Odessa’s Oddities & Curiosities | Week of 1/8/24

Dear friends,

This newsletter is coming to you a little late — apologies. I wish I could tell you that I’ve been terribly busy, but my schedule at home is nowhere on par with my school schedule, and yet my time inexorably fills regardless.

Last Friday, I got to see one of my dearest friends, Sarai, who I met this summer in Tel Aviv but happens to be a Bay Area/Camp Tawonga Jew! Sarai is most definitely a kindred spirit in the truest, deepest sense per Anne of Green Gables. As is the Bay Area way, I joined Sarai and her family + friend on a 10 mile hike in Tennessee Valley. I don’t think I’ve hiked that far since I was 10 and boy did my hamstrings feel it the next day. But along with the marvelous opportunity to catch up with Sarai, it was a much-needed reminder of the tremendous beauty that’s effectively in my backyard. Also this coming week, I am so lucky to get to see my hometown through the eyes of another dearest friend, Liana, as she comes to visit today! So I offer a reminder to look out and reconsider all nearby nature with new eyes.

I’ve termed this habit of observation, my awebservations — a word that rolls off the tongue much easier than the pen. For those procrastinators still hunting around for New Year’s Resolutions, I recommend jotting down 5 awebservations a day — five observations that bring you awe, both in small and large ways (try not to repeat). Awebservations are slightly different but most definitely related to observations of gratitude, but awebservations can be of either valence good or bad. I will admit I kept this habit from May to August but promptly gave up in the swell of school. Perhaps, I will start again.

I stayed with Glamma (grandma + glamorous) last night — where I slept for 11 hours (she truly has the most comfortable bed in the whole world), and she introduced me to a new murder mystery series. If you aren’t aware, our thing is murder. Murder mysteries that is. We started only with black and white films. At age five, my favorite film was The Thin Man filmed in 1934. We moved on to Matlock (1986-1995), then Diagnosis Murder with Dick Van Dyke (1993-2001), then Hallmark Original Movies. Now, we’ve progressed beyond Hallmark to international murder mysteries. Our newest obsession is this French series called Murder In… (Meurtres à if you will). Every episode features a different French-speaking city with an entirely new cast! The only constant is the murder. Apparently, this series is a huge hit in France. If you’re in the mood for murder on these crisp winter nights, I highly recommend.

If you’re looking for another TV show, a bit less murder-y, I was just overjoyed watching the new Percy Jackson series. I was a diehard fan of these books. My dad read me D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths nearly every night, so reading the Percy Jackson books for the first time was this marvelous widening of my world — it was the first time I understood the global power of these very old stories. Franny and I spent a lot of time reading these books and writing our own novels. We watched the show together last night — we had to watch together — along with blue popcorn. The show perfectly captures the energy of the books — that’s the best way I can describe it. And Walter Scobell excels as Percy Jackson — high high praise, as well as the rest of the trio. I’m savoring each episode. Fun fact: Did you know that Odessa is the feminine version of Odysseus?

The New York Times recently highlighted Reading Parties — I know, I know, it was a couple weeks ago, but I completely forgot to include last week! Let me tell you, this is 8-year-old me’s DREAM COME TRUE. I am still highly tempted to host one — Yale people, would you come if I hosted one? The only thing I feel like these parties are missing are snacks.

I was a little dismayed to learn that Quizlet (the flashcard website) is now making their equivalent of Spotify Wrapped —> Quizlet ReQap. I’ve spent 10,902 minutes on Quizlet — I have no sense of whether to be proud or filled with deep shame. I assure you, Mom & Dad, I do spend time studying! 10,902 minutes to be exact!

I was majorly dismayed that Dr. Claudine Gay was effectively ousted as Harvard’s president. What shame! What shame! To place the minor charges of plagiarism on par with other serious acts of academic dishonesty is plainly absurd. I find it deeply shameful how the academic community caved to public pressure. I reaffirm the last paragraph of Dr. Gay’s op-ed: 

College campuses in our country must remain places where students can learn, share and grow together, not spaces where proxy battles and political grandstanding take root. Universities must remain independent venues where courage and reason unite to advance truth, no matter what forces set against them.

I want to highlight a poem by Maggie Smith called How Dark the Beginning (that cursed word!! I can never spell it right on the first try!) — but in the spirit of the poem which is an earnest ode to the “good dark” perhaps I should say that I want to highdark this poem. Okay, cringy joke…read the poem.

Speaking of someone with far more wit than me, I very much enjoyed this review in the New York Times of Francesca Peacock’s Pure Wit. I savor reading anything about women with chutzpah — especially those historical women who have been disregarded. But let’s not leave Margaret Cavendish’s memory to the wayside.

Now, I don’t often think of England and Jewry (aside from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks), but my assumptions were overturned entirely with this article about Medieval Jews in England. I love overlooked histories. I am in the middle of exploring one such overlooked history with Jewish pirates of the Mediterranean — you will be hearing much more on the subject soon!

Lastly, I recommend this article “What if Dance Could Save the World?” A superb meditation on dance in popular media in 2023. One line to entice you: “We all have a body, a body that needs to dance.” I’ve been trying to dance more…in the gym, in the supermarket aisles, in the car. I was reflecting on all my happiest moments in the past year, and I’ve been dancing in most of them.

Maybe your body is in need of some dancing. Go dance! My last recommendation of the week ❤️ 

With love & curiosity,

Odessa