- I'll Thank Me Later
- Posts
- I'll Thank Me Later | 1.17.2024
A Message From Kels:
Back yet again!
As much as I’ve loved making myself nice and cozy in your inbox this week, getting this many consecutive messages from me will not be the norm. I promise. I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. lol
Next week you’ll enjoy the smooth sailing of our MWF schedule.
On this edition of I’ll Thank Me Later I share the best of what I’ve been reading and watching this week.
Editors Note: Despite the countless, delirious edits I made of yesterday’s newsletter it was published with a slight typo. If you know me, I am the queeeen of slight typos. Of course, I noticed it while rereading the piece shortly after publishing but yall are real ones for also letting me know. Using my limited (read: nonexistent) budget I will now be hiring Chat GPT as my editor for future newsletters. Lesson learned 🤦🏾♀️
Now on to the show...
Table of Contents
📚 Reading
“The most glamorous girls you know are reading. They’re up to date. They’re asking questions.”
Light reading material to start because cookout culture is dying and if you can’t cook, grill, mix drinks, or provide the organic material for a cousin walk at least know how to get the spades table going. If you start now maybe you’ll be good enough to redeem yourself in time for the summer cookouts.
As “modern day slavery” rages through Congo fueled by demand for its many natural resources, including the cobalt used to manufacture lithium batteries, this piece is a hopeful development.
I anticipate that this will be the first of many weeks that The Cut takes more than one coveted spot on my weekly reading list. The Cut honestly deserves it’s own newsletter spotlight. Here is their cover story on Tems.
She was Coretta Scott before she was ever Dr. King’s wife. Put some respect on her name.
I’ve got a new girl crush and it’s something serious. Let me admit that I’m unfashionably late to this party. Recho Omondi came to my attention because I kept hearing about clips from her podcast, The Cutting Room Floor. It has slipped into cultural discussion with everything from a TikTok by creator Yola (I really can’t reference this gem enough) detailing a key takeaway from the pod to the viral clip with Mos Def I shared in my last newsletter.
Her interview style is just ✨chef’s kiss.✨ To the point, take no shit, and witty as hell. I love her. Someone tell Recho I wanna be besties reaaalllll bad!
🔍 Watching
Beyond what I’m watching on TV, here’s what I’ve got my eye on this week…
In Service to Whom (2023)
Photo by Ibrahim Hasan
Collaging sonic meditations with performance-specific scenography and digital-visual archive projections, “In Service to Whom” integrates Solange’s spirit in music, design, visual art, and cultural archive and preservation into one four-act performance.
This piece features Solange alongside a 10-piece ensemble and centers orchestral works composed by the artist between 2018 and 2023 (“Villanelle For Times,” “God Rest Your,” “Bridge-s,” and “In Past Pupils and Smiles”), alongside her contemporary music. These compositions were inspired by repetition, gospel vocal arrangements, minimalism, and the Black southern marching band music of football games frequented by the artist in her hometown of Houston, Texas. The performance also debuts the world premiere of two original works: a duo tuba piece titled “Not Necessarily In Arms Reach” for two tubas, and a solo cello and double bass number titled “If the Promise is Large”.
In each act, everyday mundane gestures demonstrate the personal expansiveness of the artist’s sustained creative process, culminating in a rare view into the immersive world of grounding practices that continue to evolve Solange’s artistic fingerprint. As she contemplates the evolution and maturation of her artistry, “In Service To Whom” was created and developed around the posture of rest, and speaks to the artist’s reemergence into the world of everyday life following periods of personal incubation and self-revitalization at home.
Photo by Ibrahim Hasan
This is some of the most visually rich, delicious, stick to your bones, stay on your mind ass photography I have seen in a very very long time. Wow. Magnificent.
 |  |
Solange took to IG on Sunday afternoon to answer some questions.
@jodiektay The habits Ive observed of the beautiful and successful mentors. #networking #glowup #glowuptips #itgirl #jodiesgems #personalbrand #mentorship
These TikToks threw me into a quality Amsale rabbit hole. What an incredible African woman with an incredible legacy.
|
|
Whatever your dream or your goal is, keep at it. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You’ll thank yourself later.
Reply