phone this upcoming week.

But… that isn’t what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about the Super Bowl Half Time Show. As soon as it was over, I will admit that I looked at Rob and said ‘huh- I didn’t really like that’. But then I texted in our family group chat to ask the girls what we had missed. Of course, it turns out we missed a lot. The girls immediately sent links to help us know more about who Kendrick Lamar is, what his beef is with Drake and what the show said about America. And then I spent more time during the week reading articles and listening to podcasts.

The podcast that taught me the most was (not surprisingly because she is brilliant) Traci Thomas’ conversation with author and ESPN writer David Dennis Jr. Traci hosts a weekly podcast called The Stacks that I highly recommend.

This conversation was shared on Traci’s Unabridged podcast which is behind a paywall as part of her Patreon community or paid Substack. If you click here, Traci shares lots of resources in the show notes of the Unabridged podcast but to listen to the actual podcast, you do have to pay to support her work which got me thinking.

At first, I wasn’t going to to write about Traci’s podcast because I ‘felt badly’ recommending something that wasn’t free and then I thought ‘what?!.’ If there is ever a time to support smart paid programming, it is now.

My friend, Aaryn, a school librarian in Texas, shared Tad Stoemer’s video this morning. Tad spoke about the takeover of public history funding at the National Endowment of the Humanities this week. Essentially, the NEH will now only be able to fund documentaries, podcasts, museum exhibits etc that align with the administration’s values. This is an assault on the history of our country.

After laying out the disturbing facts, Tad went on to talk about how our true history will continue to be shared through private funding. And I believe a small way to do this is to support social media creator’s paid programming. So instead of feeling badly that I am recommending a resource that requires payment, I am going to proudly recommend a resource that requires payment. You can join Traci’s Patreon or Substack for only a few dollars a month and I promise it will be money well spent.

So here’s to a week of less doom scrolling and more purposeful reading, watching and listening.

xo,

Stacey

Reading:

• An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (print)

• Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (audio)

Listening:

• Ezra Klein (What if Trump Just Ignores the Courts?)

• From the Front Porch (Annie Recommends Rom-Coms)

• The Stacks Unabridged (Kendrick’s “Great American Game” w/ David Dennis Jr.)

Watching:

• The Pitt (Max)

• Madame Secretary (Netflix)

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Save the Dates:

• March 16th from 6-8pm: B(ring) Y(our) O(wn) B(ook) at Dear Reader in Wyckoff, NJ

• April 16th at 11am: Check It Out- Screening Brunch of A Single Man at 11am at Ridgewood Public Library

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