Gin martinis and rabbit hunting
the Goodnight Moon author is nothing like you thought
ROCK PAPER RADIO is a dispatch for misfits & unlikely optimists by your favorite hapa haole, beet-pickling, public radio nerd. It’s a weekly email newsletter and podcast that shares three curiosities every Thursday - something to hold on to (that’s the ‘rock’), something to read (that’s the ‘paper‘), and something to listen to (you guessed it, that’s the ‘radio’). Themes include but are not limited to: rebel violinists, immortal jellyfish, revolution. Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word.
SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO
Hi, friends. I have a surprise for you today…welcome to ROCK PAPER RADIO’s first podcast episode! Okay, it’s really not an episode yet. It’s a 1 minute and 47 second teaser. Go here to listen or subscribe to the show here. And then please share!
There are two reasons for this: First, the full episode is still in production because the production team is, well, me. And second, I’m trying to get you all excited! Let me know if it’s working???
I’ve had Old Chingu’s journey echoing through my headphones since I interviewed him months ago. With every edit and re-listen, my belief that most humans are mostly good, fascinating, and wonderfully weird deepens. I am so exited for you all to get to know him over the next few weeks.
Here’s the plan: I’m just going to start putting things out there! Bravely! Despite my terror and overthinking!
What I’m realizing is that that my perfectionism has only ever held me back, delayed things, invited me to dwell in my anxiety a little longer, and has never resulted in any actual perfection. So! Let’s do this. If you’re taking baby steps to put yourself out into the world a little more these days too, reach out. Courage loves company.
What this means for all of you loyal RPR readers is that throughout the next few weeks I’m going share amusing snippets, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and some of my favorite darlings that didn’t survive the cutting room floor. And then! We will have a ridiculous launch party to release our pilot episode. I am psyched. Also nervous! Thank you for being along for this ride. Don’t tell anyone I’m just making it up as I go along.
SOMETHING TO READ
Every glorious detail about author and rabbit hunter Margaret Wise Brown in this New Yorker profile by Jezebel founder Anna Holmes is perfect: The Radical Woman Behind Goodnight Moon.
Brown’s Goodnight Moon might be a bit too frightening for me, but I have always deeply loved The Runaway Bunny and The Little Island, which are both creepy and beautiful and strange.
I still have our wrinkled paperback copy of The Runaway Bunny from when my son was little, which I now read to my nephews over Zoom. I can think of no other book—picture, non-fiction tome, or otherwise—that so exactly captures the psychotic love that comes with becoming a mother, especially a single mom.
But! If you’re thinking this essay is some kind of saccharine ode to children’s books and parenting—fear not! Because Brown was, apparently, a legend.
Some highlights: Brown battling (to the death!) with the boss of the children’s division at the New York Public Library. Brown spending her entire first royalty check on a cart full of flowers. Brown insisting that the cover of Little Fur Family be wrapped entirely in the fur of New Zealand rabbits. Brown drinking gin martinis and having a toxic but fiery relationship with her moody lady poet lover who went by the pen name “Michael Strange.” Enjoy!
SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO
This weekend I’m going on a early Valentine’s Day date with my fam to see Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet and I am pumped. I love this ballet with my entire hopelessly romantic (but modernist) Humanities teacher heart.
I first discovered this performance in my previous life when I traded my Capitol Hill parking spot (priceless) for PNB season tickets (expensive). I was still a middle school teacher at the time and happened to be teaching Romeo and Juliet to 7th and 8th graders when I saw it. I was STUNNED.
It’s like Romeo and Juliet for minimalists—a mix of light, sculpture, and tragedy—and I promise it’s like no other Shakespeare performance you’ve ever seen.
If you’re also up for breaking your heart in half, you can watch Roméo et Juliette this weekend too, no trip to Seattle or Valentine’s date required. IRL and digital tickets are still available from PNB here. Through February 13.
Tweeters, assemble!
That’s a wrap on issue 70(!), friends. Thanks for listening, reading, holding on.
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day and an endless pandemic, I hope you’re treating yourself this weekend, even if you don’t make it to the minimalist ballet.
And if you’re around tomorrow morning, I’m leading a Twitter chat with CUNY’s J-School. It’d be excellent to have some sharp insights from our RPR crew represented.
We’re going to be talking all things media-making and community-building and it’s going to be fun and nerdy. Join us! Tomorrow, Fri, 11 at 8am PST / 11am EST on Twitter. Use #EJCPchat to find us and join in. And if you’re looking for a sneak peek into the chat questions or a Twitter chat 101 refresher, I got you. Go here, and then say hey if you wonder over so I can give you a shout out.
Thanks, misfit fam.
See you next Thursday.
K.