This winter is both literally and metaphorically dark, but the solstice has arrived, and the light will start returning. The vaccines are shipping out, and those will gradually make a difference, too. Your mid-winter celebrations will likely look different this year (or already did, as Hannukah has passed), but the essential meaning is unchanged. The seasons change, the wheel turns, and there is hope to be found in our age-old rituals.
I’ve spent the last couple of years performing in the local Revels holiday show, and although I managed to participate in a virtual performance for 2020, the live show’s absence has left a larger and more tender gap in my life than I expected.
Years ago, Susan Cooper wrote a poem called “The Shortest Day” for the original Revels group in Cambridge that is included in every Revels holiday performance across the country. It’s traditionally the next to last thing in the show. The stage empties, the lights go down, and a single performer walks into a spotlight to recite the verse. Then the full cast rushes onstage while crying out the response, "Welcome, Yule!" The whole cast and often much of the audience then sing the last choral piece together. It can be very moving.
I encourage you to read the poem today, and if you feel like shouting the response at the end after reading through it, please do. You can imagine me doing the same thing. Even if we can’t be together this year, we can still sing and dance on our own in order to “drive the dark away.”
Current Obsessions and Compulsions: The “Consider Too Many Links (Way Too Many Links) My Holiday Gift to You” Edition
Two of my healthcare-working acquaintances have already had their first dose of the vaccine, but I don’t know whether they ended up dancing like these folks.
Thanks a LOT, John Oliver. Now I can’t stop imagining the Pringles guy’s body. (My money’s on “Lovecraftian horror bod,” if anyone’s taking bets.)
The headline on this article is kind of misleading, but the point is that robot wolves are patrolling Japan's forests.
I will never look at “DuckTales” the same way ever again. (Beware: If you click through, you cannot unlearn these revelations.)
Sure, this Scottish guy went to jail after his epic jet ski adventure, but remember — right or wrong* — this man would be considered a hero in Florida. The real mystery is what happened to the jet ski, though. (*It’s definitely wrong, just for the record.)
Here’s a useful coping skill for these endless quarantine days: “Learn to Microdose Anticipation.”
A holiday mash-up for you: “Carol of the Mandalorian.” (I finished season two over the weekend, and yes, my heart is broken just like they intended. But also, the Child’s name is dumb as hell. Everybody knows that baby should be called Yodito.)
You absolutely don’t have to click any of these. I promise.
Except for this link, which is your actual present: “Men Who Have Finally ‘Found Their Sound’ In Western Art History.”
What I’m Currently Writing
I was hoping to get out of admitting this after last month’s rousing NaNoWriMo success, but I haven’t been working on much in December. I wrote more than 50,000 words and completed the first draft of a short novel last month (it was only my second NaNoWriMo win in the 15 years I’ve participated, too), but it’s like I’m still in recovery mode. Ah, well. It will come back. It always does. Unless this time it’s different, and I’m doomed forever, and I will never write again! Yeah, no. That seems unlikely. It’s fine.
Until Next Time
Sorry for all those links, er, I mean you’re welcome! I hope you have a peaceful (and safe) holiday season.