What I'm Mush Lovin'
This is the first of hopefully many love letters of all the cool and interesting things I'm reading, buying, eating, listening to, loving, watching, thinking about. Each month I'm hoping to explore different topics, and of course if you have any suggestions or anything that you'd love to see, holla at your GIRL!
Here goes, I hope you liiiike it
xo,
D.
WHAT I'M LISTENIN' TO
a l b u m
Can we talk about the new Bon Iver album, '22, A million' for a hot second? Like gottamn. It was released on September 30th, I was surprised by this release entirely, because I had been too focused on their collabo with James Blake earlier this year, so this was literal music to my ears to hear. The first track I heard was 22 (OVER S--N) which was on last week's This New Music Friday's playlist on Spotify, and I can recognize Justin Vernon's voice a mile away. As dreamy and groovy as you'd expect it to be, this album is so freakin' good, and has been on heavy rotation since it came out last Friday. While you can definitely hear the band's creative progression in this album, they still remain quintessentially Bon Iver-an, and I love that about it. Give 'er the ol' listen wouldja.
s o n g
We by Mac Miller ft. Ceelo Green is a CHUUUUUUUUNE you guys! This song straight up sounds like an afternoon cuddle in bed with perfectly white sheets and great lighting. I know that's super specific, but that is the exact visual I get when I hear it. The vocals from CeeLo are superb, and while it's not lyrically heavy, the beat carries the song more than its meaning. I admittedly never liked Mac Miller in the past with the exception of a few of his newer tracks, like Watching Movies but I'm telling you, falling in love with Ariana Grande has done wonders for this cat's artistic flow and this song has been on repeat for like.. 2 weeks straight. Gonna listen now in fact.
WHAT I'M READIN'
Sooo I'm suuuuper deep now and really into poetry. Maybe I'm the last one to notice, but there has been such huge growth in the presence of young female writers spitting out some MAD truth and getting their poetry independently published and sold online.
All these women and their words and experiences are vastly different, but they all share such a strong common thread: to be a woman is the greatest privilege of your life.
While my collection is still growing, these three published books are so amazing and I recommend if you haven't already, to check this shiz out:
If Danai were a collection of poems, soft magic would be its name. The coolest part of how I got this collection of poems is that at the time that I purchased it, it wasn't available in Canada, so I hit the author in her DM (because I have no shame) and she sent me an autographed copy (with the sweetest hand-written message everrr) in the mail! So cool. This is the debut collection of prose and poetry by the stunning Malawian writer, Upile Chisala (@beingupile on instagram, if you wanna hit her on the DM too). It explores topics about on survival, joy, sadness, blackness, gender, sexuality, love, spirituality, but most importantly, how we survive.
Excerpts:
darling,
remember to run from men who promise you completion. you are already whole.
__
I loved you so hard that I softened.
This right here folks is the poet single handedly responsible for the spoken accompaniment of Beyoncé's visual album, Lemonade. While this collection of essays is not found on that visual album, it's an impeccable work of art, and she is raw and deep and simple and these words will save lives. She explores the topic of identity and the relationship that one has with their mother and father, and how that has everything to do with the relationship you have with yourself. Warsan Shire is a London-based Somali writer, poet, editor and teacher and in addition to be super talented and enlightened, she's cool shit and her twitter is dope.
Excerpts:
Apathy is the same as war, it all kills you, she says. Slowly like cancer in the breast or fast like a machete in the neck.
__
I belong deeply to myself.
First and foremost, Rupi is a brilliant and woke mega-babe from Toronto. She's 24. She began her career in poetry on Instagram and Tumblr. And now she has this incredible book of poetry that is touching thousands of women. My homegirl Laura gave me this book and it was the first of my poetry collection. What I note to be the most spectacular part of it, is that it takes you on a journey, almost the same way that the stages of grief would, from denial all the way to acceptance. But of the soul. My friend Laura and I pride ourselves in the fact that despite how different we may be or look or act, that we love and live with very fundamental similarities, and our connection with this book is indicative of the fact that every woman has a shared experience despite whatever misgivings we may think we have with one another. I dunno what to tell you man, just go and get it.
Excerpts:
we began
with honesty
let us end
in it too
__
i am water
soft enough
to offer life
tough enough
to drown it away
WHO I'M LOVIN'
Annalise Keating, How To Get Away With Murder
Yes I KNOW she's a fictional character, but in my version of reality, she's as real as they come - Annalise is BACK for another season ladies and gentlemen, and her character development over the last two seasons and into this season have left us saddened, maniacally laughing, mystified, hysterically pissed off and deeply gripped. When we are first introduced to Annalise, we see an almost heartless, devastated yet powerful black woman who has shattered her own personal glass ceiling and become a very successful lawyer, with a hot (albeit psycho) hubby no less. Then we begin to learn the truth.
In easily the most epic scene of the first season, Lisey (because we're tight like that) is by herself facing her vanity mirror. She takes off her wig, starts to to remove her make up: her eyebrows, her eyelashes, her lipstick. While we are privy to this side of who she is only as the audience, it feels as though she was breaking the fourth wall and inviting us into a part of womanhood that most times, (if not all times) women in real life never - at most seldom - reveal. Many of you know that I'd rather be caught in public without pants than without my eyebrows. And if I'm at the gym super early, or make a quick trip to the grocery store on a make up free day and heaven forbid I run into someone I know and am forced to have uncomfortable conversation, I'm secretly dying of humiliation on the inside all because I don't have my eyebrows drawn in. And here, Lisey is, L I V I N G, at her most unmade up, her most vulnerable, but also her most beautiful. It's a powerful scene, one that makes you empathize with her, and also address parts of myself that I rarely reveal. From that moment, we all got Annalise.
Annalise Keating as a character isn't only saving herself. She isn't just navigating the complexities of her physical and emotional darkness and coming to grips with her past, she's also very much saving the thousands of women who watch her, and aren't brave enough to peel back the proverbial onion skins of their own insecurities. She's a modern day heroine, and the 60 minutes a week that I am graced with her presence, I feel closer to my own understanding and a bit more okay with my vulnerabilities.
While she was perfectly thought-out as a character, who she represents is what many women aspire to become: exposed and owning it, bent but not broken, strong but vulnerable, unique and beautiful. Plus I mean, Nate is sexy AF and we're all tryna get one of him. Seeing a main character like Annalise Keating on prime time television every week is so very important, I'm just so damn thankful for her and Shonda Rhimes. Can't wait to see you on my TV screen tonight Lisey, go on girl!