The Time for Art is Now – This entire piece made me sigh, it made me gasp, it made me weep. It is hard to choose a single line to share, since so many resonate in such a deep way. Claire Messud makes the convincing argument that in these dark times we need art more than ever, and that it’s the “twinge behind [the] sternum” that art evokes in a person that “makes us human.” Yes, yes, and yes.
Stop Asking About my Kid’s College Plans – I love everything Elisabeth Egan writes, and this is no exception. This sentence took my breath away: “Both conversations — college and driving — are stand-ins for the real subject that’s keeping us up at night: Our kids are leaving home in a year.” It also caused me to fire off an email to Elisabeth to report that I’ve experienced a daughter leaving home and it is ok on the other side. It is, but the transition is no small thing.
Bloodline – I watched season one of this show while traveling to and from Hawaii and found it riveting. I loved the family drama and the characters and could not stop watching. Highly recommend.
Raise Your Son To be a Good Man, not a “Real” Man – This article talks about the different ways boys think about “good” and “real” men, and the source of both sets of identifications. Fascinating. I had a long talk with Whit about this over the weekend. Really interesting, and I agree with the assertion that we need more good, and fewer real, men out there.
Reading – I did not love anything I read in Hawaii, but all the other members of my family did! Whit tore through Artemis
I write these Things I Love posts approximately monthly. You can find them all here.
I watched Bloodline years ago when it first came out, and loved it. I also read that piece by Elizabeth Egan and was equally riveted.
Our son got into one of the branches of the University of California (prestigious) and is turning it down to go to our local Cal State university (great, but less prestigious) and live at home because it has a fantastic music education program and mentors he’s excited to work with. Other kids he knows from out of state are applying to his school because they want to work with these professors, and he will graduate from college debt-free at this rate— a good thing if you want to teach music at a high-school. But I keep feeling like I need to tell people that he has a 4.5 GPA and a 33 on the ACT because he’s not going to the UC’s or to a $70K-per-year private college that we, with three younger kids also, can’t afford even with all the $30K-a-year scholarships he got— he got in, really he did. He just didn’t want to go there. Don’t even get me started on people’s reactions to one’s kid being a music education major. So yeah, it never lets up— and part of it, I’m sorry to admit, is internal and my own stupid fault.
So much good stuff!
And arg–a trip with mediocre reading.
I just finished reading White Houses by Amy Bloom. LOVED! I think you would like it too.
Good things! Thank you!
The Claire Messud piece—❤️ I’m on the board of a local arts group and it’s a constant question of making people understand the value of art.
My son is a senior, my daughter is a sophomore. I’m surrounded by people asking the college question! And my daughter is struggling to find time for driving so The NY Times piece resonated deeply! Like Anya, I constantly feel the need to justify my son’s college choice. The bottom line is he’s happy with the choice he made which means he will be more likely to succeed without excessive angst. That’s really all that matters in the end! As for my daughter, she WILL get her license before summer band starts because I refuse to do one more band season of five day a week 7:00 am call times!
Thank you for always sharing things that speak to me.