Hey Darling Ones,

Earlier this week while I was deep in grief I read some of the archives to see what I had written last year around this time.

I wrote about the movie “Reality Bites” and my nihilistic streak and why I was mad at Dave Grohl

Writing about pop culture is one of the Before Jodi things I missed the most. It is also the thing I have the most control over. So, this year I’m gonna try to do a monthlyish round-up of things I’ve dug recently — books, movies, TV, snacks, etc. So here goes.

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

I love a good feminist retelling of Greek mythology. They are very much my jam. I’ve read a bunch of them featuring Circe, the women of Troy, Cassandra, and Clytemnestra — to name a few. Hoo, do I have some opinions about Agamemnon.

This one about Medusa and her sisters is double-A+ fantastic. I have had a Medusa thing for awhile. Maybe since I started pondering my own monstrousness. I have a Medusa shirt I wear all the time. The only reason I’m not wearing it right now is because I took a shower last night and that called for fresh clothes.

This book made me both laugh out loud and cry real tears.

ALSO, if this is your kind of thing, you can read Gwen E. Kirby’s excellent short story “Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn’t Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway” for free. Her whole short story collection is seventeen fire emojis.

“Weird Faith” Madi Diaz

I discovered Madi Diaz back in 2022, and we eagerly anticipating this new record. It came out yesterday. I’ve listened to it six times from front to back. It’s the kind of bold and vulnerable songwriting that makes me want to stare into the middle distance while absorbing every single lyric.

Rebecca Solnit: How to Comment on Social Media

This satire piece killed me. Not only is it dead on, but I recognize how I try to head off some of these comments when I’m writing. Especially number four:
“That is, anything not declared in the post is something O.P. does not care about/is complicit with. Every expression of concern is in fact an expression of unconcern about something else. . .”

Number seven also hits home.

“Finally if the post is about something O.P. cares about, remember that you’ve cared about it longer, deeper, harder than they have, and that even someone’s care can be a basis for your triumph, along with condemning them for all those other things they evidently do not care about.”

I get this one a lot whenever I mention that I love The Replacements or the age of iwilldare.com (23+ years). People love to tell me they once had a blog in the late-90s or early-aughts.

Not that they have continuously written about their life on the internet for two-decades, but that they did once before I did.

Ok.

“June”

I loved this documentary on Paramount+ about June Carter Cash. It gives her the respect she’s due as a full-formed artist before she even met Johnny Cash. It talks about her goals as an artist and a woman. It also mentions, repeatedly, that she wrote “Ring of Fire.” Plus, it was both Dolly and Willie in it.

That’s what I’ve been digging lately. How about you?

Love,
Jodi