Planet of Love
The armless planet
Aloha, admirers of lighting effects caused by rotating spheres nowhere near each other:
You know how while watching the sun sink over the horizon, for a second you can absolutely feel the rotation of planet Earth? I love that.
I wonder if our bodies get used to the rotation of the planet the way that we get used to being on a boat that gently rocks… so that when that movement stops it feels weird. (Think of walking fast on a moving sidewalk, you adjust to the speed in a physical way and when the moving sidewalk ends, you stumble a little even though your actual pace doesn’t change.)
Here’s the followup: let’s say that teleportation was a thing. And let’s also say that Venus was habitable. If our bodies do get used to the rotation of our planet, if we were born on Venus, would we be able to physically feel the faster rotation when we visited Earth, and would the increased speed make us space-sick? Here’s a link if you need to brush up on slow planets.
While looking up that photo, I was super surprised to discover that the Soviets photographed the surface of Venus in the 1970s. Did you know that? There’s a whole video on it. I was really surprised.
Speaking of Soviets - if you’ve got Apple TV do yourself a favor and watch For All Mankind. It’s a fantastic drama and very, very distracting.
What? No new writing news?
I’m working on a few essays on various things - and am super excited that the letter I wrote to you last week about my name was just picked up by a huge name-centric website! I haven’t finished the details yet, but I’ll send the link when it’s live (I realize you’ve all already read it, but sometimes it’s nice to see things in a new context).
If you missed any of my previous nonfiction, catch up! Here’s one about riding a bike. And here’s one about life-work balance. It would really help me if you could share these links after reading them (only if you like them of course!) — I can only tell people who already know about me about my work. It is up to you guys to tell people that I do not already know!
I did get one piece of news that’s huge: I’ve been invited back to Lithuania to the Writers of the Diaspora Forum they are hosting in Vilnius this summer. It is amazing to be invited to an international writing conference & see how other countries treat their authors. In preparation, I’m meeting a Lithuanian private school’s English class. They know English grammar better than most of us. (sigh!)
I’m also querying agents for my novel. Please light a candle, or better still, tell your best friend who is a literary agent what a catch I would be.
Things I did/saw that were artsy:
Went to see the new West Side Story - it’s brilliant and if you already love it, you’ll love it more. If you never really cared for it, this could turn you around. Truly well rewritten by Tony Kushner.
The book of a musical can make or break it.
L&I went to see M for Marriage — which was pretty much as campy as one could hope for an off-off-Broadway show. The book could use a bit of Tony Kushner…but I can’t tell you how delightful it was to see a live show that wasn’t perfect yet! One of the great joys of living in NYC is getting to see theater that still has some rough edges and trying to figure out what could be changed to make the show even better. If you love to see the kind of shows that play the Duplex or get a kick out of Rocky Horror, this show is for you - and great fun. The cast are great singers and many of the numbers are laugh-out-loud funny—and nearly all of them are the sort to make you want to sway along.
I attended a PEN America Town Hall: amazing writers Wajahat Ali, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Carmen Maria Machado, and John McWhorter in conversation about Self-Censorship. Lots and lots to think about.
If you would like to duplicate my experience, you can watch a recording of the event here. Each writer gives prepared remarks (Jennifer Boylan and Wajahat Ali in particular are worth watching, she is trans and employed by NYTimes he is a playwright that keeps getting called a "Muslim Playwright” which is true, however, when was the last time anyone was called “Catholic Playwright” or “Presbyterian Playwright” — yeah. Think about that.
I also enjoyed stumbling across a new public art piece —
…and then later discovering it is by Frank Stella, a living legend. You know… just… something I happened to pass by on the way to Target. Gosh, but I love this City.