Happy summer everyone! I hope you’re well, and that the weather isn’t making you think about the apocalypse. I have two things to share this time, one is for me and the other is for you. If you’ll excuse my selfishness, the first is for me.

• Gilbert Strang

I’ve been self-studying math for a while, and have long looked for a way in as an actor. For years my teachers advised that I was too cerebral, but now that I’m pursuing math, I feel the opposite. How should I combine my two passions in an elegant way? I don’t have the answer, but the famous professor Gilbert Strang has brought me closer. I made a YouTube video trying to break down why I and so many others find Strang’s class compelling. It’s less than 6 minutes and it doesn’t require any technical knowledge.

• Youtube Club

The second, probably more exciting announcement has to do with an idea of mine. My friend started a play-reading group a few years ago, with the goal of getting creatives together to collaborate. Since then, he’s handed the hosting of the group over to me, but I frankly don’t know enough plays to keep things going. Instead, I’ve decided to make the focus of the group a different medium: YouTube videos.

Over and over again, I hear that social media, the internet, this technology meant to connect us has only divided us. Let’s be honest, the decision-makers of social media only care about data, they’ll only talk about community and connections in their Bloomberg interview. Why are we all watching YouTube videos alone in our little consumerist boxes, when we could watch together and act like human beings again?

I think of it as a book-club for the internet age: YouTube club. YouTube’s algorithm, out of ignorant mercy, has allowed long-form content to thrive on the platform. Documentaries, Broadway bootlegs and travel vlogs are just the newsletter-friendly aspects of what we can find there. It’s just time to get people in a room again.

There’ll be food, refreshments, the things you’d find. We’ll do Saturdays at 4, so people have time to do their Saturday-night partying after we’ve met for a few hours. Our first video will be a half-hour GoPro video of a fighter’s recon mission in Ukraine, watch it beforehand if you’d like, but we’ll watch it as a group on Saturday, June 8th. Going forward, I hope club regulars will suggest videos of their own! Reply to this email if you want more info about location and logistics.

Thank you for reading! See you in October.

• Like many of you, I’ve been watching the war in the Middle East with all its horrific violence. I’ve been active and outspoken about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but I don’t take this as a simple issue. Some doofus scrawled “Free Palestine” with a marker on the front of the synagogue I go to, and white supremacists are using the issue to peddle antisemitic stereotypes. I’ve tried processing this by recording and listening to music, and I’ve recorded two more Jewish songs to add to my Jewish songs from my upbringing. Hope you enjoy it!

• On a lighter note, I’m part of a play-reading group looking for actors and artists in NYC! We read a play every week, connecting and sharing projects with each other. If you’re a theatre artist looking for inspiration to create, this is for you!

• A woman I know named Dorothy Bukantz is looking for people to read her poems. I will be reading some myself. Reach out to me if you or someone you know can do it!