Captivated by Movies
Is anyone else feeling a bit disoriented by time and place lately? Maybe it’s because we’re in a global pandemic, or maybe it’s because we’re in the height of the summer, but time has a funny way of moving these days. Our usual markers for the passage of time may no longer feel relevant, but the ways we fill our time are more important than ever.
At PWN, we believe that however we choose to spend our time contributes to our writing, whether it’s reading, listening, watching, eating or just generally enjoying these July days. This month, we asked our Novel Incubator students and instructors to tell us what they are obsessing over. What is stimulating their creativity, inspiring their narratives and indulging their senses?
July 2020:
What we’re reading …
“I just read Hold Still, by Sally Mann,” says Shanda McManus. “In this memoir, Mann gives us her own history woven with the history of place, her ancestors, and her work. Excellent read. I am also just finishing NegroLand, by Margo Jefferson. This is a rare peek into the world of the Black bourgeois and illustrates the author’s struggle with belonging and identity.”
Listening to …
Meredith Deacon says, “I’ve been a devoted listener to the ‘Happier with Gretchen Rubin’ podcast. I listen to it on my morning walks and it’s an uplifting way to start the day.”
Watching …
“My family is watching the TV series Dennis the Menace,” says Allison Tevald. “We have a rule that each of the four members of our family must be present to watch, which used to be about once a week, but we have made some serious ground in the series during quarantine. There are four seasons, 36 episodes each, 1959-1963, and we recently watched the last episode in which Mr. Wilson appears, which aired posthumously May 6, 1962. We were all sad to know that his role was coming to an end and wondered how the writers would handle his absence. (His “brother” Mr. Wilson [a writer!] comes to visit.) Besides this, we placed bets before each episode about how we think Dennis will accidentally ruin or save the day. Recently my 10-year-old surprised us by making her predictions based on the opposite outcome of the previous episode, and she was right. She has discovered on her own a rhythm to the roller coaster of episodic storytelling.”
Eating …
Zoe Gullickson “made fresh pesto from a basil plant for the first time! The plant was a gift from a friend who had her socially distant wedding in my backyard back in May so it was extra special to make a dish with it.”
Miscellaneous …
Greg Phelan says: “My novel-in-progress takes place in 1964, giving me a great excuse to spend time listening to early Beatles, reading Fantastic Four comics, and consuming anything at all about the early space program. My favorites so far have been the novels Rocket Boys and Aurora 7, the histories The Right Stuff and American Moonshot, as well as lots of TV shows and movies, including Apollo 13, Astronaut’s Wives Club, and countless documentaries. And I can’t get enough of this clip of JFK’s speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962 where he describes why the US should go to the moon with this fantastic and very famous quote I can’t believe I’d never heard before:
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
Click here for the clip of Kennedy at Rice on YouTube.
Feel free to share any comments or writing inspired by our Captivated column with us at info@projectwritenow.org.
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