What Would Jane Austen Do?

Dinner with Christina and Carly at Pondicheri .

 Reading: The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I didn't like it nearly as much as A Gentleman in Moscow . In fact, I liked it only barely enough to keep reading. Watching: Poker Face , on Peacock. Papi and I have enjoyed watching this, one episode at a time, and not every day. It's a little formulaic, but the sets and the guest stars are fun. I like that it changes scenery every episode. Listening to: The Beatles Channel, Sirius XM. Ever since watching Get Back , the Beatles documentary, I've enjoyed listening to them with new ears.

 Dear Florida, You are a lovely state full of outstanding people. But your governor is a piece of shit, and you can tell him I said so . Yours, Mamacita

Tonight I visited the MFAH to watch the Oscar-nominated animated short films. These were my two favorites: An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It from Olof Palme on Vimeo . My Year Of Dicks (2022) from Sara Gunnarsdottir on Vimeo .

  One night I went to bed while my children were safely in their beds; when I woke up they had been replaced by adults. This vexed me because I had made so very many plans to do fun children's art projects with them. My Pinterest boards are still full of ideas. But these nocturnal goblins who supplanted my babies have their own inscrutable hobbies, and not much interest in playing Kindergarten with me. In school I avoided art classes, watching with envy as my friends developed their skills. At the time I was too focused on making sure I never did anything wrong, ever. That's not only antithetical to art; it turns out to be a miserable way to live. So I'm assigning myself some of the art projects I pinned for those children who vanished in the night. It involves full permission to waste time and money on terrible iterations of useless endeavors. It involves finding some mentors who dig imperfect art, too, and glomming onto their style. It involves a new mantra: the process i...

Robert Baddeley as Moses (painting by Johann Zoffany , c.1781) via Wikipedia I almost walked out. To be honest, I always have reservations about sitting down to five-act plays, because I've ruined my attention span with the internet. However, a friend was particularly keen to see The School for Scandal at Classical Theatre Company , so I got tickets. When we arrived at our seats Saturday night, open curtains revealed an assemblage of random theater arts flotsam. Then the actors started playing with Barbie dolls. To be fair, the theater company's press hinted at the need for lowered expectations. "This particular adaptation is going to involve a decidedly creative take on the play, utilizing only six actors to fill out a cast of 16 characters," they said. But I was not prepared for two of the characters to be a Barbie and a Ken doll, puppeteered by other characters. I was distracted, even outraged, by the lack of scenery. There were no costumes to speak of, either-...