maybe you're bored by eclipse conversation or maybe it still relevant in a era of fast information, clicks and swipes. for me i'm still marinating in the power and presence the lunar/solar/planetary moment slowly sky swimming in front of our collective body. to be clear leading up to the event i wasn't eclipse crazy or even that thoughtful about how we would view. no travel; last minute glasses purchase on amazon; and a long nap with my son leading to the edge of a few mind bending moments. we ran outside and watched in wonder, tears collecting in my eyes as i watched neighbors and strangers gather on our block to view something to much bigger than our divisions and differences. there are these tender moments when we realize who much we are bound by collective vulnerability living on a wild ball that we are failing to protect. being alive and thriving has always been unclear, no roadmap, no instructions, but when we all spill outside to "ooooo" and "aaaa" together at the cosmic rebirth, it feels profound. my friend lisa told me that solar eclipse signify a time to refresh and begin again. how appropriate during beginnings of spring when the buds are blooming and bulbs are making their debut. i'm spending the next few days thinking about how i will begin again, how will i emerge? if you've been following my newsletters this will feel very consistent with my internal conversations.
on a practical note: if you're wondering what to do with your glasses Astronomers without Borders has some great resources. You can also send them directly to:
Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC
PO BOX 50571
Provo, UT 84605
speaking of spring, it's April one of my new favorite months after Benny, my 2nd sun, was born. since he was born I have read him this poem by Rod McKuen, in the days leading up to his birthday. i think you will enjoy this love letter to the Aries/Taurus month:
I did not choose
an April birth
but I am ever grateful
that the month chose me.
Not because the earth
has taken for itself
that same coincidental time
to start rebuilding,
but because
by all accounts
April is the only time
a man need not ask even God
for miracles
or transformations
they come unsolicited
and everywhere.
Tulips and the birth
of grass
morning-glories
in the morning
and lilies all day long.
April holds a man so firm
that he could swear
the screech owl's singing
was a choir of blue jays
paid to serenade
the neighborhood
like a touring medicine
or minstrel band.
April is the tuning fork
for the summer months ahead.
so now i turn to this week's push picks, which i am proud to say features my first duo. in this case a mother and daughter that made quite a splash in my life in a very short time. i met Annie during our residency in Ridgewood and hit it off immediately. when I told her what i was working on she mentioned her mother was an ordained chaplain who worked with many people end of life. i had the pleasure of interviewing her for my cookbook project. without further ado please enjoy these powerful pair with the same dna!
(and last note: super thank you to everyone who bought a push hat. you mean the world to me!)
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about annie and kitty garlid
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Annie Garlid is a musician and musicologist, and also Kitty’s daughter. She studied English literature in Northampton, MA, modern viola performance in Boston, baroque viola performance in Cologne, Germany, and ensemble singing in Basel, Switzerland. She lived in Cologne and Berlin for a total of nine years. Because she loves being in school, she is also currently finishing up her PhD at New York University, where she researches representations of nature in recent experimental music. As a viola player and singer, she specializes in both historical performance practice and contemporary music. She appeared on Holly Herndon’s 2019 album PROTO and Caterina Barbieri’s 2019 album Ecstatic Computation. She has collaborated and performed with a number of other contemporary composers and artists, and regularly plays with baroque orchestras and early music groups throughout the U.S.A. and Europe. She started her solo experimental music project UCC Harlo in 2017. Since then she has released two albums and performed at lots of venues. Bach, Joni Mitchell, and DJ Sprinkles are her musical kindred spirits. She is also passionate about clothing, dancing, and puttering.
Ordained to ministry in 1982, Kitty Garlid, Annie’s mother, has served as a hospital chaplain and chaplain educator for over 40 years. She grew up in a suburb of Boston, studying flute, majoring in music in college, and singing in choruses throughout her life. Her family life as a child was often chaotic given undiagnosed mental illness and periods of estrangement. Though painful and disorienting, these experiences gave Kitty strength and a desire to walk with others in times of illness, crisis, and death. Graduating from the University of Washington, Kitty remained in Seattle until enrolling in Yale Divinity School. It was the deep questions of meaning that interested her in ministry. Almost 50 years later, being faithful to these questions still constitutes a call to service.
Kitty has been deeply blessed by her 42-year marriage to Peter. They have raised 3 children, now thriving adults. They live in Brunswick, Maine in a beautiful, historic home with three acres of land.
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what kind of life do you want to live?
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Annie: I want to live a life of balance, music, love, and joy. I want to sing as much as possible.
Kitty: I want to live a life of authenticity and engagement.
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annie and kitty's current projects
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Annie: My dissertation. It’s about a number of experimental & electronic music artists working either conceptually or materially with water, earth, and air. I will defend in early August.
Kitty: Above is an example of my “family china.” In our efforts to clean up our three acres of land we have discovered generations of cast away metal and shards of pottery. My passion for assembling these in new ways allows me to mingle beauty with the violence done to the land and its peoples.
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annie and kitty's social impact projects
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Annie: I like to think I make a social impact through performing music in a variety of spaces and for a variety of crowds.
Kitty: Something I contribute to is the joy of play.
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annie and kitty's films of the week
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Annie: Moonstruck with Cher and Nicholas Cage
Kitty: The movie of my lifetime is the Sound of Music.
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annie and kitty's songs of the week
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Annie: Sylvia Striplin, “You Can’t Turn Me Away”
Kitty: Super Flumina Babylonis by the Trinity Wall Street Choir
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annie and kitty's articles of the week
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Annie: Tentacular Thinking: Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene by Donna Haraway on e-flux
Kitty: My article of the week is Heather Cox Richardson’s daily posting of “Letters from an American.”
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My mom’s pecan pie with fizzy dessert wine.
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annie and kitty's flower picks
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Annie: Lilacs mean spring has dug in its heels and they smell so wonderful.
Kitty: Geraniums in my ancestral town of Fankhaus, Switzerland
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and a few picks from push...
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the atlantic has a fascinating article on what they're calling "the great cousin decline".
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such a shame--I love trader joes, but this article on taste highlights some of their problematic practices.
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i wanted to share one of my favorite poems for poetry month:
by Pat Schneider
It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they're supposed to be.
I've been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?
"The Patience of Ordinary Things" by Pat Schneider from Another River: New and Selected Poems. © Amherst Writers and Artists Press, 2005.
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the lost art of cassettes
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i'm getting my son a cassette player and now browsing for music on this site
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this new show at the met sounds amazing--from their website:
"In Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art, two extraordinary bodies of work separated by at least 500 years are brought together to explore the striking connections between artists of the ancient Andes and those of the 20th century. The exhibition displays textiles by four distinguished modern practitioners—Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Lenore Tawney, and Olga de Amaral—alongside pieces by Andean artists from the first millennium BCE to the 16th century."
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we hope you are warming up and that you enjoyed another installment of push picks. as always, if you like what you read, forward it to someone or encourage them to sign up. it would mean the world to us 🌎
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