Hello! Today: how outdoor athletes get money to fund their expeditions; a Quebecois film about teenagers; a French-Algerian autobiographical novel about 80s Paris' lesbian club life; and sage white wine gnocci.

Article: How North Face athletes compete for expedition funding by Frederick Reimers, published by Outside Magazine in February 2021
I am teetering on the edge of developing a new interest (watching videos of professional mountaineers going on ill-advised expeditions) based on an old interest (leaving the city boundaries). I'm also eternally interested in funding more generally, and spon con specifically, so this article about how athletes who are part of outdoor gear North Face's branding network compete for money for their expeditions was right up my street. After all, someone has to pay for trips where people ski down the world's fourth highest mountain. Why that trip has to happen is a different question, but anyway: did you know that Reinhold Messner's 1978 supplemental oxygen-less Everest ascent was sponsored by Fila and... Rolex?

Film: Une colonie (2019), directed by Genevieve Dulude-De Celles
God, I love a film/book that perfectly recalls the teenage experience. In this French-Canadian film set in rural Quebec, shy 13-year-old Mylia starts high school. She hangs out with her younger sister; slowly befriends a couple of people; goes to some parties. Her blossoming friendship with Jimmy, who lives on a nearby Abenaki First Nations reserve, illustrates the low and high key racism directed towards First Nations people in Canada. Everybody here is awful and awkward and silly, as teenagers are, but nobody is terrible. The acting is great, the cinematography is beautiful, and the alcohol-induced vomiting is, by all accounts, very realistic. And when you're done watching, you can think of the double meaning of the title and how it relates to the film.

Book: All Men Want to Know by Nina Bouraoui, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins (2020)
In this autobiographical novel, French-Algerian writer Nina Bouraoui remembers: her childhood growing up in Algeria; her teenage years, having just moved to France; her mother, a vivid, important presence; and the Kat, the women-only club she frequented four times a week when she was 18, living alone in Paris and starting out on her first lesbian relationships. Some of these memories are vivid, short flashes of about half a page; some are accounts of joy, longing and fear. Together, they form a picture of how a person becomes a person, through a mix of people, places, small and large disappointments. For a fuller picture, I suggest reading this review.

Other: Sage and white wine gnocchi
Unfortunately I’m not exaggerating when I say that this very basic, very delicious meal has been a highlight of my last two months or so. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the cook in my household, but occasionally I get cravings and this was one of them. Eating this in the bath with a glass of wine and a movie (the more ridiculous, the better – I was watching The Parent Trap) was, dare I say, a transcendent experience. Here’s what my partner and resident chef does: "Warm up a decent slug of white wine. Chop up some (dried) sage and sprinkle it in. Lightly simmer the wine to get the booze out of it. Then lower the heat, add butter/margarine/whatever. Once it's mixed in, chuck in fresh sage (if you have it), season with pepper and salt. Boil gnocchi, drain, toss them in the pan with the buttery wine sage liquid until they're nicely coated. That's it."

That is, indeed, it! Hopefully next time I write to you it won't be snowing!! Please!!!! Bye!