Hi! I’m Jess. I want to start consciously consuming media. And I want to help you do the same! I’m so sick of mindlessly scrolling on my phone, refusing to have a say on what I see and how it affects me. From now on I will be very purposeful with the books, films, articles, music, art, photography and podcasts I consume.

 Listen up!

On YouTube I watched the Sierra Ferrell Tiny Desk Concert. She’s a folk and bluegrass singer. I listened to her music while I was in London because her style of singing reminded me of home. Her Tiny Desk Concert was insane. Her voice live is incredible. I especially loved her performance of American Dreaming. I would cry if I saw her live in person.

Reading (except I’m not really enjoying it right now)

I’ve been reading this book called “No One Belongs Here More Than You” by Miranda July. It’s a collection of short stories and they get increasingly weird as you go along. I don’t remember exactly where this book was recommended, but for a while I was into some super weird literature where everything is just kind of slightly disturbing and uncomfortable and this book is no exception. Like, I’m actually having a hard time finishing the book it’s so fucking weird. So, I’ve been reading one of the short stories and then I read something else for a while and then come back to another short story. If you want to feel so uncomfortable and disturbed, I definitely recommend.

Movies!

I watched the movie X which is an A24 horror/thriller. And, um no one told me it was a lot of porn and a lot of blood so that was actually shocking. I’ve been on a bit of a streak of encountering weird sexually disturbing media (refer to “No One Belongs Here More Than You”). Jenna Ortega’s character got her finger cut off and Mia Goth’s character was sexually assaulted by an old woman, but the old hag having missionary sex with her bag of bones husband could be considered the most frightening scene. I don’t mean it in an ageist way, but they were both covered in the blood of those they killed so like I don’t feel that bad for calling them old okay. From my understanding, the premise of the movie is that when you age, you’re no longer attractive and your husband won’t have sex with you or else he’ll have a heart attack, and then you’re so horny that you kill people for some sort of satisfaction. A really hopeful and inspiring film.

Erm, you guys should check out Substack

I’ve been into Substack for a while, but I only recently started investing more time into the website. Substack is a website where writers and other content creators can publish newsletters of all their work. You can subscribe to people’s blogs and donate money to help them out. I found some of my favorite small authors on Substack and I recently started publishing my own stuff on there. It’s a really low-pressure way to get your work out there but it feels more intentionally than say, Instagram or TikTok. It’s also really cool to know there are other writers out there who all relate to the same things. There’s something on Substack for everyone and it’s really inspiring.