What's in Your Media Landscape?
We Are What We Consume
And I'm not talking about food....
As the year winds down, I like to reflect on the happenings of the past 12 months: what goals were accomplished, what countries were visited, what friendships flourished or withered, what losses were endured, what lessons were learned.
In this edition of the newsletter, I’d like to focus on the media I consumed throughout 2019.
Television was prohibited in my house growing up, so I never developed a habit of turning on the TV. As my friend told me the other day when she quizzed me about my knowledge of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (I show I’ve watched a few episodes of): “You don’t know what it means to truly watch a series.” And she’s right. I’ve never owned a television, I rarely go to the movies, and without an internet connection at home, I have little access to online streaming services. Once in a blue moon, my husband and I will go to his office in the evening to stream a comedy special on our laptop. Any television shows or comedy specials that I watch come purely from recommendations. When Call Your Girlfriend, a podcast I listen to religiously, did an episode about the TV show PEN15, I made a point of watching a few episodes. Sometimes a friend or my sister will tell me about a comedy special or documentary that they know I’d love, and I’ll usually heed their endorsement. But for the most part, television and films don’t play a major part in my media landscape.
The only time I really consume movies or television series are on long flights. That’s when I make up for lost time. Yesterday, I traveled from Miami to Buenos Aires. All in all, we spent 11 hours in flight. I hadn’t slept a wink the night before; my friends and I made a pilgrimage to a dance club that is closing soon where we spent much of our twenties, so I basically went straight from the dancefloor to the airport. And yet, even though I was running on no sleep, I remained faithful to my tradition: binge-watching in-flight. I watched a movie and an entire season of an HBO show. No regrets.
But I’m glad that I don’t have access to movies and TV at home. I know it’s an important facet of our culture, but I also understand that we can’t consume every cultural production available to us: dance, music, theater, television, cinema, literature, comedy, and radio. We make choices about what media to consume with the limited time that we have, and my media consumption is focused on books and podcasts.
Two years ago, when I graduated from my MFA program, I started keeping track of the books I read over the course of a year. It wasn’t hard to read like a maniac during grad school—it was necessary to pass my classes—but I didn’t want my book consumption to slow down after graduation. So, I keep a running list to motivate me and to help me remember when I want to recommend a book to someone or go back to a book that inspired me. Plus, I like to see how my reading habit fluctuates from year to year.
Here are my numbers for 2019
Total: 45
Memoir: 20
Fiction: 6
Nonfiction: 6
Children’s Lit (middle grade/YA): 6
Poetry: 7
I read 31 books in paperback or hardcover (19 of which were borrowed from the library, 6 I purchased, and 6 were gifted or borrowed from friends). 14 them were e-books, all of which were borrowed through the library system. 9 of the books I started reading were left unfinished.
I haven’t taken into account the many pieces of longform journalism that I’ve read this year. I receive The New Yorker every week, which I do my best to get through but often fail. (So dense and so, so frequent!) But I will say that a lot of my reading happens online—some at The New York Times, where I am a subscriber since this year, or in my email inbox where I subscribe to 7 newsletters that I love). Still, I don’t want the internet to dominate my reading landscape. As a writer, though, it’s not hard to force myself to read books. It’s a joy. Many of the books I read are recommendations from friends, and these recommendations are often informed by something I’m going through in my personal life. My mother and I often volley book recommendations back and forth to each other, and as a family, we’re always in the middle of perpetual book trades.
Podcasts also occupy a huge percentage of my media consumption. I listen to them constantly, and I think it’s safe to say that podcasts have, in a way, replaced music in my life. Maybe it’s a sad truth, and for sure there’s loss there, but it’s a fact. While I cook and drive and draw, I listen to podcasts.
The podcasts that I listen to are constantly in flux, but there were 11 that I tuned into religiously in 2019 and 7 that I listened to sporadically. Some of them are new to me this year, and others I’ve been a devoted listener for a long time. Again, there’s only so much time in a day, and some podcasts that I love have fallen to the wayside as they’ve been replaced by other offerings. For example, I used to listen to every episode of On Being, but as of late, I seem to gravitate more towards interviews on Fresh Air and Hurry Slowly. Also, this year I’ve started listening to more news and politics by adding shows like The Daily and Latino USA to my feed. I also enjoy shows with shorter episodes, like The Slowdown, which curates a different poem every day.
Go here for a full list of the books and podcasts that I consumed in 2019.
In terms of writing, I’m proud to say that I wrote this newsletter consistently; this is the 38th! I also published several pieces that I’m proud of, including my latest in The Rumpus about my father’s love of food and how this changed over time.
In 2019, I’d like to increase my intake of music (live and recorded) as well as dance (performance). I’ll be working on a memoir in 2019, so I think I’ll ease off on my memoir consumption. I’d also like to read and engage with more poetry; getting poetry via a podcast is nice, but I’d like to develop the habit of reading more poetry on the page, where I can savor it slowly.
There’s only so many hours in a day to work, play, and engage with the very saturated media landscape. What media are you consuming the most these days? And what role is it playing in your life: entertainment, informative, or spiritual balm?
Tip of the Week
Airplane mode is your best friend, especially during the holidays! Don't let yourself be tempted and stay in the moment. They'll be over in a flash, so might as well enjoy it.
Digital Life Around the Web
Trump is making millions off the impeachment--thanks to Facebook.
What is Instagram without likes??
LOVED this interview with filmmaker and Webby award founder, Tiffany Shlain, about the weekly technology Sabbath she's been practicing for a decade.
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Thanks for reading!