Final File_01

A look back at the first month of the year.

Jan 31, 2024

Hi everyone! One of my favorite things newsletter people do are those roundups of all the things they’re liking and loving and reading and listening to (see:

Ali LaBelle

Specials, which is one of my favorites). It’s like rooting around in the brain of someone with taste and it’s a fun way for me to find new things to consume or places to go. That brings me to Final File, my version of this ubiquitous format. I’ll be sending these out on the last day of the month because I like the idea of me waiting until the very last second to decide what was noteworthy.

The Highlight Reel - standout moments from January

Launched this newsletter! Everyone has been so supportive of Extracurricular. I’m grateful for everyone who has read, shared, forwarded or told someone about my little corner of the internet. I’m so so excited to be doing this with all of you. This month I published four newsletters excluding this one and tried to give everyone an idea of the kind of content I’ll be putting out: book list roundups, interviews with people I think are stylish, cool or have good taste (often all three), and critical essays that examine what a book is doing or the way its engaging in a larger conversation. I hope you’ve been enjoying it.
Going to journaling club. My friend Akili hosted her first one recently at Early Yves Cafe and it was a hit. The place was packed despite it being a cold, rainy Sunday. We were writing on our laps, on stools, grabbing snatches of floor. She also offered great prompts to work from. Because I’m nosy, I asked people with nice-looking journals which ones they had. I spotted a few Leuchtturm1917 journals (I was writing in one myself), a massive Poppin notebook that looked like a textbook, and Akili bought a bunch of Muji journals for people who’d left theirs behind, so there were quite a few of those.
My five year-old sister lost her first tooth. It has been wiggly since Christmas, so this is major news.
Chatted with members of Babel Loft about the publishing process and breaking down everything from the art of the query to what it’s like to go from manuscript to finished novel. It was basically an hours-long AMA and gave people the opportunity to ask me very specific questions like how to structure their queries and how to come up with a good comp. The loft itself is beautiful and worth braving the many flights of stairs to get a peek. It’s just plush and Black and comfy and I’m looking forward to more days spent here.
Headed to Dear Friend Books for the launch of Jupiter Magazine, an art criticism publication founded by Camille Bacon and Daria Harper. I love the way the duo is approaching art and rethinking the way criticism can both enhance and evolve our understanding of work. I also love their focus on putting money in the pockets of artists. As media continues to evolve and bend and break, I’m excited to see a new voice in the space that has equity built into its process
Dinner @ Birds of a Feather for my fiancés birthday. I go here at least once a month (more if friends are in town) and it never fails to be a hit. Consistent, not too spendy, good food. My order is always roughly the same: pork dumplings in chili oil (don’t let your server take it away once you eat the dumplings! The chili oil is good on everything else), duck fried rice, General Tso’s chicken (there’s this little spice in this dish that once you bite into it changes the flavor in your mouth so totally it’s unpleasant. I just eat around it, because the dish is otherwise yummy), and the spicy fish filet (emphasis on spicy! But you can ask them to take it down a spice level if you want).
Visited my first born @ McNally Jackson in Seaport and bought some books, which I’ll get into below.
The lobby of Nine Orchard. I was there for a NARS breakfast two weeks ago and it’s so dang pretty, like. a Pinterest board come to life.

Lowlights

Went to IKEA to go sit on their new Hyltarp sofa and they didn’t have it on display even after it said it was in stock online.
Paying $630 in parking fees after we put our car in the wrong lot at JFK.
I was sick for a good portion of the month. First a horrible cold post-Ghana (that was thankfully not Covid!) and then an upset stomach for a full-on week. I’m pretty routine-based so it was hard to get thrown off this soon into the new year when I thought I’d be at the gym 4x a week and going to be bed at 10 and generally being productive.
Not having a consistent writing routine. I had one before going to Ghana but I fell off hard and am trying to find my way back to the groove.

Best Bites

Things I ate.

Honey Crisp apple sorbet @ Fausto
Fried Milkfish and lechon kawali @ Ihawan
A soft burrito from Chipotle
Black truffle-covered waygu at Cote
The house red at Cote (it’s a custom blend and tastes like it was designed for my palate: a little sweet, a little dry, full-bodied)
Okay slight cheat because this was at the very end of December, but the grilled tilapia and waakye at Buka in Accra is one of the best dishes I’ve had in years.

Things I Watched

I watch a lot of TV.

Expats (Amazon Prime) - I’ll watch anything with Nicole Kidman in it. Once I see that tight, slightly unhinged smirk I know I’m in for some drama. Based on the novel Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee, it follows an American family living in Hong Kong whose lives are forever changed by a tragedy. The show is also constantly examining class, privilege and the psyche of the rich in a way that I find compelling. The storytelling and writing is good (I really like the way they convey the passage of time) and the cinematography is beautiful. In other words, I’ll be sat every Thursday until the season finale.
Criminal Record (Apple TV) - This crime thriller is about two detectives that become rivals due to new information that threatens to blow up an old case. Asides from being an interesting watch, it’s one of the best examples of the way Black women are undermined and gaslit in the workplace that I’ve seen. Probably ever.
The Brother’s Sun (Netflix) - I loved this series so much. Michelle Yeoh will always be famous! It’s about these brothers who were separated at birth, one who spent his whole life apprenticing under his father, the head of the Triad and the other who has no clue that his family is one of the most powerful families in Taiwan. It’s also about family ties and being the oldest sibling and tradition and charting your own path while also honoring your parents.
The Book of Clarence (In theaters) - We went to see this during Connay’s birthday weekend and of the five of us that saw it, I had the lowest rating (6/10). I didn’t like the film all that much, but I really enjoyed the music. So much so that I was shazamming in the theater. I also can’t stop saying Book of Claance.
A Thousand and One (Amazon Prime)- Teyana Taylor stuns as a single mother who kidnaps her son from the foster care system in pre-gentrification Brooklyn. I adored this. I watched it on the plane from London to New York and was that person on the plane who was getting emo in the seat. Maybe it was the fact that I grew up with a single mom in Brooklyn but I really empathized with Taylor’s character who, against all odds, is just trying to survive and making things work.
No Hard Feelings (Netflix) - I didn’t expect this to be so fucking funny but I was laughing so hard on the plane I worried I was scaring the people around me. The humor is very me-coded and while it might not be everybody’s cup of tea, it was definitely mine.
Role Play (Amazon Prime) and The Family Plan (Apple TV) and one other movie I can’t remember the name of which seem to mark the arrival of a new genre: spy movies where the spy in question is living an undercover life and is drawn out of retirement after hiding from a shadowy organization pursuing them. And for some reason, the organization seems to be led by their parent?? It’s very odd that this kind of movie has been made not once but thrice especially because none of them are very good.
Kevin Hart’s Lift (Netflix). Also not good but an easy way to pass a few hours.
A bunch of heist movies, including the Ocean’s movies, American Animals (a heist film about stealing rare books!), National Treasure, and Burnt Orange Heresy.
Get Hard (Max) and The Wedding Ringer (Hulu) (I watch a lot of Kevin Hart movies though I watch Get Hard for Will Ferrell)—both of which were before-bed nighttime rewatches. Comfort movies!

Things I Read

Books!

Anansi’s Gold by Yepoka Yeebo - A nonfiction book that reads like fiction. Yeebo painstakingly researches the Oman Ghana Trust Fund, a decades-long grift perpetrated by John Kolorah Blay that rested on the idea that Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah, had managed to move Ghana’s gold to Switzerland and had entrusted it to Blay upon his death. Obviously none of this was true. But that didn’t stop Blay from getting thousands of people to invest in it. Some people sunk their life savings into the fund, and even though he’s been dead for years, there’s a few who are still waiting for it to pay out.
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey - This one made all the lists when it came out, and after reading I understand why. Lacey is a brilliant writer and the format is particularly inventive. It’s told from the perspective of X’s widow, who decides to write a biography about the enigmatic artist after another one comes out that she says is full of falsehoods. Ultimately it’s the portrait of a grieving woman, and while we learn lots about the complex X, we also learn about CM, who reveals herself to be insecure but tenacious and singular in her focus. I was really pushing through the last 50 pages of this one. I think the writing here is so good for so long that at some point you move on from that and onto the plot and the narrator can be insufferable at times and there were so many instances where I was reading and thinking you never thought to leave this lady alone? It’s a celebration of obsession and deep codependence but well-written so I’d still recommend it to the right person.
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue - I wrote a review of this one at the 200-page mark and after finishing it, that continues to hold. I’ll likely come back with a more in-depth review and some supplemental readings that expand the world of the text but for now: I liked it! I need something lighter next.

Things I Want

My current wishlist.

A large softcover Moleskine with unlined pages. It feels very princess of Genovia, very chic! I spotted them twice in the past three weeks, a bright red one in the hands of my extremely stylish friend Madison and then sitting on the bar at Dear Friend Books that belonged to Camille Bacon. Hers was lilac with silver embossing and created a level of urgency for me to buy my own. A few days later I chatted with the founder of P.F. Candle Co Kristen and she also has a large softcover notebook (hers is from another brand). The lines in her notebook are gridded, which is in line with all of the notebooks I regularly use. She and I are both Virgos, which I think makes a lot of sense.
A bunch of new releases that I’ll be writing about in the coming weeks.
A new pair of Birkenstock Boston’s.
Marble shot glasses from Agua Mágica. My fiancé loves mezcal and our good friends Madison (the same one with the great taste in journals) and Lex gifted her a very nice bottle for her birthday. The gift box was beautiful (truly a perfect gift!) and came with two marble shot glasses made by Mexican artist Arturo Dib. They’re so beautiful and well-made that now I want a full set. The mezcal is also very good. I’m notoriously averse (tequila over everything!) and even I can admit that it was very smooth.

Expense Report

Things I actually bought.

A vintage YSL Mombasa at a boutique in Ghana
A Free the Youth t-shirt
Shimmery waist beads
A new iPhone case
Four books from McNally Jackson and a large-size Moleskine (hardcover)
- The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump
- The Luminaries by Elizabeth Catton (I really liked Birnam Wood)
- You Only Call When You’re in Trouble by Stephen McCauley
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

In Heavy Rotation

Things I listened to

My fiancé made a three-hour long gospel playlist that I’ve been listening to on repeat. I don’t consider myself Christian but I grew up with a churchgoing mom and grandmothers so religion was just part of my life. My favorite part of church was always the music. About two years ago I only wanted to listen to gospel and I’ve become obsessed as a result. I’ve recently branched back out into other genres (I’m in a jazz phase at the moment). Some highlights, “I Am God,” by Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers, “You Are the Only One,” by God’s Property (aka Kirk Franklin), and “All of My Help” by Hezekiah Walker & LFC.
Yebba’s “Waterfall (I Adore You)”. My favorite line is “my inner critic is still a mystic”—she ate that up!
“Unflurgenized Colorations” by Robert Hurst. To my knowledge I am not related to Robert, though I’m sure if I asked my grandmother (our family historian) she would say otherwise. This song is on his album Unrehurst, which Robert Glasper is also on. As a Robert Glasper stan (I haven’t missed a Robtober in three years), it has been on repeat.
“Back Pocket” by Vulfpeck, which came out in 2015, is currently having a resurgence on Reels. It’s in line with the similarly viral music that Jungle makes, funky with an airy vocal on top. It’s my exact vibe and so the second I heard it layered over a white woman showing off her Scandi-adjacent apartment, I added it on Apple Music.
“Water (Remix)” by Tyla & Travis Scott. This has been on repeat at the gym. As a result, I’m always shaking my butt in between sets.

What were y’all into this month? I want to know.

Until next time!