I would recommend checking out the NYT/Serial 8-part series 'The Trojan Horse Affair'[1] exploring tendencies in Islamophobia and other layers of governmental agenda, the failures, or nuances, of state 'counter-terrorism' initiatives, as well as other themes of journalism/subjectivity/'fake news'. All of this is worth exploring, as well as the particularities of the relationship between the super-local and the national-governmental; from a tiny primary school in a City in England, to the heart of Government, media, and the knock-on impact of this incident internationally as well. I'm only onto episode 6 right now but I've hardly been able to tune out from episode 2 onwards.
I've also been trying to get back into reading fiction more regularly, as an evening passtime to replace screen-based media. Since the start of the year I've been doing pretty well - I no longer revert to TV/movies in the evening (which can be good fun but often leaves me feeling a bit lethargic or even a bit strange on the energy-front if I wake the next day after the last activity at night was screen-based). Instead, I've been reading fiction more often, like I used to when I was a teenager when I discovered fiction, or in my early 20s when I used to read more regularly. For some reason, over the past 10-or-so-years, I've had less energy or routine in reading fiction, and I'm trying to correct that for the benefits I get out of reading fiction (I find it's a great mental release from everyday life, and also doubles-up as a kind of meditation, whilst also exploring this different form of *entertainment* that seems to nurture our own capacities for imagination, empathy, exploration). I just completed reading my first novel of 2022: 'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara[2].
I don't want to say too much about A Little Life just yet, though just to note/warn it is an incredibly upsetting and deals with some difficult subject matters of abuse and trauma. I'll maybe write a longer piece later. But just name-dropping it here for now as it is highly readable despite being *long*.
Next up: Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima
A couple of gigs I went to recently:
Jazz: the Julien Siegal Quartet *****
Semi-stoner rock/ambience: Goat Girl ****
~ flow