Cruel compendium #40 š¶
Singing Sondheim
IāmĀ Jillian Anthony, and this is Cruel Summer Book Club, a newsletter about change and living well. ICYMI, hereās the CSBC 2021 gift guide!
Iāve spent the last few days listening to a lot of Stephen Sondheim, thinking about life and love, and feeling very tender. I wrote about how Sondheimās work, specifically the song āBeing Alive,ā helped me through intense grief back in 2019.
What I wrote then I feel more strongly about now than ever:
āI donāt know if I have anything useful to say about the dualities of life and love that hasnāt already been said by Aristotle, and Shakespeare, and Pema Chƶdrƶn, and bell hooks, and Sondheim. Or by all of those motivational phrases your aunt posts on Facebook. (The journey is the reward.) But bury me in their earnestness and universal appeal. May we all find a love that makes us say, āLove is a single soul inhabiting two bodies,ā and mean it. May saccharine words continue to drip from my lips as long as being alive continues to be the greatest cliche of them all.ā
Iām reading
Austin Kleon sums up the way I approach much of my life now: Follow the goosebumps.
Not-harsh writing advice via Nicole Zhuās creativity newsletterĀ
JP Brammer responds to a reader who was cruelly ghosted:
When I find myself in periods of mourning, I like to remind myself, āIām going somewhere.ā Iām not trapped. Iām not going to be hurt forever. I am undergoing a transformation, albeit fitfully. My world hasnāt stopped. I am still in motion.
I'd give anything for someone to write about me the way Jerry Saltz writes about Jasper Johns:Ā
Each time Iām around him, I feel a kind of tidal force. He is much taller, larger than you might imagine. Every time. He is witty, articulate, patient, curious, thinks of things in almost microscopic detail, is generous with information, a great story- and joke teller. He is interested in everything ā nature, politics, poetry, ceramics, plants, plays, history, movies, dance, cooking, whatever comes up. I donāt think that I have ever heard him swear. The only time he asked me not to talk about something is when someone asked me ten years ago to talk about my time on a reality-TV show about art. He turned to me and simply said, āPlease, Jerry. Donāt.ā I didnāt. He exudes dignity, magnanimity, poise, circumspection, and inwardness, and he doesnāt bear fools well. Heās often described as cryptic, difficult, taciturn, or distant. Iāve seen very little proof of this. Some say he can be sharp. Many claim heās this cloistered Scrooge-sphinx whoās spent the last 30 years living hermitlike in Sharon, Connecticut. This is flat-out wrong. He goes out often, drives himself everywhere, and has one of the best senses of humor and irony Iāve ever witnessed and the best blasting laugh. Itās like an eruption of joy released.
āRecognizing that peopleās reactions donāt belong to you is the only sane way to create. If people enjoy what youāve created, terrific. If people ignore what youāve created, too bad. If people misunderstand what youāve created, donāt sweat it. And what if people absolutely hate what youāve created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest ā as politely as you possibly can ā that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.ā
ā Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic
Iām listening to:
Invisibilia: A Friendly Ghost Story. Where do the friends who ghost us go?
Adam J. Kurtzās You Are Here (For Now) podcast: How to Be a Person with Ashley C. Ford and Mary HK Choi. All three of these people are deeply in love, and I found this conversation to be incredibly hopeful.
I devoured all six episodes of Unread, a true story about a friend exploring his grief after his friend dies by suicide, leaving him hints to follow to unravel some unsolved mysteries. Every episode is emotionally intertwined with Britney Spearsā own journey to freedom, which #FreeBritney fans will love.
Questionable self-care advice
Support system
Vision board
Obsessions
š Ann Friedmanās favorite newsletters. SO many gems here.
The Dirt polls people on which heart emoji they prefer and itās fascinating! For the record, mine is š
š Emojitracker visualizes emoji use on Twitter in real time
šµ RoomtoThinkāsoundscapes to work to
šø MakeMyMove.com shows you where you can get paid to move if you work remote
š In two minutes this video tells you how the Covid vaccine works
š§āāļø Sign the change.org petition to keep James Corden out of the Wicked movie
š I just want to be a sweet pumpkin-headed boy
Minerva moment
Anthem
āNo One is Aloneā by Stephen Sondheim, performed by Bernadette Peters
Sometimes people leave you
Halfway through the wood
Others may deceive you
You decide whatās good
You decide alone
But no one is alone
Mood
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You are not alone!