Thank you, lovelies
the turkey that was poetry is now the subject of memoir
Gratitude all around, my friends!
I have nothing profound to say; am sitting by a cozy fire in a friend’s house. Think about how lonely it was in lockdown just a couple of years ago and hug anyone who is within hugging distance.
My husband and I went to see a premiere of the new Knives Out movie (from Netflix). It’s called Glass Onion and I’m excited to discuss it with anyone who has seen it - the movie opens in theaters this weekend and is coming to Netflix in late December.
Simple gratitude.
We don’t do enough of this.
I had a lovely dinner with family, and a Faux DeVoe, (it’s a tradition to include anyone who has nowhere local to be on Thanksgiving) —when I was new to the City, I always hated spending holidays solo and was so grateful to anyone who would open their homes, so now I try to do the same for others. Helps that my husband’s family has a long tradition of taking in orphans. Open houses, open doors, open hearts.
Writing News:
Are you kidding me? It’s Thanksgiving weekend!!
But yes, I have something. An ancient post I wrote for the excellent writing website One Lit Place gets kicked around every year. It’s a short, charming little piece about my passion for cranberry jelly (you’ll be surprised why.)
Random Thoughts:
Has anyone done a study of the various ways that people laugh? I know actors have copied many kind of laughter, but I mean science—has science tried to explain why some of us laugh through our noses, some chuckle warmly in a delightful way, some guffaw with a while abandon? Why do some people have great laughs and some end up with embarrassing or distressing laughs? What makes us laugh the way we do? I am hardly aware of my own laugh, but I know it went through quite an evolution—at one point in late teens, I had a laugh someone called a “chipmunk laugh” - I have no idea when that happened or why or how it went away.
Was your laugh always the one you have now?
It’s the strangest thing when you start to pay attention - laughs are so unique. But why? It could not have helped in evolution, could it? Dog barks are relatively similar within breeds (think yippy dogs vs doberman barks) Monkeys make sounds that are sort of similar within each species - so why are we hairless apes so bizarre when it comes to the variety of noises we make when we are very happy?
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday - and still have leftover joy! (see what I did there? Haha!)
Amazing, Neil! I'll look her up - fascinating!
Sophie Scott in the UK studies laughter and its basis in the brain! She's had an interesting career.