MOON BULLETIN - making a shower spiritual for some reason
I talked about showering a lot today. Mostly, about how excited I was to shower; I think a nice shower after a long sweaty day outside is one of the most blissful feelings. Watching the dirt flow down the drain, I thought about how important it is to give yourself bookends to your experiences — be it a day, a single event, or a season of your life. And to get excited about those things! Leaving the club last night, I told a friend — definitely in a bit of a state of 4am delirium — “I’m so excited to find out what I wear tomorrow.” For some reason this really worked for me. Rather than planning out my outfit, or treating it like a routine task, I reframed it as a surprise from my future self. It started my day on a high note, and I ended on a high note too by hyping up my shower to random people I met.
I think life is full of these kinds of opportunities to turn the mundane into something more vividly impactful. It’s why I like to work with ritual so much, as the ritual form translates an experience into one with meaning that reverberates. As the moon fades and then returns, here are some events that might offer something similar. Hope to see yall there ✿.
🌗 Egg Tour at Tao Hong Bakery: Third Quarter (Sun Apr 20 @ 11am). If you want a whimsical last minute Sunday/Easter/420 plan, come join my egg tour! We’ll be meeting at Tao Hong Bakery for egg tarts and then wandering through the streets to spot different egg-themed sights, sounds, and smells. Free.
🌗 Myco Transmissions at Brower Park: Third Quarter (Sun Apr 20 @ 4pm). Attention + embodiment to better understand and connect with mycorrhiza, “translating scientific observation into somatic expression.” Can’t wait to dance like a fungal network! $10 suggested donation.
🌗 Maya Keren, Otracami, Worldwide Seagull at Property Is Theft: Third Quarter (Sun Apr 20 @ 5pm). Maya + Jeff play beautiful music! With other beautiful musicians! ✿.
🌘 Sidewalk Study on Cuteness in the East Village: Waning Crescent (Wed Apr 23 @ 7pm). Czarina and I are leading this study on Our Aesthetic Categories, by Sianne Ngai. In particular, we’ll be critically examining the cute commodity… and the tension between tenderness and aggression that characterizes our response to cuteness. If you’ve wanted to really deeply ask “what does “cute” even mean?” come through! Free, RSVP for address.
🌘 Fungus Among Us at KGB: Waning Crescent (Wed Apr 23 @ 7:30pm). Inspired by The Last of Us, this science + storytelling event is going to explore immune system responses to fungi, and the strange experiences of the slime mold. $5.
🌘 session (4) at Weeksville Heritage Center: Waning Crescent (Thu Apr 24 @ 6pm). A soundbath and deep listening, curated by one of my fav djs (Lovie). Free with RSVP.
🌑 Earth Month Convergence at Socrates Sculpture Park: New Moon (Sat Apr 26 @ 12pm). Indigenous leaders + NYC organizers come together for a day of music, ceremony, and prayers for the Earth. A friend described it as like environmental justice prom. In a good way! Pay what you wish.
🌑 Addressing Cloudbursts in NYC at Hunter College: New Moon (Sat Apr 26 @ 6:30pm). An ecologist, an artist, and an urban planner walk into a bar… and talk about adaptations to urban flooding. Also, the word cloudburst has been featuring prominently in my notes app poetry, lately. Free.
🌑 New Moon (Sun Apr 27). This new moon, I’ll be in rural Pennsylvania with my Aunt, probably being haunted by spirits from the revolutionary war or something like that. Being so far from the city seems like the perfect opportunity to reflect on the role emptiness plays in my life, especially when it can feel like we’re always inundated with stimulus. So here’s an invitation for the same. This New Moon, ask: what emptiness do I want to hold sacred, and what do I want to fill up?
🌒 Long Play: Body/Head, Emptyset, foodman, Salamanda at Public Records: Waxing Crescent (May 3 @ 6pm). Long Play festival weekend! Lots of experimental music all around the city; highlighting this show in particular because the last time I saw foodman (also at PR), it felt transcendent. The type of music that scratches an itch in your brain that you didn’t even know was there. $40.
🌓 Living Soils Rising at Under the K Bridge Park: First Quarter (May 4 @ 3pm). An artful festival/celebration/protest of the North Brooklyn Pipeline, combining pedagogy, ritual, and activism. Come dressed as your favorite fungi, plant, or animal local to North Brooklyn; I may be stewarding a small portion of the experience as a greenshield lichen ✿. Free.