What's New, December 2025
Wow! Another year! Seems like it was the new year only twelve newsletters ago... But it was eleven.
It was such an eventful year! I performed in 12 Angry Jurors, at Vox Pop, in North Carolina, at Boston Black Pride, and at the Northbeast poetry festival. Speaking of North Carolina! I took this photo with Fat at his birthday show.
I wrote and produced a play. I premiered a short film and it screened at three different festivals. I completed a residency. I released a poetry album, a rap EP, and three singles.
And then finally, my media goals! I was aiming for 12 each of books, albums, and movies.
I read 12 books: 12 Angry Men x Reginald Rose, Notes of a Native Son x James Baldwin, Letters from Palestine x various authors, Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory x Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Poststructuralism x Catherine Belsey, The Big Book of Exit Strategies x Jamaal May, Revenge of the Tipping Point x Malcolm Gladwell, The Tradition x Jericho Brown, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin x Terrance Hayes, Mindfucking Mindfully x Sir Ezra Algos, Seven Guitars x August Wilson, and 100 Poems to Help You Sleep (a pun-intended sleeper that I worked my way through all year). Apropos of nothing, I also read submissions for the HVWG Nonfiction Contest and listened to the better part of the audiobook of All About Love x bell hooks. Nailed it!
I listened to 13 albums: Don't Know Why x Nora Jones, New Blue Sun x Andre 3000, Alligator Bites Never Heal x Doechii, Reasonable Drought x Stove God Cooks, SOS x SZA, Feel Like Makin' Love x Roberta Flack, On The Threshold of a Dream x The Moody Blues, Kind of Blue x Miles Davis, The Carter VI x Lil Wayne, The Awakening x Iniko, Crash Landing x Jimi Hendrix, and Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers x Kendrick Lamar, and Midnights x Taylor Swift. Nailed it!
I watched 9 new feature films: Wicked, The Menu, CODA, One of Them Days, Sinners, The Batman, Tuire Kayapó (First Contact), Wake Up Dead Man, and Fast Color. I also watched a couple of programs of shorts at RoxFilm. Close! Alas!
2025 was a whirlwind. The world is crazy and all I know how to do in response is create. There are canvases left. Hope your travel into the new year is peaceful and healing. I'll be back soon with more.
-gripp
