Letters, Burnout and The Acolyte
Things are still up in the air, but it looks like we’re going to be traveling and otherwise busy for the next month. So I’m going to send some letters.
My first one will highlight the spread of avian flu and make the public-health case for increased government funding for cultivated-meat research. If you’d like to send your own letters, check this out: https://slaughterfreeamerica.substack.com/p/how-to-write-letters-to-newspapers-6eb
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. Here’s what I’ve been reading, watching and listening to lately.
Book — Burnout by Hannah Proctor. This feels like a very timely text, given the current state of the left. As the subtitle makes clear, it’s about the emotional experience of political defeat, using everyone from French Communards to Black Panthers as examples.
Book — Deep Incarnation by Denis Edwards. Someone on Reddit suggested I read the slim volume. It’s interesting, though sometimes a little too academic for me to understand. The theology seems to fit well with Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ.
TV — The Acolyte. I’m enjoying Leslye Headland’s mystery set in the Star Wars universe, during the High Republic era. Amandla Stenberg is very good in a dual role. All that said, I’m ready for more movies. I miss their bigger budgets and grander scale.
Music — Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé. The record lived up to the hype for me. There are 27 tracks, so there’s something here for everyone. At the risk of being a bore, my favorites are probably the singles, Texas Hold ‘Em, 16 Carriages and II Most Wanted.
Music — The Revolution Starts Now by Steve Earle. It’s been a while since I’ve heard this. Rich Man’s War remains one of the best protest songs of the George W. Bush administration. Understandably, the other tracks can’t reach that height.