I Had 200 Cultural Experiences in 2022
Somehow, I got an idea into my head that one should be able to have 200 cultural experiences per year and that I was going to prove it, and I did. So let’s get into it.
What is a cultural experience?
Glad you asked! I realize that with the right lens, pretty much anything can be a cultural experience, so I decided that for something to count it would have to fit neatly into one of five categories:
A book (rereads count)
A movie (rewatches do not count, with exceptions for particular circumstances (i.e. the Mamma Mia! singalong definitely counts, watching Mamma Mia! on the couch with my mom for the 75th time does not)
A full season of television (rewatches do not count, no exceptions found at this time)
Live events, including but not limited to- plays, musicals, concerts, comedy shows, and live author events
Museums, galleries, and conservatories/botanical gardens
What didn’t count?
Ah, yes. The “what abouts” were PLENTIFUL with this challenge, and I simply had to put up some boundaries. Some of them make sense, and some probably don’t. Here are the things I decided didn’t count, or I simply didn’t experience but maybe they could have counted if I had sought them out.
Any form of “new” media- podcasts, journalism, YouTube videos, etc. This is not because I don’t consider these to be cultural experiences, I very much think they can be. However, this is an area where I think it would be (a) too easy and (b) the lines would get too fuzzy too quickly. It’s too easy because I literally listen to podcasts, read the news, and probably watch a YouTube video or two daily. Does one episode of The NYTimes Daily count? What about listening to every single episode this year? Is a listicle a news article? What about satire? At what point is an Instagram infographic a work of art or culture? There was no clear line, so I eliminated it entirely. Also, it would probably be embarrassing if I included it in my total count.
Streaming music. I counted live music (I went to three concerts this year, which is huge for me!), but I have music streaming in the background pretty much the entire work day if I’m not on a Zoom call. However, does listening to a new album with intentionality count? The new Taylor Swift album sure felt like a shared cultural experience. I’m open to changing my mind on this one, especially since I manifested a record player and now will be seeking out records to experience.
Sports. Namely because I don’t play or watch any of them, but I imagine watching the Super Bowl or the Olympics or the World Cup or Serena Williams’ final matches at Wimbledon all would have counted. I did run the NYC Half-Marathon though (brag), and my friends who watched said being in the crowd felt like a cultural experience. Running it did too. Well, I’m running it again this year so maybe I’ll count it in whatever revamped version of this challenge I decide to do.
Video games and table top gaming experiences. I do not partake in either of these things but I hear that video games can be quite moving and I know that my friends who are in Dungeons and Dragons campaigns are very invested.
Culinary experiences. This is another slippery slope situation. For example, getting dim sum in Chinatown definitely feels like a cultural experience. Then again, so does getting a proper NYC bagel or dollar slice. But what about a burger? Or brunch? Do only new restaurants count? Or new dishes? Or do only ethnic foods count? Also, as a vegan, it isn’t always easy to find authentic cultural foods. I love food and definitely want to get more into cooking again this year and be more intentional about if/when I go out to eat, so maybe I’ll come up with a rule that makes this make sense.
Unpublished scripts. I read a lot of plays for two of my jobs (how many jobs do I have outside of my full-time job, you ask? I honestly don’t know anymore) and I decided not to count anything I read for either of those. It just didn’t make sense to include them, in my opinion. It once again would have made things to easy (I lost count at some point but my estimate would be that I read minimum of 30-40 unpublished plays) and also has a slipper slope element- do I count by draft or by project? What if my friend sends me her pilot script to read? So this had to be left out.
Religious rituals and holidays. Okay, so, objectively speaking, these are cultural experiences. However, I am literally professionally Jewish and if I counted every bar/bat mitzvah, wedding, and holiday or Shabbat gathering I attended, it would have been ridiculous. This begs the question, does this only count if it’s a religious event for a religion I’m not a part of? For example, I went to my first ever non-Jewish wedding in 2022, and it felt like a distinctly different experience than the Jewish weddings I’ve attended. So does that count as a cultural experience, but not Jewish weddings? What about ancillary wedding events, like bachelorette parties and rehearsal dinners? What about secular holidays, like Halloween parties? Once again, we’ve found a slippery slope, so I opted out.
Okay, but how did you do this?
A few key things allowed me to complete this challenge. Namely, I am single and don’t have children or pets. I think this is probably the most important thing.
Additionally, I had a really nasty bought of COVID in July that left me bed ridden for ten straight days and then somehow managed to end the year with some type of stomach flu. I genuinely don’t think I would have completed this challenge if I hadn’t gotten sick, which is pretty fucked up but true.
Regardless of those important life circumstances, I approached this project the way I approach most of life’s undertakings- with spreadsheets and my Google calendar.
Let’s break it down by category, shall we?
Books
I am ashamed to say that books is the category I struggled with most. I only read 23 this year, and my dedication to reading fluctuated greatly over time, as can be seen via this graph.
This graph is generated automatically on Storygraph, an alternative to Goodreads, that is a Black-woman owned business and is, importantly, not owned by Amazon.
The way I pick which books to read is nothing short of chaotic. Basically, a book is recommended to me in some way (by a friend, or I read about it in a newsletter, or whatever), and I add it to my library holds and than forget about it. Then I get an email that I have holds ready to pick up, I run to the library and have a handful of books and I often don’t remember why I’ve reserved any of them, and then I try to read them.
I also have always done my best reading on the subway, and in my pre-pandemic life when I was running around the city non-stop I read volumes and volumes of books just on my commutes. During the first year of the pandemic, I probably read for three hours or so per day because I literally had nothing else to do. Now, as a person with a Normal Job, I find it much harder to read. I only commute into the office two days a week and my train ride is about 20 minutes long, which doesn’t add up to much.
This year I am trying to be more organized about my reading by joining book clubs and buddy reading with a few of my friends. I also really need to start reading before bed again and stop scrolling on my phone like a degenerate teen. ANYWAY let’s move on!
Movies
Shockingly (or not, I guess), movies was actually the easiest category for me, coming in with a whopping 59 movies watched in 2022. How did I do this you ask? Well, it starts in 2016…
Summer 2016 I spent the summer at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, MA, home to a 100+ year old independent movie theater called Images Cinema. They have one screen and show one movie per week. That summer, I saw every single movie they screened and had a great time watching weird indie movies with a bunch of old people who were not afraid to walk out if they didn’t like what they were seeing. To this day, I am on their mailing list and I try to see whatever it is they’re showing at one of the amazing indie movie theaters in Brooklyn (my personal favorites are BAM, Nitehawk, and Alamo Drafthouse).
Also, of course, streaming platforms are a thing. Speaking of streaming platforms…
Television
Friends. I watched 52 seasons of television this year. And not a single one of them was part of the MCU or Star Wars universe. Was this a flex? I’m not sure.
Anyway, in this, the year of our lord 2022, also known as The Streaming Wars, Or, The Golden Age of Streaming, depending on how history chooses to remember us, I just had to put these into my calendar. And let me tell you, I personally am GRATEFUL that every streaming platform except Netflix has seemed to gotten the hint that we want weekly releases instead of binge drops because it actually made keeping up with this challenge much easier and more gratifying. Moving on!
Theatre and Live Events
This is the category I am most proud of because this is actually one of the first years of my life I was able to budget for seeing theatre and not rely solely on comps and gifts from family members. That being said, I did still accept both of those things, but I was also able to splurge on the Into the Woods revival, which is something I would not have been able to do for most of my adult life.
I saw 50 plays, musicals, concerts, and comedy shows this year, ranging from amateur to Broadway. I really made an effort to see things I normally would not be interested in and stretch the boundaries of my taste. I saw some absolute gems and some total flops, but such is life in the theatre. Cruel business, show business.
Also… if any of y’all want some tips on seeing shows for cheap/free, I seem to have rigged the system, so hit me up!
Museums and Galleries
I only visited seventeen museums and galleries, sadly. I do love museums and I live in freaking New York City, where there is no shortage of art to be seen. However, this ended up being a scheduling and budgetary challenge. I ended up giving up a lot of my weekends to museums and also a lot of them are expensive, and it got hard to manage. That being said, I did see some amazing exhibitions this year and I am excited to return to some museums and galleries I never would have visited if I hadn’t set this challenge for myself.
The Highlights
I want to spare you the entire list of 200 (reach out to me privately if you’re interested), but I do want to share my highlights of 2022. In no particular order and with minimal thought put into it, here are my top five favorite cultural experiences in each category of the past year:
Books
We are the Weather by Jonathon Safran Foer
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
Angels in America by Tony Kushner
Shmutz by Felicia Berliner
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Movies
The Lost City
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Matilda
Television
Pachinko
Heartstopper
What We Do in the Shadows (Seasons 1-4)
Never Have I Ever (Season 3)
Derry Girls (Season 3)
Theatre
American Utopia
Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem Shakespeare in the Park)
Into the Woods
Death of a Salesman
Kimberly Akimbo
Museums and Galleries
Summertime Gallery
The Whitney Biennial
The Brooklyn Museum (specifically Andy Warhol: Revelation)
The Met (specifically In America: An Anthology of Fashion)
Museum of the City of New York (specifically Analog City)
BONUS- gonna throw in two concerts to make this a list of 22 things
dodie and Lizzy McAlphine at Kings Theatre
The Arcadian Wild at City Winery
In Conclusion
I learned a lot this year. I really feel like I took advantage of the city I live in and the specific moment of my life I find myself in. I was exhausted and burnt out and frequently went over budget. More importantly, I was inspired and surrounded by art and beauty and laughter and creativity and the miracle that is humans constantly creating new and interesting things to explore our own consciousness and ideas.
In the new year, I want to be a little more discerning so I am only taking in things I am really truly interested in (and so watching TV doesn’t feel like homework). I am also hoping to spend more time working on my own creative projects (like writing in this blog, for example) so that I can take some of the inspiration I am feeling and send it out into the universe.
What were your favorite cultural experiences of 2022? Do you think you squeezed in 200?