Greenback Boogie
On Suits, workplace reads and eavesdropping
I’ve been doing some time traveling.
By which I mean, I recently finished a re-watch of Dawson’s Creek (I did not skip the theme song once in all 128 episodes).
It’s a big void to fill, but I initially thought I would try by turning to another teen soap. Instead, I have pivoted in the opposite direction.
I am now watching Suits, pretty much nonstop. It’s addicting. It’s comforting. It’s stressful. And it stars a former princess.
I watch it and think — why am I not a lawyer? Knowing that corporate law cannot be that interesting or fun, though it probably is that traumatizing.
The thing about Suits, aside from its propulsive storytelling and inherent watchability, is that it has a very catchy theme song that’s the epitome of:
no thoughts, just vibes.
Every line in this song is incomprehensible, and the pieces of it that I have picked up (Get another piece of pie, for your wife) make it even more incomprehensible.
On the advice of a friend, I turned on subtitles during a recent viewing so I could see what the lyrics were. I was rattled when what I thought was the final line, “Be a barracuda” (which makes as much sense as anything else that is said and makes sense in the context of the show), actually turned out to be, “Greenback boogie.” This is also the title of the song.
Apparently “greenback” is a reference to money. You learn something new everyday.
While I was googling whether this was a real song (as opposed to the fake, boxed pop songs that feature in Selling Sunset), I found several cheeky articles about Harry and Meghan’s first visit to Auckland, New Zealand where, during a meet and greet, a full brass band played the Suits theme song.
To her credit, Meghan continued to shake hands with a straight face.
In case you were wondering, she is actually good in the show.
What I’m Reading:
NSFW by Isabel Kaplan - When the unnamed protagonist starts as a temp at a fake network called XBC, she is clueless to the inner workings of the entertainment industry. To catch on, she compromises– accepting inappropriate dynamics and adapting to industry beauty ideals. Once she learns how to play the game, she sees a path forward, the promise of a career shinier than the murky toxicity she has to swim through to get it.
Reading this was like being a fly on the wall of a friend’s life. Every moment felt like I was living it. Between her vividly specific work life, dismal dating life and complicated relationship with her mother, she felt more like a real person than a fictional one.
It also made me miss working in an office (like, in the abstract, I don’t want to actually stop working from home). More specifically, the casual affection and intimacy that comes with being in the trenches with your coworkers, shoveling through the same shit.
Books with similar themes:
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas - The protagonist, a Literature professor at a small Liberal Arts college, is also unnamed. Looking to find her way out of a rut, she becomes obsessed with a handsome new teacher, while her husband, a fellow professor, is faced with sexual misconduct allegations. This book is less plot driven and more of an in-depth character study of a middle aged woman who is dying to be seen.
There’s a dazzling passage towards the end of the book about the shame we carry as women that simply gutted me (I took a photo of the paragraph, it’s patiently waiting to be transposed into my Notes).
What I didn’t like about this book was that her daughter’s name is Sidney. And every time I had to read my name spelled that way, I felt personally affronted.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid - If you haven’t read this book about a young Black woman named Emira and her eerie friendship with Alix, the white mother she babysits for, what have you been doing?
This is another book that gave me the fly on the wall feeling. Emira is twenty-five and has the aimless desires and loud social life to prove it. I found it instantly relatable. We also get the recognizable wealthy housewife perspective from Alix, who develops an unhealthy obsession with Emira when she starts dating Alix’s old boyfriend.
Honestly, I felt so hard for Emira that I cried when I finished the book (admittedly, I did read it in quarantine and I was more prone to crying then).
What I’m Writing:
I love listening to podcast interviews with established authors. It’s always fascinating to hear about their writing processes, how they got to where they are. Usually this is soothing. Last week, it sent me into a bit of an imposter syndrome spiral.
My chest tightened and my head spun with questions like:
who am i to be writing anything?
why would anyone care?
who is this even for?
in writing about my own experience, am i just writing fan fiction about my life? is that a thing?
will anyone else ever read this?
am i only writing it because i want someone else to read it?
is it valuable if i'm just writing for me?
what is the point of any of it?
I’ve since recovered but…. It’s rough in here (my head).
On a lighter note, I learned that I have something in common with Quinten Tarantino– we both like to write with the TV on.
I like the steady background noise, and I like to dip in and out of someone else’s narrative when I’m struggling to write my own.
When I think about “writing,” I picture it one of two ways:
Sat at a hearty desk in front of a window
Slouched over a table in a cafe, a cup of tea within reach
But this isn’t actually what writing looks like for me.
There was a time when I wrote at my desk, but that time is not now.
I have always been drawn to the idea of writing in a cafe, but I’ve only ever done it once. Mostly, I like the idea because I know the background noise of a cafe is superior to TV. It’s ripe with its own natural drama, and nothing gets the juices flowing like speculating about other people’s lives. Isn’t that basically what all fiction really is?
On the list of things I consider “writing,” eavesdropping is way up there. I do it now without even meaning to, often rising my eyebrows to whoever I’m with and asking “Are you hearing this?”
My crowning eavesdropping moment came while I was in my apartment, minding my own business– then suddenly through my always open window, I heard a brutal, days-long argument between a couple somewhere in my building.
Naturally, I stopped everything I was doing and sat closer to the window to write down what I could hear.
Here are some snippets–
Woman: “I can admit I was being a bitch yesterday, Brad.”
Brad: “You left me.”
Woman: “You left me on my birthday!”
Brad (pauses): Well, I had acting class.”
The next day:
Woman: “Why don’t we just break up? I’m tired of trying to make you like me!”
Brad: “Look me in the eye. I’m unhappy. You’re unhappy. We want different things.”
Woman: “I just want you to respect me.”
Another Neighbor (eavesdropping, shouting from the window): “You deserve better, girl!”
I literally did not make this up. It actually happened (and I do hope this woman dumped Brad’s ass). There is so much material out there in the world. Occasionally, you don’t even have to leave your couch to find it.
Happy eavesdropping, friends!
Stay tuned.