I don't have any favorites or bests, except for the Conflab. I'm so happy to participate here. I love the inspiring example of E. Jean leaving that mag that deserves no name and making her own new place that provides more participation and joy. Well done, E. Jean! May the new year be good to all of us.
I don't think you and Robbie have gotten yet anywhere near the full return for your bravery. Sometimes things have to kind of sit and cook in the culture. But you showed us what can be done. Unlike many, I am optimistic about 2024. What's that saying?They tried to bury us...they didn't know we were seeds.
Well, it's not really a podcast but Timothy Snyder writes a newsltr from Substack.com -- the man is such a good writer, and knows so much (about eastern Europe and WWII and explains our present world so clearly. "On Freedom," "On Tyranny," "Our Malady," "The Road to Unfreedom," "Bloodlands." Makes alot of sense.
I couldn’t agree more; Timothy Snyder’s Substack is essential in my building a new way of thinking and speaking about our coming techno-authoritarian state (appellation by Rick Wilson.)
I need to be able to think about it to 1) endure it and 2) resist it.
“Do not obey in advance,” as Snyder says in On Tyranny. We on E.Jean’s list are following that precept.
I really liked the bio-pic “Lee” about photojournalist Lee Miller as played by Kate Winslet. It shows how one woman stood up for herself and her craft against sexism and other barriers, even during a world war. Winslet does a great acting job as Lee, both in the 1930s-40s and at the end of her life in the 1970s.
Still ticking! I guess I would say my favorite TV show was Hacks. Best food? Kaiserschmarn at Fischer's Mohrenplatz in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It is an enormous dessert of plum compote with sort of pancakes shredded and sauteed in butter and sugar. Absolutely decadent. Best song, or at least the one I have enjoyed listening to a lot: Il Giorno piu Speciale by Andrea Bocelli and family. Spent a lot of time re-reading the Outlander books for pure escapism, and a lot of time reading Substacks. BUT, the best reading is often found right here in the comments section of your posts. Happy New Year, you brave, dear, amazing woman!
Janey, Which 3 dishes did you make? Living in the south, I grew up eating many recipes from Southern Living. My mother gave me a Southern Living cookbook one Christmas and I have loved it to tatters these base forty years. Cheers! Barbara
Hey! I'm a native Minnesotan, living in Alabama only two years. It's all new to me! I made a bourbon glaze for Christmas ham, a roasted brussels sprouts recipe, and my cocktail was tart dark cherries marinated in bourbon ... (Spoon two cherries and a little bourbon juice in a flute, fill with icy cold champagne.)
Book: Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg. It not only teaches what the title says, it's a great read. I heard about it on Meghna Chakrabarty's On Point. She's probably the best radio talk show host in the nation, on Boston's WBUR.
Glad to hear the date. Your chances will increase as each day goes by and more people despise him.
My mother taught us there are some things in life you just have to get over with. He’s that for sure. As awful as things will be, the undereducated masses will finally believe us once he’s given enough rope. They need the con to take place to know it.
I can’t imagine a judge who’ll not despise him as time goes on. Your case is just plain awesome from every aspect. It’s a privilege to connect to your awesomeness.
You’re the real thing unlike the Kardashians. People must learn not to connect to celebrity unless that celebrity represents value.
I do believe we’re in the dark before the Age of Aquarius. Someone needs to start chiseling a statue of you!
I guess the mills of the gods do grind slowly, but here's trusting that they grind exceeding fine. I can't wait for elected Trump (refuse to give him a title he's already debased) to have his assets liquidated while he's running an embarrassingly public and ultimately dangerous administration.
My stomach turns. I cannot think about this man at all please God let us get through these next year’s without losing thousands to viruses with this man’s mistakes. L
Wondering the same. He had to post a financial bond of some sort to guarantee that E.Jean & Robbie would be paid once all of the appeals are finalized & the financial penalty stands.
I'm sure E. Jean can clarify if there are further details, but while the money is an escrow account, she won't see any of it unless and until Trump and his lawyers have exhausted all possible delay tactics and appeals. It's expected that this will take years.
OMG Barbra’s book on Audible is 40 hrs! I am enjoying listening to it on Audible on the road…..what a journey she has had. I hope she is in good health and thriving. E.Jean Wishing you exponential love and health and happiness in 2025!!!🥂
Best movie was "Lee," the story of pioneering photojournalist Lee Miller, who photographed the Holocaust and took a photo of herself naked in Hitler's bathtub. Produced by and starring Kate Winslet. Hands down the best of the year. A movie ABOUT something.
Best TV show was "shogun." The history was an accurate retelling of events leading to the imposition of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17th century. Only the names of the primary characters were changed. I loved it.
Best book for me was 20 books - "The Billy Boyle World War II Mysteries," which one of my female readers at That's Another Fine Mess recommended. The history is accurate and the mysteries are solid. Billy Boyle, Boston homicide cop and distant relative of Mamie Eisenhower, gets on to General Eisenhower's staff when he's planning strategy for the war in Europe, then goes to Europe to carry it out. He likes that he has a cop who's a relative, because there are "low crimes in high places" that cannot be revealed in trials, and mysteries to solve. I love how Billy interacts with historical persons; in one he interacts with Lady Mallowan (Agatha Christie) who advises him on the case he has; we suddenly realize we're in a well-done "Poirot mystery" complete with all the suspects gathered in the drawing room where the detective solves the case and identifies the guilty party. In the most recent one, he and his "Dr Watson" - Lieutenant Baron Kazimierez of the Polish Army - are in the Ardennes forest with Major David Niven, chief of intelligence for the 21st Army Group as they try to outrun Kampfgruppe Peiper (perpetrators of the Malmedy Massacre). The books are best read in order, since characters from previous books will turn up in later books, and because the main characters grow and change. I haven't liked a mystery series so much since I discovered James Lee Burke.
Best song is still Artie Shaw's rendition of "Stardust."
I continue to love going to the local Italian joint here, working my way through the menu.
Dear est E. Jean, I am too stubborn to die. So that means I am alive. I am delighted to have sent off the complete manuscript of CROSSING STATE LINES, to be published by Unsolicited Press in 2026 (Unsolicited is a very good feminist press, and I have a wonderful relationship with them).
You asked about favorite things, so let me answer:
1. Best Movie
I saw it this year for the first time, but Simone: Woman of the Century (2022) was one of the best movies I have ever seen about a woman’s life. I absolutely recommend it if you have not seen it. It’s about Simone Weil, one of the most important women on the planet during the 20th Century with a remarkable life based on deeply-grounded principles and courage.
2. Best TV Show
I am forever biased in this category. I love OUTLANDER, chiefly because the actor in it, Sam Heughan, is my WHOLE sexual preference, and when he puts on a kilt and waves a sword around, it’s the perfect combination of sex, my Celtic sensibilities, and death. I swear, I once saw a video which only depicted Sam Heughan picking up a large stone, and that by itself means I need to fan myself and light a cigarette in afterglow. It may not be the quality of the show or even the richly painted fantasy from Diana Gabaldon’s novels, but all Sam Heughan has to do is stand around in various poses and receive several lines in a thick Scottish accent, and I am ensorcelled.
3. Best Book
There is this poet named Karisma Price, whose first book came out last year, entitled I’M ALWAYS SO SERIOUS, and I swear to God, I don’t know HOW she does it, but she slays me. I’m reading a poem about something totally normal, no apparent literary attempts to manipulate my emotions, and at the end of each poem, I find myself in a fetal position on the floor sobbing because NOW I FINALLY KNOW what it means to be ALIVE. I have NO IDEA how she gets to me. She’s a genius. She’s also quite young and is consequently likely to remain a genius for many decades.
Otherwise, in preparation for the book I wrote and just submitted to the publisher, I read Liz Cheney’s OATH AND HONOR in order to understand how to inhabit her voice as I wrote poems (where the poetic things happen around her, not through her, exactly). I found it edifying and exhorting like a Churchill speech.
4. Best Song
This has been a stressful year for me — My husband has needed surgery, I have needed surgery, and then there’s the whole “Anchlüss is coming” vibe of this moment. So I have spent a great deal of time listening to the most absurd Italian disco tunes, the tackier the better, because I feel better when things are too continental and kitch to be quite serious. So I listened to all the nonsense of that kind of Radio Monaco, reminded myself of Italian words I had half-forgotten, and in that mind space felt continental, hip, and too fabulous to stay morose. In other words, I listened to nothing anyone else should listen to if they respect themselves.
5. Best Pod Cast
I have been keeping my sanity with the brilliant (but not scholarly and dry) Bible study teacher Beth Moore. I have particular respect for her because not only does she read the Bible with such a depth and breadth of understanding while saying, “y’all” a lot, she got kicked out of the Southern Baptist Conference for not going along with their messianification of your assailant, E. Jean. I respect the heck of out of her willingness to blow up her career (which has led her to a new audience) and many ties she had in a community because she actually doesn’t confuse your assailant with Jesus Christ of Nazareth at all. Also, I am in the South, and I love a good “y’all.” I especially love a cleverly phrased “all y’all.”
6. Best Food
I found home cooking the most satisfying eating I did. I really can cook, but I also felt like it made me feel more powerful. I cannot single-handedly save the children of Gaza, but I can bake a nice quiche. The election may not turn out the way I wanted it to, but the quiche was in my control throughout the cooking process.
Honestly, this has been a year with challenges. The best thing that happened to me was finishing this book. If I ever win the Nobel Prize in literature, it will be for this book. It’s timing, and the uncanny relevance of one of its subjects in this moment (Liz Cheney was half my subject well before she got involved n this year’s campaign), that would be the perfect storm that would get me the prize — but while there are writers locked up in Myanmar while I am still able to buy a bottle of beaujolais nouveau at any number of local gas stations in Louisiana, I am unlikely to be the most compelling poet they read.
I am applying for a fellowship that could get me a beachfront condo to write poems from in Florida next Winter, so pray for me to be compelling there for now.
E. Jean, your newsletter helps me keep my sanity in this hour. It reminds me to be snarky and funny as a form of resistance to tyranny. Thank you for being brave and defiantly fun. I know it’s not always easy to do that, even at a distance on a blank white space in a screen. You’re keeping yourself sane, no doubt, and you’re taking us along with you. Santa Claus, I DO NOT believe in, but Sanity Clause? I think your newsletter keeps me swaggering and hopeful. Thank you!
I think my next book of poems will be in French about Louisiana. I just have to learn how the poetry book proposal process works over there. It’s quite different than ours. But right now, it was only today, I sent of the new book manuscript.
Best news of 2024 ❤️ Best book “Sonny Boy” by Al Pacino on audible , best documentary “Separated”, television “The Diplomat “ on Netflix, (also still love “ Bonding “ because it is fun and funny and my son plays the dumb roommate so well, also Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell , food is the pastas and salads at Ginestra in Mill Valley (love the pesto pasta with zucchini, drink I love Empress Gin (it’s purple) . Happy New Year to all the lovely Cat Ladies and also Dog Ladies and all Ladies!
We must continue to stand up against this anti woman , anti logic and anti common sense movement! Here is to a better year 🙏🏼💪🏼😎
Best history & politics newsletter on Substack: Heather Cox Richardson's ( but will check out Timothy Snyder's soon).
Best movie: "Conclave" -- Its surprise ending is another bestie.
Best TV show hands down (streamed): "This Is Us."
Best book I read: A tie between Frederick Buechner's "Telling Secrets"--very useful for my writers group--, and Pope Francis's environmental encyclical on saving and caring for planet Earth: "Laudato sí."
Best song: three oldies but they are too beautiful not to be still winners: Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah;" "Unchained Melody" sung by The Righteous Brothers, and "Crying" by Roy Orbison.
Best Podcast: I just listen to her on my local PBS STATION, KQED, but I think it's available also by just a podcast app: ""Kelly Corrigan Wonders."
Best Food: almost anything Peruvian as long as it's vegetarian/pescatarian.
Best defeat of Donald Trump: another hands-down winner: E. Jean Carroll's.
I don't have any favorites or bests, except for the Conflab. I'm so happy to participate here. I love the inspiring example of E. Jean leaving that mag that deserves no name and making her own new place that provides more participation and joy. Well done, E. Jean! May the new year be good to all of us.
Gayle! You just made my year better, you wonderful friend!! Thank you!!
I 💯 agree with you, Gayle
I don't think you and Robbie have gotten yet anywhere near the full return for your bravery. Sometimes things have to kind of sit and cook in the culture. But you showed us what can be done. Unlike many, I am optimistic about 2024. What's that saying?They tried to bury us...they didn't know we were seeds.
Seeds! BRILLIANT, BRON!!
P.S. Thank you.
Well, it's not really a podcast but Timothy Snyder writes a newsltr from Substack.com -- the man is such a good writer, and knows so much (about eastern Europe and WWII and explains our present world so clearly. "On Freedom," "On Tyranny," "Our Malady," "The Road to Unfreedom," "Bloodlands." Makes alot of sense.
Excellent recommendation, Marcia!
I couldn’t agree more; Timothy Snyder’s Substack is essential in my building a new way of thinking and speaking about our coming techno-authoritarian state (appellation by Rick Wilson.)
I need to be able to think about it to 1) endure it and 2) resist it.
“Do not obey in advance,” as Snyder says in On Tyranny. We on E.Jean’s list are following that precept.
I really liked the bio-pic “Lee” about photojournalist Lee Miller as played by Kate Winslet. It shows how one woman stood up for herself and her craft against sexism and other barriers, even during a world war. Winslet does a great acting job as Lee, both in the 1930s-40s and at the end of her life in the 1970s.
Kristin! You are the second cogent conflabbian to mention Lee! I gotta get on it!
Still ticking! I guess I would say my favorite TV show was Hacks. Best food? Kaiserschmarn at Fischer's Mohrenplatz in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It is an enormous dessert of plum compote with sort of pancakes shredded and sauteed in butter and sugar. Absolutely decadent. Best song, or at least the one I have enjoyed listening to a lot: Il Giorno piu Speciale by Andrea Bocelli and family. Spent a lot of time re-reading the Outlander books for pure escapism, and a lot of time reading Substacks. BUT, the best reading is often found right here in the comments section of your posts. Happy New Year, you brave, dear, amazing woman!
Yeohhhhhh! That plum compote sounds delectably evil!!!!
Thank you, Dear Roberta!
I find Diana Gabaldon’s books so worthy of time for an escape!
Movie: Wicked
TV Show: (hope this counts) the Summer Olympics. It was heavenly!
Book: Haven't completed my official BOTY list yet, but "Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books" rates high. OMG. It is us.
Food: Made three new dishes for Christmas, not an idiot in the bunch. Southern Living mag is my new food bible.
Happy New Year everyone! We got this.
Yes! Yes! Of course the Olympics counts! What a genius pick!
Janey, Which 3 dishes did you make? Living in the south, I grew up eating many recipes from Southern Living. My mother gave me a Southern Living cookbook one Christmas and I have loved it to tatters these base forty years. Cheers! Barbara
Hey! I'm a native Minnesotan, living in Alabama only two years. It's all new to me! I made a bourbon glaze for Christmas ham, a roasted brussels sprouts recipe, and my cocktail was tart dark cherries marinated in bourbon ... (Spoon two cherries and a little bourbon juice in a flute, fill with icy cold champagne.)
Bourbon Glaze!!! My Goodness!
Yummy, sounds fabulous!
Book: Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg. It not only teaches what the title says, it's a great read. I heard about it on Meghna Chakrabarty's On Point. She's probably the best radio talk show host in the nation, on Boston's WBUR.
Thanks Janey
Did you get any money yet? Or, are you not allowed to discuss. I sure hope you did!
He is appealing both wins in the United States Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit----hoping to have both unanimous federal jury's decisions over-turned.
He has a very small chance of achieving this. We should know the final results for each by 2026.
Glad to hear the date. Your chances will increase as each day goes by and more people despise him.
My mother taught us there are some things in life you just have to get over with. He’s that for sure. As awful as things will be, the undereducated masses will finally believe us once he’s given enough rope. They need the con to take place to know it.
I can’t imagine a judge who’ll not despise him as time goes on. Your case is just plain awesome from every aspect. It’s a privilege to connect to your awesomeness.
You’re the real thing unlike the Kardashians. People must learn not to connect to celebrity unless that celebrity represents value.
I do believe we’re in the dark before the Age of Aquarius. Someone needs to start chiseling a statue of you!
Thank you, Karen!
I guess the mills of the gods do grind slowly, but here's trusting that they grind exceeding fine. I can't wait for elected Trump (refuse to give him a title he's already debased) to have his assets liquidated while he's running an embarrassingly public and ultimately dangerous administration.
2026??? I sure hope the clock is running up a fat interest payment to you for the delay tactics being used against you E. Jean!
Boo to the orange menace
My stomach turns. I cannot think about this man at all please God let us get through these next year’s without losing thousands to viruses with this man’s mistakes. L
By 2026! Sheesh!!!
Wondering the same. He had to post a financial bond of some sort to guarantee that E.Jean & Robbie would be paid once all of the appeals are finalized & the financial penalty stands.
I'm sure E. Jean can clarify if there are further details, but while the money is an escrow account, she won't see any of it unless and until Trump and his lawyers have exhausted all possible delay tactics and appeals. It's expected that this will take years.
Egggzactly, Kal!
Still alive, but life is different. The second bout of Covid nearly did me in and struggling with long Covid.
I enjoyed Barbra Streisand’s book. Still deciding about movies and podcasts. I enjoy hearing about the Conflabs suggestions.
Agree with your Streisand choice, Jill! And thank the gods you're still with us!
OMG Barbra’s book on Audible is 40 hrs! I am enjoying listening to it on Audible on the road…..what a journey she has had. I hope she is in good health and thriving. E.Jean Wishing you exponential love and health and happiness in 2025!!!🥂
Best movie was "Lee," the story of pioneering photojournalist Lee Miller, who photographed the Holocaust and took a photo of herself naked in Hitler's bathtub. Produced by and starring Kate Winslet. Hands down the best of the year. A movie ABOUT something.
Best TV show was "shogun." The history was an accurate retelling of events leading to the imposition of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17th century. Only the names of the primary characters were changed. I loved it.
Best book for me was 20 books - "The Billy Boyle World War II Mysteries," which one of my female readers at That's Another Fine Mess recommended. The history is accurate and the mysteries are solid. Billy Boyle, Boston homicide cop and distant relative of Mamie Eisenhower, gets on to General Eisenhower's staff when he's planning strategy for the war in Europe, then goes to Europe to carry it out. He likes that he has a cop who's a relative, because there are "low crimes in high places" that cannot be revealed in trials, and mysteries to solve. I love how Billy interacts with historical persons; in one he interacts with Lady Mallowan (Agatha Christie) who advises him on the case he has; we suddenly realize we're in a well-done "Poirot mystery" complete with all the suspects gathered in the drawing room where the detective solves the case and identifies the guilty party. In the most recent one, he and his "Dr Watson" - Lieutenant Baron Kazimierez of the Polish Army - are in the Ardennes forest with Major David Niven, chief of intelligence for the 21st Army Group as they try to outrun Kampfgruppe Peiper (perpetrators of the Malmedy Massacre). The books are best read in order, since characters from previous books will turn up in later books, and because the main characters grow and change. I haven't liked a mystery series so much since I discovered James Lee Burke.
Best song is still Artie Shaw's rendition of "Stardust."
I continue to love going to the local Italian joint here, working my way through the menu.
I like Harry Litman's "Talking Feds" podcast.
I gotta watch Shogun!! Thank you, Tom!!!
And for "Stardust!
Dear est E. Jean, I am too stubborn to die. So that means I am alive. I am delighted to have sent off the complete manuscript of CROSSING STATE LINES, to be published by Unsolicited Press in 2026 (Unsolicited is a very good feminist press, and I have a wonderful relationship with them).
You asked about favorite things, so let me answer:
1. Best Movie
I saw it this year for the first time, but Simone: Woman of the Century (2022) was one of the best movies I have ever seen about a woman’s life. I absolutely recommend it if you have not seen it. It’s about Simone Weil, one of the most important women on the planet during the 20th Century with a remarkable life based on deeply-grounded principles and courage.
2. Best TV Show
I am forever biased in this category. I love OUTLANDER, chiefly because the actor in it, Sam Heughan, is my WHOLE sexual preference, and when he puts on a kilt and waves a sword around, it’s the perfect combination of sex, my Celtic sensibilities, and death. I swear, I once saw a video which only depicted Sam Heughan picking up a large stone, and that by itself means I need to fan myself and light a cigarette in afterglow. It may not be the quality of the show or even the richly painted fantasy from Diana Gabaldon’s novels, but all Sam Heughan has to do is stand around in various poses and receive several lines in a thick Scottish accent, and I am ensorcelled.
3. Best Book
There is this poet named Karisma Price, whose first book came out last year, entitled I’M ALWAYS SO SERIOUS, and I swear to God, I don’t know HOW she does it, but she slays me. I’m reading a poem about something totally normal, no apparent literary attempts to manipulate my emotions, and at the end of each poem, I find myself in a fetal position on the floor sobbing because NOW I FINALLY KNOW what it means to be ALIVE. I have NO IDEA how she gets to me. She’s a genius. She’s also quite young and is consequently likely to remain a genius for many decades.
Otherwise, in preparation for the book I wrote and just submitted to the publisher, I read Liz Cheney’s OATH AND HONOR in order to understand how to inhabit her voice as I wrote poems (where the poetic things happen around her, not through her, exactly). I found it edifying and exhorting like a Churchill speech.
4. Best Song
This has been a stressful year for me — My husband has needed surgery, I have needed surgery, and then there’s the whole “Anchlüss is coming” vibe of this moment. So I have spent a great deal of time listening to the most absurd Italian disco tunes, the tackier the better, because I feel better when things are too continental and kitch to be quite serious. So I listened to all the nonsense of that kind of Radio Monaco, reminded myself of Italian words I had half-forgotten, and in that mind space felt continental, hip, and too fabulous to stay morose. In other words, I listened to nothing anyone else should listen to if they respect themselves.
5. Best Pod Cast
I have been keeping my sanity with the brilliant (but not scholarly and dry) Bible study teacher Beth Moore. I have particular respect for her because not only does she read the Bible with such a depth and breadth of understanding while saying, “y’all” a lot, she got kicked out of the Southern Baptist Conference for not going along with their messianification of your assailant, E. Jean. I respect the heck of out of her willingness to blow up her career (which has led her to a new audience) and many ties she had in a community because she actually doesn’t confuse your assailant with Jesus Christ of Nazareth at all. Also, I am in the South, and I love a good “y’all.” I especially love a cleverly phrased “all y’all.”
6. Best Food
I found home cooking the most satisfying eating I did. I really can cook, but I also felt like it made me feel more powerful. I cannot single-handedly save the children of Gaza, but I can bake a nice quiche. The election may not turn out the way I wanted it to, but the quiche was in my control throughout the cooking process.
Honestly, this has been a year with challenges. The best thing that happened to me was finishing this book. If I ever win the Nobel Prize in literature, it will be for this book. It’s timing, and the uncanny relevance of one of its subjects in this moment (Liz Cheney was half my subject well before she got involved n this year’s campaign), that would be the perfect storm that would get me the prize — but while there are writers locked up in Myanmar while I am still able to buy a bottle of beaujolais nouveau at any number of local gas stations in Louisiana, I am unlikely to be the most compelling poet they read.
I am applying for a fellowship that could get me a beachfront condo to write poems from in Florida next Winter, so pray for me to be compelling there for now.
E. Jean, your newsletter helps me keep my sanity in this hour. It reminds me to be snarky and funny as a form of resistance to tyranny. Thank you for being brave and defiantly fun. I know it’s not always easy to do that, even at a distance on a blank white space in a screen. You’re keeping yourself sane, no doubt, and you’re taking us along with you. Santa Claus, I DO NOT believe in, but Sanity Clause? I think your newsletter keeps me swaggering and hopeful. Thank you!
I think my next book of poems will be in French about Louisiana. I just have to learn how the poetry book proposal process works over there. It’s quite different than ours. But right now, it was only today, I sent of the new book manuscript.
There is no better reason to look forward to 2025 than your following statement, Anne!
"It reminds me to be snarky and funny as a form of resistance to tyranny."
My heartiest and warmest and whoopingest congratulations on finishing your book, CROSSING STATE LINES.
P.S. Great title, Anne!
Sam Heughan. Say no more.
My choices for highlights and favorites of 2024...
- E.Jean -- Your well deserved reward for standing up vs. Djt
- Kamala Harris' brilliant debate vs. Djt
- Judge Merchan's decision to continue Djt's 34-count sentence
- Substack and Bluesky vs. 'X' and 'FB'
- 'A Complete Unknown' finally honoring the poetry and music of
Bob Dylan
- Marathon reruns of SNL on Channel 48 in N. Y. City
Oh! I love your list, J. Rose!
1. Best Movie: Wicked (I really enjoyed it!)
2. Best TV Show: Senate Hearings on Jan 6
3. Best Book: Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul by Rowan Jacobsen (It reads like a thriller and I couldn’t put it down!)
4. Best Song: Joni Mitchell Live at Newport (It’s Joni…what more can I say?)
5. Best Pod Cast: I don’t listen to them.
6. Best Food: Mocha Bavarian Pie (It is an OMG dessert!)
YOU are the Pie Expert around here, Kate! Do you have a link to your recipe??
That particular recipe was part of the year long once a month Bake with Kate series and I haven't published it on Substack.😋
AHHHH!
I just messaged you with an idea, too.
Help Me I Think I'm Loving Your Picks Again...Love Joni
Best news of 2024 ❤️ Best book “Sonny Boy” by Al Pacino on audible , best documentary “Separated”, television “The Diplomat “ on Netflix, (also still love “ Bonding “ because it is fun and funny and my son plays the dumb roommate so well, also Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell , food is the pastas and salads at Ginestra in Mill Valley (love the pesto pasta with zucchini, drink I love Empress Gin (it’s purple) . Happy New Year to all the lovely Cat Ladies and also Dog Ladies and all Ladies!
We must continue to stand up against this anti woman , anti logic and anti common sense movement! Here is to a better year 🙏🏼💪🏼😎
the Diplomat!! Yes! I loved it too, Sandra! And let your toast RING OUT ACROSS THE LAND!
Best history & politics newsletter on Substack: Heather Cox Richardson's ( but will check out Timothy Snyder's soon).
Best movie: "Conclave" -- Its surprise ending is another bestie.
Best TV show hands down (streamed): "This Is Us."
Best book I read: A tie between Frederick Buechner's "Telling Secrets"--very useful for my writers group--, and Pope Francis's environmental encyclical on saving and caring for planet Earth: "Laudato sí."
Best song: three oldies but they are too beautiful not to be still winners: Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah;" "Unchained Melody" sung by The Righteous Brothers, and "Crying" by Roy Orbison.
Best Podcast: I just listen to her on my local PBS STATION, KQED, but I think it's available also by just a podcast app: ""Kelly Corrigan Wonders."
Best Food: almost anything Peruvian as long as it's vegetarian/pescatarian.
Best defeat of Donald Trump: another hands-down winner: E. Jean Carroll's.
I really like your category BEST DEFEAT!
I’m Live. Are you? ☕️
Heeeeeee!
Yup!
Best podcast: Ultra by Rachel Maddow. (Anything by Rachel Maddow.)
Best book: Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller. My dad was a B-17 radio operator in WWII. Amazing that he survived or I wouldn't be here.
Best TV: Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix, and the MLB postseason.
Ultra! Thank you for the recommendation!
I Picked Ultra Too Sandie