[Weekly Notice] #1 - A Grand Opening

My first attempt at a weekly roundup. Please clap.

AN INTRODUCTION

“Weekly Notice” is my foray into roundup lists. Why?

Well, the name of this publication is Ezra Indited, and I thought you might like to see what I’m made of through the things I notice and think are worth discussing. I’d like us to dig deeper by not just seeing and thinking, but feeling.

In a world full of distractions, simply paying attention makes me a better artist and person. I keep a running record of things I notice, and I thought I'd share those things with you. Weekly Notice is where I roundup and recommend 3-5 miscellany — books (and other writing), music, videos, podcasts, recipes, even memories — that made me feel some type of way. Can we feel something together?

Thanks for letting me experiment. This is the Grand Opening, so it’s a longer one. For your troubles, I’ve got a couple treats for you at the end. Please feel free to tell me what you think in the comments.

These are the updates.

I’ll also use “Weekly Notice” to keep in touch about developments in my life and career.

Only a couple things this week:

1. Weeks later, I can’t stop thinking about Paul Beatty’s lists in The Sellout. Comedic, dramatic, descriptive, enlightening, challenging. Damn near hypnotic. I’ve long thought lists to be an effective literary device. Now, it’s time for more intentional practice.

2. My birthday was last Monday. I’m happy to be here, with you, on this here rock, celebrating another year. Pour up your favorite beverage and send some good vibes to ya boy. Thanks.

3. I’m very close to 100 subscribers. If you’re reading this and you haven’t subscribed to this publication, I’d love it if today was the day. 😄

Ezra McCoy celebrating his birthday with his two sons.

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This made me remember.

If you follow me on social media, you know that I am a straight up nerd. I love writing. I love to talk about writing. I love to read about writing. I love books that help me get back to writing.

Jami Attenberg

— novelist and author + cultivator of 1,000 Words (will get you writing!) + 1,000 Words of Summer — sent out this lovely reminder via Substack Notes this morning.

I enjoy these types of reminders, but I find I am partial to a particular type of writing craft book. I prefer books that focus more on mindset than output, tools more than rules. Tools that make you a better version of yourself, rather than a version of someone else.

One of the things I’m determined to improve is saying more with less like, say, Percival Everett. I recently started working through Roy Peter Clark’s How to Write Short to help with that.

This sentence from his chapter on studying “short” writing resonated with me:

“Nothing expressed in language is irrelevant for the learning writer, not the chants of soccer hooligans or the list of ingredients on a box of cake mix.”

Meditating on this, I thought about my first influences: parental aphorisms, schoolyard jonin, rap songs, and Blackpentecostal preaching. I was so immature as a writer and reader that I didn’t even recognize these forms as writing until later. Now, I have a great appreciation for the genius in this writing and return to these oral inspirations to judge how inventive and effective I am on the page.

A few weeks ago, YFN Lucci — a rap star incarcerated under dubious circumstances and is now awaiting a release as part of a plea deal — dropped his latest single, “Free Me.” I’m a big fan of Lucci’s work. I think he’s a very good rapper, though I’d say his greatest skill is not a technical skill. Lucci, like all great black writers, knows how to bridge the gap between the words themselves and the reader/listener/audience, with what can only be described as feelin’. When we get to “save me” and “free me” in the chorus and in the vamp, those who have ever been captive feel the place he’s coming from and that place we are going to. The logical question that follows is who are we talking to — ourselves, each other, or some outside force?

Free Me Apple Music | YouTube

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This made me consider.

Percival Everett is one of my favorite living authors, so I was overjoyed to see his 2001 book Erasure adapted for film in the form of American Fiction. I thought the movie was a very enjoyable depiction of the novel, but not without fault. And yes, the book was better!

In a recent episode of The Stacks Pod (Ep. 304 on Apple Podcasts | Overcast), Traci Thomas hosts Zach Stafford for my favorite conversation on Erasure x American Fiction yet! They discuss issues American Fiction and other art have with illuminating racism without demeaning the work of poor and working class black folks. I really liked Zach’s observation of the apparent ouroboros in the publishing and tearing down of caricatures that doesn’t necessarily yield structural change. Which made me consider — If the joke is about the way publishing highlights the wrong kind of “black” and the reaction is to prove a better form of “black” is more worthy of attention, who is the joke on, really?

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This is made me reflect.

A kitchen sink is a convenience we often take for granted. We have not had a working kitchen since August which means all our meals came from a Ninja multicooker and all our dishes were washed in the bathroom sink. It was a pain in the ass, but I found it hard to complain as much as I was grateful that we never missed a meal. I came to understand that outside the people who live there, the kitchen is really the thing that makes the place you live a home. But this was temporary discomfort at best. This was not survival.

This isn’t the first time I’ve lived without a kitchen. When I was a child, in a time before one pot appliances sat on every counter, we once lived in a hotel. Mommy made us chicken and rice in the hotel room microwave. Daddy said it was just as good as anything she made on the stove top. We all said mommy can make something out of nothing.

Yesterday, I read a New Yorker essay by the Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha in which he reveals just how little access to food his family — surviving Israel’s genocidal bombs of American artillery and imperial alienation — has no stores to shop, homes to live, or kitchens to cook. Actually nothing.

Mosab shared a WhatsApp message from Hamza, his brother, about the new Palestinian recipe for “bread” — “a mixture of rabbit, donkey, and pigeon feed.”

“There is nothing good about it except that it fills our bellies.”

This is not a long way of saying that somebody always has it worse. I share Mosab’s story (and mine) to ask that, with each meal, you remember your sympathy and prayers only do so much. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you don’t have nothing. May each meal strengthen our bodies and nourish our consciousness so that we may do our part to end imperialism. Because nobody in the world should have to eat bird feed.

I am happy to report that after a rough go with contractors and countless DIY projects, I get another opportunity to practice an art that is quite dear to me: The art of cooking.

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This made me proud.

The first thing I made was a baked lemon butter salmon. I used leftover salmon for my first recipe this year — salmon and spinach frittata. I made it in the Ninja pot, but let me know if you do it on the stove or in the oven. I didn't measure anything. I’ll do better next time.

Salmon and Spinach Frittata - serves 3-4

Ingredients:
- 6 large brown eggs
- Two tbsp butter
- About one cup of non-dairy heavy whipping cream
- About one cup of winter medley tomatoes or grape tomatoes
- About a half cup of diced onions
- About a half cup of mini sweet peppers cut lengthwise 
- About 2 ounces of canned sliced black olives (which I forgot)
- About 2 cups of cooked salmon, chopped
- Seasoning (to taste) -- Black pepper, sea salt, paprika, garlic powder,  Badia Sazón Complete, crushed red pepper (probably a couple other things)
- A few shakes of Tajín

1. Crack eggs into mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper. Whip with fork or egg beater until smooth.

2. Pour non-dairy whipping cream into mixing bowl with eggs. Add other seasonings (except Tajín) and a little more salt and pepper. Whip until mixture is even.

3. Set Ninja to Sear/Saute setting on Hi4. Add butter half the butter. Sauté onions and peppers as butter melts. Cook until onions and peppers soften. Then, add the other half of the butter and spinach.

4. Set Ninja to Steam and Bake at 335 for 3:30. Add egg mixture. Press start.

5. Ease frittata out of pot onto cutting board. Cut into serving sizes. Once plated, sprinkle Tajín to your heart’s delight. The Tajín topping at the end adds a contrast in flavor and texture.

6. I served with toasted English muffins covered with locally made Raspberry Pepper preserves.

Salmon, ingredients, Ninja pot, plated frittata.

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This is the end.

A poem and a playlist

I’ve always thought poets write the best prose. I’m not a poet, but I’d like to practice here. Is that ok? I think this practice will help me get better on the line at saying what I mean to say. Not too much. Just enough. Here’s my first haiku of 2024.

I Don’t Understand American Football

Saw #15 score and
Israel bomb 1.5
mil. Same screen. Who won?

Haiku ©️ 2024 Ezra McCoy

I’ll eventually drop a playlist. Soon come. For now, vibe out to “Shortwave FM” by Jaishad Malik (@jaishadmalik on Threads) — a playlist with mellow instrumentation and melodic inspiration for a productive work day. (Apple Music)

I hope the rest of the week is good to ya.

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