re re review (2020)
finished the latest version of high fidelity (nick hornby’s book in 1995, john cusack movie in 2000, now the ten-episode Hulu series), and although zoë kravitz pulls your eye anytime she’s anywhere on the screen, she couldn’t make me root for the character the way john cusack could. but she did rock those top five/ten lists. seems like a productive activity for these last days of this forever year. so, i present…
evie’s 2020 bottom ten, in no particular order
not being able to see mom and dad. for a while, considered driving out, but practicality won. latest reservation is for super bowl weekend. may happen, may not, but i’ll keep trying.
deaths of george floyd and breonna taylor, among so many others. the consistent, continuing police racist brutality hit a geyser in the spring, and now that it’s blown, we can’t let it stop up, until there’s real and measurable change.
canceling spring break trips to london (with marxe) and portugal (with satch)
no live-in-person music/dance/theater/hockey
no warm beach for my anniversary last week
watching the kids struggle during lockdown. mostly with school and subpar fios internet, but also with the emotional/psychological/physical issues felt world over.
amazon and other mega corps protecting profits instead of employees
leaf blowers
45, his cronies, and all the depravity he encompasses, most especially when he had us tear-gassed during a peaceful protest so he could stand in front of a church and hold up a bible.
only nine. could include the pandemic here, but what’s the point? so it stays at nine. now:
evie’s 2020 top ten, also in no particular order
spending bonus time with the kids and dogs.
taking some awesome hikes and walks around pennsylvania, new york state, virginia, kentucky and of course, maryland.
meeting aaron, servane, and the kids in the red river gorge. so pretty there, and so fun hanging out.
crashing at brent’s beach house for a weekend. don’t remember much of it, but what i do remember was fun.
online smithsonian lectures in philosophy, social psychology, music, and quantum physics.
maryland medical marijuana. my card arrived at beginning of lockdown. tried many strains, go-to = sour jack. decriminalize it nationally already. i mean, jeez.
montgomery county public library found a way to loan books without opening buildings. tremendous respect for librarians. top suggestions for the year: utopia avenue (i think david mitchell will always make my top lists); girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo; the yellow house by sarah broom; upright women wanted by sarah galley (suggested by Nats relief pitcher sean doolittle); the old drift a huge effort by namwall serpell (three families through generations in zambia); tea obreht’s latest, inland; also, the last painting of sarah de vos by dominic smith; primer for forgetting: getting past the past, lewis hyde’s latest (“remembering betrays nature,/ because yesterday’s nature is not nature. / what’s past is nothing and remembering is not seeing.”); letters to a dead friend about zen by brad warner, a former punk rocker who —when not mansplaining— gives some neat insights; kids catching on fire in kevin wilson’s nothing to see here; 16 years late to the party with doctor strange and mr norrell by susanna clarke (really good saga — what a first novel!); and soul of an octopus by sy montgomery (thank you carey!).
almost finishing with my blanket octopus tattoo
unity and varied participation within black lives matter protests, from those marching to those feeding/hydrating people along the way. and watching large swaths of the country begin to recognize our inherent institutionalized racism.
renovating my front porch into a quarantine oasis
creating art and furniture
altman family sunday night zoom calls
the good place. ending a little drawn out, but i wanted it to keep going anyway. extraordinary concepts and interlaced messages for a 22-minute sit-com!
satch’s surprise birthday trip to nyc in the before times
oslo with mo (just at the end of before times)
long bike rides
stephen colbert and john oliver
finding out more about generation hope and empower dc and having the means to offer funding (as well as to various political campaigns, black lives matter, planned parenthood, the center for reproductive rights, the ACLU, world central kitchen (josé andrés is the man!), the national park foundation, the bail project, surj dc, black table arts (in minneapolis), my fave radio stations (wmbr in boston, wowd in takoma park), feeding america, impact silver spring, color of change, etc.)
wow. 18. even in such a rough year, more good things than bad on my list. double. and so relieved that our democracy hasn’t completely gone down the shitter yet. it was close, though, huh? here’s to a new administration and year based on science, justice, health, love, and kindness.