Brooklyn Diasporist Newsletter | February 12, 2024
Hello from the near shores of a new year!
Item 1: J. Robbins turned me on to the Weird Studies podcast and it has been a delight. Does the hosts' erudition supercede their pomposity? You'll have to judge for yourselves but in episode 159, "Three Songs, with Meredith Michael," Ms. Michael brings Vienna Teng's "The Hymn of Acxiom" to the table. Much of Vienna Teng's work will appeal to fans of Joni Mitchell, I imagine, but this track is, as intended, from a very different place altogether.
Item 2: Ernest Cole was a South African photographer who came to the U.S. in the mid-Sixties. The Atlantic has a brief but enlightening piece on him and his life. He was eventually banned from his native country and languished here in New York until his death in 1990. In the meantime, during some visits to Sweden, he filled three safety-deposit boxes with negatives. Some of this work has been gathered into a book called Ernest Cole: The True America.
Item 3: I'm reading The Power Broker along with Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan on 99 Percent Invisible. The next episode will cover chapters 6-10. Do you know the book? It's the story of Robert Moses, the man who was singly responsible for all of the expressway infrastructure here in New York City and its surrounding areas, many of our parks and beaches, and other massive construction projects throughout New York State. He was ruthless, power-obsessed, and a certain kind of genius. If you're interested in New York City history in particular but aren't motivated to read a 1200 page book on your own, this podcast is for you.
Item 4: Two great movies that are worth your attention: the first is Past Lives, a skillful, engaging, well-told story of decades-long unrequited love, immigration, and assimilation. The other is American Fiction, in which Geoffrey Wright plays a frustrated novelist whose attempt at selling out is a runaway success. The finest satire I've seen in years. Funny, heartbreaking, beautiful, sharp-witted, and critical. Wonderful.
Item 5: "Sometimes we have to wait for years before the minute which marked us finds its voice again. But then it speaks, and we cannot stop the flow of words.” -- Edmund Jabès