you can't be serious
Dear Irene Today is the first day of this year's #The100DayProject. I have set up this Instagram account to track it. I have so many photos to scan, and just...
let's do the fork in the garbage disposal
My proofreader is on vacation. Possible typos ahead. My car is 10 years old. It has a CD player, but no port or jack to connect my iPhone. So when I’m...
all of the above
Multiple choice This newsletter tool uses some newfangled computer language that does not support lettered lists. There are ways around it, but I never...
can't stop won't stop
(Two yard signs that caught my eye this week.) About last week It is late afternoon, on a Wednesday. A middle-aged woman, alone, hunches over a large...
the room of shame in Building D
The migrant respite center where I volunteer is quiet right now, thanks to fewer buses arriving from Texas and Arizona (this week, anyway), and some critical...
puzzles and metaphors
Buttondown finally added an alt text field inside the photos so I don't have to explain what each photo is. (But that's the hilarious puppy I'm taking care...
radically candid
[Alt text: A jigsaw puzzle box. The cover image shows a variety of colorful vintage neckties.] After complaining last week about all the junk email I've been...
junky mailboxes
[Alt text: A white mailbox that looks like it's being humped by a giant blue dolphin. In Florida, of course.] Brief holiday redux: Most of my family lives...
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.
[Alt text: Black and white illustration of the 2-Tone guy shedding tears. Image via Chema Skandal.) My feeds are full of year-end lists. Bests and worsts. I...
disco pig
[Alt text: A decorative object resembling a silver pig with disco ball material boots and a pink felt Santa hat.] I had every intention of getting back to a...
there's a cream for that
[Alt text: A tree ornament that looks like a Dr. Martens boot] Last week, my doctor suggested I start using vaginal estrogen. Because I'm a dried up old maid...
imaginary interview
[Alt text: A pile of 50+ tangled hangers on a parquet floor.] Yesterday or the day before, Vanity Fair released their annual interview (YouTube) with Billie...
open tabs, empty cart
[Alt text: A painting of people on a subway car in the 1930s, in which people are chatting, reading, sleeping, applying lipstick, and otherwise not staring...
Friday link dump, partially annotated
Qui
what's another story?
[Alt text: A pair of oversized red and orange sunglasses frames I spotted in a store window in Barcelona.] When kids are around 4, I think, they like to ask...
postcard from Barcelona
[Alt text: The inside of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, possibly the biggest church in the world. If you think the Vatican is ostentatious and obscene, Sagrada is...
postcard from Barcelona
[Alt text: The inside of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, possibly the biggest church in the world. If you think the Vatican is ostentatious and obscene, Sagrada is...
Negroni. Sbagliato. With prosecco in it.
[Alt text: Three TikTok screenshots of Emma D'Arcy with short hair, wearing a pink diagonally striped oxford shirt with a matching pink tie. The captions say...
mistakes and your mom
[Alt text: Vlisco wax print fabric, in various shades of purple, with repeating patterns of vintage Vespa scooters and motorcycles.] Last week I wrote about...
incomplete asylum application
[Alt text: A flyer on a door that says "PRO SE MEANS: ON YOUR OWN"] Yesterday, I spent about 8 hours at a Pro Se Asylum Workshop, working on an application...