- @Alexa
This is everything, an easy 11. I loved Robin Wall Kimmerer's books and haven't seen any of her essays on their own prior to this one. Stunning.
The first snippet is missing, the intro. Here:
"We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice, and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom."
RWK always makes me marvel at the wonders of nature, and this is a special CTA to honor my responsibility to give back to those treasures.
Hahahaha yes
Interesting, this feels like the first time we’ve had a view this clear of a modern social platforms algorithm goals. The usual Silicon Valley types treat it as a black box to the public eye.
Not on tiktok myself, before deleting my socials I never got into it, but I’ve heard it’s nightmarishly sticky from friends.ugh to those late nights where you fall into a fugue state and realize it’s 3am and you’re on your phone still...no thanks.
This makes me wonder, even with the articles anticlimatic conclusion...will we see more outrage or pressure on tiktok because it’s not US based/owned?
Another engrossing AHP recommendation.
It’s a lot to take in, raised in the 90s as a female I definitely have culturally ingrained fatphobia. Never knew my mom not to be dieting, never even tasted full fat sour cream until my late teens (and realized sour cream I’d actually delicious!) it’s a weird thing to consider. Hope today’s younguns get to skip that nonsense
Did not realize this was happening! Zero surprised they were tracking incognito :(
wild. it shouldn't be so hard to avoid shady chemicals in your hair & body products. I DIY all mine now but dang, this is madness
Love this. It's nice to see other nuances of sobriety. You don't have to be a falldown ruin your life drunk to find more value in life after drinking. Sometimes you just find more life, less distraction, and a juicier existence. Love it!
I dig this but have SUCH mixed feelings on it.
I'm a very femme person so heck yea I am here for empowering those who want to rock a winged liner, bold lip, or delightfully slooty outfit but…
…at what point are we self-policing sexist beauty culture ideals that were developed to keep women in red-lipped subservience or diminutive roles? If you want plastic surgery cool, but also…it's reinforcing specific beauty ideals for the rest of women who now are being sold these visions. and they aren't cheap.
I"m SO torn. I want to wear fun, scandalous outfits and still be taken seriously or acknowledged for my intelligence, but can you REALLY dismantle the patriarchy/capitalism when you're dropping 1,000s on lip fillers or outfits that seem to (realistically) prioritize the male gaze? idfk.
Help. idk. girl power vs "if I get botox everyone else will feel like aging is bad too" feels over here hahaha
Big fan of this gal and her McMansion Hell work and when she sent out this link with “I got mad and finally wrote about the metaverse” ... Worth the read.
The vids they share inline aren’t necessary with her explanations but they are rather cringe and support the rant. That ad for quest is depressing, uf.
It underlines my curiosity of...who exactly is the metaverse for? I’ve worked with VR game companies and never grew fond of the headsets or screen two inches from my face experience. And that was for playing a fun game! But to replicate dismal meat space experiences I don’t want to do anyways...hi Walmart...what gives?
It seems like brands grasping to be relevant and pouring more irl dollars into digital kerfluffery. Meaningless brand activations, no ROI possible, it’s just baffling. Is anyone actually excited about the metaverse other than captain delusional zuck himself?
Thoroughly fascinating. Love a good story about macabre lost arts. Makes me want to make my own alpine death cheese for my funeral when I get my goats.
This project mostly just pissed me off that there was an Elif Shafak book I'd never get to read
Otherwise, this is kind of a slap to the optimist in me that thinks (hopes?) we wont have wiped ourselves off the face of the Earth in 100 years. uh…TBD?
Such a weird project, interesting, but weird
I appreciate this take so so much. I've been grappling a lot lately with balancing my own personal risk with collective interests.
I have taken enough precautions to know if I got sick I'd likely be ok, that helps. But, I know people (like my sister) who have medical conditions that don't make getting vaxxed a safe choice for them.
Lately, it feels like I don't quite know how to consider not just my own risk tolerance, but how that tolerance impacts others. This article explores that, and I appreciated how they worked through a lot of the self vs collective thinking.
I too found my way to Eve Babitz through Joan Didion. Eve’s Black Swan was the LA I knew (or wished I did).
Jia Tolentino reminded me of Eve, in a modern (less socialite party girl) way. The sentences, the analysis, the verve of how they write.
So many great females of the written world, and in such varying forms , lost to the last few weeks. Sheesh.
A brief roundup of the iconic Joan Didion's work. What a legend.
we lost a lot of greats from the literary world in the last few weeks.
I appreciate how this piece celebrates bell hooks and her great work, but also explores how (and this is so pertinent to writers) there are always two sides, many opinions, and many ways of looking at one thing. Who is right?
Guess it depends who you ask…this nuance and difference is what makes life right, we can be outspoken if we're empathetic enough to meet others where they're at and respect them for their different views.
Love the call to live as we live, regardless of missteps
Interesting concept, but for all the emotional musing (which tbh I'm kind of here for depending on the day) it misses one point…sure the pandemic may be "ending" but that's thanks to the virus becoming endemic.
This "new normal" that includes covid and throw-your-hands-up folks is just saying this is what it is now, no?
John Hopkins med said a few months ago covid was pretty much endemic. Maybe it's time to start shifting the narrative to how we live with that…maybe time to mourn that this is how it is now and then find ways to do it safely? idk.
This is killer. What a ride.
Horrified by this, but also...so on point:
The internet has conscripted us into the construction and manipulation of our own images, so that the idea of wearing some kind of mask — whether through plastic surgery, Instagram filter, online avatar or cloak of irony — no longer reads as unnatural, but rather as broadly relatable.
Botox fascinates me, repulses me, and yet I'm still drawn to it. Something about the mid 30s makes you have crazy thoughts...I want to rail against it, but I also want to "stay relevant" or whatever other bs goes through my head staring into the mirror and wondering why i spent so much time tanning.
And Errol-friggin-Morris. Legend.
Great look at this weird "fad", although I'm not sure I'd say they "cure" wrinkles. They paralyze your face and soften them, but cure is a bit far.
This is phenomenal. Musings on loss and memory, and I enjoyed the ponderous way it's written.
I have heard so many stories, and told so many myself secondhand, that they crowd out the memories; the two twine up together, a text at once invented and true.
This was a "just trust me" rec from AHP, glad I took it.
Whoooo ok yea love/hate. Where do I land.
Half the people on TikTok are doing a similar form of acting and fronting anyways, they just don't have the backing of screenwriters. These surveillance capitalism based sites should come with a free therapist sheesh, because this kind of warped reality surely messes with you over time!
Finally a major publication calls the beauty culture what it is, violence. If only you could see this in the pages of an actual beauty mag.
Five minutes at Sephora is all you need to grasp the ever-multiplying categories of things we can do to “improve” our bodies. There is no part too small to be monitored, controlled, embellished, augmented or removed entirely, from eyelashes (extend) to lips (inflate) to body hair (eliminate) to pores (reduce) to eyebrows (reduce, but also enhance) and so on, through nails, hair, teeth, ad infinitum.
A compelling story with what happened to her, I always adored Evangelista she is a legend, and an interesting look at beauty cultures toxicity laid bare. When will we allow women to age and recognize the beauty of a changing, maturing body?!
We could retitle this "hobby creating trash problem by making existing trash problem visible"
Amusing, but weird.
I can't believe this gem hasn't graced the 1's and 0's of Readup yet. Pinterest personified.
It's HILARIOUS, and makes me feel vindicated about not being able to log onto Pinterest without wanting to burn my current wardrobe, completely rewrite my eating plan, redecorate my house and make a crap-ton of salads in mason jars. That platform is cursed.
I've heard this again and again about the labor shortage. It's hard to go through a life changing event like a catastrophic pandemic and be able to take all the bs that has, for years, come with working in service.
I know a gal who's a flight attendant on temporary leave and her friends still working are telling her to wait longer before coming back. Why? Because many flyers are either new to the air or have forgot how to be decent human beings.
I did a jaunt over the winter at a bougie hotel locally and OMG was it hard to smile at someone screaming at you for asking them to please put on a mask for a shit wage.
There's a great podcast episode of The Journal. about a restaurant called Dirt Candy in NYC that is thriving after a few changes...which were basically to give benefits and pay a livable wage with yearly reviews and wage increases and adjust the menu to something smaller and more affordable. Turnover is nonexistant and they have 40 person stacks of resumes for openings.
So yea, let's not complain about the workers lets be honest about the conditions that led people to "aw hell no" going back to that work. Yes, solid 10 on this hot take!
Ah, first world problems. And a major underscore for how screwed our supply chain is. Maybe this will inspire companies to bring some production back domestically? Who knows.
Here for this. A take on some of the real cost when someone claims organic isn't that much better for you. Sure, maybe not at the end of the foodchain, but it sure makes a difference for workers who don't have to be bathed in chemicals in the fields. Great take.
This topic comes up around meat and dairy, too, where there seems to be an endless back and forth in food, health, and women’s magazines about whether these products are “good for you.” Occasionally, one will wonder whether they’re good for the environment. Almost no one includes the lives (and illnesses and deaths) of factory farm and meatpacking workers when considering where these products ought to fit in our diets.
Love this. Reminds me of some of the work by Lucia Berlin, esp A Manual For Cleaning Women and the piece by that name. I find pieces like this strangely validating, perhaps like thor said the schadenfreude of knowing my decisions for less are rightly reflected in not needing a stack of scrips to survive.
Wowwww. People are so fascinating and the truth is absolutely stranger than fiction. What a mess of justifications to keep up the hobby, but I also can't entirely blame him...got a bit of kindred spirits with that fascination to people watch. Great read.
Aw man! I used Unfollow Everything before I finally just deleted my accounts from the whole mess of it. It was a nice tool to form some control over use of the platform. I'm zero surprised by this, but also cringing at the irony of banning this guy for life but the soccer player who showed revenge porn to millions of people (which is also a so called "banned for life" action) is still an active account holder. Not exactly surprised but...UGH. Really looking forward to watching this Facebook Files things show people just what a toxic org FB is.
Delete your accounts, it's worth it.
omg what a nightmare. guess this proves people do still make phone calls and not just text lol
huh. interesting look at something i never considered in film, the houses!
Ah, the one I've been curious about. I think I've heard a podcast with this gal on The Center for Humane Technologies Time Well Spent podcast.
This is really interesting. Facebook attracts the best and brightest who want to change the world, you're bound to get whistleblowers out of that lot.
We’re a little over a month away from the COP26 international climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, which start on October 31 and go until November 12.
The worlds biggest polluters will be talking plans to figure out how to even in today's warming world. Expecting to hear a lot of promises to reach “net zero” emissions (and already are).
Last week, 200 major companies signed a pledge to become net zero by 2040. Here's a bit about what that means.
Hot take, big fan.
What exactly would an “optimal health” pageant look like? Maybe the contestants will have their blood pressure taken on stage and announce the last time they had a pap smear. Maybe they’ll get their eyes examined and discuss the results with an accredited ophthalmologist. Or it could be more fun-health, like phys-ed focused: Maybe they’ll do a sprint down the aisles, and then clear a few hurdles while clad in evening gowns, like some kind of sparkly mini-Olympics. The high jump is exciting, but have you ever seen anyone do it in heels? It would take a very healthy person to do that.
hahahahahaha 👆 that visual tho.
Favorite. Ever. This roundup made me instantly subscribe to her Substack. obsessed.
Do you ever feel like today’s beauty “activism” is mostly fighting to ensure that everyone is oppressed in all the same ways?? I mean, yes, for equality’s sake, I’m in favor of effective hyperpigmentation treatments and forehead-freezing neurotoxins for all. I am! But have we maybe missed the point here? Idk, it feels like leveling the beauty industry would be a more liberating way to level the playing field.
The weekly from one of my absolute favorite writers. Yea, it's got a beauty industry bent but really it's a look at life in our culture. You'd have to be one hell of a rugged lumbersexual god to be immune from the influences of the things she covers here.
And of course, she's hilarious. I just love it. This kind of writing is aspirational af:
From the website: “Who is ‘Lola?’ Someone who owns who they are, believes in themselves, and does things their own way. They live the Lola life. LolaVie, Naturally You.” Um…,,, What? Ahem. WHAT?!!! What fresh marketing hell is this? That amalgamation of clichés means absolutely nothing! It’s a faux-powerment word salad that’s seemingly meant to inspire but literally makes me want to expire, right here, right now, I’m done, goodbye. There is no reason for this brand to exist.
Fascinating read. She weaves several themes together you wouldn't expect to come together as they do.
Van life, instagrammers, racial justice, domestic abuse, and the weird parasocial relationships being formed online--some rather macabre in nature.
Great story, for sure. I spent half of it shaking my head at the lengths crypto-bros will go to to escape to their own self-governed playground. Still, gotta respect the dreamers.
Love that they've titled it, the Great Resignation, lol. I feel like this is a really good shift because so many workplaces have been getting worse and worse and worse. I'm here for putting the squeeze on employers to create better working conditions all around. Yes!
Important convos here!
I live in CA and the electric car thing is bonkers. The lust for, and narrative around, e-vehicles seems to have always conveniently ignored the battery problem.
Replacing the battery is obvi a recycling nightmare and I'm glad this is coming to light in a major pub like this one. Fascinating stuff.
Doen't even scratch the surface with the humanitarian crisis that is the mining of these metals & minerals.
Such a complex thing. There's no win. Guzzling gas is a lose, e-vehicles are theator for feeling like you're making a better choice, etc etc. I'm jaded tho, chasing a smart recycling method feels like another way to avoid looking our reliance on driving friggin' everywhere in the face for what it is….nyet great (at least for those of us not blessed with good, greener urban/public transit etc). Is this recycling push just another bandaid for bad behaviors/systems overall?