RABBIT RABBIT, my friends, with some extra special stank on it this time because—sound the trumpets—September is here! It’s still hot outside, yes, it’s still technically summer, YES, but shut up shut up, the vibes are shifting and the colors are changing and the best season of the year is decidedly on its way.
My favorite way to usher in the -ber months is to make a giant list of books to read, movies to watch, and things to do, and this year is no exception. I’m finalizing it now and copying it down into my notebook to share with you soon. Stay tuned for that.
Read this week
I probably wouldn’t have picked up These Heathens by Mia McKenzie if Greta Johnsen hadn’t chosen it for her book club this month, so I’m grateful to her for the push! Historical fiction is never my first choice—for some reason I’m convinced that it’ll be boring, or too distant from my own reality to be relatable. But once again, here I go being proven wrong (will I ever learn? probably not). These Heathens is about a teenage girl, Doris, in Civil Rights-era Georgia, who finds out she’s pregnant and enlists the help of her favorite teacher to travel from her tiny hometown to the big city of Atlanta in search of an abortion. During the single weekend she’s there, she crosses paths with real historical figures and groups, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and SNCC, and her worldview explodes.
What I loved most about this story was Doris’s voice. Having grown up where she did, she’s steeped in Southern Christianity, but her smart sense of humor comes through from the beginning, as does her ability to think for herself and change her mind as she learns and experiences things that broaden her horizons. The first sentence absolutely hooked me:
One thing needs clearing up right off: Reverend King was not the father. (3)
And I giggled at some of Doris’ internal monologues later in the book, when her upbringing and intuition butt heads and her sharp wit is on full display:
But I thought he was brave. And so handsome, too. My eyes lingered around the hairs peeking out from his unbuttoned shirt. I wondered if they were soft to the touch, or rough. Jesus, forgive me for my sinful desires. It aint my fault this man so fine. You made him, Lord. (116)
McKenzie describes her characters, some of whom I’ve only ever encountered in textbooks as Important Figures of the Civil Rights Movement, as fully human, flaws and all, relatable on a deep level despite the decades. It might be rooted in the past, but this story feels contemporary and full of life—my favorite flavor of historical fiction.
McSweeney’s #79 is the latest issue in the Quarterly Concern series and WOW, she’s pretty. Each volume is a beautiful physical object, unique in size, cover design, and sometimes even format.1 This one? Covered in embroidered fabric. Behold!
I was also excited to see some familiar names on the back, including Joanna Ruocco,2 who teaches here in town at Wake Forest where I got my Master’s. And Meng Jin, who came to Bookmarks festival a few years ago when her book Little Gods came out, and James Kaelan, whose gorgeous and very independently published book 999 Years of Peace arrived in the mail a few months ago.3
I indeed liked Joanna Ruocco’s story, “Places That Have Never Been,” about an agency that removes entire towns from existence, as well as T.C. Boyle’s “Cold Summer” and James Kaelan’s “A Machine in the Garden.” Camonghne Felix’s at least somewhat autobiographical “On Forgiveness” was intriguing. And the letters! Jac Jemc writes about the small daily interactions we have with staff and other customers at stores, which are becoming less common as we move toward self-checkouts or online shopping, and it articulated something I love about reading on my strollway bench on Saturdays—feeling like a small part of something larger, remembering I’m not alone.
But the rest of the collection, sadly, felt like varying degrees of a miss for me. In multiple stories I never quite figured out what was happening or why I should care about it, and while some people enjoy that kind of ambiguity in their fiction, I find it frustrating and off-putting. I’m especially looking at Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s excerpt from Your Name Here; perhaps this one would be better consumed in full and shouldn’t have been included here. Anyway, alas, they can’t all be winners, etc.
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Seen and heard this week
We Don’t Need to Whisper (2006) by Angels & Airwaves is one of those albums that serve as a time capsule; when opened, it immediately transports me back to the summer of 2006. Jordan and I started dating in February of that year and we’ve just been apart for a month or two, him working as a camp counselor in Arkansas and me living at home with my parents in Durham until school starts back up again. To a couple of college kids who are totally ~iN loVe~ this separation has felt unbearable, eternal. Now he’s flying to North Carolina for a short visit, though, and I’m speeding down I-40 toward RDU to pick him up, windows down and Tom DeLonge4 singing loud, my chest practically bursting at the thought of seeing him again after such an extended break. I don’t know if it’s the “space rock” genre categorization and cinematic feel of the songs themselves, the specific memories I’ve layered on top, or all of the above, but I can only describe this music as big emotion, distilled longing, a moment forever on the cusp of fulfillment.
Hey oh, here I am and here we go life’s waiting to begin
My favorite tracks remain “The Adventure,” “A Little’s Enough,” and “The War,” but after listening to the album a few times in its entirety this week, I’m here to report that the whole thing absolutely still slaps.
In movie news, I saw The Roses (2025) yesterday and man, it was a ride. We start toward the end of the story, when main characters Ivy (Olivia Coleman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) are in couple’s therapy reading lists of things they hate about each other aloud, and then flash back to the beginning to figure out exactly how everything unraveled. The cast is what originally caught my attention; in addition to Coleman and Cumberbatch, there’s Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, and Allison Janney. Funny people! And the film is funny, for sure, but it also goes to much darker places than I expected. I laughed, I cringed, I sent up some gratitude for my own (much less chaotic and emotionally damaging) relationship, and just when I thought I couldn’t bear any more, the whole mess ended. Perfectly, maybe?5 I’m still deciding.
Haiku round-up
Haiku is a poetic form that originated in Japan, containing seventeen syllables in a five-seven-five pattern. At the beginning of 2024, I started writing one every day, and while traditional examples include thematic reference to the seasons, mine tend to be a bit more all over the place. Here are this week’s efforts—enjoy!
Monday, August 25
Breeze cooling my skin, coffee warms me from within and the day floats by
Tuesday, August 26
To have a purpose, to feel compelled to create This is all I want
Wednesday, August 27
Where does it come from, the urge to take off sprinting? This day can’t catch me.
Thursday, August 28
We know what’s coming but we sit and watch and wait to see it play out
Friday, August 29
Potent is the high of finally completing a task from your list
Saturday, August 30
This morning I trade my park bench for a paved path, novel in motion
Sunday, August 31
Anticipation, a feeling like Autumn Eve I welcome its chill
Until next time
Our living room windows are open, the day is ending, and the cicadas are outside raging (raging) against the dying of the light. My bare toes are chilly and I’m thinking about how I never made it to the pool or the ocean this summer, how I might have missed my chance to dip these little piggies in a cool body of water on a sweltering day. But at the same time, there’s so much goodness to look forward to: campfires, hot tubs, crunchy leaves, bowls of chili, wool socks in warm boots. With every season’s turning there’s a chance to start again. I’m so happy to be here.
See you next Monday, and until then, I wish you a stretch as delicious as this one.
♥︎ Emily
McSweeney’s #74 came in a lunch box and included pencils and author trading cards! Some of the stories in McSweeney’s #53 were printed on BALLOONS! Etc.
You might know her as romance author Joanna Lowell.
But for real, go watch the short process video! So cool!!
Angels & Airwaves was an offshoot of Blink-182, formed when the band went on haitus in 2005. They made a few other albums and Wikipedia says they’re still active today, but to me they exist neatly and exclusively in these ten songs.
If you’ve seen it, please hit me up and let’s discuss.