Read, Watch, Listen: Historical fiction, a bizarre documentary, and 'Man's Best Friend'
After seeing the social media buzz around the Netflix documentary 'Unknown Number,' I decided to give it a watch. Its unexpected reveal left me shook.
Hey y’all! Miss me? I was in Louisiana last week for my family reunion and my travels kept me from writing for a little bit, but I’m back with another pocket-sized post about what I’ve been consuming this week.
Have any recommendations for things I should be reading, watching, and listening to? Leave a comment on this post! Happy reading!
-Allyson 💕
📚 Read
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins
I loved Morgan Jerkins’ fictional debut, Caul Baby (if you’re a magical realism fan, you’ll enjoy it too!) so I was excited when my friend and I decided to make her new novel the September pick for our book club.
Zeal is a multi-generational story about lovers Harrison and Tirzah who were separated and searching for one another following the end of the Civil War. The book starts off with a prologue where couple Ardelia and Oliver are celebrating their engagement, and Oliver gifts Ardelia an old love letter Tirzah wrote to Harrison in 1865. It’s hinted at that Oliver is a descendent of Harrison or Tirzah (or both) and the story takes off.
I just started the novel this week, but I can already tell I’m going to be glued to my Kindle. Who knows? Maybe I’ll give a full review when I’m done!
Love is a War Song by Danica Nava
I’m excited to jump into this romance that centers around two indigenous characters, pop singer Avery Fox and cowboy Lucas Iron Eyes. Avery is caught in a scandal after posing scantily clad for a magazine cover wearing a feather warbonnet. She ends up escaping to her estranged grandmother’s Oklahoma ranch, where she ends up meeting Lucas. They butt heads, but make truce to help save the ranch after finding it’s under threat of being shut down.
📺 Watch
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Sometimes when you see shows or movies recommended heavily on social media, they don’t live up to the hype. But that’s not the case when it comes to the Netflix documentary Unknown Number. The documentary tells the story of a teen couple who are stalked and harassed for nearly two years via thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) of texts sent to them from, you guessed it, an unknown number. I won’t spoil much, but just know the texts these kids receive is some of the most repulsive, vile stuff I’ve ever heard. When it’s revealed who’s behind the messages, I was shook, confused, and sort of scared. The documentary is very much in need of expert commentary from psychologists and therapists to help the audience make sense of what they watched. It also relies a little too much on the people at the center of the scandal to tell the story and pick up the pieces at the end. It’s worth a watch but go into it knowing you’re likely going to walk away dumbfounded at what you just sat through.
The Privatization of Everything (YouTube)
When I was a reporter, I had spent many days and evenings sitting in on city council meetings or legislative committee hearings. It wasn’t super glamorous work, but I found it important especially because it concerned how state and local governments managed (or mismanaged) public goods. I no longer work as a reporter, but I’m still very much tapped into the news cycle, and I’m also perpetually curious. So, when the video above was recommended to me on YouTube, I was quick to click on it. In the video essay, creator Dasia Sade discusses the increasing apathy toward public goods in the United States. And this can be seen in various areas like housing, education, transportation, the environment, and health care.
The privatization of public goods happens when ownership is transferred from the government (which uses taxpayer money to help pay for public goods) and transferred to private companies. This usually happens under the guise of efficiency. However, private companies aren’t always incentivized to operate in the public’s best interest when their main goal is to make a profit. And that can lead to things like high costs for healthcare or lack of regulatory oversight over infrastructure projects. Basically, things can get really messy. Topics like this are usually bogged down with jargon, but this video lays things out pretty plainly in a way that easily gives context to how local, state, and federal governments operate and how they can be enticed to enter public-private partnerships without taking serious consideration of its consequences.
🎧 Listen
I don’t consider myself a Sabrina Carpenter super fan by any means, but the girl’s got some bops. Pre-Espresso I was jamming to some of her music, and it’s been interesting watching her pop ascension in real time. I’m still collecting my thoughts on her new album Man’s Best Friend. (I found the chatter online about the album’s cover to be pretty overblown. A woman can’t be provocative? Geesh!) Notable favorites of mine from the album are “House Tour” (a Paula Abdul-esque track that sounds like it could’ve been on the Barbie soundtrack) and the infectious pop tune “When Did You Get So Hot?”
Another artist who had my attention this week is the British singer Natanya, whose EP Feline’s Return is such an amazingly produced project that transports you into a world of futuristic pop and R&B. She’s even been co-signed by artist like Janet Jackson (!!!) and Ravyn Lenae. I learned about Natanya the during my daily social media scroll and God bless the person who posted about her. I’m eternally gratefully, and hopefully Natanya’s star continues rise.