Weekend Reads #283
Weekend Reads
The forgotten trans history of the first Beastie Boys record. (Boing Boing)
Should women start boycotting men? Inside South Korea’s 4B movement. (Elle)
Pushing 50 and still fucking up: Why do I do things that make me feel terrible? (Jenny)
Why I'm taking a break from Botox. (Gloria)
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So long, skinny jeans. See you in the next cycle. (NPR)
Drew Barrymore taps the menopause gold rush. (The Vajenda)
Reminds me of my piece, I call bullshit on celebrity menopause brands.
FullBeauty Brands acquires Dia & Co. (Yahoo Finance)
These perfumes come with notes of blood, latex and floorboards. (New York Times – gift article)
How “industry plants” became the internet’s hottest conspiracy. (Vox)
We need to talk about Trader Joe's. (Taste)
Hear/See/Read
A few folks I know in real life and who I follow online raved about Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. As someone who has felt creatively stuck for a while (pretty much since 2020, with spurts popping up now and then between hot flashes, my mom dying, and damaged retinas), I am always looking for inspiration. Rick Rubin has had a long history of creative pursuits, and I had an Audible credit burning a hole in my virtual wallet.
I began this book and thought, this dude thinks he's some guru! Does he think he's written the modern-day Tao Te Ching? The singing bowl, my goodness he is full of himself. I began Googling Rick Rubin, focusing on that which was negative. This pompous ass has to be problematic, right? And just like anyone on the internet, I found things about him that I didn't like.
But then I thought… who decides which person is inspiring and which person is a self-important ass? Am I judgemental because he is white and wealthy and weird? Would I know this crap if Reddit and X didn't exist? Does it affect the words he wrote and then spoke for the audiobook? Am I just a hater? Let me listen a bit longer.
And the other day, driving home after dropping off my kid at a friend's house, what Rubin was saying with the weather and the colors of the trees against the black of the asphalt and the blue of the sky… it all connected and vibrant and I saw beyond tree and sky and road to the colors and textures like I used to when I was younger and far more active with my creativity.
I'm not finished with the book. It has short chapters so you can do one a day, a couple on your drive to the market or as you're making your morning coffee. He has a soothing voice. And while some of it is pretentious, some of it has really hit. And I'm all about that which helps me feel more me again.
For Your Entertainment
In 1981, Ned Sublette wrote and recorded the song, “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.” In 2006, Willie Nelson covered it. And now, in 2024, Willie Nelson paired up with Orville Peck to record it as a duet. Peck has bee covering this song off and on for a while. Nelson approached Orville about recording it together, inspired by the rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation happening in the U.S. Amazing how a song 43 years old sounds so current, and is still so necessary.
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Re the Trader Joe’s article- not surprising and I’ll also add this marketplace piece I’d heard recently about the quality/lack of quality and how it specifically speaks to this chain https://www.marketplace.org/2024/03/19/is-the-u-s-food-safety-system-really-all-that-safe/
Weekend Reads is so lovely–you always get my mind going. I appreciate all the different resources you must follow to present us with such diverse and interesting options!
I am saddened, but not surprised by Drew Barrymore these days. She completely lost my respect during the Writer’s strike, and her backpedaling was predictable and pathetic. It feels like it leads right into this “brand ambassador” ridiculousness. I do wonder, with the lawsuits against the ambassadors of crypto, will there be a little more accountability in the future? ( I guess I can hope.)
The Trader Joe’s article is sad as well. Their treatment of their workers and attempts to fight unionization have pushed me from their clientele–especially when you find out they are owned by Aldi, a giant German supermarket conglomerate. Playing the game of keeping workers in the U.S. from receiving the same treatment as their workers in the EU is just evil…no surprise they would embrace being grocery villains and victimize small, ethnic businesses in their drive for even more profit, or fail to remedy their blatant colonialism and racial insensitivity. RIP Trader Joe’s. Once, you were wonderful.
Thank-you Alison, for yet another week of interesting links on a variety of subjects.
One commonality of many I do observe is a couple of hundred posts on a major platform then being identified as “EVERYONE is talking about…” (not by yourself, I might add). This results in individuals who don’t hold a particular view being sucked in for fear of being left out of the conversation, despite the lack of empirical evidence for or against the argument. This is how the internet is manipulated to form pressure groups. Nobody questions the assumed “facts”.
Perhaps I should write an article and title it “Everyone…”.
Hi Alison, speaking of skinny jeans, just saw this in British Vogue, lol:
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/skinny-jeans-trend-aw24
Oh goodness, how are we ever to keep up? Good thing we don’t need to since we’re grown and fashion right bow is so much about self-expression!
Alison, I love your blog!
Every week I think about writing to tell you how I look forward to Week End Reads and savor the piece of art you’ve selected to begin your Saturday post!!!
It is a wonderful touch…unique and enriching. Thank you!