So… 2020 has already lasted about 384 months, and that’s enough of that. It’s time to embrace the holiday season and look forward to ditching this horrible year, especially since we now have a ray of hope that the apocalypse has been shoved back a bit (you know what I’m talking about). I also realized that I had not yet created a holiday card using my Action Chicks Dioramas, so I’ve gathered the squad and am channeling my inner Star Wars nerdness to wish everybody a very
Happy Life Day!
As everybody knows (if you need a refresher there’s info on Wookieepedia), Life Day is celebrated on November 17th on Earth. It’s a joyous celebration, originating on Kashyyk, of family, friendship, and harmony, and a particularly fitting choice for a year that’s been tumultuous, stressful, still precarious (stay home and wear a mask, people!), and which definitely needs some good vibes.
Staving off cabin fever
Eight months into social isolation, I think I’m still relatively sane, and haven’t yet descended into frenetic housecleaning (whew!). I have about a half dozen friends in my social “pod” with whom I meet up occasionally for outdoor lunches or happy hour beers in the park, or a rare indoor activity such as a sewing session or TV film/play screening. I’m still handling the quarterly newsletter, web site, and some social media content for JASNA NorCal (the Jane Austen Society local region). I have a book design project with some Bay Area historian friends, with no firm deadline so it’s kinda languishing at present. I’m working on some Art Deco era, Regency, Star Wars, and Regency/Star Wars costumes, in the hopes that someday I will actually be able to wear them to an event.
To amuse myself and my friends during the first six months of plague planet, I chose a few themes and posted daily photos on Facebook: 30 Days, 30 Costumes, Celebrating Kick-Ass Women, 31 Days, 31 Cities, Earrings around the World, 50 Years of Concerts… It was fun digging through old photos and ephemera and reliving memories of fun times. I’ve put everything up on the web site if you want to take a look (use links here or the nav menu).
If you are in need of further mental or intellectual stimulation, here are a few of my Plaguetime Diversions™:
More Talky Talky
It’s a Zoom life these days, and I’m probably busier than usual on weekends with a wide selection of museum exhibit tours, new book author promos, and talks from experts on such topics as Art Deco architecture, neon signage, poster art, historical undergarments, virtual travelogues, Hollywood fashion, and more, all spewing cosily from my laptop. Among my favorite webinar finds are those from GlamAmor, whose creator Kimberly Truhler celebrates the history of fashion in film with fantastic in-depth lectures on the enduring influence of pre-code and film noir costume design to fashion through the decades. Her web site is a treasure trove, and includes all of her event videos. Another discovery that delighted me is the new Poster House Museum in New York City’s Chelsea district, the first US museum dedicated entirely to posters. Their online events include happy hour cocktail parties pairing a selection of themed posters with live instructions on concocting the perfect complimentary drink to sip while learning about books, tropical travel, or Art Deco icons.
The Play’s the Thing
My friend Ruth and I, both missing live theatre, made a pact last Spring to schedule a weekly phone chat to discuss whatever we’d been watching during the past week. That was a helpful push, as theatre companies — including several Shakespeare festivals, London’s National Theatre, and a ton of local small theatre groups — have put filmed performances online to make a little money via donations. Over the past 6–8 months, I’ve watched several Gilbert & Sullivan efforts, some musical productions, classic dramas, and a LOT of Shakespeare, my go-to playwright. Start by checking out my Youtube subscription list and go from there; some plays are only available for a short time, some are charity-driven specials, many are free. I was particularly stunned by San Francisco Shakespeare’s summer production: these are traditionally free outdoor shows, but for 2020 they crafted several weekends of “live” Zoom performances of King Lear, with each actor safely working in his/her/their own home with a green screen. Then the tech people pretty much seamlessly combined all of the actors into a single frame for the viewing audience. (The Gloucester eyeball gouging scene was particularly effective!)
Books, books, books
You’d think I could really outdo my normal yearly reading goals with all this “at home” time, but in fact although I’m on track for finishing 150 books, I haven’t set the shelves on fire (just as well). That being said, there’s some good stuff out there. I’ve re-read all of Jane Austen’s novels (not a hardship) for book group meetings and JASNA mini-fests, explored a wealth of new BiPOC-themed fantasy and historical novels, dipped into memoirs from intrepid Victorian women travelers (and some pop figures), and even checked off a few “I know I should have read this ages ago” classics (Mrs. Dalloway, We Have Always Lived in the Castle).
Favorite New Reads in 2020:
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough
Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Scarlett by A.C. Gaughen
A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers
I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir by Val Kilmer
Queen’s Peril and Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Pre-pandemic road trip
I’ve ventured outside the San Francisco city/county limits exactly twice since early March, so sadly I have no exotic trip reports for the year (the only plus side is that I’m saving up money for when we can travel again). Before shutdown, I did get in a lovely road trip with my friends Sharon and David, down to Paso Robles for some wine tasting. We enjoyed the good weather and great food, discovered a local distillery amongst the vineyards, and visited the amazing mind-boggling light show installation Field of Light at Sensorio, with its acres of over 50,000 stemmed spheres lit by fiber-optics and creating an undulating alien landscape. Photos do not do this justice (although I took tons!). The display is open through January 2021 if you find yourself anywhere near the area.
That’s it, that’s all I got. Please hunker down, well-supplied with books, videos (streaming or physical), comfort food, fun projects, booze, dreams of future travel, and whatever else you need for the winter season. Our physical bodies may be apart but our spirits are joined together. And may the Force be with us all.