A Wee December Roundup

since I have no time to write

My play Orphan Christmas is having its first public reading next Saturday night (if you are in the NYC area and are interested, info is here), so I am super duper busy. Suddenly it went from a nebulous thing that may happen to OH SHIT ITS HAPPENING. I have to finish my rewrite, and we have two rehearsals this week. It has been a while since I went through an honest to goodness rehearsal process, and I couldn’t be more excited. Even though it is always a little terrifying.

As such, I have no new stuff for the ol’ Stack this week, but a few things in the pipeline that I hope to finish once this thing is on its feet.

What I do have is a little roundup of Stuff I Like this week. And maybe, if you are extra good, Annie and Talula will give you an Update.

Also a question for you all - I don’t want to paywall my work, especially about ADHD and mental health, but I also know there needs to be some incentive for paid subs. If there’s anything that would appeal to you, let me know.

Reads I Like (Books, Substacks, etc..)

• I’m a Stripper; Of Course I’m Not Surprised by Trump 2.0 by

  Alison Rose Reed
  at
  Napkin Manifestos
  is an extraordinary piece of writing. It’s lengthy, but it’s the sort of writing I love most here on Substack - a perspective I don’t get to read very often, and a piece that gets better and better as it goes on.

• “Women of a Certain Age” are Full of Rage and Sick of Everyone’s Shit by

  sam baker
  was Relatable as Fuck. For non UK folks, google the asshat she’s talking about and be ready to be unsurprised and angry all at once!

• After flying private a few times with gilded friends, I’m convinced it is the ultimate corrupting force by

  Tina Brown

• Playground by Richard Powers (who is my favorite author most days) was amazing. I am determined to read more fiction in 2025. I’m gonna need it.

• How You Used Christianity to Silence Me by

  Melissa Corrigan, she/her
  is a heavy read, but clear eyed and moving. CW: sexual assault (if you aren’t in the space for that)

TV and Film

• Angels in America (Max) - the 2002 HBO miniseries is (IMO) the best play to screen adaptation that exists. Angels is my favorite play by anyone ever, and I doubt it will be dethroned. If anything, it is more relevant today. If you want to understand Trump, Roy Cohn is a character to follow when you watch this.

• The Franchise (Max) - an absolute send-up of the Marvelverse. It follows the cast and crew of a Big Budget Blockbuster, and while it is a comedy, it also shows the artistic consequences of making shit films to sell toys (I said what I said). I love Aya Cash and was so glad to see she was in this.

No, I did not see Wicked and I don’t want to. :)

Music

• Diving Deep Live by Tori Amos - It has been a hot minute since Tori released a proper live album, and this one is excellent. Her arrangements this tour were some of my favorites, and even though her voice has aged a bit, her power shines through.

• This has always been one of my favorite pop songs, but in Our Current Nightmare, it hit me different.

Dispatches from Annie and Talula

ANNIE:

HI INTERWEBS.

This week sucked kind of. The other day mom yelled at me because I was being mean to Sissy. I didn’t think I was being that mean and I hate when mommy yells at me and it makes me want to start licking my FUPA and then she snuggles me and says she is sorry. She doesn’t yell at us much so when she does it is terrible. It’s just COLD and Talula is always hogging the cat bed near the warm thing and so sometimes I bite her leg so she’ll move and i can sleep there too. Then she hisses at me and makes bad sounds and that’s when everyone is big mad at me but she’s being DRAMATIC.

This used to be a cat house when we were babies but now we are too big to go in it so we sleep on top of it. I don’t mind snuggling but sissy is weird about it like she’s weird about everything.

Okay bye!

TALULA:

My mother was not the most annoying member of our household this week. That tells you how messed up things are.

I do not know what my sister’s problem is. The grey bed is MINE. It’s been mine since we were tiny. Please see below. This was literally the first day we lived here and the bed is MINE.

I love my sister but she was annoying then too.

Mother snuggled me a lot this week and it was less annoying because she was defending me from my sister, who (and I hate to admit this) is way bigger than me. It’s not a fair fight. DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND, I can hold my own as long as she doesn’t pin me. She has a big ass scab on her face and I’m proud of it.

Anyway Mom surprises me and isn’t a total dumbass sometimes. She came up with a solution to our problem and Annie stopped being a dick to me. For now.

Talula is giving me too much credit. I wish I’d thought of this sooner.