3 body problem (2024-present) cr. david benioff, d.b. weiss, & alexander woo / teaching stone to talk, anne dillard

Under the surface, that important deeper layer, it is about what it is to be an artist

There's a great essay by Annie Dillard called "The Death of a Moth" that I return to again and again, both as teacher and as writer. It is, on the surface, the story of a lonely woman who lives with her cats and goes to the woods to read about Rimbaud in the light of a campfire. Under the surface, that important deeper layer, it is about what it is to be an artist, to burn yourself up so completely in service to your work that you are transfigured, like the moth in the candle flame, or sacrificed on its altar, like Virginia Woolf. It's almost embarrassing, as much of Dillard's work can be, in its egotism and nakedness. It's a shocking essay for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is its unerring description of the natural world. Her images are neon a flare of light that illuminates a blue sweater sleeve, a sudden flash of jewelweed, a burning moth cloaked to the candle like a monk in saffron robes.

— Jo Ann Beard, Festival Days (Little, Brown & Company, March 16, 2021)

books on my shelf I want to read in 2024:

the waves by virginia woolf, the way of the fearless writer by beth kempton, apprenticed to venus by tristine rainer, portrait of an artist: georgia o’keefe by laurie lisle, e.e. cummings: the magic maker by charles norman, six nonlectures by e.e. cummings, the women I think about at night by mia kankimäki, wherever you go there you are by jon kabat-zinn, the hermetica by freke & gandy, how to be loving by danielle laporte, rouge by mona awad, the white album by joan didion, another country by james baldwin, a breath of life by clarice lispector, this is the story of a happy marriage by ann patchett, pilgrim at tinker creek by annie dillard, braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer, erosion by terry tempest williams, the red book by carl jung

I hate when I'm trying to find good historical fiction centered around the wives and I have to go through all the Allison Weir novels to find decent stuff

On a semi-related note, do you have any recommendations?

Yeah, for some reason the Tudor period attracts a lot of trash (both fiction and, frankly, non-fiction). I honestly have no idea why this is. I don’t know maybe because I’m American so I didn’t learn about the Tudors in school growing up (in the World History class I was required to take in high school our textbook had a single paragraph that mentioned Henry VIII and the Reformation and then Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada: even when we studied Shakespeare we only read his plays as works of literature and learned nothing whatsoever about the time period he lived—for the longest time I actually didn’t know that Shakespeare lived in the Tudor period)…so maybe it has something to do with how the Tudors is taught in British schools (from what I’ve heard, apparently history in British schools is basically just Romans, Tudors, Nazis)

If you’re looking at fiction about the wives, specifically…shockingly there actually isn’t that much.

Jean Plaidy is always a good way to go. All of her novels were published in the 40s and 50s and they can be a bit overly romantic at times but they’re pre-when Tudor fiction started to get really trashy. The upcoming film Firebrand is based on a novel called Queen’s Gambit. I haven’t actually read the novel, but it’s one of the few that focuses on Kathryn Parr.

There are others not directly about the wives but that feature them like Adrienne Dillard’s The Raven’s Widow which is about Jane Boleyn post-May 1536.

Dead Queen’s Club is underrated.

Here are some others that are on my list (but I haven’t actually read them yet so can’t attest to their quality):

Anne & Henry by Dawn Ius

Anne Boleyn by Evelyn Anthony

The Kiss of the Concubine by Judith Arnopp

the life we could have had (2015), pim stones / anne boleyn in the tower of london (1835), edouard cibot / the death of jane seymour, queen of england (1847), eugène devéria / keeper of the queen’s jewels (2022), adrienne dillard / the tudors (2007-2010) / the ghost ship that didn’t carry us (2011), cheryl strayed

round 1, match 8: down in the willow garden vs polly vaughn

examples & descriptions

down in the willow garden

(alternate title: rose connelly)

"my father often told me that money would set me free if I did murder that dear little girl whose name was rose connelly (it didn't)"

"bro poisons his gf and then stabs her and then throws her in the river"

everley brothers, shakey graves, run boy run

polly vaughn

"unlike many murder ballads, this murder was accidental, the killer mistaking polly for a swan"

the dillards, anne briggs

What happend in 2023

A overview of all the things that happend in 2023

January

Jeremiah&Hannah Duggar (Wissmann) announced the birth off Brynley Noelle on christmas day 2022

Lincoln Bontrager announced during a concert that he is in a relationship with Susanna (maybe Helferich)

February

John&Alyssa Webster (Bates) announced that their baby boy will be named Rhett Alan Webster

Nathanael&Katrina Wissmann (Sahlstrom) announced they are expecting baby #1 in august

Zach&Whitney Bates (Perkins) announced they are expecting baby #5 in august

Jill Rodrigues announced that her son Timothy and Heidi Coverett are courting

Hailey James Clark was born to Katie&Travis Clark (Bates)

Jill Rodrigues suffered a miscarriage

Jessa Seewald announced she suffered a miscarriage in december

March

Trace&Lydia Bates (Romeike) announced baby #1

Jackson Bates proposed to Emerson Wells and she said yes

Justin&Kristen Young announced baby #5, a boy

Rhett Alan Webster was born to Alyssa&John Webster (Bates)

Zach&Whitney Bates (Perkins) announced baby #5 is a girl

Edwin&Francesca Morton (Tuggle) had their son, Adam

Jill Rodrigues announced that her daughter Renee is courting a mystery men

April

Trace&Lydia Bates (Romeike) announced their baby is a boy

Susanna Wissmann and Drew Jerred got engaged

Jesse&Anna Maxwell (Graig) are expecting baby #1

Lillian Scout Morton was born to John&Cambell Morton (Roberts)

May

Kaylee&Jonathan Hill (Rodrigues) announced their baby is a boy

Trace&Lydia Bates (Romeike) announced their baby will be named Ryker Cruise

Rachel&Alan Businitz (Wissmann) announced they are expecting a rainbowbaby in september

Chad&Erin Paine (Bates) announced they are expecting another miracle baby

Matthias&Michelle Wissmann (Kingery) are expecting their 3th in july

Gunner Forsyth was born to Austin&Joy Forsyth (Duggar)

Apperently Josiah&Lauren Duggar (Swanson) had a 3rd child, a boy

Mary Maxwell and Samuel Hook got married

Lincoln Bontrager and Susanna Helferich got engaged

June

Nora Duggar was born to Jed&Katey Duggar (Nakatsu)

Apperantly Christopher&AnnaMarie Maxwell are expecting baby #7

Owen Wissmann was born to Matthias&Michelle Wissmann (Kingery)

Dietrich Sanders was born to Dorothy&Noah Sanders (Morton)

July

Susanna Wissmann and Drew Jerred got married

Gideon Daniel Hill was born to Jonathan&Kaylee Hill (Rodrigues)

Paul Morton got engaged to Helena Mucciolo

August

Theodore James Wissmann was born to Nathanael&Katrina Wissmann (Sahlstrom)

Josie&Kelton Balka (Bates) announced they are expecting baby #3

Lily Jo Bates was born to Zach&Whitney Bates (Perkins)

Erin&Chad Paine (Bates) announced their 6th child will be named William Gage

Lincoln Bontrager and Susanna Helferich got married

September

John&Esther Shrader (Keller) announced they are expecting #14

Jessa&Ben Seewald (Duggar) announced they are expecting #5*

We finaly learned the name of Duggar-Caldwell #4, it's Justus

Jill Dillard released her book

Ryker Cruise was born to Trace&Lydia Bates (Romeike)

Ruth Bourlier (Wissmann) had a miscarriage

Audrey Ann was born to Rachel&Alan Businitz (Wissmann)

Paul Morton and Helena got married

October

Esther Marie was born to Christopher&AnnaMarie Maxwell

Timothy Rodrigues proposed to Heidi Coverett who said 'yes'

Bobby&Tori Smith (Bates) announced they are expecting #5

Jackson Bates and Emerson Wells got married

Maverick James was born to Justin&Kristen Young

William Gage was born to Chad&Erin Paine (Bates)

November

Jeremiah&Hannah Duggar (Wissmann) announced they are expecting baby #2

Edwin&Francesca Morton announced they are expecting baby #2

Nathan&Nurie Keller (Rodrigues) announced they are expecting baby #3

December

Lawson&Tiffany Bates (Espensen) announced that they suffered a miscarriage earlier this year

George Augustine was born to Jessa&Ben Seewald (Duggar)

Susanna&Drew Jerred (Wissmann) announced they are expecting baby #1

Fiction on my Tudor TBR

Defenders of the Faith by Jean Plaidy. Freed from the shackles of biography, can Jean Plaidy bring out her inventiveness as a novelist and write a Tudor novel that's actually good?

The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn. Will this be the Catherine Parr novel to transcend the mediocre?

Queen of Subtleties by Suzannah Dunn. Anne Boleyn's story and a common woman's story.

Three Maids For A Crown by Ella March Chase. I saw an edit for this book so I'm intrigued.

Raven Queen by Pauline Francis. Can a YA novel surpass its adult counterparts?

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. It's famous.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. An original and intriguing premise.

The Raven's Widow by Adrienne Dillard. Another novel that I've heard good things about.

Cecily by Annie Garthwaite. Highly acclaimed. Will it live up to the hype?

Dan + prose & poetry 6/?

Neil Gaiman (unknown work) / 4.15, "It-Girl Happened One Night" / Anne Sexton, A Self-Portrait in Letters / Annie Dillard, The Living / Eudora Welty, One Writer's Beginnings / Daphne du Maurier (unknown work) /Julia Nicole Camp, "A Bookmark Near the End"

Seventeen People, Seventeen Questions

Thank you, Kat! @englishgradinrepair 💛

nickname // Mel

height // 5’6"

sign // Capricorn, but I don't follow astrology.

no. of followers // Uhhh... 2,612??? Who ARE you people, and WHY are you here?!

last thing i googled // "What does QPR stand for" because we're doing QPR training at work tomorrow, and I couldn't remember. (It stands for "Question, Persuade, Refer", in case you were wondering. It's a suicide prevention training program.)

amount of sleep // About 6 hours, I think?

song stuck in my head // "Far From Home" by Five Finger Death Punch (It was the exit song on an episode of Criminal Minds I watched yesterday.)

lucky number // 8

dream job // Writer

wearing // Boots, jeans, North Face hoodie.

movies/books that summarize you // Dead Poets Society, Ever After, Matilda, A Little Princess (1987 or 1995), Beauty & The Beast (Disney), Little Women (1994 or 2019), BBC's Sense and Sensibility (2008), BBC's Pride and Prejudice (1995) / "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard, "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brönte, "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen, "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, "Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery... there are SO very many...

aesthetic // Naturecore + Dark Academia + a dash of Whimsy

favorite song // I could no sooner pick a favorite star in the heavens... but "The Bones" by Maren Morris (feat. Hozier) is one of my current jams.

favorite authors // Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Bill Bryson, Robin McKinley, Juliet Marillier, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, idk... this is sooo haaaaard...

favorite animal noise // The sound of my cat purring.

random // My parents just got a 4-month-old shih-tzu puppy!

LOOKIT HIM SERIOUS LIL FACE

Tag, you're it: @angel-in-a-big-blue-box @oddwriter @magic-multicolored-miracle @melphelia @takadasaiko @sterekxhale @awlwren @greyhavenisback @ardricael @seven-oomen @dreamersscape @glitterinlowgravity @woozapooza @shieldmaidenofsherwood @qayalec @oftincturedwords @summerseachild

HI! This is my first ask I've ever done on this app so please, do let me know if I've made any mistakes or if I've violated any of the etiquette rules.

That aside, I discovered your writing account/s in the comment section of a post asking for beautifully written fanfiction on Reddit and was instantly enchanted by the lushness of your writing and the imagery found in so many of your works, not to mention the unique concepts and plotlines they contained. And you wrote for a lot of my favourite ships too.

The number of screenshots I have of various passages I found particularly moving or breathtaking in its detailed description of love, or the world surrounding these characters is ... it's a lot yea. It seems I've gone on a bit of an unrelated ramble to what I would like to ask, so apologies. Ehem

I was wondering, what are some of your favourite authors? Or favourite writers that you tend to go to for a re-read or just a damn good fanfic? It's just that you write so beautifully and breathe such life into these characters that I'm curious as to the fics/books you've taken inspiration from or enjoy!

Hi! Omg, thank you for such a lovely ask. I've been really feeling rough about my writing lately and this was such a bright spot in my day <3. I'm so happy that you've been enjoying my stuff!

And I will ALWAYS talk about books and writers I love, and I'm gonna list far too many here because I have so many favorites and also do not know how to shut up. These are all books I've absolutely loved and have had some influence or impact on the way I write, or I hope that they do.

Fiction Frankenstein (1818 edition) - Mary Shelley Written On The Body - Jeanette Winterson On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong Cassandra - Christa Wolf Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel Autobiography of Red - Anne Carson Grendel - John Gardner Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor Simple Passion - Annie Ernaux An American Childhood - Annie Dillard Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy Lote - Shola von Reinhold Crash - JG Ballard Hunger - Knut Hamsun Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Süskind Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco If on a winter's night a traveler - Italo Calvino To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis Outside the Gates - Molly Gloss Shadow & Claw - Gene Wolfe The Pearl Diver - Jeff Talarigo The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki A Map to the Door of No Return - Dionne Brand Piranesi - Susanna Clarke Near to the Wild Heart - Clarice Lispector Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys The Master & Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov We Have Always Lived In The Castle - Shirley Jackson How To Be Both - Ali Smith Non-Fiction Erotism - Georges Bataille A Lover's Discourse - Roland Barthes Blood, Bones, and Butter - Gabrielle Hamilton Just Kids - Patti Smith Consent - Vanessa Springora Stigmata - Hélène Cixous Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets - Svetlana Alexievich

Poetry All The Flowers Kneeling - Paul Tran Night Sky With Exit Wound - Ocean Vuong The Descent of Alette - Alice Notley Our Andromeda - Brenda Shaughnessy Desire - Frank Bidart

My Top Albums/EPs of 2022

So I bet you thought I forgot to post my end-of-the-year music list 😏

Chile, I did 🙃. Better late than never tho, right? 

Enjoy!

JAZZ

The Baylor Project - The Evening: Live at APPARATUS

Billy Drummond & Freedom of Ideas - Valse Sinistre

Brandon Coleman - Interstellar Black Space

Cécile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song

Charlie Gabriel - Eighty Nine

Jeremy Pelt - Soundtrack

Joshua Redman Quartet (Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade) - LongGone

Makaya McCraven - In These Times

Marquis Hill - New Gospel Revisited

Ron Carter - Finding the Right Notes

Samara Joy - Linger Awhile

COUNTRY

Abbey Cone - Hate Me EP

Carrie Underwood - Denim & Rhinestones

Luke Combs - Growin Up

Madeline Edwards - Crashlanded + Madeline Edwards EP (two projects)

Maren Morris - Humble Quest

Mickey Guyton - I Am Woman EP

FOLK

Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days (Deluxe Edition) - In the Canyon Haze

Kina Grannis - It's Hard to Be Human — (2021 album)

Valerie June - The Moon and the Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers + Under Cover (two projects)

GOSPEL

DOE - Clarity

Kirk Franklin & Maverick City Music - Kingdom Come One (Deluxe)

Ricky Dillard - Breakthrough: The Exodus (Live)

Tasha Cobbs Leonard - Hymns (Live)

Tye Tribbett - All Things New

BLENDED GENRES

Gabriels - Angels & Queens – Part I

Janet Jackson - The Velvet Rope (Deluxe Edition) — 25th anniversary

Moonchild - Starfruit

PJ Morton - Watch the Sun (Deluxe)

Robert Glasper - Black Radio III (Supreme Edition)

SZA - SOS

Tank and the Bangas - Red Balloon

Various Artists - Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4

YEBBA - Live at Electric Lady

SOUL/BLUES (ROCK*)

Jamison Ross - JAMO

Lady Wray - Piece of Me

Lee Fields - Sentimental Fool

Liv Warfield - Live at Cafe Wha? *

Lizz Wright - Holding Space: Live In Berlin

Miko Marks and The Resurrectors - Feel Like Going Home

Various Artists - Summer of Soul Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

R&B

Alex Isley & Jack Dine - Marigold

Ari Lennox - age/sex/location

Arin Ray - Hello Poison

Coco Jones - What I Didn't Tell You

Durand Bernarr - Wanderlust

India Shawn - BEFORE WE GO (DEEPER)

Kenyon Dixon - Closer

Lucky Daye - Candydrip

Mariah Carey - Butterfly: 25th Anniversary Expanded Edition

Mary J. Blige - Good Morning Gorgeous

Ravyn Lenae - HYPNOS

Sevyn Streeter - Drunken Wordz Sober Thoughtz

Siergio - BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE

POP/ALTERNATIVE (ROCK)

The 1975 - Being Funny In a Foreign Language

Aurora - The Gods We Can Touch

Avril Lavigne - Let Go (20th Anniversary Edition)

James Bay - Leap

LÉON - Circles

Lissie - Carving Canyons

Sigrid - High Note

RAP

Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes

Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future

Elzhi & Georgia Anne Muldrow - Zhigeist

JID - The Forever Story

Leikeli47 - Shape Up

Mozzy - Survivor's Guilt

Nas - King's Disease III

Saba - Few Good Things

Smino - Luv 4 Rent

EXPERIMENTAL

Niia - OFFAIR: Mouthful of Salt

Sault - Air + Aiir (2 projects)

HONORABLE MENTION

Beyoncé - RENAISSANCE

I know it’s coming... *hands on hips* “Honorable mention?!?”

I just can't listen to Renaissance straight through. I’ve tried and tried and tried. When it comes to my listening experience, I approach music sonically first, following the story and arrangement of the music instruments, and how the timbre of one's singing or rapping meets and interweaves between those elements. Give me an audio painting with a tapestry of enthralling colors and textures that I can feel. Then I'll invite in the lyrics.

It's like cinema. The average person most likely follows the eyes of the camera as it relates to the dialogue for the cinematic story. The way my brain is wired 🤖 I have to separate a number of other elements into parts as the story moves along — from the color grading and lighting to the sound design and mise-en-scène — to fully understand the director's vision and grasp the actual tale.

The thing about Renaissance as a whole is that it doesn't breathe enough for me. It feels chaotic like a tide than a flow if I let it run straight through. Give me spatial, darling! But that's the intentional, heavy-handed part about Renaissance, especially on the heels of a post-pandemic world: "Get tf up, dance and feel good." I don't wanna dance; I just wanna listen 😩 lol

Side note: 

We all have a specific musical palette as to why we fully gravitate to some songs/albums and not to others. I posted my review of Susan Roger’s book, This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, a few months ago. (She was Prince's sound engineer from 1983 to 1988.) If you’re curious about why you like the music you like, I recommend for you to read it.

2023

key ↻ = re-read ☞ = continuing (started previously) ✑ = for school ☏ = others recommended and/or gifted to me ✧ = favorites 𓆱 = northern arizona

- hard aground by james w. wall - ↻ moby-dick; or, the whale by herman melville - shockwave by paul ruditis - the expanse by j. m. dillard - last full measure by michael a. martin & andy mangels - surprise! by nichelle nichols, sondra marshak, & myrna culbreath - the good that men do by michael a. martin & andy mangels - and how are you, doctor sacks?: a biographical memoir of oliver sacks by lawrence weschler - how to change your mind: what the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence by michael pollan - ✑ rhetoric and human consciousness: a history (5th ed) by craig r. smith - ✑ how english works: a linguistic introduction (3rd ed) by anne curzan and michael p. adams - ✑ goodbye to all that by joan didion - ✑ disappearance by carrie brownstein - ✑ debts and lessons by zadie smith - ✑ baby yeah by anthony veasna so - bone in the throat by anthony bourdain - the man who loved alien landscapes by albert wendland - ✑ notice by jessica handler - ✑ joyas voladoras by brian doyle - ✑ proxies: essays near knowing by brian blanchfield - ↻ night sea journey by john barthes - ✑ consider the lobster by david foster wallace - admissions: a life in brain surgery by henry marsh - dino: living high in the dirty business of dreams by nick tosches - ✑ the book of delights: essays by ross gay - frank sinatra has a cold by gay talese - inventing jerry lewis by frank krutnik - ✑ whatever the weather by linda tran - ✑ the gift of strawberries by robin wall-kimmerer - fried walleye and cherry pie: midwestern writers on food, edited by peggy wolff - tomorrow and beyond: masterpieces of science fiction art, edited by ian summers - stories and prose poems by aleksandr solzhenitsyn, trans. michael glenny - ✑ in cold blood by truman capote - w. h. auden: selected poems, edited by edward mendelson - 95 poems by e. e. cummings  - ↻ dawn by elie wiesel - ☏ 20020: the future of college football by jon bois - ☏ the postman by david brin - slouching towards bethlehem by joan didion - who by fire: leonard cohen in the sinai by matti friedman - in the house upon the dirt between the lake and the woods by matt bell - zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: an inquiry into values by robert m. pirsig - ✑ essays one by lydia davis - the book of eulogies: a collection of memorial tributes, poetry, essays, and letters of condolence, edited by phyllis theroux - ✧ kneller's happy campers by etgar keret - the bus driver who wanted to be god and other stories by etgar keret - ↻ where the sidewalk ends: poems and drawings by shel silverstein - aperture 12:4, 1964, edited by minor white - the complete peanuts, 1959-1960 by charles m. shultz - ✧ letters to milena by franz kafka - aredo by grace smith - the last lecture by randy pausch & jeffrey zaslow - the bug wars by robert asprin  - leaves of grass: “first” and “death-bed” editions by walt whitman - something alive by keegan grau - ↻ moby dick; or, the whale by herman melville - hunger makes me a modern girl by carrie brownstein  - ✧ our numbered days by neil hilborn - book of mercy by leonard cohen - some ether by nick flynn - death of a lady's man by leonard cohen - the white album by joan didion - in fact: the best of creative nonfiction, edited by lee gutkind - ✧ kurt vonnegut: letters, edited by dan wakefield - spent saints & other stories by brian jabas smith - reckless daughter: a profile of joni mitchell by david yaffe - day by elie wiesel - william carlos williams: the collected poems 1909-1939, edited by walton litz and christopher macgowan - 𓆱 quench your thirst with salt: essays by nicole walker - 𓆱 package fever by anahi molina - 𓆱 tumbling toward awareness by anahi molina - 𓆱 if i could just see the levee from my backyard by anahi molina - 𓆱 undertones by anahi molina - 𓆱 building the dream: lego friends and the construction of human capital by christopher schaberg, ginger grimstein, waverly evans, paige franckiewicz, nino hernandez, terran lumpkin, anahi molina, & adelaide wight - 𓆱 interview with margarida vale de gato by anahi molina - love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcía márquez, trans. edith grossman - bagombo snuff box: uncollected short fiction by kurt vonnegut - 𓆱 evening with grandma by anahi molina - 𓆱 the gods are dead by anahi molina - 𓆱 namesakes by anahi molina - ☏ a book of common prayer: a novel by joan didion - grapefruit: a book of instructions and drawings by yoko ono - ☏ bluets by maggie nelson - cradle book: stories & fables by craig morgan teicher - ☏↻ the gift: poems by hafiz, the great sufi master, trans. daniel ladinsky - ☏ i heard god laughing: renderings of hafiz by daniel ladinsky - hunger: a memoir of (my) body by roxane gay - our babies, ourselves: how biology and culture shape the way we parent by meredith f. small - ☏ the overstory: a novel by richard powers  - ☏ having and being had by eula biss - the two cultures and the scientific revolution by c. p. snow - ☏ dogsucker: the written oral by lawrence lenhart - 𓆱 backvalley ferrets: a rewilding of the colorado plateau by lawrence lenhart  - post office by charles bukowski - consider the lobster and other essays by david foster wallace - zoologies: on animals and the human spirit by alison hawthorne-deming - ↻ the rainbabies by laura krauss melmed - billions & billions: thoughts of life and death at the brink of the millenium by carl sagan - ☏ zami: a new spelling of my name: a biomythography by audre lorde - the paper menagerie by ken liu - ☏ the member of the wedding by carson mccullers  - the handsomest drowned man in the world by gabriel garcía márquez  - the joy of sex by alex comfort  - open all night: new poems by charles bukowski - ham on rye by charles bukowski - howl’s moving castle by diana wynne jones - ☏ norwegian wood by haruki murakami  - the gales of november: the sinking of the edmund fitzgerald by robert j. hemming - ✑ the rise of silas lapham by william dean howells - ✑ girl by jamaica kincid - everyone but me wrote this by anahi molina - ✑ a rose for emily by william faulkner - ✑ sister carrie by theodore dreiser - ✑ in praise of gossip by patricia meyer spacks - ✑ the husband stitch by carmen maria machado - ✑ the way the end of days should be by diane cook - ✑ the tomb of wrestling by jo ann beard  - ✑ oronooko: or, the royal slave by aphra behn - ✑ the jungle by upton sinclair  ☇ new york times article reading list - ✑ bless me, ultima by rudolfo anaya - ✑ kindred by octavia butler - ✑ the awakening by kate chopin - ✑ behave: the biology of humans at our best and worst by robert sapolsky - ☏ happening by annie ernaux - ✑ m. butterfly by david henry hwang - ✑ my ántonia by willa cather - here is your war by ernie pyle - ✑ the whale caller by zakes mda  - ✑ sáanii dahataał / the women are singing: poems and stories by luci tapahonso - ✑ in dubious battle by john steinbeck  - ↻ sarah, plain and tall by patricia mclachlan - ✑ “the rockpile” by james baldwin - i will not leave you comfortless: a memoir by jeremy jackson - fifty famous people by james baldwin  - ✑ “shiloh” by bobbie ann mason - ✑ “cathedral” by raymond carver  - you get so alone sometimes that it just makes sense by charles bukowski - ✑ slaughterhouse-five by kurt vonnegut  - dead babies by martin amis

-> view december

Light raining down

(Anne Mellinger Birdsong)

* * * *

A wind rose, quickening; it invaded my nostrils, vibrated my gut. I stirred and lifted my head. No, I’ve gone through this a million times, beauty is not a hoax… Beauty is real. I would never deny it; the appalling thing is that I forget it. ~ Annie Dillard, The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New (Ecco, March 15, 2016)

What are your thoughts on Jane Boleyn, and the role she supposedly played in the fall of 3 Queens (Anne Boleyn, Anna of Cleves, Katheryn Howard)? Do you think she has been too maligned by historians for centuries, especially when it comes to the relationship with the Boleyns (it seems she got along with Anne)?

Now that I've read both works and compared them side by side, I suppose I would say my stance on Jane Boleyn falls somewhere in between that of Julia Fox and James Taffe ('Somewhere in between' is not, btw, Alison Weir); although closer to the former than the latter. Offering critique of both biographies, I would say that of JF is too apologetic (smoothing out wrinkles that exist in her arguments rather than acknowledging them) and JT is too severe.

Especially when it comes to the relationship with the Boleyns? Yes and no. Obviously she was married to George, she sent him a message of comfort while he was in the Tower, and wore only black the rest of her life, which was quite the potent statement. However, I would allow for the possibility that she potentially, inadvertently implicated him or AB (ie, testimony of hers was twisted to suit the crown's case). This is where I think there are flaws in the arguments of some of her defenders-- they cannot allow for even that possibility and so make claims that disallow it; some of which are untrue. 'Jane was only blamed as a means of absolving Henry in the whitewash of Elizabethan propagandists' is not true. Johannes Sleidan in 1545 claimed that Anne and George died by her 'false accusation'. Sleidan was a Reformer, so he would have been more sympathetic towards the plights of these two than the average person, and would have spoken to others that were as well, but the motivation to vindicate Elizabeth did not yet exist; she was at this point the very unlikely third in line to the throne.

I do appreciate that you said 'got along' with Anne, not 'besties', because...it's possible they were very close, certainly, but we must also allow for the possibility of animosity. The linchpin for the argument of closeness is the report from Chapuys that they 'conspired together' to banish Henry's mistress from court. Was this the precise truth? Considering the source I'm doubtful. Probably there was a lady Henry was serving at this time (although that we never have a name makes the story somewhat suppositious), but did they need to have 'conspired together' against her for Jane to be banished from court (which is what happened instead)? Jane might have merely made Anne aware of her, and Henry finding out that she'd been the source would have been enough for banishment. Or, as was presented plausibly in Adrienne Dillard's fictional rendition, Jane might have dropped hints to Cromwell that this mistress was a supporter of the two exiled and contumacious royal women that were Anne's adversaries, Cromwell might have passed this along to Henry, and Henry might have banished Jane for shattering the illusion that this woman had no independent ambitions or ulterior motives and merely let him hit for the sheer pleasure of his company.

If this was evidence of closeness, and it might be, then we also have to remember that the end result was Jane's banishment from court, and that there is, as JT fairly pointed out, no evidence that any of the Boleyns spoke in her defense, favor, or for her return. It would take an extremely magnanimous person to accept all that with equanimity and not feel any resentment whatsoever. So, if there was intimacy, there might have also been rift.

That leaves the question: enough 'rift' for her to seek vengeance? I doubt that much for all the reasons Fox outlines in her biography, but at the same time I wish there was not this relentless push to only defend women that we assert 'deserve' defense, on the premise they were entirely selfless, accepted every insult with grace, never kept any grudges, never had personal ambitions (the actions she took during the queenships of those you mentioned would suggest otherwise), mixed emotions, or conflicting loyalties; that we could acknowledge that acknowledging the agency of historic women also means acknowledging they were capable of making mistakes.

RIP MAGGIE PETERSON-MANCUSO

1941-2022

Margaret Ann Peterson (aka Maggie Mancuso) was best known for playing Charlene Darling on “The Andy Griffith Show”, which was filmed on the Desilu backlot. In one episode she played opposite Howard McNear, who also played Mr. Crawford, Little Ricky’s music instructor on “I Love Lucy.”  “The Andy Griffith Show” was actually a spin-off of “Make Room for Daddy” aka “The Danny Thomas Show”.  

She also played the character of Doris in the final episode filmed "A Girl for Goober" in 1968, the same year Lucille Ball sold Desilu Studios to Paramount. 

While at Desilu, concurrently with her appearances on “The Andy Griffith Show”, she was hired to play Susie the Waitress on another Desilu-filmed series, “The Bill Dana Show”, yet another spin-off of “The Danny Thomas Show.”  In 1958, “The Danny Thomas Show” did a cross-over episode with “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and vice-versa.  In her eight episodes as Susie (all in 1964), Peterson co-starred with such “Lucy” favorites as Charles Lane (Mr. Barnsdahl on “The Lucy Show”), Sandra Gould (Nancy Johnson in “Oil Wells”), and Tristram Coffin (Harry Munson on “I Love Lucy”). 

Staying in the Desilu / Mayberry family, Peterson also did a 1965 episode of “Gomer Pyle: USMC”, filmed on the Desilu backlot. She played a blind date for Gomer on the episode “The Blind Date”. 

In 1966, “The Lucy Show” did a cross-over episode with “Gomer Pyle: USMC” that featured Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle and Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael (aka Lou C. Carmichael). 

In 1967 she joined Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and The Back Porch Majority on the music special “The Andy Griffith Uptown-Downtown Show” playing herself. 

Now considered one of the Mayberry favorites, Peterson also appeared on “Mayberry RFD” in 1970. She played Edna, who was sweet on Sam (Ken Berry). Berry was ‘discovered’ by Lucille Ball, and also appeared on “The Lucy Show” in 1968.  

In 1986 Peterson was invited to reprise her role as Charlene Darling in “Return To Mayberry”. She was re-united with many of her co-stars, including The Dillards, the country band who played her family on “The Andy Griffith Show.” 

In 1996 she played Charlene one last time on “Nashville Now”, performing a song with The Dillards on a Mayberry Reunion Show. 

In 1978, she married Gus Mancuso, who died in 2021. Margaret’s health steadily declined and she died on May 15, 2022 at age 81.