PicoBlog

Hi! I have a book recommendation. I realise what I’m about to say may sound like a big claim but I reckon I can back it up. Behold! I have found the perfect holiday read. I do mean that quite literally - I was walking around my neighbourhood the other day and someone had left a pile of books on their stoop so I went to have a look and that is where I found it.

If you’re subscribed to this newsletter you probably know that I’m fascinated by bad ideas. Where they start, how they spread and, most importantly, why we believe them. About six months ago, I started talking with my friend Peter Shamshiri (of the excellent 5-4 podcast) about how to do a show on the worst ideas of the last 50 years. We immediately thought of “airport books,” the pop nonfiction that has become one of America’s primary vectors for oversimplified history, misrepresented statistics and “contrarian” reinforcement of the status quo.

Hi, welcome back to Mixed Messages! This week I’m speaking to actor Harmony Rose Bremner, who is of mixed Jamaican and Scottish heritage. Harmony most recently appeared in Prime Video series Fifteen Love and is now on stage in Protest, where she plays a character whose eyes are being opened to the injustices of the world. I loved Harmony’s open conversation and how she shared her vulnerabilities, and can’t wait for you to read her story below.

“I hope you’re feeling better.” We’ve all heard it. When earlier in the day we were on the phone with insurance companies trying to get an experimental treatment covered. When we were up all night vomiting, trying to gauge whether we even had the energy to make it to the emergency room. When we are facing permanent disability and shortened life spans. When we have received a diagnosis with no cure and comprehensive treatment.

Dear Ones: Thank you. Here’s the thing… I am not a writer. I’m a story teller. A weird word girl. Perhaps I’m Abed, from Community, in real life. But these stories need to be told now. Women and children, vulnerable and in peril. If I say SAVE THE CHEERLEADER SAVE THE WORLD, is that a bridge too far? As someone recently said, there are trolls on both sides. My youngest daughter hemorrhaged after childbirth and nearly died; thankfully mother and son, Edward who is ten, are doing well.

As some readers may be aware, I recently completed a full re-watch of the classic 90s sitcom Boy Meets World, spurred in part by the fact that I got to meet (most of) the cast back in March at a 90s Convention. And pretty much as soon as I finished Boy Meets World, I began my first ever watch of its sequel series Girl Meets World. Now, while Boy Meets World (hereafter referred to as BMW) was certainly geared toward a younger audience, there’s just something about Girl Meets World (which we’ll call GMW) that feels EVEN younger.

The first time I played it for my kids, I cried. They were intrigued — I played them this video and then also this one—and they were mesmerized by the dancing, and especially, dancing in a big group of people, in public. But they were not emotional. My younger daughter immediately started singing the chorus and then turned to me: “Wait, what’s a dude?”  “A man,” I said. “We live in a culture where sometimes men try to tell women and girls what we should look like and what we can do with our bodies.

Yeah, like they say: Walk with me! Christopher Abbott, the Golden Globe nominated actor, famous for his role as Charlie Dattolo in Girls alongside Black Bear, Possessor, On The Count Of Three—and in most instances, that one video film twitter praises Jessica Chastain for, is everything the current supply of movie stars are lacking. The filmography range, the laid-back wardrobe, the piercing (yet nearly as melancholic as a twink’s from a ‘70s porno) brown eyes, the curly locks, the stubble-to-beard, the mole near his nose, and the natural charisma that makes the strongest girl you know giggle and twirl her hair until Lana Del Rey’s evocative cover to Nina Simone’s “The Other Woman” plays inside her head.

Thank you so much for reading The Wilder Things. If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter so far, please consider becoming a paid subscriber! $5 a month gets you every single newsletter, the ability to comment, and access to the archives. Also —if you get even just three people to subscribe, you get a discount! So smash that subscribe and share button. I am so grateful for your support. Four years ago, I met Paul Rudd and tweeted about it.