12 Words to Describe 2018
I journaled a lot this year. More than ever before, probably. It wasn’t until recently, however, that I realized how infrequently I revisit these intimate expressions I spend hours (I mean hours) documenting. It is very rare that this reflection-upon-reflections happens.
Craving catharsis, I pulled out several journals collecting dust in my apartment and began peeling through a recent addition to the collection, a particularly scrappy book filled with loosely stacked pages and smudgy water-stained ink. In it, a recently curated list titled “Things I want to learn how to cook when I get home” (written in Kerala, India, a month prior) reminded me I have a lot of time in the kitchen ahead of me. (Biriyani tops the list.) One by one, I started to unpack the past twelve months.
It was therapeutic reading through musings of everything - bewilderment, joy, hurt - from the perspective of younger me, which led to an idea: distill everything I wrote in 2018 – the prose, morning pages, haikus, lists of ambitions and tasks and places, the measly chicken scratch – and encapsulate all of it into twelve words, one word per month.
So, that’s what I did…and then quickly realized the exercise wouldn’t be complete without also reviving the most memorable part of each month’s soundtrack. Here goes my best attempt at illustrating my 2018 in 12 words and 12 songs.
January: whirling
“Liberté” by Carla Bruni
February: endearment
“Nothing New” by Charlotte Day Wilson
March: center
“23” by Rejjie Snow
April: boundary
“Motion Sickness” by Phoebe Bridgers
May: circled
“Cómo Me Quieres” by Khruangbin
June: interminable
“The Bug Collector” by Haley Heynderickx
July: spacious
“Blue Rose” by Amen Dunes
August: discernment
“Speaking Terms” by Snail Mail
September: deepend
“Farewell Transmission” by Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee
October: brimming
“Lyla” by Big Red Machine
November: undisguised
“Wild” by Molly Burch
December: attuned
“Mythological Beauty” by Big Thief
Happy listening.