I started this weekly ‘What’s Lighting Me Up’ series at the start of January, as a way of holding on to the everyday joys and beautiful things that can give life meaning in difficult times. While that is still absolutely true, I’ve noticed diminishing returns for the exercise as the year has gone on. So I’ll be retiring it for the time being. I’d like to at least continue with a pop culture roundup of things I’m watching/reading/listening to, but may move towards a more intentional exploration of spiritual themes in pop culture.
With that in mind, for the last time (for now), what has been lighting me up lately?
This week, I was able to get away from the city for a day-trip to cottage country. The beautiful scenery and cool lake breezes made it clear just why ‘cottage country’ has historically been such a big part of Ontario culture. (My grandparents sold their cottage when I was five, so I don’t really have much first-hand experience with it.)
A lot of my reading time continues to get eaten up by the Parables series. But, aside from that, highlights of my past two reading weeks were Frying Plantain, by my fellow Torontonian Zalika Reid-Benta (2019), No Hiding in Boise, by Kim Hooper (2021), and Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet (2023, transl. 2025).
One of my best new music finds of this year has been country singer-songwriter Max McNown. Last week he released a second full album’s worth of tracks on a new combined album, Night Diving (The Cost of Growing Up). For a blast-from-the-past in the same genre, mid-2010s group Lord Huron released a great new album, The Cosmic Selector Vol 1. Speaking of millennial nostalgia, Fitz and the Tantrums released a great new album this week, Man on the Moon. I really enjoyed the new EP by Alessi Rose, Voyeur.
Matthew Root 