January 2020 Monthly Review

disclaimer: these reviews are for my own personal accountability and aren’t really meant to be articulate blog posts. if you are curious about anything I write here, feel free to email me at nichole.lynn.bennett <at> gmail.com

highlights from the past month

• performed in my first Burlesque show!
• hosted reading parties
• attended 3-day Intimacy Direction Intensive
• Pandemic games with Peter, Marc, and Heath
• Mohini and Alex’s wedding
• visited parents, sister, grandparents, and the Moores in the Carolinas
• Sweet Ermengarde rehearsals for Frontera Fest
• started spring semester of second year of doctorate (lots of applied theater classes!)
• started partnership with Michelle Dahlenburg’s Texas State Theater and Dance in Communities class (piloting our climate change youth activism work as guest artists!)
• General Assembly asked me to teach part time
• Katie Dawson asked me to teach improv to her kiddo and friends
• had to cancel Science Fails at Frontera Fest :( (but, the group continues and is possibly doing monthly shows)

lessons learned from last month

• recategorized “life goal” categories into personal/mental health and science communication (simpler to keep track of my priorities)

theme or emotion that sums up the month

• overwhelm/excitement

outcome of last month’s goal, projects completed

• got Python code for ICA Handbook chapter analysis complete
• burlesque show

goals for the month ahead

science communication

• get preliminary data on word counts for ICA book chapter
• website up and running
• revise science communication fellowship paper and submit to journal
• ComSciCon keynote talk
• pilot climate change dramaturgy community work with Texas State class

personal

• garden
• meditate daily
• morning pages daily
• evening routine
• daily joyful movement
• burlesque/dance classes

media consumed in the last month

films

• Sins Invalid
• Thor: Ragnarok
• Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here
• Little Women
• The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
• Six Days to Air: The Making of South Park

TV/Youtube

• John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch
• Dracula
• Salt Fat Acid Heat (episode 1)
• The Century of Self (episode 1)
• Every Frame a Painting (all episodes)

books

• Dear Martin
• For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education
• Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good
• Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need
• The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human
• They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing
• Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking