You have been hit by lightning and you have morphed into something else
Hi there,
Did anyone else have trouble waking up today? In London, it’s as though someone’s forgotten to switch on the sun. Welcome to the Grey Months.
The best thing I read this week was the Michaela Coel - Donald Glover conversation for GQ.
Donald Glover describes losing his father recently, and having a child during lockdown:
My son had just been born, like, an hour before and I was watching the George Floyd video. It was such a weird moment. It was such an intense, weird moment, because I’m watching that video and it’s like eight minutes long, so you’re sitting there and I had just had this amazing, joyful, expanding moment, plus my dad had passed away recently, so [my son] was named after my father… I don’t even know what, really, the word is to describe it. It was just expanding: the empathy and compassion and the terror and the joy of it.
A little further along in the conversation, Michaela Coel addresses the extremes of life and death that Donald Glover has just experienced, beautifully:
Losing your dad may be something that you thought could destroy you. And yet you’re here to think about the destruction and the sadness, which means you have been hit by lightning and you have morphed into something else. And that’s something to look at and be enamoured by. Who is this new person? And you might discover what you thought would end you is a rebirth, right?
One for fans of Michaela Coel’s work, Donald Glover’s work, and of the idea loss can, somehow, eventually, become growth.
What I’ve been up to
I got my first broadcast comedy writing credit last week!
I’m on the latest episode of The Week Unwrapped podcast:
Listen here or wherever you get #podcasts: buff.ly/33mF5iF 
This afternoon:
You can join me for some comedy writing and fun at the Angel comedy gym, which begins at 2pm.
Sunday
I’ll be on a podcasting panel at 4pm with Dino Sofos of BBC News Podcasts, who produces Brexitcast, among other things.
You can watch via the YouTube video embedded below, or via this link.
Register now for #SPANC20
spajournalism.com/spanc20register 
Links of the Week
The Granville, and other stories of south Kilburn: Ruby Tandoh writing the hell out of food and Kilburn for the ever-brilliant Vittles
This clip, from the Disclosure documentary on Netflix:
I HATE DISHOOM: This just nails the evolution of the relationship between colonialism and how Indian food is presented in the UK
I love this. Emotional intelligence, building rapport and just being kind always win the day. They’re all just as important in the workplace.
The Emotional Revolution at Work: https://mailchi.mp/2478864bba12/emotionalrevolution?e=c7a06f8162
A comedy newsletter from a fellow London Writer’s Salon frequenter: The What Now
Destined to be one of Eater’s classic pieces: How to Track a Neighborhood’s Gentrification Through Restaurant Openings
I’m listening to Queenie on Audible, and it’s just as good as everyone says it is
Aaaaaaaand finally - did anyone ever get to the bottom of this?
I know who I’ve got my eye on:
If you enjoy my work & fancy buying me a ko-fi, I’d be delighted:
https://ko-fi.com/suchandrikaThat’s all from me this week, byeeee x