Oh Gosh, I’m Busy That Night
(My Very Thirteenth Newsletter)
I’m an extroverted person and usually jump at the opportunity to meet up with both friends and strangers. But something happened to me during the pandemic lockdown. In March of 2020, I longed to see my friends, but by May I was completely okay with talking to them on the phone. When summer came and a close friend I’ve known since second grade suggested we meet up in Central Park, I found myself looking for an excuse to get out of it. The concept of in-person human interaction was both exhausting and terrifying. I was self-conscious when I saw her. For goodness sake, this was the girl with whom I saw Grease twelve times in a row, the girl with whom I cried every time I had boy problems, and the one who sat through many of my terrible sets in the early stages of my comedy career. But there I was embarrassed and self-conscious in front of her. “I’m weird; am I not?”I recall asking.
Sometimes I was invited to park parties, where I was supposed to meet groups of people, or worse still, new people. Why would I want to meet new people when there were episodes of Outlander I hadn’t yet seen?
I had lost my ability to hobnob. Something I’d assumed was simply a natural personality trait was really a skill I’d unconsciously developed, and now I was out of practice. I read an article a couple of years ago on the fallout of Covid lockdowns on our children. Apparently, many were anxious, depressed and didn’t know how to talk to anyone. My first reaction was: I’m anxious, depressed, and don’t know how to talk to anyone.
It took me about three and half years to regain some semblance of my normal personality, and I still find myself occasionally jubilant when a friend cancels a dinner date. A few nights ago, I found myself hoping for such a thing. But alas, she didn’t. And guess what? We had such a great time. I think now more than ever, connecting with people–not just friends but new people too, has made the heaviness of the world’s events a little more manageable.
Snack
Sesame Sticks. Don’t forget these little gems. Trader Joe’s are exceptional, but I’m even cool with the ones you can buy in a drugstore. They may look like dog food, but they are so tasty.
Movie
I just loved Rebel with a Clause. This documentary chronicles grammar expert Ellen Jovin's odyssey across the country with only her grammar table and her husband– and he’s just there to film her. We meet people in small towns, red and blue, squabbling over the Oxford comma and apostrophes. Confession: Ellen is a friend. Also, If you can’t make it to the theatre, check out her book of the same title. One of her grammar examples includes my beloved dog, Tootsie, a grammar nut in her own right.
TV
I loved the book Pachinko, and I was reluctant to watch the Apple series of the same name. I’d assumed that Min Jin Lee’s writing wouldn’t be sufficiently honored. If you don’t believe me, read Free Food for Millionaires. It turns out I loved the first two seasons of the show and am crossing my fingers for a third. It’s so ambitious. We meet the Baek family in 1915 when Korea was under Japanese rule and we watch the fallout of that relationship on the family for four generations.
Book
I’m in the middle of Careless People right now. It’s purports to be a juicy tell-all of the author’s experiences working at facebook for six years. I especially loved the takedown of Cheryl Sandberg. Also, Mark Z’s favorite president is Andrew Jackson.
Something I Learned
I’ve been obsessed with the evil of the Sackler family since I read Empire of Pain, but it turns out that Johnson & Johnson is just as evil. They were as responsible for the opioid crisis as the Sacklers, and their relationship with the FDA was even more corrupt. They also lied to us about baby powder and vaginal mesh. I love that I close out my newsletter with “vaginal mesh.”