EGGSHELLS vol. 2: Vs. Anhedonia
A couple months of standout media, and how to consume it when you don’t feel like it
It’s the end of week four and I’m more or less at my limit. September has been a series of unserious events, the details of which I’m saving for the memoir I won’t be writing until at least age 30 (more on that in a minute). Nevertheless, I’ve persisted in my goal of not abandoning the community I’ve carved out for myself here for the entirety of the semester, made manifest in another edition of EGGSHELLS.
I’ve battled a lack of pleasure in my usual favorite things—as well as a lack of motivation to even try to do said things—since I was around sixteen. My media consumption sees alpine highs and subterranean lows. For the first half of winter break, for instance, I was screening double features on The Criterion Channel daily. These days, I’m not sure I’m the same person who binged 7 seasons of Mad Men, and I drive to Alamo Drafthouse to make myself watch a movie. But I have found ways around this, and the rest of them are even free! Without further ado, here is a sampling of some of the pieces I’ve read and the practices I’ve implemented to remain inspired and intellectually nourished when I’d rather just go to sleep.
“A Blogger Manifesto: Why Online Weblogs are One Future for Journalism” by Andrew Sullivan
Okay, I got assigned this one. A great way to force yourself to read is to enroll in a class that costs a lot of money! This was particularly fascinating to me because I’m living out the future Sullivan proposes here on Substack, as both a writer and reader. He hits the nail on the head with his commentary on the instant gratification of the blog format, and raises questions of digital selfhood just before the dawn of social media. So it’s kind of a foundational text for a revivalist blogger like myself.
“@freshhel is just a girl having fun online” by Maddie Connors for i-D
Helena is such a girl’s girl. I once asked her for swimsuit recommendations and then completely ignored her sound advice and bought a Frankie’s Bikini on Afterpay. (But I will not, at her behest, publish a book in my twenties.) She’s also one of the only reasons I still check FKA Twitter. This profile was a delight to read; Helena’s dead-on about the stakes of performing young womanhood online and the solicitations and projections that accompany it. Also, who wouldn’t be interested in a “modern-day Eve Babitz?”
“‘Girl’ trends and the repackaging of womanhood” by Rebecca Jennings for Vox (recommended by none other than Helena!)
I don’t want to say too much about this because I think I’m gonna go long in response to it. But Jennings’s framing of and conclusions regarding the phenomenon of (self)infantilization of women in their twenties and thirties left me breathless. My friend Izzy and I have returned to it in class discussions, and it’s going to play a major role in an essay about the feminine urge to typify that I’m building out on the side.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (but he reads it to you)
Consider this your reminder to obtain or renew your library card. And once you’ve done that, download Libby. I grew up on Parts Unknown, but as I mentioned, I haven’t been much of a TV girl lately. The fantasy that the late celebrity chef, author, and Cancer sun would have overlooked my vegetarianism to build a life together is alive and well though. He is so babygirl-passenger princess-coded when I play his audiobook in the car. When I get to heaven I will explain what that means to him. If you’re not familiar with Bourdain, he is a self-proclaimed hedonist and a profoundly gifted storyteller. My third memoir of the year, and easily my favorite.
Letting an album play top to bottom
This one feels self-explanatory, but a few words on it anyway: It’s beyond satisfying to see someone’s artistic vision through, and a sonic journey is one that can demand a little or all of your attention, depending on where your head’s at, which makes it perfect for consumption, however passive it may be. You can always return to it later when the fog clears. If you’re in denial about summer’s ending on Saturday, I recommend Camino Del Sol by Antena, but if you’ve welcomed autumn into your heart already, I’d go with Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood. I’m hearing reports that the new Mitski is exquisite, too, but cannot personally confirm (sorry).
Spending the afternoon in an art museum
I’m extremely biased, as I work at two. You also might have to pay for this one if you’re not fortunate enough to live in St. Louis like I do and always have. But if I may, a little secret: The average museumgoer only looks at a work for 15-30 seconds. So if you’re feeling like your attention span has been goldfished, there’s really no excuse not to try this. I will acknowledge, though, that museums don’t feel like accessible or welcoming spaces for everyone, but the best of our institutions meet the public where they are and bring the art to them, not the other way around. I think it’s worth giving a shot—it means a lot to look.
Thanks for reading about some of the things that have moved me in the past months. And what the hell—five thousand subscribers! I wish we could all get together for dinner.
Thank you for those article recommendations. I read all of them laying in my boyfriend’s bed, waiting for him to wake up. “Girl reading” as some TikTok person may call it.
As a fledgling blog revivalist myself it was really important to read the blogger’s manifesto. Do you have any other foundational text-like recs from that era? I’ve been really interested in it but haven’t looked too deeply.