Yesterday a friend posted something in her IG story that made me nostalgic. For something I hadn’t thought about in years. “Don’t talk to me until I’ve listened to Black Box’s 1989/1990 hit Ride on Time on repeat 10x.” I had that album on cassette. It was not easy to rewind the tape to get to exactly the song you wanted but I tried anyhow. And MTV played the video constantly for a time. That got me thinking a lot about my earlier analog life and how being GenX has been a bridge between those worlds. But I was also an early adopter and have been extremely online for years. It’s just that now more events I would have attended in person are happening online, post-pandemic. There are some great ones coming up next week, though I’m often tired of looking at screens all day while working.
Five things I am looking forward to in the near future:
- Tuesday, July 14th from Generation Women: Black joy is quite literally revolutionary and allows for a more complete and needed narrative about being a Black woman. This July, let’s celebrate Black joy!
- Wednesday, July 15th: Quarantine Book Club with Claire L. Evans, author of Broad Band
If you loved Hidden Figures or The Rise of the Rocket Girls, you’ll love Claire Evans’ breakthrough book on the women who brought you the internet–written out of history, until now.
- Thursday, July 16th: Ramy, From Pen to Screen is a part of the Pillars Pop-Up Conversations, an ongoing series designed to highlight the ways American Muslims are using imaginative storytelling and cultural production to advance social change. Seasons 1 & 2 of Ramy are available on Hulu.
- Not happening until the end of the month, but Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy will be available July 31st. It is a show my son and I both adore and look forward to seeing more of. Netflix released a season 2 trailer today and it features cults, time travel, and another apocalypse.
- Also happening throughout this month, the pizzeria inside of Moon Palace Books, Geek Love Cafe, says: “All profits through the end of July will go to local organizing for police and prison abolition.” And they have vegan options available.
Somehow my son is not music-obsessed like his parents. That was an unexpected twist. Thankfully, we have plenty of other common interests. But his fixation with The Beatles has been equally surprising. I can’t quite figure out why he finds them so compelling but I just go with it. And yesterday I agreed to watch Ringo Starr’s Big 80th Birthday Party happening with him on youtube. And felt a twinge of regret. Apparently, Ringo has been having these in-person birthday parties with fans for years, where they meet up at noon for a Peace & Love gathering. I would have taken my son to last year’s event in Los Angeles but I couldn’t have predicted the pandemic. Ringo appears to be in pretty good shape, though. Hopefully, we can join him for another birthday in a couple of years.
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