Self Help Rules

KID DRIVING YOU crazy by constantly pestering you for more Robux and you can't believe you gave in to their demand to have a game that requires regular infusions of cash?

Smell them.

Cat won't stop knocking over and breaking fragile items or plants that scatter dirt all over the white carpet?

Smell them.

Partner refuses to finish the half-ounce of salsa left in the jar before buying a new jar of salsa, thus resulting in an ever-growing colony of salsa jars in the back of the fridge?

Smell them.

Rabbits who won't stop eating the shoots off of your tender young trees?

Smell them.

Quirky character actor on major sitcom turned libertarian/reactionary/spiritual guru/grifter?

You already know the answer: smell them.

This is the Smell Them Theory, courtesy S'Mel Robbins.

Folks, it's been a long week. And the comic I'm working on just isn't ready to put into the world yet. I promise to have a more substantial Mushroom Head for you next week. In the meantime, you know what to do...

In other news, my review of the stupendous Gertrude Abercrombie exhibition at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh is now out in Apollo Magazine. The article is paywalled, but you can register an account with the magazine to read it for free.

Three Things That Kept Me Going This Week

1. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. I have to thank my mom for encouraging me to read this book, which she finally sold me on by explaining that the title comes from the opening stage directions of Hamlet. (I know, as a literature major, I probably should have known that.) The book is set in Palestine, and Hammad presents a view of the country that is often left out of media reports, spotlighting sophisticated, artistic adults who love their homeland but are conflicted about whether or not to stay and fight for it or flee for their lives. The way Hammad superimposes Hamlet's existential struggle onto Palestinians facing impossible and heartbreaking choices is subtle and illuminating. Helen Fielding (creator of Bridget Jones) loved it, too.
2. Trickster Jumps Sides, the most recent episode of The Emerald podcast, absolutely bowled me over. Chad and I talk about it all the time. It's a crazy accurate and helpful lens through which to view our current situation. Related reading: "The Rise of End Times Fascism" by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor in The Guardian. "Our task," Klein and Taylor write, "is to build a wide and deep movement, as spiritual as it is political, strong enough to stop these unhinged traitors. A movement rooted in a steadfast commitment to one another, across our many differences and divides, and to this miraculous, singular planet." Hmm, they make it sound so easy...
3. Friend and fellow Mushroom Head Yasmeen Siddiqui's essay on Lee Bul's sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Studio International makes a surprisingly persuasive connection between the Korean artist and the Italian Futurist movement of the 1930s.

That's it for me today, folks. It is the height of spring right now and the tulips are really putting on a show. I hope you have a chance to stop and smell the flowers.

Til soon,

Claire