Fran Magazine: Sunday Dispatch, Nov. 12-18

Merchant Ivory, Napoleon, George Eliot, the André 3000 flute album, and more!!!

This is the Fran Magazine Sunday Dispatch, a weekly culture diary for for paid subscribers only. The Sunday Dispatch details what I’m watching, reading, playing, and listening to. These posts will always begin with a quick personal blog before they’re paywalled for the actual content diary portion. That writing is usually short, informal, and funny, with recommendations and quick reviews. Paid subscriptions help stabilize my career in culture writing full-time, but readers — paid & not — are appreciated. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or Letterboxd (for free!). Thank you for reading!

Settling in

The week after getting back from vacation is always hell on earth, even when the weather is good and you’ve made a squash and spinach casserole (I forget who turned me onto this recipe,

Marian Bull

maybe?) and chocolate tahini rolls and a red pepper pasta. The week was still about working — confirming, reconfirming, emailing, grading. On more than one occasion, I didn’t leave my apartment until the sun was already setting. Every time this happened, I was struck by how good it felt to step outside — the last bit of sun, a gentle wind. Up until today, the days were still a little warm. I overdressed more than once, fearing for the worst stepping out my door and realizing it was not so bad out there.