Bella Newman

What is your name and where are you currently?  

Bella Newman, I’m in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania in a full house

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Are you where you normally live?

This is my hometown and former jail cell. Im enjoying it now though . Love trees and it feels endless like heaven

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What are you currently reading?

I hastily left all my books in New York so I’ve been reading a lot of scholarly papers on Academia and Jstorr. Anything from 1960s samurai cinema to cashmere goats is my daily rotation. Oh and Anais Nin’s erotica anthology Delta of Venus, but that has proved itself to be absolutely torturous.

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What are you currently watching?

Breezing my way through my watchlist, ***linked here: https://letterboxd.com/bellanewman/watchlist/

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Standouts so far have been Valerie and her week of wonders, y tu mama tambien, tampopo. Tomorrow I begin the 579 minute Human Condition trilogy. Rewatching some all time favorites such as La cite des enfants perdus, nashville, sans Soleil.  

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What are you currently listening to?

My quarantine playlist is somewhat melancholic and somewhat

Listen HERE

I’d like to get into podcasts but haven’t had much luck finding anything to aurally holds my attention.

What have you been eating the most? Do you have a recipe to share?

Putting my gluten free toaster waffles in ghee on the skillet, then frying an egg loaded with pepper sunny side up and serving as two open-faced sandwiches, optionally without the egg and dipping the crispy toaster waffle in cold brew and oat milk . I love to make polenta and the best polenta is cooked for at least 30 minutes. I also love to bake sweet potato at 400 degrees for an hour and serve it with coconut oil and cinnamon. I’ll also just have a bowl of lightly massaged kale in balsamic and olive oil and turmeric that I refill throughout the day (it won’t get soggy if you don’t overdress) and I just love to chew on kale, it is so much fun to my teeth.

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How are you moving your body/exercising?

Attempting to use my mom’s stairmaster for 20 minutes every day, going on daily walks through the hills of my neighborhood, a hike. My body wants its daily yoga regime back so badly but some part of me is afraid to ritualize something sacred in the wrong way.

If you’re buying anything, what is it?

Yarn, strawberries, fabrics, and some livestock (6 rabbits)

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What’s one new thing you started doing big or small since this all happened? (Like a new skill/a hobby or even habit)

I am feeling very aware of the collective shift in focus towards the domestic and more pastoral activities, I’ve taken up crocheting and have been making underwear to send to loved ones who are alone. Building temporary forts in the woods.

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Tell me about your evening routine! And your morning one too!

I eat dinner around 8 pm, and then watch a film or two.

In the morning I refill my water bottle with lemons and exercise, then try to write a little bit just to get the words out.

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What’s one way big or small that you’ve been helping others?

Making donations, and helping with my baby cousins teaching them art has been rewarding. Buying art from artists. Being with family is a mutually loving, healing practice that seeps out into the rest of things too, a soft cushion.

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What keeps you sane?

I feel prone to remaining in a calm state when others are in panic , and occasionally vice versa. Internally optimistic and accepting of my fate, while also acknowledging such stability is a complete and total privilege to have at all.  

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What one thing can’t you wait to do?

See the one I love

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Who has been the most interesting/unexpected person you’ve spoken with since this started?

Doing zoom callbacks this week has brought some interesting faces...

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What’s one thing you’re grateful for?

That the Big Bang happened and that we are all fatefully alive and the universe exists at all.. wow.