The Brainstorm

On conjuring ideas; plus, Eleanor Coppola's memoir, mah-jonng madness, and some animal yoga that better not come to Atlanta.

Hello readers,

Where do your ideas come from?

Sometimes I get mine from reading and chatting with people and seeing this show or that exhibit. I also get them from worrying, or embracing the silly things that cross my mind, or wondering whatever happened to x, y, or z. Occasionally these inputs dance around in my brain for a little bit until I realize they're nudging me in a certain direction, or begging me to find the answer to a certain question, or screaming that this is the good idea I've been looking for, whether I like it or not.

How does it work for you? And has your good idea ever come to you in a vision? I've been ruminating on this lately, about how some creative folks have their ideas come to them that way, and then they sit down and, say, write The Parable of the Sower, which was apparently fiction when it first came out in 1993, but has since evolved into something really real. I want to know how Octavia E. Butler saw that – this – coming. How did Minnie Evans fulfill a fortune teller's prophecy that "the invasion of Europe won't happen until you paint" what would become Invasion Picture (pictured above) days before the Normandy invasion in 1944? Who right now is seeing something that's coming down the pike and what does that something look like, sound like, feel like? How will that vision guide us, and what will it teach us? I ask myself questions like this when I catch myself in an unproductive doomscroll and need to remind myself that there are better uses for one's energy.

Here's hoping you're finding good uses for your energy and that you have a wonderful weekend ahead. If you're in Atlanta and looking for something to do, maybe check out The Lost World: The Art of Minnie Evans at the High Museum of Art. It's a fascinating exhibit about a woman who couldn't help but draw the vivid, spiritual images that came to her. Invasion Picture is among the more than 100 pieces on display there until April 19.

-- Paige

Writing prompt: Write about a dream that came true. Try to scribble it down in as much detail as you possibly can, from the fuzzy little memory you had as you first opened your eyes in the morning to the moment that reverie became a real live thing.

Find out who you are and do it on purpose.

-- Dolly Parton

Endnotes

On Containing Multitudes

Within the past couple of weeks I've read Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost and Eleanor Coppola's posthumous memoir Two of Me. These books are interesting to read in tandem. The first is a volume of very good essays about loss and getting lost that I've been thinking about and scribbling about in my journal since I read it. The second is a decade-long account about how one creative woman tried to reclaim and assert herself as she came to terms with cancer. Wife of Francis Ford Coppola and mother of Sofia Coppola, Eleanor Coppola went into her marriage dreaming that it would be an adventurous circus where she could work on her own projects and raise her kids on her husband's movie sets. The reality was that she found herself doing what her husband wanted, being a traditional wife and mother who created a beautiful home and supported his career. When Eleanor found out about a slow-growing, lemon-sized tumor in her chest, she wanted to forgo traditional treatment, much to the family's dismay. But she realized that decisions about her own body and life were hers...to...make. With that, she became the oldest woman to direct her first feature film (Paris Can Wait) and squeezed everything she could out of the time she had left. "The thing she cared about most was being genuine," Sofia wrote in the introduction. "She was graceful and strong and taught us how to look at the world with curiosity and an appreciation for nature, art, and beauty, and all the touching, strange details along the way." 10/10 would recommend for anyone who's ever fought to carve out a little creative time for themselves. This will definitely resonate with you.

The Return of Mah-Jongg

I knit, so of course I'm going to be curious about the game of mah-jonng because it seems like something else a granny would do. Except the thing is that cool, young people seem to be doing it now, which means it's probably not the place for a person who is neither cool, nor young, unless there is someone in the metro Atlanta area who is reading this and wants to a. take pity on a old dork, and b. turn me into a mah-jonng convert. Vanity Fair recently ran a story about the game and how "there's no missing the implications of skill, intelligence, and power dynamics at play." For more on this, and all the cute lifestyle accoutrements that can be yours if you catch the bug, click here.

A Few Things I'm Enjoying

Fish pattern Washi tape. These Women's History Month reading lists on Bookshop. "Alone Time" aromatherapy. Raye's new album This Music May Contain Hope. Let me throw Flea's jazz album Honora in there too.

Much gratitude to...

...my dearest Pamela D. Toler, for re-running this interview with me about Overnight Code for her excellent Women's History Month interview series. Come for my girlish enthusiasm about writing a book where I actually got to interview the subject of it. Stay for my observations on straddling the line between memoir and biography, and the prep work involved in writing about STEM if you're a formerly lousy math and science student. Of course, I conclude with a pep talk: "Having your dreams come true is no straightforward, fairy tale thing. It involves preparation, determination, occasional heartbreak, shifted gears, and ultimate triumphs. Persistence is key. So is resilience. Just look at Raye’s life and you’ll have all the proof you’ll need!"

Why, Why, Why? A Thousand Times Why?

The world is on fire, and a yoga studio in Portland, Oregon is offering snake yoga. Keep that out of Atlanta, please. I can't. But also? I won't.

If You Get a Minute This Weekend

Find a yet-to-be-published book that tickles your fancy and pre-order it. First, it helps the author. But second, when that book arrives in a couple of months, it'll give you something delightful and interesting to escape into. What's not to love about that?