> 177: Me claiming I could fix it
Hi,
I hope you are staying cool, and ~staying cool~. Here in New York it has been dog-in-fountain season, relentlessly, for weeks. In other hometown news: at my day job, we are hiring a digital project manager. Is it you or someone you know? Come thru.
I recently came across this Leslie Steinberg quote from "Stone Butch Blues" for the first time via the writer Alexander Chee: “I’m not saying we’ll live to see some sort of paradise. But just fighting for change makes you stronger. Not hoping for anything will kill you for sure. Take a chance... You’re already wondering if the world could change. Try imagining a world worth living in, and then ask yourself if that isn’t worth fighting for.” In progressive spaces it feels lately as though we've lost the ability to paint a picture of that world worth living in, with all the doom bearing down on us. But it's essential: "Not hoping for anything will kill you for sure."
Vote in the Tiny Awards for great little web projects.
"I’d love to work with European filmmakers. I wish I spoke another language. I learned French really badly. I want you to write a piece about me quitting the business and moving to France to act. Here, they’d be like, Who cares? She left us long ago. I’m being stupid now. See? Then I’m going to see this in print and I’m going to regret it. But I won’t. Because I don’t read my press."
The job decision matrix.
Like every self-respecting Xennial who still thinks fondly of the Counting Crows, has been to therapy, and owns far too many cookbooks, I loved the second season of The Bear. Like all my favorite art, it captures the human condition by being both hopeful and devastating at the same time: What if people can really change, but some of them can't do it fast enough to save themselves? What if we gave people chances when they deserve them, and even when they don't?
An in-depth investigation of Carmy's cookbook shelves.
"I think more people should be willing to make drastic life changes in pursuit of a good friend group." Also: How to live near your friends.
If you're a person who enjoys alcoholic drinks and strawberries are still available where you are, I recommend Deb Perelman's "The Red and the Black."
The real estate listing for Stephen Sondheim's Turtle Bay townhouse.
What to do with climate emotions.
100 really good bird photos.
When I saw you ahead I ran two blocks
shouting your name then realizing it wasn't
you but some alarmed pretender, I went on
running, shouting now into the sky,
continuing your fame and luster. Since I've
been incinerated, I've oft returned to this thought,
that all things loved are pursued and never caught,
even as you slept beside me you were flying off.
At least what's never had can't be lost, the sieve
of self stuck with just some larger chunks, jawbone,
wedding ring, a single repeated dream,
a lullaby in every elegy, descriptions
of the sea written in the desert, your broken
umbrella, me claiming I could fix it.—Ash Ode, Dean Young
Bye,
Laura