in a panoramic newsletter: summer updates
monthly check-in time
Happy Monday, my lovelies!
I hope the past month has been treating you all well. I’ve been spending the last week of July and most of August indoors due to the awful weather we’ve been having here in England, and I’ve also come down with a touch of depression. I’ll be fine, I think I’m just going through growing pains right now, and inshallah, I’ll be settled when September rolls around.
If you don't follow me on the Bird app or IG, you might not know that I'm going back to university come September. I'm studying Sociology (Cultural Analysis) at Goldsmiths, University of London. I'm incredibly nervous and excited at the same time. The last time I was in full-time education was in 2021—my hellish final year of my BA—leading to my burnout in 2022. However, I think workshopping my skills as a cultural critic is something I've wanted to do for a while, and ideally, this MA will get me back to where I feel I've fallen short.
My schedule will be pretty full due to uni and my part-time job, so if you don’t see any long-form content from me, know that I’m drowning in work. I will, however, attempt a biweekly/monthly newsletter (like I’m doing now), depending on my free time. If you’re a paid subscriber, I understand if you change your pledge / remove it. I can’t confirm when I’ll return to a regular post schedule for at least a year.
That said, I want this newsletter to be a check-in for myself and the in a panoramic subscribers. I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to during my time away and what you’ve been watching, listening to and reading.
I’ve been on a massive TV kick recently—I started watching A Different World, The Golden Girls, and The After Party. Out of all three, I enjoy A Different World the most. I can see why it’s such an instrumental piece of Black TV history, and the writing still holds up so well.
New seasons of shows I’ve already seen include S2 of And Just Like That, S4 of Harley Quinn and S4 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
I have to admit that I somewhat enjoy watching And Just Like That. The show has found its stride amongst all the cringe-worthy aspects of SATC attempting to diversify and modernise itself.
Harley Quinn is fun, but I’m not sure about the hero Harley arc—she should’ve remained an antihero, but I get that they’re probably trying to expand her character.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is adorable. That’s all I have to say.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Amaarae for the past month—Fountain Baby is a phenomenal album. She effortlessly blends genres from Afropop to Rock and R&B, making it a captivating listen. Also, her flip of Wamp Wamp (What It Do) by Clipse in Counterfeit genuinely blew my mind.
Other albums I’ve been loving include:
Get Up - NewJeans
Calico - Ryan Beatty
This is Why - Paramore
Blackout - Britney Spears (Hot as Ice should’ve been a lead single!)
My social life is beyond deceased at the moment, but I assume that once I’m socialising at uni, I’ll have more fulfilling updates for you.
Until next month, I wish you all good health and a memorable end to your summer.
Haaniyah xo
Good luck with your upcoming studies and don't be too hard on yourself about the newsletter or otherwise. Have a nice end of summer!
I truly enjoyed this read. In a way, it felt like I was talking about my struggles because I'm also in uni and have exams coming and I'm torn between swotting, working and creating time to finish up on my volunteer podcast scoring assignments.
This is the first time I have settled down to read an issue of your newsletter and I'm glad I did. Will make it a habit to read more as you publish them.
Amaaree, like I thought is being appreciated more globally than she is in her home country and it's fine. I don't listen to her tho. I really haven't been exploring music (or listening to podcasts) like I did last year because of how uni has taken most of my time but I hope to balance it out after this semester ends. However, I still found time to listen to recent releases of two of my faves, Pentatonix and Messer, and Halle's Angel.
Also, I just finished Bel-Air season 2 days ago and really enjoyed it. Will was annoying, again this season but it seemed like his character was developing in the last episode , idk. Glad it's been renewed for a third season tho.
Ciao