The Pleasure of Artist Dates! Plus, Andre Royo
A Monday morning hello.
Sometimes a girl just needs a date.
About a week ago, in between transcribing completed interviews, preparing for upcoming interviews, and requesting not-yet-confirmed interviews, I had a random thought.
“I really, really want to go see a movie.”
I go to the movies a lot, usually with my kid. Which is how I know all of the lines to “Steve’s Lava Chicken” from Minecraft. But I rarely see movies alone anymore—something I used to do on a regular basis.
While scrolling through the list of titles playing at our local Regal, I simultaneously ran through my schedule in my head, wondering how in the hell I was going to pull off seeing an afternoon matinee. That’s when it dawned on me: I AM MY OWN BOSS. I can take an afternoon off to watch a movie any time I damn well please!
Of course, I never do this. It never even dawns on me to do this because I usually have a to-do list a mile long. But damn it—I was bound and determine last week to treat myself to a few hours of in-theater movie watching. Besides, isn’t that something Julia Cameron is always pushing us to do in The Artist’s Way? Isn’t she a big fan of “take a solo date each week to watch/read/see an artsy thing”? (Clearly I haven’t read the book but that’s my understanding of what she prescribes.)
So, I did. I worked in the A.M., treated myself to lunch, and then trekked to the local theater to see Sinners. And it was great! I enjoyed the movie and it was nice to disconnect from my laptop for a bit. I wouldn’t say that I walked away inspired creatively, but I was certainly more relaxed.
Maybe I’ll do more of these mini-breaks now and then. That Julia Cameron may be on to something…
If you didn’t catch my interview with A.E. Osworth last week, please give it a read and then go check out their new book, Awakened.
One of the things I hope we all take away from this interview is what Austen said about the current state of the world.
Just because the world is on fire doesn’t mean we do not feel joy and we do not feel pleasure. I think it’s really important to remember that, particularly as a trans person living through this time, I don’t get to live through another time. I have to live my life right now. So, yes, it’s bad, but I can’t make that my whole life because I only get one.
Such an important reminder. Yes, the world is a hot mess, but we only get this one life, so let’s remember to make the best of it.
On Wednesday, I’ll share more of my interview with Austen, along with their recs for things to read, watch, listen to, and do. And on Friday my interview with the amazing Andre Royo (The Wire, Empire) will land in your in box.
That’s it for now. Wishing you a week full of artist’s dates and creativity!