> CD #76: Sending a ladder down

Well hello. It’s been a while, so I’m going to ease back into things with a short Abbott Elementary appreciation post. If you haven’t watched the show yet, you should! It’s a perfect blend of funny, big-hearted and clear-sighted. In fact, I recommend you go watch it right now instead of wasting your time here with me, lol.

To wit:

Ryan Aguirre @aguirreryan

Abbott Elementary is the funniest show on television

I fell in love with the show when I binged the first eight episodes during my trip to Austin earlier this year, laughing out loud in my hotel room and identifying a little too closely with Quinta Brunson’s character, who tries so hard and hopes so much that it can sometimes get cringey. Also, she is 4’11”, which is my height. Imagine my delight when, during one episode, I realized she was wearing a dress I own:

I’ve only ever worn it once, to a Golden Girls–themed birthday party, so now I think of it as my television sitcom dress—a category of clothing we should all aspire to having in our wardrobes, really.

I was so happy to see Sheryl Lee Ralph and Quinta Brunson win Emmys for their work on the show, not only because they’re both great—I mean, truly great—but also because Abbott Elementary had spent its marketing budget on supplies for public school teachers instead of buying ads to sway Emmy voters. A few months back, on Fresh Air, Brunson told Terry Gross (who, incidentally, is also 4’11”!!!):

It's about managing, you know, what to do with this newfound attention. You know, for instance, one of the decisions that we made as a group with the studio and the network was instead of marketing the show - we're doing well, right? And hopefully I don't regret this, but we're doing well. We have very good ratings. People are watching the show. It was like, well, how about we put this marketing money toward something else? And we chose to put the marketing money toward supplies for teachers, you know, and it's about being able to make those kind of decisions that really excite me, things that can really materially help people.

It’s something I think about a lot: how can I use my platform or whatever measure of success I’ve achieved to help others in a material way? As a writer, my natural inclination is to stay isolated, heads-down in my own work, but a few years back, I heard the cartoonist Nicole J Georges speak about how, once anyone has broken through a glass ceiling (or bamboo ceiling, or maternal wall, or whatever barriers exist to keep us out), we have a responsibility to send a ladder down. Otherwise, we’ll be all alone.

I see people like Roxane Gay (who created a newsletter to give voice to emerging writers), Issa Rae (who has trained the next generation of Black showrunners by giving them a start on her own show, Insecure), Vivek Shraya (who is soliciting manuscripts from BIPOC writers over the age of 50 for her imprint), Annie Koyama (who gives micro-grants to cartoonists), or Emily Flake (who bought a house in rural Pennsylvania and set up a residency for female humour writers), and I’m inspired. I want to do something like that too, even though I’m not nearly as powerful or successful as those women. I am always more powerful and successful than someone else, though.

This summer, I received two literary grants—two more than expected—both to help me continue working on my manuscript and book proposal. I’m using some of the money to feed my family (inflation!!), and some of it is renting me a studio space, but I’m also trying to come up with a way to benefit other writers and cartoonists, especially those who don’t have the access I have. I want to think of it as seed money. If you have any ideas, or you’ve heard about people who’ve set up something interesting, please tell me about it.

Fall has always been my most productive, heady time—those back-to-school vibes linger, still, after all these years. I hope you, too, are finding yourself energized and ready to tackle the work in front of you. But remember also to treat yourself to some Abbott Elementary too, ok?

:) Teresa

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