No matter how old I get, the start of school is still one of my favorite times of year. It’s definitely the Hermione Granger in me, but nothing delights me more than that moment when I’ve registered for a new semester of classes and a perfectly arranged timetable appears in my student account. Returning to my campus for senior year means perks like a short walk to get iced coffee and little bumps such as the Internet not connecting in my townhouse.

However, I kicked off Wednesday morning with a visit to the IT office, so now I should have Internet access despite my location – which means more opportunities to find things for a News Worthy post!

Interviews

I’ve only seen the first Bridget Jones film and have failed in trying to read the book, but watching the Bridget Jones’s Baby trailer just makes me so happy. I think the presence of Queen Emma Thompson has a lot to do with it – the X Factor joke gets me every time. This New York Times interview touches upon Renee Zellweger’s battle with the media about her break from Hollywood and the intense scrutiny over her looks. This has definitely been mentioned before on my blog, but I think the world sometimes forgets that older age doesn’t necessarily mean you have everything figured out. Zellweger recognized that and stepped away from acting to reevaluate her career path, and I admire her for having that strength to take a break.

When did you realize that you wanted out of the Hollywood circuit? 

Zellweger:  One of the things that I learned is that I didn’t know how to establish a healthy balance. I felt an obligation to say yes, whenever I was asked to do something on behalf of my work. And the years go by, and your family and friends understand that you have responsibilities, but they’re going to have the barbecue anyway, and the wedding anyway, and the baby’s having a birthday anyway. I just missed out on a lot of things. I needed to stop so I could reassess and figure out how to allow for myself in my own life. I needed to grow as a person in ways that didn’t revolve around my work.

At this point in my life, I hugely identify as someone who has certain, somewhat lofty career goals in mind and is trying to do all she can to attain them. That’s a reason why I write this blog. It’s why I’ve had at least one internship position consistently since May 2015. I easily see myself as being very career-driven once I graduate in May, but seeing the above quote reminded me how important it is to be aware of a balance between professional and personal.

Articles 

Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted a link to a GQ profile of his Hamilton replacement, Javier Munoz. This profile…wow. I was so moved by it that I promptly looked up everything else that the writer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, had published. Needless to say, she is my new career inspiration. Do yourself a favor and read something of hers. You’re bound to find a piece that you relate to somehow. Her profiles are probably my favorite work of hers, because that’s the kind of writing I’d love to do professionally someday.

Below is an excerpt from the end of the article:

The human brain cannot keep on encountering and surmounting such things, and so each time, to survive, you become another person. And each night on stage you die again and you take a bow and you find out who you are again, because now you know what it is to live.

In honor of my newfound love for Brodesser-Akner, I’d also like to share my other favorite piece of hers, “Revenge of the Nerds.” In what starts off seeming like a negative take on Taylor Swift writing songs about exes, Brodesser-Akner ends up praising Swift for being the brave representative for all middle school outsiders who speak their truth through writing. I am completely in love with the following paragraph:

Because has there ever been a more passive-aggressive profession than writing? Writing is first born of a need to explain oneself, and it is comorbid with the desperate loneliness of an ostracized, chubby middle-schooler, like she was and, well, like I was. The popular kids can explain themselves to each other. Only the lonely are left to their writing. It’s through the tools of observation that we learn to hone an otherness…we begin to define ourselves from the way we are different. And slowly, slowly, we spend so much time pretending that someone is listening that we often don’t know how to change modes once people are.

I aspire to reach this level of work. It’s just freaking amazing.

TV

Amy Sherman-Palladino released the very first page of the Gilmore Girls revival script to Entertainment Weekly. As expected, it doesn’t reveal much, but has classic Lorelai-Rory banter, some cultural references (hello, Les Mis!), and even a modern reference that would have made zero sense back in the day. I’m nearly finished with Season 6 of the original show, so I still have a bit to go until I’m fully prepared for the revival, but this little snippet makes the wait even more exciting!

Movies

The Hollywood Reporter did a piece on Eleanor Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s wife and Sofia’s mom) and her narrative feature directorial debut, Paris Can Wait. Although she’s been around on basically all of her family’s film sets, she has definitely flown under the radar, and spoke in this article about having to put her real ambitions on hold because mothers once weren’t expected to have a career and a family.

“I grew up in the ’40s and ’50s, and a woman’s role was to support her husband and make a nice home for him,” she says. “I was frustrated that I didn’t have much time to pursue my interests. Young women today have no concept of that. My daughter and her generation, and generations after that, they take for granted that they’re going to do whatever is their calling. There’s not going to be a question of their role or if they have to give it up because they’re a wife and a mother.”

News

After some waiting, a female World War II pilot was posthumously granted her wish of being buried in Arlington Cemetery. Although gender equality is valued so much more in today’s society, I’m not too surprised women from a different era would still be treated differently. I had a family member who was in the WAVES in World War II, and there was never any question about us draping the American flag over her casket when she died, as you do with deceased veterans.

“Finally, we’re over the last fight. We had to fight all the way along. I didn’t think we’d have to fight to be buried,” said Florence Reynolds, a member of the unit and a friend of Mrs. Harmon known as Shutsy. “I wanted to be here to make sure they didn’t fuss it up.”

What about you? What things did you find News Worthy this week?