I'm Olga Segura, the opinion and culture editor at the National Catholic Reporter, and welcome to the first edition of Weekly Culture. Every Saturday, I'll share the amazing writers I'm featuring in NCR's culture section that weekend; films and TV I'm currently watching; and music I just can't stop listening to.
But before I get into all that: I want to say thank you for signing up for this email. If you've enjoyed my Twitter rants, I think you'll enjoy this newsletter; plus, every week, I want to hear from you all as well. Send me your best and worst pop culture takes, your favorite songs and books or just say hello. You can shoot me an email at [email protected] or chat with me on Twitter.
Now, here are the three culture essays we've got running this weekend.
In his first article for NCR, Sergio Bermudez reviews the HBO Max sci-fi series, "Raised by Wolves." When he first pitched me this story, I was delighted. I've followed him on Twitter for a few years, and his commentary on everything from Catholicism to science fiction to politics always feels extremely nuanced and thoughtful, and this review is no different.
Sister Rose Pacatte wrote our second essay, a review of Pedro Kos' "Rebel Hearts." The film focuses on the history of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, from the days of the Second Vatican Council to the present day. Sister Rose, who attended the film's virtual premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last month, also interviewed Kos and producer Judy Korin earlier this week. Kos told Sister Rose the film is a "meditation on change, and the work of change."
And, in this week's book review, Diane Scharper reviews the latest book on Dorothy L. Sayers, a prolific and controversial author many have argued was anti-Semitic. Scharper writes that the book’s title, Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers "alludes to the subversive nature of Christianity, the revolutionary life of Jesus Christ, as well as Sayers' own life and work — shocking for the times. (Today, having Jesus and the apostles speak in everyday English, as Sayers did, wouldn't cause the stir it did in the 1940s and '50s.)."
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on these essays!
What I'm Watching
Before I let you all go to enjoy the rest of your Saturday, I started watching Netflix's "Firefly Lane," which follows the friendship of Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke over three different decades. It's kind of sloppy and clichéd, and after the first episode, the jumping back and forth between different decades becomes exhausting. I'm not sure why, but I cannot stop watching it. I'll let you know how it ends next week.
What I'm Reading
Currently, I'm finishing, for the first time (I know, I've been slacking), Octavia Butler's amazing The Parable of the Sower. In the novel, Butler describes a country very much like the United States in 2021. The novel, published in 1993, is set in California in the 2020s in a world destroyed by an economic crisis and climate change. Parable begins on July 20, 2024. Our protagonist, Lauren Oya Olamina, is 15 years old and the daughter of a minister. She does not believe in her father's Baptist understanding of God, so she attempts to find her own, eventually building a community of Earthseed followers, a Christian community. In one of my favorite passages, she writes:
Changes.
The galaxies move through space.
The stars ignite,
burn,
age,
cool,
Evolving.
God is change.
God prevails.
I love the way she talks about God, it's beautiful, challenging, and you should all read it if you haven't already.
What I'm Listening To
Since I started the novel, I've been stargazing more or as much as I can stargaze from my neck of the Bronx; and I often wonder: What would the heavens sound like? What music would play if we were transported far, far away into the cosmos? My answer is a playlist called “celestial beauty.” Check it out, no shuffling, and let me know what you think.
See you next Saturday.
Olga
