Weekend Reads #195
Weekend Reads
How Serena Williams saved her own life. (Elle)
How two best friends beat Amazon. (New York Times)
Legalized pot was supposed to help build Black wealth in Los Angeles. It failed. (The New Republic)
It’s a myth that middle-aged women don’t want sex. In fact, we need it more than ever. (The Guardian)
Covid-19 safety doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Here’s how to think about it going forward. (Vox)
A random aside, I think how I type out Covid-19 and pandemic and other terms these days and this time two years ago I had to use cute little terms because Google pinged any site that discussed them, so concerned with hoaxes and fake news. Still lots of conspiracies out there but at least Google realizes some of our discussion on this topic is not fake news. Okay back to Weekend Reads…
Men's #MeToo rules. (All In Her Head by Jessica Valenti)
How an Ivy League school turned against a student. (The New Yorker)
The cruel theater of encampment sweeps. (Curbed)
It's time for women to reclaim “midlife crisis” as theirs. (Crow's Feet on Medium)
After my divorce, I found comfort in cohousing. (Catapault)
Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Utah, and Iowa have all recently passed anti-LGBTQ laws. Experts say the laws promote violence. (Buzzfeed News)
Will some of us social distance forever? (The Cut)
Nordstrom is having their Spring Sale which essentially is clearing out their winter or poorly selling stuff so I didn't share it… but if you're looking for some great spring shoes that can handle spring showers, check out these Blondo loafers in the cutest colors for a great price.
HBO Max has definitely seen your tweets, is fixing its apps. (Vulture)
Gwyneth Paltrow, Mila Kunis and other celebs are pushing women to invest in NFTs, which some see a revival of self-serving feminism. (Washington Post)
The rise of the triple peak day. (Microsoft)
Cool Things in the Wardrobe Oxygen Community
And in cool things members of the Wardrobe Oxygen community are doing… Quilt Scouts is a digital quilt guild, inspired by scouting, with a focus on inclusivity, diversity, and political engagement. Recently 32 quilters from Quilt Scouts worked together to create this gorgeous quilt, including one of you (not sure if they wish me to share their name). In lieu of a single organization to benefit, each scout identified a community entity in close geographic proximity to themself.
Our Wardrobe Oxygen community member is supporting Circle City Mutual Aid because they appreciate their core values of transparency, reliability, sustainability, and solidarity for the city they live in and love.
Between now and April 15th, each $5 donation you make will become a raffle entry to win this quilt while also directly supporting Mutual Aid groups across this country. Donations can be made in any amount but raffle tickets are issued in $5 increments—for example, a $50 donation equals 10 tickets. Additional funds added to your donation to support any donation platform are not included in the final raffle ticket count (i.e., $50 donation + 20% extra to cover costs = $60, which is still only 10 raffle tickets).
To learn more about this raffle, how to enter, and all the mutual and direct aid groups being supported by this event, click this link. The Ursa Quilt (seen above) is 67” wide by 90” long, generous for napping under, and big enough for a twin bed! Check out the hashtag QuiltScouts #QuiltsForJustice and #UrsaQuilt on Instagram for more info.
If you're doing cool things that are making this world a better place, contact me and let me know. Your endeavor may be included in a future issue of Weekend Reads!
Hear/See/Read
This week we began the eight-episode series Julia on HBO Max. It is the story of Julia Child and how she became a television pioneer and my husband and I love it. We're so sad we're caught up and have to wait each week for new episodes. My husband says it's as easy as drinking water but I feel a Pinot Noir is a better beverage descriptor. It's smooth, light, and enjoyable even if you aren't a connoisseur.
Child is played by British actress Sarah Lancashire who is the first actress I've found to make Julia Child, not a caricature or intimidating, but extremely relatable and appealing. I adore the relationships she has with her husband (played by David Hyde Pierce), her friend Avis DeVoto (played by bene Neuwirth), her editor Judith (played by Glascott), and WGBH assistant producer Alice (played by Brittany Bradford). In fact, every person Child meets, it becomes a relationship and it's so endearing and so… I already said relatable but this show has really hit me personally.
The way Child just believes in herself, but once she starts getting fame she questions it. How she wants so much to help others, even if it ends up being an invasion of privacy. How she finds ways to create community and friendships even in difficult circumstances and knows how to win folks over, no matter how difficult. How she is both unapologetic and embarrassed at the same time, pursuing her dream in midlife… I don't think I am the only woman who may feel seen by this representation of Julia Child.
You don't need to be some Julia Child expert or a foodie to enjoy this series. It's not too heavy, not too light, respects the characters it portrays (both real and fictional as this is not trying to be a documentary), and is filmed in a way that feels bright and light yet also intimate.
For Your Entertainment
To all my riot grrls and punks, there is great music in the 21st century and Amyl and the Sniffers is proof. Led by lead singer Amy Taylor, this Australian band transports me right to basement GA shows or my bedroom on an especially angsty evening without it feeling like a copy of a copy of a copy.
It was hard to choose which song to share below, but I went with the one that originally attracted me to this group. Sometimes on a Sunday instead of binging a series or scrolling through the guide, we cast my laptop to our TV and I see what YouTube recommends. And YouTube recommended this video and I immediately became a fan.
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The article about Mackenzie breaks my heart. It feels so much like every institution we try to hold high is so quick and willing to throw itself in the mud to protect itself.
My husband is psyched to watch Julia, thank you!
I just read the article Will Some of Us Social Distance Forever — and for those blocked by the paywall, just google the title, it’s on several other sites. Anyway, my point, I agree with some of the folks interviewed that, immuno-compromised people aside, social isolation is today less about COVID and more a reflection of realizing they just don’t enjoy being around (or in) large groups of people. After forcing myself for years to be part of the big, loud, extroverted, office and family and life settings in America, I realize I prefer the smaller, more introverted life. The pandemic freed me (in a way) to acknowledge that.
I’m watching Julia as well. It sure does not spare the men and their ways. Julia shows one way to get around them (it was mostly my way as well–I’m an Old). For contrast read Carl Bernstein’s “A Kid in the Newsroom.” He suffers none of the biases women felt, even as an underage, undersized, flunking out of high school Jewish kid. Not that his book isn’t terrific. Read it for the memories of D.C. back in the day, but try and picture a sixteen year old girl showing up in a major city’s newsroom.