The Weekly Croissant: Art Hoe Roundup

Back to Work/ Joan Didion / The White Lotus / Sinners

Hello Croissants,

Hope everyone is having a delightful week. It’s been relatively calm over here. My days are spent mostly going to the hospital, falling asleep in the afternoons, visiting with friends at night….sleep, rinse, pump, repeat, etc.

Because Odelle is well right now and we are just waiting for surgery, I’ve been able to start working again which feels good. I shook the dust off with a couple of sessions this week.

If you’re wondering why it’s important to have women producers, cue me pumping in the car en route to the session and then texting producer Clare Reynolds (Lollies) about breast milk storage possibilities at the studio with absolutely no embarrassment and then her remembering to grab my milk from the fridge before I left (I had completely forgotten).

Here’s some art hoe stuff I’ve been passing the time with this week:

Book: Notes to John by Joan Didion

I haven’t read much of Joan Didion’s work and decided to dig in with her posthumously published “Notes to John.” The book is a collection of private writings about Didion’s therapy sessions between 1999-2003, most of which discuss her relationship with her daughter who was struggling with alcoholism and depression at the time.

There has been some pushback from the literary community about the publication of these very intimate and private records (see this article from The Guardian), and I feel slightly guilty for reading them. That being said, all parties involved in these journals have since passed from this earth, and they are both brilliantly written and psychologically fascinating.

TV: The White Lotus

I tried to watch season one of The White Lotus a couple of years ago and I found the characters so unlikeable that I couldn’t even finish. However, I checked back in and tried season 2 and both George and I thought it was brilliant. The complexity of the characters, especially the two couples vacationing together, blew me away.

We just finished season 3, and while it was good, the ending was so dark that it left me feeling a little sad and empty. This show is such a wild ride…

If you’re looking for something 100% soothing, I would highly recommend The Great Pottery Throwdown, a British wheel-throwing and ceramics competition on which the host cries about beautiful pots and nothing bad ever happens. George and I watched this show for hours in the hospital on our most anxious nights. Now that I think of it, I’m sure I’ve mentioned this show in the Croissant before but that’s OK, it warrants another recommendation.

Music: I’ve been digging into Wilco and replaying Waxahatchee in preparation for their Nashville show this Friday, I cannot wait! I’ve also had this new song, Farewell to the Sky, by my friend Philippe Bronchtein on repeat.

I have not watched any new movies lately, but I really want to see Sinners, feat incredible New Orleans musicians Sabine and Leyla McCalla ! Has anyone seen it?

That’s it for me this week… hope you all are doing well!

-Rachel