Yearning

A while back, on a hike in the southwest, we underestimated how much water we’d need for the day. Trudging for miles and hours, ever thirstier, we dreamed of a big glass of Dr. Pepper with ice (I know, but the heart wants what it wants) with such yearning that we almost believed we could conjure it out of the hot air in front of us. When we finally got to the trailhead visitor center we sagged over the water fountain, drinking deeply. Strangely though, after a little while we kind of missed the yearning. In the dream we had Dr. Pepper. With ice.

Of course we were grateful and relieved. We didn’t really want to feel such want again. But in desire there is possibility. Maybe unrealistic, even crazy, but we can still want; there is no limit on wanting. What’s in your head is yours. So let fly. Yearn. For money, youth, fame, whatever you don’t have, but dearly wish you did. You might even get that Dr. Pepper at a convenience store a few miles down the road.

Speaking of yearning (for a properly functioning government), we recently finished the Senate Immersion Module (SIM) with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute (EMK). Students role-play senators in the full-size EMK recreation of the Senate chamber. Students speak and debate, each using a tablet computer to learn about the bill, see the positions they hold as senators, and vote. There’s way more to it, but we’ll leave it at that for now. It’s truly immersive civic education.

Our picks below are meant to salve the battered mind, lend a perspective beyond this little screen, banish the chaos of the world, and offer safe passage to the yearning for escape. If you’re weary and need relief—if you’re not, you’re not paying attention—this is for you.  

Wasn't It Kind of Wonderful

Lianne La Havas
Here’s a plush velvet couch and a fluffy fleece blanket. Give yourself four minutes and eight seconds to be immersed in bittersweet yearning, looking back beyond pain to the good, the joy, and realizing that it was worth it. It has to be worth it, like beating through the brambles to discover a view of the sunset on the crashing waves. Ephemeral as it is, and you’re gonna have to walk back through the brambles in the dark, there is a hunger that can only be sated by this kind of exquisite beauty. Sure it’s gone in a few minutes. But what a few minutes. As Robert Frost said, “Nothing gold can stay.” If any of us can say that even a moment of this topsy-turvy life was kind of wonderful, and mean it, we are lucky indeed.

Billions

Showtime (Series finale was a few weeks ago, so you can binge all seven seasons)
Quippier than Yogi Berra on three cups of coffee. Greed, ego, power, pride, lust; all the basic food groups are here. Bad, bad people, some of whom turn good, some of whom turn ever badder flay each other in this playground of sumptuous sets and locations, ever ignoring the privilege they hold—it’s never enough. One begins to feel sorry for them with their billions, grasping, longing for a “Rosebud” in the ethically filthy dumpsters of their private equity firms. The Attorney General of Southern New York (brilliantly brought to life by Paul Giamatti) indulges in his own sado-masochistic pleasures (don’t ask, just watch). There’s plenty of delicious schadenfreude in witnessing these “poor” people choking on their outsized ambitions.

Gardener's World

BBC
Gardening is good for everyone in so many ways; fresh air, exercise, endless fulfillment. The only thing that rivals gardening is watching someone else garden. Monty Don has been hosting Gardener’s World for too many years to count, and like his garden, Longmeadow, he never runs out of chores. But he takes his time in his rumpled worker’s jacket and purple trousers, meandering from pruning Alchemilla mollis to lovingly remonstrating his golden retrievers to please not sleep in the herbaceous borders. In a word: Ahhhh. Monty, Rachel, Frances, Nick, Carol, and others, really like you, and they really want your garden to succeed, and if you don’t have a garden, or even if you do, they don’t mind if you doze off. They’ve got it under control.

In memory of Brad Larson, old friend, valued collaborator, and open-hearted soul.

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