Welcome to this week’s edition of Open Tabs, where I share my current reads, recent obsessions, and media consumptions every Sunday!
Hi, hello, I am very tired of winter and darkness. I’m craving unremitting sunlight and balmy breezes. I’m craving long walks in the park and iced lattes. I’m craving a really good (anchovy-free) caesar salad…this last one is not season-dependent, but it is something I can’t stop thinking about the past 24 hours. I’m also thinking about how much I love reading, and how meaningless life would be without the exchange of ideas. And how meaningless it would be without light! I’m a creature who thrives on light!
Here’s what I consumed this week (seems like a lot…). Also, you can expect the bookish essays and reflections to return very soon. I can’t do it all, but I can do a little.
“I know I am standing at the edge of the mystery, in which terror is naturally and abundantly part of life, part of even the most becalmed, intelligent, sunny life—as, for example, my own. The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too. There is only one world.”
Mary Oliver
Reading [Books]
Upstream by Mary Oliver
A collection of essays on nature, time, creativity, and literature that contain the same wondrous qualities as Oliver’s poetry.
The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives by Adolph L. Reed Jr.
A series of personal reflections and observations about life in the South during the decades of Jim Crow. As well as an illumination of the social structures it erected, and the ideas of race it cemented into American life.
The Anthropologists by Aysegul Savas
I just finished this—didn’t think I’d make it before scheduling this letter! This is a vignette-y novel all about the small acts that make a life. I’ll be sharing more about this one soon.
Watching [Movie]
The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)
In 1969, Fred Hampton (civil rights activist and a leader in the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party) was killed by police. This documentary stitches together footage of Hampton’s work as an activist and prominent figure in the Chicago area; followed by footage that acts an investigation of his death—which has since been revealed as an assassination in cahoots with the FBI.
This doc was in the works while Hampton was still alive, with the intent of documenting his political work. So the filmmakers, Howard Alk and Mike Gray, were able to record footage immediately upon his death, and following the aftermath. The abrupt scene transition from Hampton speaking powerfully and inspirationally about bringing people together in revolution, to the scene of his apartment after the gruesome murder, is harrowing.
Watching [TV]
Scenes From a Marriage (2021)
This miniseries, starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, is a remake of Ingmar Bergman’s original series. Each episode is essentially one long, drawn-out scene of a couple’s disintegrating relationship, over the course of years. If you like listening to conversations and questioning romantic love, you will…enjoy?…this short series. Emotionally brutal.
Listening [Music]
Added a whole new round of songs to my Open Tabs playlist. A lot of it is new(ish) music from artists I like—excited for new albums from some of them coming soon (including Japanese Breakfast)!
Listening [Podcast]
Overthink
Someone recommended this podcast to me and I’ve been listening to lots of episodes this week…like this one about ghosting, this one about empathy, and these episodes about reading and writing. It discusses various topics through a philosophical lens, but it’s very conversational and lively and fun.
Library Holds [TBR]
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Googling
REBT
Thalassaphobia
Cuneiform
Last Week…
![Open Tabs [Weekly] #22](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n6aO!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43921811-3b82-40a1-b858-cfac450c81cd_2400x1678.jpeg)
Thanks for reading today’s issue of Empty Head! Subscribe to receive every Open Tabs in your inbox + new book reviews and essays, and other musings.