Evelyn McDonnell

Forget East Coast Cool—Joan Didion Was a California Woman An excerpt from The World According to Joan Didion by Evelyn McDonnell about womanhood, feminism, identity and California

 “I HAVE FOLLOWED MY INSTINCTS AND TRIED TO USE COMMON SENSE IN MY BEHAVIOR.” Joan Didion said she wanted this quote from Mina Curtiss to be her epitaph. To celebrate the paperback of “The World According to Joan Didion,” Ms. published an excerpt in which I talk about “the California woman.”

Apostle Islands Booksellers

Starting today readers who perhaps couldn’t afford the hardbound version of “The World According to Joan Didion” can enjoy the paperback. I’ll be celebrating its release with a reading and signing at 5 in Bayfield, Wi.

www.apostleislandsbooksellers.com/events

How Being Slut-Shamed by The New York Times Brought Out the Feminist in Joan Didion New archival documents reveal how a sexist critique in The New York Times pushed Joan Didion to finally claim feminism as her own.

In 1984 a New York Times article cast shame on Joan Didion’s author photograph for Democracy. Archival research reveals that during the journalistic scuffle, the author answered a question that many have wondered: “Yes, I am a feminist,” she told the gate-keeping Christopher Lehmann-Haupt.

Book Review: ‘Everything Is Now,’ by J. Hoberman In “Everything Is Now,” J. Hoberman recreates the theater, film and music scenes that helped fuel the cultural storm of the ’60s.

In his latest book “Everything Is Now”: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde — Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop,” J. Hoberman offers a comprehensive overview of an inventive, tumultuous place and time. I reviewed for The New York Times. tinyurl.com/mw4nmst2

Thanks Alex.

Disappeared – LMU Magazine Evelyn McDonnell describes the loss of a loved who was seized and detained amid round-ups currently being conducted by the U.S. government.

The US government is in the process of terrorizing its own people. I wrote this essay a few months ago, after they came for an innocent member of my family. Sadly, its words have become more relevant.
magazine.lmu.edu/articles/dis...

On this Memorial Day, I'll take my marching orders from the Queen, the Boss, and the drummer.

Read the article:

www.randomlengthsnews.com/archives/202...

Graphic by Terelle Jerricks

The marine mammals of SoCal have been in mortal crisis for 2 months. I’ve been dealing with the DA event as a volunteer at the Marine Mammal Care Center. I wrote about the crisis and the need for volunteers for the Earth Day edition of Random Lengths www.randomlengthsnews.com/archives/202...

The evening included longtime activist Theresa Bonpane and historian Heidi Tinsman. Parra’s hymn “Gracias a la Vida” united Chileans resisting Pinochet’s authoritarian regime, years after Parra’s death in 1967 by suicide. Last night, we sang it together as a blessing and a call to action.

Sabia’s exquisite five-part harmonies and acoustic instruments were the balm we all needed after a devastating couple of weeks; member Libby Harding noted how rehearsals helped her and her husband and accordion player Gary Johnson cope after losing their home in the fires.

The historic sanctuary provided resonant shelter for Parra’s folkloric tunes, which seeded Latin America’s Nueva Cancion movement. If you don’t know Parra’s songs, tapestries, and life, Google her now, then buy Verba’s book.

Last night I attended a tribute to the late, great Chilean artist and musician Violeta Parra that was also a celebration of the publication of “Thanks to Life,” a comprehensive scholarly biography by Ericka Verba.

This is written by the bishop who stood up to Orange Voldemort. Everyone should be buying this. It's available on Amazon for $14. I'm an atheist and I'm buying it. #booksky

Joan Didion in "Los Angeles Notebook," 1965-67. Once again, she warned us.

Please also read Paul Rosenberg’s excellent analysis of the Trumpification of the Los Angeles Times, the history of RLN, Melina Paris’s article including my bestie Laurie Steelink – read the whole thing, and support your local newspaper. tinyurl.com/2zatzrja

The billionaire bozos who are wrecking today’s newspapers have made more apparent than ever the need for independent media. I’m honored to be a columnist for Random Lengths News and to have my essay about the imperative for a free press be the lead story in their 45th anniversary issue.

Brilliant sunset and super low tide tonight. Our neighbor snapped us walking and our dog running with strangers.

Snorkeling in a California kelp forest is like floating over a tropical canopy, but with brightly colored Garibaldi darting through the leaves. I recently had the pleasure of experiencing this with Michael Marty-Rivera, kelp curator at Kelp Ark at AltaSea.
www.randomlengthsnews.com/archives/202...

Waving hi in La Jolla.

Just remembered today is Mom's birthday so, you know, hi Mom? Is that you?

There were these crazy ripples in the sky at Cabrillo Beach tonight. Venus lurked among them and a jet navigated their squiggly trails. They looked like water breaking on shallow shores or the sand patterns beneath the waves.
The world turned upside down. Anyone know what these clouds are called?

Saturday morning Cabrillo beach

AOC comes out swinging against a Nancy Mace for targeting Sarah McBride.

"They're doing this so that Nancy Mace can ... fundraise off an email. They're not doing this to protect people. They're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kinds. And everybody should reject it. It's gross."

Phillips 66 indicted on charges it dumped tainted water from Carson refinery into sewer system The oil refiner is accused of illegally discharging hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial waste during the pandemic.

This might explain why Phillips 66 is closing its refineries in Wilmington and Carson. Don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out! www.dailybreeze.com/2024/11/21/p...

Remastered recordings by the Gits remind us what was lost when Mia Zapata was killed.

Pink sky.

I do like an app named after something in nature.