29 Piece of Media That Made Me

Happy 29th birthday to me.

I turn 29 today and I love those “X things I learned by age X” posts I see on TikTok. However, frankly, I don’t think I know 29 entire things for sure, so I will not be producing one myself.

Instead, I’m going to compile a non-exhaustive list of 29 pieces of media that have shaped who I am, presented (mostly) without comment. It will be comics, books, movies, TV shows, songs/albums, video games, whatever. And because it is in my birthday, I reserve the right to list entire franchises as one piece of media. For one day, you can let me make the rules.

Here we go:

F9 Promotional Image

1. The entire Fast & Furious franchise.

2. For similar reasons, all of the Tekken video games.

3. Avatar: the Last Airbender (2005-2008)—the television show, not the film. If I say Avatar, I am never speaking of neither the blue people nor the live action ATLA film.

4. Relatedly, The Legend of Korra (2012-2014).

5. Brown Sugar (2002)

   

   A watercolor portrait of Toni Morrison by Stringfield behind The Source of Self-Regard (2019) open to a heavily highlighted and annotated page.

6. The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Speeches, Essays and Meditations by Toni Morrison (2019). If you consider yourself a writer, I suggest you read this book.

7. Smallville (2001-2011)—frankly, it’s a little surprising this isn’t number one on the list.

8. Riot! by Paramore (2007)

9. The Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze (2016-2018) Black Panther run. I still remember reading issue one on my tablet my fourth year of college.

   

   Stringfield immediately post dissertation defense in an Ironheart t-shirt and holding her “Ph.D. Checklist.” (April 8, 2022)

10. Relatedly, Eve L. Ewing, Kevin Libranda, and Luciano Vecchio’s 12-issue Riri Williams: Ironheart run (2018-2019).

11. Ms. Marvel, the TV show (2022).

12. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

    

    Stringfield at Masters graduation at William & Mary, May 2018

13. Black Panther, the film (2018)

14. Black Women Writers at Work, the 2023 Haymarket reprint, edited by Claudia Tate.

15. The Percy Jackson series, and all related spin-offs.

16. “Tyrone (Live)” by Erykah Badu (1997)

17. Fearless (2008) and Speak Now (2010) by Taylor Swift

18. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

19. The Legendborn cycle (Legendborn & Bloodmarked) by Tracy Deonn

    

    The cover of Thomas’ The Dark Fantastic (2018)

20. The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (2019)

21. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, the film (2018)

22. Lore Olympus, the WebToon, by Rachel Smythe (2018- )

23. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020), the video game

24. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1868)

25. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston (1937)

    

    Moon Girl fan art by Stringfield (2022); based on Natacha Bustos’ comic art.

26. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023)—the TV show that just came out and is most of my personality now.

27. Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell (art) (2019-2021)

28. Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

29. All of Geneva Bowers’ art.