The Commons
Dear Friends,
So many people responded positively to my endorsement of traffic circles in last week's newsletter that I'm half considering making public transit and traffic safety a primary focus of these letters. Public transit, traffic safety, gardening, parenting . . . sounds like a winning formula for "audience-building."
In all honesty though I would love to write more about the advantages of public transit and traffic safety, because I hate cars. Michaela and Chad would say the feeling is mutual—cars, for whatever reason, seem to hate me, too. They break down on me for seemingly no reason at all. When my mom asked me several years ago what car I would like if I could have any car in the world, I said I would choose a taxi. I stand by that choice.
Over the weekend I went to a "Safe Streets Workshop" as part of a "Vision Zero" initiative in the village of Oak Park, where we live. The workshop comprised three stations where people could offer input on making the streets safer—writing your feelings on a post-it note, or putting a sticker on a map to mark a particularly gnarly intersection, or speculating about how Oak Park could make national news through implementing some crucial change.
I wanted to draw a comic just about the workshop, but it ended up being about other ways that I participate in and benefit from being part of a community. I'm not always a very good joiner, but I try.
The karaoke machine came from the public library's "library of things," which is great for my ADHD brain—it's like shopping for random things that I don't need without spending money that I don't have.
And here are three things that kept me going this week:
- Foster by Claire Keegan. After I listened to the audio version (which I borrowed from the library!) of this spare novella about a child from a poor family in Ireland who is sent to live with relatives for a summer I could not get it out of my head. It is set during the "Troubles," and there are brief references to the hunger strikers, but political strife is far from the thoughts of the protagonist, a young girl who slowly learns to trust and even love her foster parents. The writing is gorgeous, and I thought the narration was superb. If you have to drive for an hour or two, this is the audiobook for your trip—you won't want it to end.
- I watched a short highlights video of the Grammys and thought Miley Cyrus was genuinely charming and funny when she accepted her award. I was never that taken with her hit song, Flowers (which coincidentally was the song Michaela's Hip-Hop teacher chose for their dance in the Winter Concert). But the demo version of Flowers kind of blows my mind. Miley's gravelly voice reminds me of Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell—both of whom also killed at the Grammys.
- About a week or so ago I bought tickets for Illinoise, a narrative dance performance choreographed and directed by Justin Peck based on Sufjan Stevens's seminal 2005 album, Illinois. The day we were supposed to go see it, Wednesday, was rough. My right hand, which I use to draw, has been bothering me lately with tingly pain that sometimes awakens me at night. I wasn't sure if Chad even wanted to go, and I was worried that we wouldn't like it. But man, I'm so glad we went. The dancers were so talented (and good looking!). It was a compact 90 minutes that went by fast. There was a duet between a hip-hop dancer and a tap dancer that ranks among the best live dancing I have ever seen. Mostly it was so good to see people just enjoying being in their bodies—their physical euphoria was contagious and the entire audience was hooting and hollering and stomping by the end. Chad called it a refreshing experience, and I concur.
That's all for this week (except for the next installment of Study Hall, below). I'm off next week, though I may send out a short letter anyway. Happy Valentine's Day, friends! Make like Miley and buy yourself lots of flowers, write your name in the sand.
Hugs,
Claire
This is the second installment of "Study Hall," a longer form comic I'm posting every other week for paid subscribers. The main reason for the paywall is that the content may be sensitive. "Study Hall" is about the year I tutored at MCI-Concord, a medium-security prison just outside Boston. The first installment is free. If you're interested in seeing more, I hope you consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps me continue to make this work.
