2022 Year in Review: Our Top 10 Favorite Articles, Essays & Writings
Our Top Ten Favorite Things We Wrote This Year!
Since we set about creating The Epicurean Vagabonds at the beginning of this year, it’s been a kaleidoscope of introspection, hard work and dedication to make this project take flight. We finally launched on May 4th of this year and we haven’t looked back! It’s been an absolute joy and we’ve both been so immersed in writing our own new content as well as discovering and sharing the work of some of our favorite creative artists from around the world.
Now, as the year comes to a close, we thought we would actually take a moment to look back and share some of our personal favorite articles, essays and writings of which we’re particularly proud. For many of our new subscribers, this may the first time you’ll be seeing these articles, as we know not everyone has time to go back and peruse our archives!
Ryan Wildstar’s Favorite Writings from 2022:
When we first started The Epicurean Vagabonds, I was inspired to write about a glorious “glamping” trip we took with our friends Gene and Alan. It was a trip that neither of us will ever forget. Throw four queens together with mammoth amounts of shellfish, cheese, cured meats, candelabras, fine china and silverware, booze, weed, copious quantities of wine and Jessye Norman, and abracadabra . . . you get the “camp” in camping.
“And then there is Montreal. I’d like to take some time to wax poetic about this city we fell madly in love with during the year we lived there. What’s not to love? As far as cities go, it’s like Paris and New York had a love child and then immigrants and indigenous people took over and said, “Step back, we’re doing it our way!” And then there is the food . . . the food scene is, without a doubt, one of the best of any city in the Western Hemisphere. So let’s start there . . .”
“[I]n May of 2016, I stepped into the Cau Ferrat, Santiago Rusiñol’s former art studio (now a museum) in Sitges, Spain, and experienced an unparalleled kind of déjà vu, something which has never happened before or since.” This article explores the almost transcendental experience I had there.
“A soothing sea breeze wafts up from the Tagus, somehow traversing the sweltering rays of sun bombarding the Praça do Comércio, and thus slightly refreshing our table on the sultry terrace of the Café Martinho da Arcada. There we sit intently scribbling ruminations in our Moleskine notebooks, a chilled bottle of albariño and a delectable plate of marinated octopus salad within arm’s reach. Had the self-proclaimed flâneur, Fernando Pessoa, once sat at this very table with his alter egos Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and Bernardo Soares, penning their own disquieting reflections on existence?”
Roma Urbs Aeterna Part One: The Bacchanalia Begins & Roma Urbs Aeterna Part Two: Traipsing Through Testaccio
“Modern visitors to Rome may be surprised to learn that “Roma urbs aeterna” is not Latin for “waiting in Rome for an Uber that never arrives.” For us, it meant that we had finally made it to Rome, lovingly named “urbs aeterna,” or “the eternal city” by the poet Tibullus in 55 BCE.”
In these two articles, I tried to capture the magic we experienced while we were in Rome - the aesthetic arrest we experienced beholding breathtaking works of art, savoring scrumptious plates of food, drinking beautiful bottles of Italian wine and sharing an unforgettable week with our dearest friends.
Ryan Elston’s Favorite Writings from 2022:
In May, I wrote an essay about my favorite poet, H.D. (aka Hilda Doolittle). I wrote about my first experience reading her poem, “Eros,” and how her words helped me survive a difficult period in my life. The tale involves a beloved poem, Greek mythology, a marginalized modernist woman writer, a used bookstore, an academic literary conference, and a Queer Winter Prom (hosted by drag queens!), all culminating in my wedding to Ryan Wildstar. It’s basically me in one imagist snapshot! (There’s also an audio version of me reading the essay.)
In June I tackled my favorite composition by my favorite jazz pianist, the great McCoy Tyner. From the essay: “One of the most profound spiritual experiences of my life took place in a bathtub in Dubrovnik while listening to McCoy Tyner. McCoy Tyner was one of the greatest jazz pianists and composers of all time. And I can honestly say that “Atlantis,” an epic track from Tyner’s 1974 live album of the same name, transformed and possibly saved my life.” Part paean to jazz and part stream-of-consciousness reverie, I suggest listening to Tyner’s exquisite “Atlantis” while you read:
I started a new series of articles in July, inspired by my aforementioned love of marginalized and “forgotten” lost modernist women. I’ve written two articles in the series, but there are definitely more to come. (I’m currently doing research for a third installment.) My first article is about Viola Paradise, a writer so obscure that she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. (I’ll have to rectify that someday.) Viola Paradise and her partner, Helen Campbell, were two remarkable women writers and activists. As I wrote in the article: “Exactly one hundred years ago, these two brave women shared both a life and a bed – as travel companions, as activists, as writing partners and trailblazers. As far as my husband and I are concerned, Viola Paradise and Helen Campbell were not merely two lost modernists. They were kindred spirits, fellow travelers, a nomadic queer literary couple like us. They are our ancestors – our chosen ancestors.” (You can also listen to an audio version of me reading the essay.)
In August I surprised both myself and my husband when I finally decided to share some of my creative writing, specifically three “summer” poems inspired by the natural landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and the beautiful paintings of Emily Carr. I was genuinely moved by the response we received in the form of numerous private messages from our readers and listeners who appreciated the poems. I’ve always been shy/reticent to share my creative writing, but this experience definitely helped me overcome that fear. Next year you can expect more creative writing from me, including an excerpt or two from my upcoming novel (my self-proclaimed imagist epic), a book inspired by my lifelong love of Greek mythology. (This post includes a voice-over audio version of me reading the poems.)
The essay that started it all! My first published solo post on this Substack was dedicated to a few of the remarkable women artists who thrived during the modernist era in Paris. As I wrote in the essay: “Paris in the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s (and the 1960s and 1970s . . .) was an extremely diverse place, attracting artists from all over the world. Amazing artists. Insane amounts of talent. Geniuses and prodigies. And, as is true of every other time and place in art history, not all of those geniuses were straight white men from Europe.” Artists like Suzanne Valadon, Sonia Delaunay, Romaine Brooks and Marie Laurencin (and so many others) are just the tip of the iceberg. And even though I tend to fall down the rabbit hole of immersive (and potentially endless) research whenever I tackle this topic, I do hope to follow up on this article with a few more parts and a lot more artists (from all over the globe) later next year!
Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season! Today is Boxing Day, the last day of Hanukkah, and the first day of Kwanzaa! Happy holidays everyone!
Amazing work! So proud and completely blown away.
All these articles are well worth a revisit. Also, can't wait to read/listen to more of your articles/adventures in 2023. Happy New Year. Cheers to that!