Ellie > Recent Status Updates

freaking out obviously

#98, #97, #96. enjoying the entires for historical players more than current ones, whose careers i have the treat of following in real time. also nice to read journalists whose reporting work i enjoy, though this book tragically could’ve used 1 more editing pass (@theathletic hire me). jackie robinson didn’t live on “mcdonald street,” for ex., but on macdonough — am sure lenny wilkens would tell you as much

foreword, introduction, #100, #99. thank you conor! excited to inch through this one

again guessing on my progress but this was excerpted at length in the New Yorker, loved it and pumped to read more once i actually get my hands on it!

in the midst of part 4 of this 4-part book, not counting prologue and epilogue. i am guessinggggg as far as page number but this has picked up a little steam for me. writing style still not my personal bag. explained phrase "season of singleness" to conor and james lol

still in-your-face and overstuffed at times, but it's YAF and i can see this writing style holding a teenager's attention (even if they miss some of the fun 00s culture overstuffing). one line that made me laugh. one slightly shoehorned (as many things in this book are) marcus aurelius quote that helped me w some personal grief/religion stuff. biggest complaint last time was lacking plot but it's now mostly arrived!

“Jazz and the White Critic”: essential thinking on jazz and criticism generally. nothing is wasted here. this is some of baraka’s most clear-eyed writing, and his trademark sharpness is deployed to thrilling ends (see: “that junk pile of admirable objects and data the West knows as culture”). the P on “reverse snobbery” is as enlightening as anything ive ever read in my life. immediately indispensable

finding it nigh impossible to move forward through this book because i keep opening it and just rereading the excellent poems i read last time … and then i finally kick out and start making a little progress and run into a piece of genius like “Joseph To His Brothers” and get stuck on that forever … i know mr baraka would hate me for this. i have literally 530 pages left

read the introduction and first essay. love so far. i think me and JL think about things in similar ways, she just does it so much better… “a landscape without closed spaces, without secrets, without the presence of the unknown, would have no significance or enchantment for me.” opening Ps of the intro are about an early memory of a “translation dilemma” — i feel tht most dilemmas are about/of translation

only read chapters 4 (The Rat) and 5 (Torture Town, USA). not sure yet whether i’ll come back to finish. maybe just me but i find this stuff far more interesting as a portrait of the [small-town rural] US than as one of, like, deeply abhorrent war crimes — the “how could this happen” question turns out to have a pretty easy answer

feels almost disingenuous to do a post for just the first bit of the collection, knowing the massive scope of barakas writing and how it changed over more than 50 years of work/activism, but i still believe each segment of his career deserves its own special attention, so: ive finished the introduction and the Preface To A Twenty Volume Suicide Note section and im completely awestruck. everything poetry shld be +more

this is a christmas gift for conor but it came in the mail today and i have strep throat so i read part 1. i am sorry conor

howwwwwww am i only HALFWAY i am so sick of yall …

catherine is relatable bc i too exhibit signs of insanity every time someone asks me to make a simple decision. heathcliff is relatable bc i too am a taurus. nelly is the most relatable bc i too have had it up to here with these nincompoops

19th century novel stans be like “omggg greatest literary romance ever” and then it’s just siblings

hey …. nice heights u got there … sure would be a shame if someone … wuthered them …