(She said to herself.)
Hi. I have been stocking up stuff to tell you guys and I am short on time. Let’s get into it!
In this article about the newly released biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” [gift link] actor Jeremy Allen White, who plays Bruce Springsteen in the film, says, “So much of my job as an actor is — you have to summon enough delusion,” however briefly, “to kind of have an honest moment.”
White as Springsteen in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.” Photos: 20th Century Studios
I’ve been trying to unpack this, substituting “writer” for “actor,” because these words resonated with me. The idea, I think, is suspension of disbelief on a meta level: that you can bring a reader along with you on whatever journey you want to take them on, say. That you can have a moment of connection with a reader.
I think there’s a lot more to this. But I don’t know quite what, yet.
Related, I’d really like to know what White said in the full quote. Where the reporter has written “however briefly,” I mean.I was catching up with my friend Elisa Doucette the other day, and we were talking about the craft of the diary. I lamented that when I am tired (i.e., when I keep my diary at night), I fall into the hole of just keeping a log of what I did that day, and she said, “Mmhmmm. Like, you end up just chronicling, when what you want to do is write.”
This was such a good way of putting it. (We can say it so many different ways, but sometimes it takes a slightly different way of expression in order for a person to really get it.) It also made me think about the definition of thinking: Thinking is when you make the connection between two things in your head. That act of connection is thinking. And I can’t do that at the end of the day, because I’m too tired, so if I’m going to do that, I need to move my diary time up.Related to that, I saw this great reel the other day from New Scientist magazine, about the feeling of awe. In it, Leah Crane, the features editor for the magazine, says, “Awe makes you feel like part of a group rather than the individualistic . It makes you recognize the connections between things in the world.” She went on to say that it can make people feel less alone, and that it dampens the parts of your brain that generate ego and anxiety. Here are some things that generated awe in me recently.
(Row 1, left to right: my dad, recovering from a stroke and at a community exercise class. This gorgeous tile at LA Union Station. The sky over our city last month—look at this rippling clouds. Row 2, left to right: The Huntington Gardens’ “Strange Science” party transforms a pretty oasis into something really spooky; these great murals in Yucca Valley, right between to the Carl’s Jr. and the fantastic Grocery Outlet there, where you can find everything, especially stuff you didn’t know you needed or wanted. What is with that coyote? Getting to climb in Joshua Tree again. Astonishing. Row 3, left: The disco-ball wall at the Copper Room. Great food, great drinks, great company. Row 3, right: Getting this meet this screech owl. Her name is Freya and she has a cataract and one of her wings is all messed up from an encounter with a chain saw. She’s still great.)
Years ago, I met a guy who told me a story behind his perpetual good nature. He said that one day in college, he woke up, walked past the little window in the bathroom of his dormitory. The mist, he said, was rising off the field just as the sun was making its first appearance. “It’s a beautiful day,” he thought to himself. The following day was similar in nature, but it still struck him enough to say the same thing to himself. “It’s a beautiful day.” Three times makes a pattern, and the following day it was much the same.
At that point he says he started to recognize how good it made him feel to tell himself it was a beautiful day, and that’s when he started saying it to himself every single day, regardless of the weather, regardless of what he had going on: “It’s a beautiful day.”
I have yet to try this for myself. I generally am pretty happy to start each day. (This was not always the case, like when I worked a job in advertising sales.) But I am curious to see what it would do for my already-Polly Anna nature.I have found myself on the side of Substack that is celebrating Black artists. Kim Chakanetsa’s feed is bringing me joy and awe at artistic technique right now. So many wonderful artists to discover!
6. Because of the NYT Mini Crossword today, I know that Hasbro owns the trademark to the name “Ouija,” which somehow seems very weird and super annoying, like when the NFL tried to trademark “Super Bowl.”
7. I am reading the (IMO) terribly titled Prom Mom, by Laura Lippman. (All book links go to my bookshop.org affiliate shop and I earn a little commission.)
This is the first book I’ve ever read that actively incorporates the Covid-19 pandemic into its timeline, although the pandemic isn’t the inciting event.
I'm only partway through this book, but I am just astonished at how Lippman writes the characters in this book. There’s real tension and depth, and more than once I caught myself gasping out loud in dismay at some plot turns.
I really, really hate this book’s title. It belies the actual work that must have gone into this work, making it seem like a cheap true crime offering.
That’s it for this week, everyone. Thanks for coming along with me!
Thank you for this! Especially, " ... you have to summon enough delusion,” however briefly, “to kind of have an honest moment.” Real talk.