January Checkup

Here’s the tl;dr from Alive and (un)Well this month.

Graphic by BFF Ash Kristoff

The Front Desk

This month sure has been a long year, but we’ve just about made it to February! (We’re really proud of you for doing the same.) 

If you haven’t had the chance to do so, we’d be so grateful for 5 minutes of your time to take our recent reader survey. While we adore each other’s company, of course, this space is really for you — so if your social anxiety makes it so that reaching out to us directly is Instant Sweaty Palms Territory, this is the perfect way to give us some feedback and ideas for future content.

FYI: We added a new “Rabbit Holes” section to this month’s Checkup (and would love to hear yours)  — check it out in the Waiting Room below!

The Waiting Room

📺 what we’re watching

• “Only Murders in the Building” on Hulu: I started this show when it first came out and while I knew I’d ultimately enjoy it, I just wasn’t in the mood at the time (I’m 100% a mood watcher, and am pretty picky when I do!). But I had a medical event in late December that kept me stuck on the couch for a couple of weeks, and I thereby declared it time to binge all four seasons. So glad I didn’t put it off longer. Come for Steve Martin’s hat-wearing antics, but stay for Meryl Streep’s loose braids (and an incredible crew of secondary characters). If you’re already caught up, check out some sneak peeks from their upcoming fifth season.  — BFF Kat

• “All Creatures Great and Small” on PBS: We recently returned to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales for the fifth season of one of my favorite shows! Both this series and the original “All Creatures Great and Small” BBC series from the 1970s are based on veterinary surgeon James Alfred Wight’s (aka James Herriot) series of books about his adventures as a rural vet. If you want a show with a whole bunch of heart, clever quips, sweet animals, and a marvelously talented cast, then this is the show for you. — BFF Skyler

• Just felt all the feels rewatching “The Good Place” on Netflix which feels uncomfortably close to reality right now. — BFF Ash

• Despite being one of my favorite musicals since I saw it on Broadway in 2009, it took me until New Year’s Day (and again the following day) to watch “Wicked” on Amazon Prime and I was so incredibly overjoyed with how they captured the spirit of the stage show in this adaptation (I can’t speak on the book as I’ve never read it, but I’ve heard it’s fairly different)! — BFF Ash

---

📚 what we’re reading

• The Zodiac Academy series by Susanne Valenti and Caroline Peckham. I was looking for a fantasy read with a lot of already-published books so I could get sucked into an alternate reality (and stop trying to sleep after a cliffhanger!). This series has magic, werewolves, vampires, dragons (oh my!), and the students at the magical school are over the age of 18. — BFF Jess

• “Onyx Storm” — the third book in The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros — released just over a week ago. It’s too soon to say anything without potentially spoiling it, but what I can say is it’s my favorite book in the series, the character dialogue and interactions — including dragons — are *chef’s kiss,* and I love 🥦. — BFF Ash

• ICYMI: Bookshop.org now has ebooks!

---

🎧 what we’re listening to

• Resistance Revival Chorus — BFF Jess

• Roman Songs — I’ve previously sung the praises of John Linnell — one of the two Johns who make up They Might Be Giants — but I recently discovered an EP he created that warrants another mention in a Monthly Checkup. In 2021, Linnell released four songs performed entirely in Latin. LATIN! The amateur classicist in me is beyond thrilled that such a thing exists and that I happened to come across it. I’ve been careful not to look up the lyrics, that way I can have fun translating them myself! (I’m being genuine!) — BFF Skyler

• adrienne maree brown on last week’s Working Families Party Mass Call. (Wanna join us for the next one? Sign up here!) — BFF Jess

• I’ve been jamming out to “That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams a lot lately. It’s had just the right amount of angst to get me through the bane of my existence: laundry. — BFF Kat

• Since watching the movie rendition of “Wicked” I’ve felt incomplete since only part one is released, so I keep listening to the second half of the original Broadway recordings so I get that sense of much-needed closure. — BFF Ash

• Whenever I feel hopeless or powerless — especially when navigating the sociopolitical challenges that are so pervasive in our society and trying to advocate for a more equitable world — I turn to Pete Seeger’s empowering body of work. In particular, I sing and play along to “We Shall Overcome,” specifically this version of the song. “We Shall Overcome” gives me goosebumps and makes me teary-eyed every time I listen to it. It serves as an important reminder that, in the words of Joan Baez, “action is the antidote to despair” and community and mutual aid are unstoppable forces of change. If you want to learn more about the rich history of this song, check out this brief interview Pete Seeger did in 2006. — BFF Skyler

• [redacted 😏] — BFF Jess

---

🐇 what rabbit holes we’ve explored

• Gardening. All the gardening. We lost our home to a storm in 2011, and we spent most of the last decade living on the coast in a hurricane zone, so general preparedness? Check! But we haven’t fully started our garden at the new place yet (also, I miss my lemon tree 🙁) so I’m making plans and lists. Now to actually do them… — BFF Jess

• (CW: suicidal ideation, intrusive thoughts) L’appel du vide, which is French for “the call of the void,” refers to the intrusive, impulsive thoughts many of us experience but not nearly enough of us talk about. Have you ever traveled by ferry and found yourself wondering what would happen if you jumped into the water? Or stood atop a mountain and had a sudden urge to jump off of it? While you’ve probably never acted on those thoughts, those thoughts are the void calling. I first learned this phrase while reading Suleika Jaouad’s brilliant memoir, “Between Two Kingdoms,” and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I recently started searching for answers on the origin of l’appel du vide, which has been a fascinating deep dive into poetry, psychiatry, and sociology. — BFF Skyler

• About 40% of my body is covered in a rash right now, which my entire medical team is chalking up to an autoimmune response (damn you, lupus), so the number of pictures of rash-covered skin I’ve googled in the past week is very alarming if you don’t know me at all. BTW, here’s a great resource of how dermatologic conditions can look on Black and brown skin! — BFF Kat

• The best bulk-purchase option I’ve found for pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution, plus it benefits the ACLU! — BFF Jess

• I have been feeling a significant amount of bookish nostalgia in regard to the “Onyx Storm” release. Getting my hands ears on it right at midnight, demolishing it as quickly as possible, then immediately flooding the internet to theorize with those who have finished. It reminds me so much of my experience during the boy wizard series book releases and reliving those feelings — especially with less complicated feelings about an author — has been such a joy. — BFF Ash

• I didn’t get into bread-making in 2020 when it seemed like everyone else did, but now I’m trying to teach myself how to make a good gluten-free bread. Uhh, any tips? — BFF Jess

The Exam Room

Missed something from us this month? Here are a few of our faves!

• If you thought we didn’t have marketing experience all up in this quartet, think again. Here’s that reader survey one more time for the metaphorical road!

• I think I’m going to lose my ear this year (Also, thank you for all of the lovely comments, friends 💖 — BFF Kat)

• For anyone whose life is touched by substance use, this vulnerable read from BFF Jess will hit you in the feels for sure

• Product reviews of spoonie-approved hair care products, a 2-in-1 (weighted!) heating pad, and a Bluetooth sleep mask

• Caring for pets when you live with a health condition

• A mini guide on when getting a second opinion might be right for you

• Calling all lonely hearts: BFF Ash shared her soul’s biggest section

• Boobs, mammograms, and anxiety

• A quick primer on the field of physiatry

Same time next month?

It may not be a leap year, but we promise a February full of content here at Alive and (un)Well! Stay tuned for some feel-good patient affirmations, a cheeky “product” review for our fellow SAD folks, tips on community organizing when you’re disabled, and a dash of poetry for all you creative writing lovers.