Odesssa’s Oddities & Curiosities | Week of 12/18

Dear friends,

My fifth semester of college is all done. (I’m currently perched on one of those seats at one of those humiliating little islands at the airport where we all suckle up to the temple of electricity with our dying devices).

l have learned a great many things this semester. I learned community is hard. Pluralism is harder. Both are worth it. I learned I prefer cappuccinos above all (thank you, Uncle Ali!). I learned a great deal about the unconscious…and the neuroscience of social interaction. I learned how to apply eyeliner (was indeed inspired by Priscilla Presley). I could go on, but I’d rather not bore you.

Instead, I am here to promote the reckless fine art of collaging. For someone who finds most artistic activities stressful (I can never meet the vision inside my own head), I am recently deeply obsessed with collaging. It combines both the delight of destruction and the joy of creation. My preferred collage aesthetic is feminist dark academia — I’ve attached some photos below.

If you’re deeply frustrated with the world, I recommend this Langston Hughes poem “Tired” that I found on Instagram (who says Instagram is for plebians?). To be so honest with you all, I could not find a reputable publisher of this particular poem…so it may not be by Hughes(?!) If someone more well-versed with his poetry could let me know, I would be most grateful. The link above will gently guide you to Tumblr. The poem remains beautiful regardless.

On the subject of being concerned about the world, have you considered the menace of giant goldfish? Pets no more.

The airport is currently playing the Charlie Brown Christmas theme song. Is A Charlie Brown Christmas Jewish? This author argues yes! I suppose the most Jewish thing of all is claiming that mostly everything is Jewish (“Turn it, turn it everything is in [the Torah]” Rabbi Ben Bag-Bag — an epic name). I did in fact tear up in a coffee shop while reading so consider yourself warned. (I also sobbed on the plane reading David Yoon’s essay).

I am very quickly approaching 21 (four more months) and thus am looking forward to enjoying the world of cocktails. I was considering making a joke about sampling alcohol for the first time, but let’s be real. I mean, I was a real hardass about my precious, precious brain for all of high school so I suppose it’s reasonable, but I digress. I wish to be thoroughly complex and worldly when I begin ordering at bars and advance beyond shitty vodka at parties. Thus, I have been eagerly consuming Bon Appétit’s videos with sommelier Andre Mack. Have you ever been curious about the distinction between different types of tequilas? Highly recommend watching this video. I did in fact spend 20 minutes at lunch watching a video of him testing 10 wine gadgets, despite the fact that I will buy none of them.

I also want to offer a piece of my own poetry — a poem I wrote about the startling incongruence on Tel Aviv Sublet groups on Facebook in the days and weeks after October 7th. I hope always to make you giggle, then cry.

On the subject of giggling, I’ve been lucky enough in the past few weeks to be taken over completely by The Giggles. The first instantiation of The Giggles occurred in my creative writing class where a text misunderstanding between me and Liana made me laugh so hard that I was crying, snorting, and shaking. Many apologies to Sarah as it was during her workshop that I caught Them. I simply could not contain myself for the rest of class. But what a gift to be overcome with The Giggles! The second time occurred in a quiet campus coffee spot where I noticed these deeply mysterious notes in the margins of my probability theory notebook. I write quite frequently in the margins of my notes, often little reminders and observations because I know writing things down helps you remember. But while perusing my notes on the Cumulative Distribution Function, I found a series of questions I left myself, including the deeply ponderous: “eating but / couldn’t digest / what do you eat until you die?” I came back to this question several times throughout the margins of that class session. I was so amused by my own musings and zero recollection for the cause that I was overcome, again, by The Giggles. So I submit to all of you…what would you choose to eat to fill your stomach if you couldn’t digest anything? Basically a biological variant on the “what would your last meal be?” question. Mine would include Bubi’s kugel, Whole Food’s Mac & Cheese, our challah, pan-seared scallops, and ravioli with pesto.

On the subject of diets, it turns out that my cat Midnight may be eating all sorts of strange things. And moving on to strange things, did you know 5% of the world’s gold sits under a Dunkin’ Donuts? Yes, I learned this from Wendover Productions. If I don’t mention them in one of my newsletters, someone please take my pulse. I may very well be dead. I could be an undead newsletter writer…who knows?

Speaking of things coming back from the dead, has anyone noticed the revival of a certain NASA logo? I can’t really decide how I feel about it, but this article giving the history and the revival is worth the read.

I’m not sure if this next one is worth reading, but I shamelessly self-promote regardless. For my social neuroscience class, I wrote a neuroscientific analysis of the social media app, Fizz (basically Reddit for college students). It is quite silly but was quite fun to write. I can’t bring myself to post it here, so email me and I’ll send it to you.

Last week was Hannukah, and damn sometimes Hannukah candles are tricky to light. I was reflecting on this with Noah, and we came to the conclusion that we are the least fire-proficient humans since Homo Erectus (given we rely so heavily on electricity and not fire for warmth).

I wrote a whole schmaltzy thing about how much I love college but decided to spare you, instead, I’ll leave you with an appreciation for airports. I’m far from the first to wax poetic about how airports are such fascinating and ripe intersection points: all the lives we brush past, all the beginnings and endings. But enough about that, the logistics of coordinating planes is INCREDIBLE. Wendover Productions covers it pretty damn well.

With love & curiosity,
Odessa