Plus Día de los Muertos! Celebrating The Day of the Dead with Performance Art, Elaborate Costumes & The Bread of the Dead!

Reading: The Rose Field (The Book of Dust, Volume 3) by Philip Pullman

Listening: Everybody Scream by Florence + The Machine

Looking: Celebrating Día de los Muertos [The Day of the Dead] with the Art of Teotecpatl Santin Martinez & the Cultural Collective Yaotecame! (Videography by Francisco González)

Viewing: Hedda (2025) — written & directed by Nia DaCosta (based on Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen) starring Tessa Thompson as Hedda, plus a stellar supporting cast including Nina Hoss & Imogen Poots

Tasting: Baking for Día de los Muertos! Mely Martinez’s Recipe for Pan de Muerto: The Bread of the Dead! (from her wonderful blog — Mexico in my Kitchen)

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Philip Pullman: “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

Plus Anne Waldman's newest collection of visionary poetry & the cheesy toasted goodness of traditional Welsh Rarebit!

Reading: Mesopotopia by Anne Waldman

Listening #1: A Tribute to the Legendary Dave Ball of Soft Cell (May 3, 1959 – October 22, 2025)

Listening #2: Mirrors (Expanded 50th Anniversary Edition) by Peggy Lee

Looking: New Exhibition! Nigerian Modernism at the Tate Modern in London! (On view until May 10, 2026!)

Viewing: Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore (PBS American Masters) — documentary about Marlee Matlin, directed by Shoshannah Stern

Tasting: Traditional Welsh Rarebit (NOT Welsh Rabbit! No rabbits were harmed!)

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Anne Waldman: “Poets have to keep pushing, pushing, against the darkness, and write their way out of it as well.”

Plus Aimee Lou Wood's charming new rom-com, Charles Lloyd's brilliant new album & The Complete Book of Cheese!

Reading: Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic by Harmonia Rosales

Looking: The Art of Harmonia Rosales (as featured in her new book, Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic!)

Listening: Figure in Blue by Charles Lloyd

Viewing #1: Film Club (BBC iPlayer) — created & co-written by Aimee Lou Wood, starring Aimee Lou Wood & Nabhaan Rizwan (with a cast including Suranne Jones, Owen Cooper, Adam Long & Liv Hill)

Viewing #2: Riot Women (BBC iPlayer & BritBox) — created, written & directed by Sally Wainwright, starring Joanna Scanlan, Rosalie Craig, Tamsin Greig, Lorraine Ashbourne & Amelia Bullmore

Tasting: The Complete Book of Cheese (1955) by Bob Brown

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (October 25, 1946 – October 13, 2025): “We lived our true selves. We enjoyed our lives. We did what we had to do to survive.” — Miss Major Griffin-Gracy [Source]

Plus multimedia artist Hew Locke at the Yale Center for British Art, wisdom from W. E. B. Du Bois, & a flavorful flight of Greek craft beers!

Reading: The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith

Listening: Saving Grace by Robert Plant

Looking: The Art of Hew Locke (born October 13, 1959) in the Current Exhibition: Hew Locke: Passages, at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, CT!

Viewing #1: Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall (Netflix) — a deeply moving & deeply hopeful final interview with Jane Goodall (April 3, 1934 – October 1, 2025)

Viewing #2: Frauds (ITVX) — six-part British crime thriller starring Suranne Jones & Jodie Whittaker (created by Suranne Jones & Anne-Marie O’Connor)

Tasting: A Flavorful Flight of Greek Craft Beers!

• Drama Queen - Midnight Circus Gypsy Brewing (Red Ale)
• Chios IPA - Chios Microbrewery (IPA - American style)
• Kyria Toula (Κυρία Τούλα) - Sourmena Brew (IPA - New England style)

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: W. E. B. Du Bois (1868 – 1963): “Ignorance is a cure for nothing.”

Plus a brilliant new album honoring Dinah Washington & a 17th-century Flemish painter finally getting her flowers!

Reading: Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950 by Eli Erlick

Listening: For Dinah by Ledisi

Looking: The Art of Michaelina Wautier (1604 – 1689) Featured in the New Exhibition: Michaelina Wautier, Painter, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna!

Viewing: The Hack (ITVX & Stan) — created & written by Jack Thorne, detailing the News International phone hacking scandal, starring an ensemble cast led by David Tennant, Toby Jones & Robert Carlyle

Tasting: Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love by Samin Nosrat

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Jamison Green: “Being true to oneself creates the integrity and self-respect we need to have if we are to extend that respect to others.” — Jamison Green

Plus art & Indigenous activism from Santiago Yahuarcani, wisdom from Howard Zinn, and culinary trailblazers Georgiana Viou & Inez Cook!

Reading: The Highest Apple: Sappho and the Lesbian Poetic Tradition by Judy Grahn

Listening: Mulatu Plays Mulatu by Mulatu Astatke

Looking: The Art of Santiago Yahuarcani

Viewing: Griffin in Summer (2024) — written & directed by Nicholas Colia, starring Everett Blunck, Owen Teague & Melanie Lynskey

Tasting: Two Fantastic Videos Celebrating Two Groundbreaking Women in the World of Cuisine! Georgiana Viou (the first Black woman to earn a Michelin star in France!) & Inez Cook (owner of Salmon N’ Bannock, Vancouver’s only Indigenous Restaurant!)

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010): “They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.” — Howard Zinn [Source: Azquotes]

https://epicureanvagabonds.substack.com/p/aesthetic-arrest-mulatu-astatke-griffin

Plus Rabih Alameddine's brilliant new novel, the homoerotic art of Yannis Tsarouchis & wisdom from Anna Deavere Smith!

Reading: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

Listening: Eternamente Omara by Omara Portuondo (produced by Roberto Fonseca)

Looking: The Art of Yannis Tsarouchis (1910 – 1989)

Viewing: Benediction (2021) — written & directed by Terence Davies, starring Jack Lowden & Peter Capaldi as poet Siegfried Sassoon

Tasting: Ryan Elston’s Birthday Feast!

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950): “Those in the margins are always trying to get to the center, and those at the center, frequently in the name of tradition, are trying to keep the margins at a distance.” — Anna Deavere Smith

“Art simply can’t be stopped.” — Anna Deavere Smith

Plus Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, Emily Kam Kngwarray at the Tate Modern & Naan Stop Indian Cuisine!

Reading: When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution’s Greatest Romance by Riley Black

Listening #1: Antidepressants by Suede

Listening #2: Black Thunder by Brittany Davis

Looking: The Art of Emily Kam Kngwarray — Current Exhibition at the Tate Modern! On view until January 11, 2026!

Viewing: I, Daniel Blake (2016) — directed by Ken Loach, starring Dave Johns & Hayley Squires

Tasting: Naan Stop Indian Cuisine (Athens, Greece)

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Richard Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960): “Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” — Richard Wright [Source: Azquotes]