Get Into the Zing of It

Welcome to The Enthusiast, the newsletter that's all yum, no yuck! Every week I share five(ish) things I'm loving, from the latest in pop culture to seemingly random esoteric ephemera–all personally vetted and highly recommended by yours truly. It's finally, at last, officially Spring now, dear readers, and I'm almost fully awake from my hibernation and feeling ready to g-o GO!

Aries Season

(Warning: Astrology talk incoming!)

The more I learn about celestial seasons, the more interesting and relevant they become. I’ve always had an affinity for the four main seasonal shifts—spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and Winter Solstice—but I never really understood why these resonated so deeply until I started studying astrology in earnest. I’m a Libra sun & Mercury, Aries rising, and Capricorn Mars & Jupiter, three out of the four Cardinal Signs of the western zodiac, signs that kick off each new season.

So Libra season obviously has always been my jam, especially since it starts on the Autumnal Equinox, but I also start to feel more motivated and excited for the calendar year ahead at the Winter Solstice, bringing the Holiday Season™️ to its conclusion. Having two fire planets in a 9th House Earth sign, including house ruler Jupiter, brings a lot of Capricorn energy and potential. After Capricorn season, however, I tend to lose that fire, frequently burn out, and withdraw back from the world. I’m officially declaring Aquarius & Pisces seasons my Hibernation Season: I have no placements in Aquarius, and only a Pisces Moon, so I tend to have a lot of FeELiNgS (to put it mildly) between late February and early March.

But then! The astrological year resets and Aries season comes in a-blazing hand in hand with the Spring Equinox. There’s more sun! Things are blooming and blossoming! Yeah, it’s raining, but I can open my back door and let the rain sounds and air out that winter staleness. This is my Aries rising in action—I don’t have any planets in this first sign of the zodiac, which also happens to be in my first house of Self, but this is the sign that was on the horizon the moment I was born, and if you don’t know much about rising signs I highly recommend looking into them. I’ve always identified with many Libra qualities, but there was always a bit of an edge to all that striving for balance; it was, “You'd BETTER find that balance OR ELSE…” That’s the Aries fire, fanned by the airy Libra breeze.

I’ve felt more awake, alive, and motivated for the past week than I have in months with the advent of Aries season, and I can’t believe I only just now figured it out. I’m not saying my Seasonal Affective Disorder is a result of my zodiac placements, because that would be silly—but I am saying that knowing what’s going on above truly can reflect what’s happening here below. If we pay attention, we can make things a lot easier for ourselves, including being more flexible and understanding of how your own nature works in play with the nature all around you.

Going Out

Remember that?!

I thought my Going Out Era ended when I turned like, 29, but it’s back with a vengeance after three years of remote work/life/everything. I’m not trying to wild out every weekend, but I am making an effort to get out and just do *something* and/or see *someone* whenever the opportunity arises. For most of my life I thought I was squarely an introvert, but the pandemic revealed the truth: I’m actually an ambivert. Which, honestly makes sense as an introvert-ish raised by true extroverts.

I’m definitely not on that twenty-something level of just going out on a whim, however: I need some structure to prevent me from performing the now-ubiquitous Millennial Cancel. Let’s pick a time, a date, and place and make it solid, make it tangible; instead of the eternal back and forth of “We should get together sometime,” I’m trying to get specific and ask, “When is good for you?” Tell me when, and I’ll do my damnedest to make it work, no matter how rough of a week it's been professionally, personally, or mentally. Unless it’s an actual emergency or something I truly cannot avoid, I will see you there.

And yeah, it sucks that we not only have to try so much harder to make and maintain friendships as an adult, but the entire world changed three years ago, and we haven’t really dealt with that directly. It doesn’t help that I’m not much of a phone-talker and have irrational anxiety about calling people out of the blue and inconveniencing them, so that’s on me. But I miss your faces, sweet friends, and I want to see you. So text me, (or shit, call me) and let’s get out into the world in a way that’s safe and comfortable for everyone because…

Drag Shows Are BACK

(And we gotta show up for these queens)

I went to my first drag shows in what felt like forever over the last month, and (as always) they felt like home. When I try to articulate how much drag matters to me, I can never explain it well because there's a lot there: I loved Barbies and Dolly Parton as a child, but I never wanted to don that high femme drag myself; I love dance parties, club jams, and pop divas, but I got real tired of randos rubbing their chubs on me every time I tried to go dancing; drag even helped me finally acknowledge and embrace my own queerness, when I found both some queens and kings insanely hot in and out of drag.

There’s much more to it, I’m sure, but the bottom line is that drag shows are just fun. Not only is the performer out there living their best life, but often the audience is too, especially queer folks who don’t have a lot of opportunities to be in community as much as they want. You can expect any and all kind of diva mega-mixes to bop and belt along to alongside throwback jams with stunts and shablams, from artists who created their persona and lewk from the ground up, and have been working at it for years. Holding up a dollar to acknowledge all the effort it takes for that giant, gorgeous, good-smelling queen to entertain the shit out of you is the absolute least you can do.

Because let’s be real: drag artistry and queer spaces are being targeted by Christofascist bigots like never before, and we’ve got to show up and support our local drag like it might be the last show—because it actually could be in some states. Despite clueless cishet politicians' perceptions, drag isn’t just cisgay men creating illusions of hyper-femininity. It celebrates the trans performers who helped create the art form, punk genderfuck performers with body hair, bulges, and beauty makeup, femme artists expanding and exploring their masculinity AND femininity, performers with fat or marginalized bodies that are expected to hide from the rest of world or kill themselves trying to fit in, and everyone above, beyond, and in-between. You are always welcome at a drag show if you are there to appreciate the art, enjoy the show, and feel the love.

So, my dear straights who have never been to an actual drag show, the time has come for you to get up in there with a fistful of singles. It has never been more important to show up and make it abundantly clear that this art, and the people who create it, is not sexual deviancy but a vibrant and defiant practice individuality and self-love that flies in the face of our dying binary culture that feeds on hatred and fear. Call or email your reps, vote accordingly, but above all, get out there and tip your queens early and often.

Sudoku

And now for something completely different...

I've been making an effort to cut way, way back on my social media usage over the last year. The platforms are dying and while I’m still hanging around to watch them burn, it’s only because I have to use them for work. But since I am an ADHD Elder Millennial with many habits that are actually just deeply-ingrained compulsions, I need something to do on my phone when I’m not interested in what’s on TV that isn’t doomscrolling or rage-liking.

Initially I went for crosswords, blazing through literally a thousand puzzles on the NYT Games app, because I also am a Basic B who still does Wordle every morning and is getting better at Spelling Bee. They recently added a daily set of Sudoku puzzles to the app, though, and I suddenly remembered just how addictively satisfying this little logic game is. The UX is not great, however, so I went and re-downloaded my old Sudoku app and have been going HAM ever since.

It’s a quick way to get a steady stream of dopamine without completely hyperfocusing on reading an article or the latest bad hot take. Once I get into a groove, however, it’s hard for me to stop—I often immediately start a new puzzle as soon as I finish, pulling myself into an unending loop of the many ways to place numbers 1-9 in a 9x9 square of 9x9 squares

It does feel like I’m doing something helpful for my brain to counteract all the intentional damage over the years, there’s a bit of nostalgia for me, too—puzzles and brain teasers remind me of my late grandmother, who did the newspaper crossword and word jumbles every day, and also went hard on sudoku when she learned about it, though she could never quite pronounce it correctly. Somehow sudoku feels comforting to me right now: it’s always the same game, the rules never change, and I always know how to play it. In times likes these, if the only comfortable consistency I can get from this world is from a logic puzzle, I’ll take it.

What Else?

• 🐝 Yellowjackets, one of my favorite new dramas of 2021, is finally back after more than a year with their second season, which early reviews indicate might be even better than the first! Plus, give me all the Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci renaissances, I cannot get enough of them.
• ❌ Someone thought it would be a good idea to “revamp” the truly iconic I ❤️ NYC graphic and it is truly terrible.
• 💅🏻 Pussy Riot is receiving the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize, and I am all the way here for it.
• 🤩 Julio Torres, one of the fantastic minds behind Los Espookys, debuted his first movie Problemista at SXSW and Tilda Swinton is in it, so you already know it’s a must-watch.
• 👯 If you too are leaning into the daunting task of making new friends as an adult, this in-depth guide from Pysche is an absolute must-read.

That's all for this edition of The Enthusiast! Thank you for reading and if you're not subscribed, it's free! Be sure to confirm via email link to receive each issue directly to your Inbox every week. If you're already a fan, forward this newsletter along to a friend and spread the love!

Subscribers get access to all previous posts AND the 2022 Enthusiast Archive, a complete index of everything loved in 2022 along with the Q1 2023 Archive, coming in early April!

Until next weekend (maybe Sundays are the way to go? Y/N? LMK!), revel in Lindy West's serious-columnist review and unhinged newsletter recap of Oscar-winning fatphobia nightmare The Whale, consider an actual Mennonite woman's take on Best Adapted Screenplay winner Women Talking via Mary Gaitskill, and get hyped for the wild-yet-true Cold War story of how Tetris made it to the West.

In love and death drops,
LKH