december rewind and news stories you should read this month
final rewind of the 2024 (two weeks late)!
Before we dive into the rewind, here are some California wildfire fundraisers and resources. If you have the means, consider donating or sharing mutual aid information with friends.
Hello lovely Tamia Talkers, it’s Monday and I’m returning to your inbox with a much-delayed rewind.
I nearly published this post last week, but at 7 a.m. on Sunday, my dad rang my cell and asked if I wanted to go to the Green Bay Packers game. I had never been to a game in my entire Wisconsin life. Additionally, on New Year’s Eve, I put “Go to a Packers game” on my 2025 bingo card, so how could I deny myself the chance of a successful BINGO in a couple of months?
Since it felt irrational to decline the offer, I halted my allotted Substack editing time for the day and headed up to Green Bay. The game was lovely, in a family bonding capacity, but violently cold. We lost by two points in the last three seconds of the game. But I’m choosing to forget the part when we lost because, on the way home, my dad asked if we could listen to the “Wicked” soundtrack. His current jam is “I’m Not That Girl.”
It’s all about the little wins!
December, as is perhaps expected, was a huge consumption month for me given the back-to-back holidays of it all. I knocked a few final books off of my TBR, watched “The Holiday” (a journalism movie), and tried my best to concoct good vibes for the new year.
We are 13, going on 14 days, into the new year as I’m writing this, and I am wishing and hoping with all of my fingers crossed that it’s a good year (despite the ever-present horrors). With all that said, let’s get into the rewind and, as if you haven’t heard it enough, Happy New Year!
in the news
Mike Leigh’s love affair with real life: I’ll be entirely honest when I say that I have never seen a Mike Leigh film in my life, but this New Yorker conversation between him and Sarah Larson captivated me and activated my deep longing and desire to watch “Hard Truths.” For every film Leigh creates, his filmmaking approach involves nearly four months of character crafting alongside actors who undergo extensive preparation and improvisation rehearsals to "ground” and discover their character’s true identity and daily routine. During that time, actors work their way through scenes while researching, creating, and memorizing a script that has never been written down. Leigh’s 2024 film “Hard Truths,” starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, excavates the life of an infinitely dissatisfied working-class woman named Pansy and her family. The creative process Leigh and Jean-Baptiste undertook to create her character was built on a decades-long foundation of partnership. The entire process sounds so fulfilling and empowering. I cannot wait to watch! Read here.
How UnitedHealth’s Playbook for Limiting Mental Health Coverage Puts Countless Americans’ Treatment at Risk: In this ProPublica investigation, reporter Annie Waldman writes that UnitedHealth Care, the U.S.’s largest health care conglomerate, was found limiting and denying mental health services to low-income and marginalized Americans to achieve cost-cutting goals. California, Massachusetts, and New York were among the first states to cite the company for using algorithmic systems to identify patients who were perceived to be excessively seeking mental health services, regardless of the severity of their challenges. Despite the illegality of the algorithm-based systems, millions of insurance plans fell out of the coverage purview as a result, leaving patients to decide between dumping their care or paying out of pocket. Read here.
Hollywood’s DEI Programs Have Begun to D-I-E. How Hard Did the Industry Really Try?: In December, Vanity Fair reporter Joy Press wrote about a spate of recent departures and firings of high-level DEI executives in Hollywood and a growing number of challenges faced by Black talent seeking to develop film and television projects. The shifts have sounded alarm bells for POC creators in Hollywood who are trying to plot a future in a seemingly unwelcoming industry. Among many writers, producers, directors, and media industry rising stars, there is an overwhelming sense that networks and production companies are seeking projects that can appeal to mass audiences rather than investing in projects that cater to or uplift the stories of people of color, a stark pivot from diversity commitments made in the aftermath of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd. In this story, Thembi Banks, a TV writer and filmmaker, said “There’s that old adage: ‘When white America has a cold, Black America has the flu.” Read here.
Other Reads
Lean staffing, lax hiring, training flaws: Why sexual assaults at hospitals are up, NBC News, Gretchen Morgenson
The Liberal New Yorkers Who Say They’re Tuning Out the News, The New York Times, Ginia Bellafante
A Man Was Murdered in Cold Blood and You’re Laughing? The New Yorker, Jia Tolentino
on my screen
Ice Princess: This was the most perfect 2024 rewatch! It’s so 2000s, so corny, so good at making me feel young and hopeful, so high school. I think I need more Hayden Panettiere and Michelle Trachtenberg in the culture. I haven’t seen either of them since my eighth-grade stints watching “Gossip Girl” and “Nashville.” I also totally think my queen Casey could’ve wrapped up her Harvard interview AND competed in the grade school ice skating competition just in case her plan didn’t go as expected. A true lack of foresight from such an intelligent girl. Joan Cusack AND Kim Catrall though, that’s magic. ✨
A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter: I resonated deeply with “wtf do I get my brother-in-law” even though I don’t have one. I’m begging Lorne Michels to put this girl on SNL as host and musical guest. “santa doesn’t know you like i do” and “cindy lou who” tore me UP! I think I knocked off a star for this on Letterboxd, because (in my mind) I’m still gate-keeping my sister Sab, and I can’t believe (nor amplify) that she’s a national treasure. I also briefly cried! Plus, QUINTA! 🎄
Spinning Out (2020): I started this ice skating show in 2020 (pre-pandemic) and watched every episode except for the season finale, so I’ve restarted from the beginning to see how it ends.
Friends with Benefits: Exactly what I would expect from a 2011 rom-com, I’m pleased, I guess, but whew the sexism AH!
Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…: I never watch comedy specials, but this one was so versatile, genuine, and heartfelt. Such a beautifully shared story and so glad this man is recovering okay.
The Family Stone: This was the kookiest film I’ve ever seen?! What do you mean that there was a sibling partner swap at Christmas? What do you mean your long-term boyfriend saw your sister for the first time and fell in love without explanation, and then put the family wedding ring on her finger on the weekend you expected him to propose? What do you mean you are so unsure of your moral stability that you took a nap in your boyfriend’s brother’s bed and assumed that you cheated because that’s totally something you would do and have done before?! I was so entertained watching this passively while on a family vacay, and I will watch it again. Diane Keaton 💫
The Holiday: This movie was cute and so random but I enjoyed it. I needed Kate Winslet’s character to have a spine and dump, block, and evade that evil man that she’s obsessed with pronto stat. Generally, I love a journalist as a protagonist, but, upon reflection, as a “unions” columnist and general seeker of knowledge and truth, why could my sister not face the facts and investigate why she was hooking up with an evil (engaged) man? Cameron Diaz, my number one diva, I loved your tearless, movie trailer editor life. Pepcid on the bedside table and struggling through the snow in stilettos, I love her (and I feel that I am her)! Jude Law. JUDE LAW! When his little daughters said “We never have grown-ups who are ladies in the house” I burst into tears but also they lied because HELLO your aunt (Kate Winslet) is here right now for New Year’s Eve?! Anyway, I enjoyed myself.
Beyoncé Bowl: Of course, this was great. You can assume how moved I felt.
A Complete Unknown: I rarely drag myself to the theater, but I will do it for Timmy Tim. I gave this film four stars on Letterboxd because of my general feeling that the plot was dragging in the second act. I feel like I didn’t know much about Bob Dylan in the first place, so I’m not necessarily THE GIRL who can offer constructive critiques on accuracy for this movie, but the structure of storytelling offered me a clear enough idea of who this man was and how his art ignited a revolution in folk music. He was one man banding! Primary takeaways, Bob was a bit of a jerk, a tortured (and perhaps narcissistic) artist who spoke through guitar strums and mumble grumbles. Oh my gosh, he was trashing the girls, it was so hard to watch. Cheating epidemic, part 5007. Joan Baez, you are too much of a baddie to be fumbling around with this man. And, for my homegirl Sylvie, you should’ve gone to Rome and fallen in love. This is not worth your time, diva. I liked the songs though and spent a significant amount of time wondering “Was this shot on film?” because the stylistic light flares were going crazy.
The Six Triple Eight: I loved this watch. I’ve been in a huge narrative nonfiction and history moment these past few weeks and “The Six Triple Eight” only amplified my curiosities about unexplored and uncovered Black history. If you’re not familiar and missed the ads for this movie, the Six Triple Eight was an 855-woman battalion of the Women’s Army Corps that sailed to Europe to ship a backlog of 17 million pieces of mail to American troops to boost morale during World War II. There were so many great familiar faces in this cast! Also, I can’t help but mention Gregg Sulkin returning to my screen looking as dashing as ever!
in my ears
In A Dream, Rockell (1998): On repeat x1,000,000 forever and always
Light Work, Elmiene (2024)
(Isn’t It) Obvious, Alessia Cara (2024): I am beyond addicted to this song. I listen to it every day. As a Cancer queen, I feel Alessia Cara has always gotten me. I am SO looking forward to the album.
cindy lou who, Sabrina Carpenter (2023): ow
American Girl, Bonnie McKee (2013): Every five years, I rediscover this song and every time it’s magic!
can friends kiss?, Camilla Cabello (2024): I discover new songs to appreciate from this album every couple of months. In my opinion, it’s an undeniable banger!
Last Christmas, Wham! (1984): Classic :)
II Hands II Heaven (2024): I really thought Miley would pop out for the Christmas performance. This album, as I’ve stated is a masterpiece.
Echo, Olivia Dean (2020): This woman!! She’s everything, duh!
on stage
Maybe Happy Ending: A musical about service-working robots who struggle to find purpose after being recycled by their owners! What could be more 2020s than this? “Maybe Happy Ending” was a delightful surprise of a musical to watch alongside my friends in December. Like many things this month, I went in without any context, and, based on the playbill, told my friends that I thought it was about a girl who bonds with her Alexa-adjacent robot (Darren Criss). I was incredibly incorrect, but the surprise of the true plot (which, oops, I’ve just semi-revealed) is far more satisfying. Helen J. Shen, you shine, diva!!
on my shelf
Wicked, Gregory McGuire: Finished it! The ending is mildly chaotic and inconclusive, but I guess I need to read the second book. I spent pretty much every page of the second half waiting for someone to come back to life. Never did.
Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson: This was the most enjoyable and inspiring end-of-year read that I have ever had. As a young Black woman, I found many aspects of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s story relatable, specifically in the chapters exploring her academic and early career journey. She even briefly lived in the same apartment building as me in New York and had the same beloved view of the Hudson River and Sakura Park! My favorite chapters included stories about KBJ meeting her husband Patrick and the reciting of a speech she gave during a high school forensics competition that combined Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Flying Underground” and Ntozake Shange’s “About Atlanta,” two pieces examining the murders of Black children in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981.
A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas: I don’t know if this was for me, but I will read the second one because a friend gave it to me.
Lifeform, Jenny Slate: Completely ignoring the title of the book, I dove into Jenny Slate’s Lifeform with absolutely no idea what was ahead. In a collection of occasionally silly, highly dramatized, self-questioning essays, Slate unravels her journey to motherhood by zigzagging through tales of her childhood, early adult singledom, and an unexpected fall into love. I listened to the audiobook, so I had the delight of indulging in Slate’s enthusiastic and vibrant monologues about the family of raccoons raiding her yard and her “stork dreams” with great intrigue. This is the perfect book for the girls who love to spiral and the loving community they share :)
Poverty, By America, Matthew Desmond: After reading Evicted in 2023, “Poverty, By America” by Matthew Desmond immediately ended up on my reading list for 2024. Desmond is a UW-Madison alum whose early work has heavily focused on impoverished and low-income communities in Milwaukee. In Poverty, By America, he scales the ideas presented in Evicted to address nationally faced economic hardships that were fostered and strengthened by capitalism and the socioeconomic structures of the United States.
And, once again (maybe for the last time), vibe of the week
I haven’t done this in a while, but if TikTok gets banned who knows where I will source my weekly vibes from! Here is a compilation of videos that I saved in my “vibe of the week” folder in recent weeks. If you get it, you get it. Holding space 💕💕💕