Here's what's holding my attention

Not gonna lie, ever since I magically came up with the ghost theme a few weeks ago, I’ve been trying to force themes ever since. Surprise, surprise, it just doesn’t work that way.

If you’re thinking, “Uh, thanks but I didn’t need a reminder that The Simpsons exists,” hear me out.

As much as I love cartoons, I didn’t grow up watching The Simpsons even though Matt Groening grew up in Portland, OR. (He went to Lincoln High School, the arch nemesis of where I went, if you care about that sort of thing.) Somehow, I managed to watch loads of South Park and even Futurama, but The Simpsons often overwhelmed me because there are a whopping 800+ episodes.

I could never decide where to start.

That’s when a friend (hi, Zanna!) texted me out of the blue to tell me to watch some of the recent seasons. As obvious as the advice may have seemed, it helped to just be told where to start by a pal.

The only season I had access to was the most recent one, Season 37. I felt pretty attacked minutes into the first episode, titled “Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother,” where Lisa raids Marge’s closet for trendy vintage clothes… from the 1990s.

And it just kept getting better from there.

A few more episodes in and set in the future when Bart and Lisa are teenagers, Marge goes to the doctor to deal with her perimenopause symptoms. As women, and unfortunately the same is true for other marginalized groups, the majority of us relate to the following conversation between Marge and her doctor:

Anyway, if you’re like me and just need to be told to start, consider yourself told.

Over the last few weeks, the cord that lets me listen to music in my car stopped working. Thankfully, I have a CD player and do actually still own a few CDs. One of them is by hip-hop artist Oompa from Boston, MA.

When I moved to Boston in 2017, I stumbled into my first Oompa show by accident. One of my favorite slam poets, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, had a show that featured Oompa with her backing band, The Chocolate Factory.

I still remember standing in a crowd at The Sinclair while the acts changed between sets. Oompa and her band were incredible. One show turned into many more, and 2019 marked one of the best live shows I’d been to: Oompa’s album release for her sophomore album, Cleo.

The album, based on the 1996 film Set it Off starring Queen Latifah, is a lyrical journey through struggles with poverty, heartbreak and addiction. It’s gorgeous, and while difficult to pick a favorite track, I’ll have to go with “By You” feat. Anjimile.

These artists are truly what motivated me to start writing about local arts and culture, with an emphasis on hip-hop. I had the chance to interview Oompa once after she earned a spot in the Grammy’s Recording Academy in 2023, alongside two other powerhouse rapstresses.

And I’ll never forget any of it.

At this point, I don’t even remember how I discovered Lane Moore, but I’ve been a big fan for years. She was the former sex and relationships editor at Cosmopolitan before turning to stand-up comedy, most notably her Tinder Live shows, where she swipes profiles in front of a live audience. Moore has even had special guests such as Janeane Garofolo, Mara Wilson, and Jean Grae.

You Will Find Your People is basically a book about boundaries and how hard it can be to maintain adult friendships. With all the turmoil over the last few years, a lot of people have come and gone, and if you’re like me, it can be easy to blame yourself. This book provides Moore’s — who I am convinced is also autistic — first hand account of navigating friendships ranging from the ones that burn brightly and suddenly go out, to the ones that go the distance.

(Side note: A few years ago, Lane Moore put out a call for stories about dating disasters and I submitted a few of my own. One of them made it into her ebook, You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes, in January 2024.)