I had planned to write a very different newsletter. Given my Buffy re-watching this past week I was planning on talking about topics like consent, gender dynamics, the male gaze, and how the win-at-all-costs spin on American exceptionalism and capitalism is destroying everything most of us grew up thinking America stood for.

Fun, right?

And then the full Confessions II album from Madonna dropped, and I decided to play it through while on my morning walk. Which changed this newsletter 180 degrees.

Because, this may be the soundtrack for every morning walk for the forseeable future. I walked longer; I walked faster; I felt like I was a badass walking a 2.5 mile catwalk through my neighborhood.

Somewhere around the third or fourth song, I almost felt teary, but good teary, you know? I had this feeling in my chest. A kind of heart-growing-three-sizes de-grinchifying swelling. I’m, like, what is this feeling…is this JOY? OMG, hi! Where have YOU been the past decade or so? (IYKYK)

It reminded me of the first time I heard "Holiday," "Vogue," or the album "Ray of Light" the first time. All rolled up in one album.

Unlike other albums with spoken word interludes, when I’m usually thinking, “OK, OK, move it along, fast forward,” in this case I was thinking, “Yes, please, Madonna, tell me MORE about the meaning and ritual of DANCE!”

And when I got home from my walk with a couple more songs left on the album, I just danced in my living room.

It is sonic perfection (listen to it with headphones, or at least AirPods if you can).

It is, yes, confessional. It is both referential AND visionary.

It's Madonna.

Let’s face it, the serious topics I was going to cover are ever-present both in Buffy and the world right now. I’ll no doubt have another chance to lay them on you some time soon. But an icon I’ve been listening to my whole life dropping a career-high new album that made me feel all-too-unfamiliar emotions these days? That doesn’t happen every day. So, this week? I choose Madonna.

And. What if Madonna isn’t your joy? Don’t feel left out! Instead, try to remember what has brought you that feeling.

Music is an obvious route. We know that music creates physical sensations that ultimately evoke emotional responses. One of my favorite assignments I ever did in college was for an arrangement class for my music minor, and I used Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and the end of Prince’s Purple Rain to demonstrate how certain music will literally make you FEEL something.

Listen for yourself:

For some of us, it’s a book that feels like a warm blanket, or a TV show (maybe Ted Lasso for me). For some of us it’s a call with a friend or something equally extroverted even! (Yes, yes, I know, even we introverts enjoy our friends, don’t @ me.)

The point is, as hard as the world and the country and politics and work and caregiving and pets who never outlive us, and just LIFE can get, make yourself a list of what will reliably lift your spirits. Fill your chest with a growing Grinchheart. Make you feel like a badass babe strutting down a sidewalk. And sometimes, just pull one of those things off of the list and listen to it, read it, watch it, call them, play it, craft it, make it, do it.

Joy isn’t always “resistance*.” But it is always fuel. And we all need it. Perhaps most of all when it seems out of reach.

Come to think of it, Buffy the Vampire Slayer does a great show-don’t-tell job of how humans still find lightness in incredible darkness. The wit, the plays on words, the wise cracks? They are coping mechanisms and relationship glue for our intrepid Scooby Gang. In this past week’s episodes there was a moment that was so small ,and yet brought me so much joy. Buffy uses the fancified phrase "from whence it came" and then catches herself doing so and immediately says, "I must be spending to much time around you," to her mentor Giles the Librarian. And although they are having a discussion of utmost seriousness about iminent danger, Giles allows himself just the tiniest, proud smile about it. It's so dear (and yes, made me sad, again, about Anthony Stewart Head’s passing). You could just tell that was a moment Giles would lock away, a moment where all his work came to fruition in the maturity and wisdom of his mentee. Within a second they were back to trying to solve for the danger they were facing, but he took that joy, and he deserved that joy.

Whatever you’ve gone through or are going through, you deserve some joy too. So do I. I’m adding Confessions on the Dance Floor II to my joy list. What’s on yours?

Bonus: Here is a screenshot of the four Elisa-Skills I created with Claude to help it operate the way that works for my brain. Let me know if you’d like to explore creating your own AI brainscape. Bonus points if you can guess what any of these skills names might mean :)

My longtime business partner and #forevercofounder, Jory Des Jardins, and I decided to wind down the Optionality project we’ve been producing together for three years. And here’s more about that:

I watched Season 2, episodes 19 (I Only Have Eyes For You recap) and 20 (Go Fish recap)…which aired on April 28, 1998 and May 5, 1998 respectively.

The core #BuffyLifeLesson in Season 2 Episode 19 is also, oddly enough, about closure and reconciliation: Now, I don’t believe achieving closure requires another person, even if the unresolved stuff is with another person. Closure can be something you achieve within yourself.

The core #BuffyLifeLesson in Season 2 Episode 20 is about the dangers of exceptionalism. Winning at all costs usually means you paid too big a price.

I’m here every week, using pop culture (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer right now) as a jumping off point for everything I’m thinking about professional leadership, personal development, political philosophy, and pop culture. I would love you to join me by subscribing. And I would love you to share the link with other nerds like us!