Dear Reader
We are living in wild times, it’s been said. For my own sanity, I’m turning to the things that can help inspire and encourage me right now — because, Lord knows, refreshing Twitter and the NYT is just not doing that. It’s making me more anxious than ever. Plus, all the hours I feel like I am giving over to social media just doesn’t seem right either. But, I will say this, it is a useful tool to collect things that can help. So that’s what I hope to do with this newsletter: collect some things to help us as we all find our way through this.
In case you don’t know me: Hi, I’m Nadia! A South African journalist who moved to New York on the hope and the dream of interviewing Meryl Streep over lunch one day (ask me about that, if you’d like to know more). I’m currently based in Brooklyn, having taken a small sabbatical from life on the Upper East Side, where I’ve been living for the past 9 years, just before Corona came to town. As a freelance journalist, I’m uncertain as to what most days bring, but this time we are living in right now makes that uncertainty even greater. And I know a lot of businesses are going to be faced with enormous challenges as a result of this pandemic we are living through. But, we’re in this together, social distancing and all, so I’d like to do what I can to help out. I am also a fervent runner (in case you really don’t know me at all!) so if you know of anyone who needs groceries delivered to their doorstep or a letter mailed, I have a running backpack and will travel by foot to complete the task!
As I am a journalist who specializes in entertainment, I thought I’d start out by offering this list of special entertainment options that have been made available for this time. I know there are plenty of movies and TV shows online (as well as Longreads and episodes of Tiny Desk Concert) to binge, but here are a few out-of-the-ordinary things too:
1. The Met Opera will be streaming encore performances nightly, starting Monday the 16th of March. Up first — Bizet’s Carmen! Who’s down for a viewing party dressed in our finest pjs?
2. Josh Gad, the voice of the bumbling, adorable Olaf in Frozen, is reading books on his Twitter account, using the hashtag #GadBookClub. He seems to be doing it at 7pm at night, Eastern Time, and it’s proving to be quite the soothing balm, for kids and us adults alike.
3. If you’re a fan of the art of baseball, Ken Burns has made his epic series Baseball available on PBS.
4. As Choir! Choir! Choir! Daveed Goldman and Nobu “DaBu” Adilman have led sing-a-longs with the likes of Rick Astley, Patti Smith and David Byrne, and they’re hosting a virtual performance on Tuesday. If you’re unfamiliar with what to expect from their show, my friend Tina Eves wrote about the duo and you can download song lyrics here.
5. If you’re missing out on being inside a museum, or just haven’t been to MoMA in a long time, you can wrap yourself in A Portable Embrace from Conor Bourgal, while looking at a Jackson Pollock.
If you know of any more things to add to this list, please do let me know! I’d like to share as much info and highlight as many good stories as I can.
Stay safe, stay sane
Your neighbour, Nadia
*This newsletter brought to you by your friendly rockstar, Brandon Flowers, washing his hands to my chorus of choice in the game of Sing-Along Hand-washing Songs.