Side B editors and columnists recommend some of their favorite things for readers this weekend:
Online Musings
1. Although Side B lives in Miami with our Editor-in-chief, a few of us call the City of Brotherly Love our home, or at least our interesting neighbor. The city gives me a mix of feelings. Sometimes I join my friends in mocking my peculiar accent, other times I aggressively defend our insular diet – our hoagies, water ice, cheesesteaks, TastyKakes, scrapple, etc. Either way, having now committed to a solid twenty or more months in Boston (with no more than a few scattered weeks in Pennsylvania), I’m filled with nostalgia for Philly. Whether you’ve visited or not, this installment of The Last City I Loved is a well-written representation of our misunderstood city. - Becca
Living Local
2. I gave myself a mid-week weekend and took Wednesday off to wander around a city I used to live in. After tying up leftover loose ends that got lost in the shuffle of a recent relocation, I ducked into a local bookstore that specializes in remainders. (If ever you’re in Providence, check out the Downcity shopping district that abuts the financial district–in such a small city, districts tend to only last a few blocks–and take a peek at this place. It’s next to Tazza, which serves coffee and booze and a lot of other things I’ve never ordered.) While I ducked inside because of a thick tome on theory with an excellent line drawing of a skull on the cover, in a prolonged browse I stumbled upon a limited printing of Joan Didion‘s The Year of Magical Thinking. It had no title on the jacket anywhere, but the cover was so beautiful, an understated, almost dip-dyed print, that I had to have it. When I brought it up to the register, the man working told me that no one ever even looked at it because it was mostly unmarked, that it must’ve been waiting for me. And it was. I haven’t been able to put it down. - Emily
Healthy Eats
3. I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding a dozen times as a kid (one of the few movies my whole family could watch together), and always laughed at the scene where the Aunt consoles the vegetarian groom by saying, “Don’t worry—I make lamb.” For a good portion of the week I live at my grandmother’s house because it is easier to get to work that way, and no matter how many times I explain that I don’t eat red meat, every few days she invariably asks me if I like ribs, pork chops or veal (“What about chili, you like chili right?” “No, this chili has beef in it.” “Are you sure?”). For a number of reasons I cannot cook at her house (unlike Conscious Living) so I end up spending a lot of time purchasing my food at a market. My new favorite dish? Quinoa salad. I made this quinoa and black bean salad for a party, and have purchased some really great fruit-and-nut quinoa salads from local markets. It doesn’t taste like much on its own, so check that the spices and additions are things you like in other dishes. Although pronunciation is tough, Grandma gets excited about interesting foods. - Danielle
Film
4. It’s difficult to understand why certain artworks stay with us while others fade as we grow older. Something about Roman Polanski’s first ever film, made during his years as a student in Warsaw, still strikes a strong sentimental chord. I was shown Two Men and a Wardrobe nearly seven years ago and even through all the Polanski scandals, controversies, and criticisms, this film always takes me above it all. -Stefan
Theater
5. My recommendation for this week is the play Tribes at the Barrow Street Theatre Off-Broadway in NYC. This intimate play, brilliantly (in my humble opinion) directed by David Cromer and featuring a cast of truly remarkable actors, takes the audience on a very personal journey into the experiences of going deaf. On the one hand, we have Billy, who has been deaf since birth, though everyone else in his family can hear. When he meets Sylvia, a young woman who has been consistently losing her hearing and is fated to lose it completely, it opens up a whole new round of questions for Billy as he tries to navigate the balance between his hearing family and his new non-hearing friends. The production is running until September, but even if you can’t see it, the script (by Nina Raine) is definitely worth the read: not only is it a great story, but it asks poignant and direct questions about who we are and who we choose to be. -James
Television
