Odessa's Oddities & Curiosities | Week of 1/13/2025

Dear friends,

Happy last first week of classes to my fellow seniors! I am so excited about my classes this semester — but I’ve decided to give a full class update after a full week of class, so look forward to that next week. (I’m just barely holding off— my classes are SO GOOD)

psst…I got a new email account: [email protected] — so add that to your rollodex!

I arrived back on campus on Sunday following a red-eye sans neck pillow then was promptly locked out of my dorm room (ugh Yale Security for removing our door tape) for 90 min (thank you Yale Security for letting me in). Trying to not take it as an omen for the semester. And my delicious midday nap led to being wide-awake from 3-4:30 am Sunday night…oh well.

I have a lot of media to recommend after a ripe and indulgent last week at home.

I basically had podcasts in my headphones my entire red-eye so some podcast recommendations. I now know more than I ever thought I’d need to know about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and my favorite bit was learning more about the author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The best episode by far, was this Freakonomics episode on allergies. For those of you who are allergic to penicillin, this is my PSA: get tested again!! You might not be, and this might just save your life. I just love how Freakonomics follows a thought and idea so completely.

And if you want to change the way you consider supermarkets, listen to this! Trust that I’m judgy now about supermarket refrigeration.

This reel on embracing our inner Sim — limiting the doomscrolling to embrace hobbies ie keeping our inner Sim’s Plumbob green. (If that doesn’t make any sense, don’t worry — I am targeting a very specific niche audience here). Also happy 25 years to the Sims!

This long read on the research lab where they study reincarnation and past lives, and how academia is prejudiced against certain types of research. Also, on disputed research, animal communication — do those buttons actually mean dogs are speaking to us? I don’t buy the buttons, but I do believe Rosie is exceptionally good at human communication. My theory is that my dog is secretly a theoretical mathematician, and she’s solving theorems I could only pretend to understand.

Should doctors be practicing? Seems kind of silly it’s not common practice already.

Glamma and I binged the new Matlock reboot with Kathy Bates. Glamma and I have watched nearly every episode of the original Matlock with Andy Griffith — an all-time favorite show at a certain point in my life. I was skeptical about the reboot, but there’s no need — the twist & the writing are superb. We binged the first seven episodes. Ah, how I missed a good procedural drama. The broader message of the show is how older women are often underestimated. During the binge, I took up knitting again. Thank you Glamma for providing me with all the necessary materials and starting me off. I’m relishing taking my butter yellow work-in-progress scarf all over campus.

I’m reading this fabulous novel set in 15th-century West Africa called Masquerade by S.O. Sangoyomi. The imagery! The political intrigue! It’s a little slow, but I’m savoring it all the same.

A great YouTube video on etymology (long-time readers will know I’m obsessed with this genre of WIRED videos, especially when I brush my teeth at night). Some tid-bits to entice you, the word “gossip” comes from god-sib as in you share private information with your god-siblings— looking at you, Finn, Elijah & G!

My dad was interviewed on the podcast Armchair Expert by his new dear friend, Dax Shepherd. You can watch/listen on YouTube or Spotify. My favorite comment on the YouTube video: “If I'd Crayola scribbled a roboticist as a child, this is exactly what he'd have looked like. I'm so delighted.”

Before I left, my parents and I attended a screening of the new Brian Eno generative documentary. I walked in knowing absolutely nothing about Brian Eno, and left intrigued. I still don’t quite understand exactly which elements were generated, Film Forum says: the generative documentary “produces a different movie every time it’s screened, presenting variations in sequence, music, and scenes.” Definitely see it if you get the chance.

Also, one of my favorite newspapers, The J. The Jewish News of Northern California, now has a daily email newsletter. Subscribe here.

Lastly, I cannot write this newsletter without acknowledging the ongoing devastation in Los Angeles. Catastrophic doesn’t begin to describe. Thinking of those have lost or been displaced from their homes. My mom put some ways to help LA in her newsletter.

And for the brightest news in a while, a ceasefire & hostage deal. May we soon see the end of this nightmare.

With love & curiosity,

Odessa