Volume 1: January to March 2022

Originally published 4/11/2022

A teacup with blue flowers filled with black tea.

Dear friends,

Welcome to the first edition of The Tea Parlor, my quarterly culture and media review. One of my 2022 New Year's Resolutions was to read more widely, to enjoy more films, and to attend live plays more often. As an English teacher and grad student, I thankfully read fairly widely, but I always find myself longing to be the person who understands film history, or who experiments with baking, or who simply supports local theatres. And I think others feel similarly, but find themselves bogged down by the overload of content on Netflix, the lack of time to try out different recipes, and the overwhelming bourgeoise association with theatres as high-brow culture that you can't understand without a PhD in Shakespearean studies.

I personally love scrolling through my favorite YouTubers' and Bookstagrammers' media reviews, because it helps me narrow down movies, books, and recipes that I can try (out of the millions that could be terrible). This quarterly review will give my recommendations on Books/Audiobooks, Films, Theatre, and Recipes. I'll also include some Passion Projects I am currently obsessed with in my spare time!

So, grab a cup of your favorite tea (or coffee), find a comfy seat, and let me know your thoughts on the first edition of The Tea Parlor!

Books

Black Writer Spotlight: Fiction

Last semester, I took a wonderful graduate English course on Radical Black Literature by Dr. Tru Leverette that gave the smallest of toe dips into the world of Black and African-Diasporic literature. And ever since then, I've been dying to view the world from various Black and non-colonialist perspectives, something that I cannot do without the aide of fiction. Fiction transports us, as Atticus Finch says in To Kill a Mockingbird, "to climb into someone's skin and walk around in it," and I find fiction gives me small glimpses into lives and perspectives that, while I can never fully understand, I can certainly feel their joys and sufferings.

My first Black literature spotlight is Blonde Roots, a speculative fiction novel by Bernadine Evaristo. The novel's premise is so incredibly unique: Evaristo asks, "What if Africa had advanced quicker than Europe and created a slave trade in which White Europeans became the slaves of African countries?" Essentially, Evaristo flips our world's history to imagine White individuals as the conquered culture and race. The book is narrated in first person by Doris, a Brit who was kidnapped by a drunken White man and sold to African slave traders. The novel flashes between her current escape attempt and her past experiences as a slave. Fascinatingly, Evaristo's book argues that if history were reversed, racism would still develop similarly. For instance, Doris' Black slave master believes in Scientific Racism--and even compares skull measurements like early European anthropologists did to justify racism in America--the African slave owners believe that White slaves could be raped because they were viewed as "less emotionally developed," and White culture was violently suppressed by Black slave owners. Essentially, Evaristo shows that the historical racist techniques levied against Black slaves would still be used if the conqueror's race was non-White. The novel was a fast-paced, stressful narration as we hope-against-hope Doris escapes slavery and reunites with her family. I give it 4 stars.

Next, Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half was a jaw-droppingly phenomenal novel with another fascinating premise: Two light-skinned Black twin girls dream of escaping their Southern Black town obsessed with pale skin, and take dramatically different paths toward freedom. One sister disappears and lives a secret life where she passes as White, while the other lives as a Black woman. Bennett's story interweaves the two women's narratives as the openly Black woman, Desiree, longs to find her missing sister while also trying to escape her abusive husband, while Stella--the White-passing sister--must live a lie once she marries a White man and has a daughter in a Beverly Hills-like neighborhood. As this drama unfolds, Desiree's daughter, who is initially self-conscious of her dark Black skin, wrestles with racism from her pale skin-obsessed town while also navigating a relationship with a trans man. The book wrestles with race as identity, LGBTQ+ access to healthcare, and familial bonds. What makes someone White or Black? In The Vanishing Half, you realize the divide is arbitrary, but still dramatically impacts individuals'' lives via discrimination. I give this book 5 stars.

Nonfiction Must-Reads

Admittedly, I'm not normally a nonfiction type of person. While I love learning, I find it really hard to focus on nonfiction, when writing is so typically bland and filled with scientific jargon.

BUT, this all changed when I began listening to nonfiction on Audible! Plus, these two particular nonfiction books are so well-written and down-to-Earth:

In January, I became fascinated with cancel culture and how shame has recently become to be viewed as some way to make your moral beliefs known to the world (and to also avoid becoming cancelled yourself). So, I searched Audible and found So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. I had expected the book to give advice on how to survive after being cancelled online, but instead Ronson, a journalist by trade, goes into the unbelievable history of cancel culture, which—I learned—is NOT a new phenomenon. Just think back to when European governments would place misbehaving people in the stockade, where they were locked into a standing position for hours as each towns member hurled insults (or tomatoes) at the poor victim. It was all about shaming people into behaving as society wants them to, which is really no different than our current foray into social media cancel culture.

Social media simply made shame have the potential to reach far outside your village or city. Now, you can have an unflattering picture taken and have the entire world view your picture and hate you (without them ever asking your side of the story). Ronson delves into this new breed of public shaming by interviewing workers fired due to cancel culture, 4chan "activists" who cyberbully people they view as evil, and celebrities pulled off their pedestals. If you'd like your faith in social media shaken even more, this book is for you! Plus, the audiobook is actually narrated by Ronson himself, and he is unbelievably witty.

Who doesn't love reading about weird cults? It's fascinating to learn how seemingly ordinary, intelligent people become duped by the most bizarre beliefs. For instance, the cult Heaven's Gate convinced several highly educated people that their suicide would "free them" from their bodies and help them join an alien spaceship as they evolve to a higher consciousness. However, Amanda Montell's Cultish is NOT a history of weird cults, although she does mention a few, like Heaven's Gate and Jonestown. Instead, Cultish begins by defining cult characteristics and then analyzes how so many of modernity's institutions act cultish, or cult-like. She analyzes MLM pyramid schemes, the exercise group SoulCycle, yoga cults, Mormonism's secretive revelation of knowledge only to advanced members, and more. What's fascinating about this book is that Montell is a linguist, so she specifically analyzes how subtle changes in language can guide someone into cognitive dissonance--a state of mind where you hold two contradictory ideas as true, such as Heaven's Gate's belief in science and their bizarre alien-suicide plan. Another easy 5 star read (and the Audible audiobook is fantastically narrated), this book will get you thinking about how cultish language is everywhere in modern marketing.

Films

I'm currently obsessed with period dramas, but unlike seemingly everyone on Earth (or at least in middle-class White America...) I cannot stomach Bridgerton, which I think is just 50 Shades of Gray repackaged as a Regency England period drama.

So, if you're like me and just want a classic historical period drama, I stumbled upon some Netflix gems!

First up, Munich: Edge of War. I happened to run across this film's trailer on YouTube, which you can watch here, and I actually cried. But, to be fair, I do cry easily. The premise of this film is this: Hugh, a Brit, and Paul, a German, are fast friends graduating from Oxford. However, during an intense debate over Hitler, who is still a young gregarious leader quickly rising through Germany's ranks, Paul ends their friendship. However, five years later, the two men must work together to convince Prime Minister Chamberlain to declare war on Germany and to condemn Hitler as evil. This mission's intense music, near-misses, and the fact that we--as students of history--know this mission cannot work made my heart race the entire film. Plus, we finally see a more realistic and sympathetic version of Chamberlain, a man who is so often taunted by historians as a naïve fool. In this film, he is a man fully aware of Germany's threats, but simply desperate to avoid another world war's carnage.

In March, I stumbled upon two phenomenal historical period dramas: Effie Gray and The Dig.

If you're an art history fan, you likely already knew of this phenomenal painting by Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais:

This disturbing painting depicts Ophelia, a woman from Shakespeare's Hamlet that goes mad from a broken heart, singing as she slowly drowns in a river. What's striking is her facial expression: entirely devoid of concern or emotion, underscoring her insanity.

However, I had never asked myself who the model for this picture was. Lo and behold, the woman Euphemia (affectionately called Effie) Gray, miserable wife of John Ruskin, was the model.

The 2014 film Effie Gray finally allows Effie's story--previously overshadowed by her two famous husbands, John Ruskin and Sir John Everett Millais, to take center stage. Disturbingly, Ruskin, an art critic, fell in love with Effie when she was a girl (and he was well into adulthood), and married her when she came of-age. However, he never consummated the marriage (and they were married for 6 whole years!) and mentally abused his wife until she finally escapes. A dark Victorian period drama, I give it 4 stars.

Finally, I discovered The Dig, a 2021 film inspired by a real archaeological discovery in Britain during the build-up to World War II. This film somehow managed to build such tension that for a second, I worried it was a thriller! However, if you're a scaredy-cat like me, feel comforted in knowing that the tension is built up only to emphasize how the characters feel stressed to complete their discovery before the war begins.

The film tells how widowed Edith Pretty, a woman whose property has odd hills dotting the landscape, hires a self-taught archaeologist to excavate these locations. This man, Basil Brown (played by Ralph Fiennes) is a loveable middle-class man who finds the discovery of the century: the Sutton Hoo ship of Suffolk, England. Here's a picture of the real dig site:

If you love a wholesome period drama that will certainly bring tears to your eyes but ultimately warm your heart, this film is for you!

Live Theatre

January: UNF Shakespeare's Performance of Hamlet

Jack Beard as Hamlet and Kaleb Lawrence as Horacio. Photo taken by Dr. Maureen McCluskey, and procured from UNF's Ethan Leckie's article on the play (linked in play description).

UNF students put on a fantastic version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, my favorite play (and his longest), at the MOCA museum in downtown Jacksonville this January!

Plot summary: Hamlet, young prince of Denmark, realizes his uncle murdered his father in order to gain the throne and to marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet sees a ghost, believes it is his father, and becomes driven to murder his uncle as revenge.

Favorite parts: The theatre was a small tiered room in MOCA Jacksonville itself, and the students created a simplistic, yet Gothic, backdrop that allowed the students' acting to shine rather than the props alone.

Plus, the actors for the dark comedy quips of Hamlet and Horacio were fantastic! Horacio added the perfect amount of humor to lighten the less-dark aspects of the play, and Hamlet--as he becomes more obsessed with his father's murder--gave me chills with his line delivery. Here's a link to UNF's full article on the play.

Orlando Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

Nathan and I travelled down to Orlando this March and saw THE BEST Shakespeare performance we have ever seen! Honestly, no exaggeration!

Plot: Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy where two people, Benedick and Beatrice--who swore to hate each other forever and never marry anyone--are tricked into falling in love. However, chaos over nothing (hence the title, there was "much ado" (or much about) "nothing"!) threatens to ruin their love story.

Favorite parts: The actor for Benedick was HILARIOUS! His facial expressions were absolutely ridiculous, and he even managed to make his "accidental running into walls" look so real and painful that we all couldn't help but laugh. Also, Benedick's friends, who trick Benedick into falling for Beatrice, kept team breaking by shouting, "LOVE GODS!" which made us cry laughing.

Interestingly, the play mixed in modern background music with the actors' Shakespearean lines, which really made the play feel more relevant. Absolutely go to Orlando and watch these plays, they make Shakespeare feel so modern and hilarious! We were cry-laughing the entire night!

From the Kitchen

Teas:

Now that I've become obsessed with antique Royal Albert bone china, I've been letting my tea obsession get out-of-hand. But really, there's nothing better than pouring yourself a cup of tea into your fancy teacup and feeling transported into Regency England after a long, technology-filled day!

My top new teas to try:

"The Republic of Tea Super Adapt Herbal Teas: Reishi Mushroom and Cocoa" tastes just like a cup of dark chocolate! And it's caffeine-free, so it's quickly become my go-to dessert tea in the evenings.
"Equal Exchange Earl Grey Tea" is just a classic earl grey (black tea with strong orange undertones), but this company is fair trade, meaning the proceeds go to the actual farmers who grow this tea!

Lavender Earl Grey Birthday Cake:

So, my birthday cake! I have been in a rather cottage-core mood this year, so I knew for my birthday I wanted a floral tea cake with multiple tiers. Luckily I found this recipe online, and the cake turned out great! The icing tastes so much like lavender, and it was fun to grind the lavender flower buds in my mortar and pestle.

Admittedly, I'm terrible at icing a cake, but here's how my cake turned out: (I decorated it with pearl sprinkles and wildflowers)

Passion Projects

A few of my current obsessions:

Collecting antique china! I just bought a 6 piece set of the Royal Albert Lady Carlyle china. Now time for tea parties galore!
Drying and pressing flowers to decorate our townhome with
Reading the Studio Ghibli books that inspired the beloved films! (and also totally rewatching the films, too!)
Drafting my first manuscript! I'm working on a novel about two sisters divided by fundamentalism.

My kitten, Luna, enjoys my Royal Albert Bone China teacup!

Thank you for reading my first edition of The Tea Parlor! My next edition will be out June 2022, so stay tuned.

Let me know what you think of my recommendations in the comments below, and if you've seen/read any! I'd love to hear your opinions :)

Introducing: The Tea Parlor Quarterly