“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you. ” ― Pericles
Hi, ducklings! I’m just back from a week abroad and somewhat behind, but still we have some links for you–heavy on the political spectrum, you understand. We were only gone a week, but that’s like six months in 2016-years–meaning a lot happened that we need to catch up on properly before I feel able to comment intelligently on it all. While I’m coming down from the vacation high and trying to edit photos as fast as I can, enjoy the batch this week and add to it in the comments.
A PSA note to American kittens: vote how you please, but PLEASE VOTE. Let’s reconvene next week to chat about the whole shebang, shall we? Doubtless, whatever happens, there will be much to speak about.
It was practically summer in Barcelona. Back here in reality, it’s cold and politically hostile. I’m already missing the palm trees.
This American Life did a series of shows on the election, state of the union, and state of the media that I found deeply impactful, but episode 600 was the most so by far.
Just a quick check in to confirm that in spite of my poor gif making technique, and rudimentary mobile technology skills (hopeless millennial), the food and company remain excellent.
“I would sooner be a foreigner in Spain than in most countries. How easy it is to make friends in Spain!” -George Orwell
Darlings, as you may be aware, I’m currently in Spain–unless something has gone terribly wrong–and delaying winter’s inevitable approach with good company. The links are super short this week as a result, but brought you by pop culture and a heaping dose of internet love! We’ll be back soon with updates on tapas and monasteries and All Hallows Eve celebrations from abroad. Meanwhile, add anything you found interesting this week worth sharing in the comments!
Everyone should have a resting presidential face. In related news, Samantha Bee is rapidly emerging as one of the most no-holds-barred political commentators I’ve seen in my adulthood; unabashedly feminist, low bullshit tolerance, emphatically embracing a point of view and claiming it. This segment is one of my favorite of the election season thus far.
And in case you missed it, this did not go the direction you might have initially assumed. Refreshingly.
” You need to change [sentence] to the past tense and change ‘principle’ to ‘principal.'” “GAH. PRINCIPAL. I swear that twigged something in my brain but it was my last edit of the night and I needed to go to bed. Shoot me.” “Still not as good as the fundraiser typo that shall live with me until the day I die (I fixed it, but still): ‘Volunteers are the heroes in our toolboxes!’ became ‘Volunteers are the herpes in our toolboxes!’ Brilliant.” – Katarina and C.
Being a writer is fraught. You never know who you may accidentally kill or infect.
“The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.” ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
2016, the year that keeps on giving and won’t let us return or regift any of it, rolls on. I’m gearing up for a tough week before a respite with friends in Spain, and then it’s back to the hustle and grind. Meanwhile, have a dose of links, kittens!
Long live the dandy. Fun fact, I stumbled into the filming of this episode while walking home from work and only realized what it was until I caught the episode on YouTube.
“Country things are the necessary root of our life – and that remains true even of a rootless and tragically urban civilization. To live permanently away from the country is a form of slow death.” ― Esther Meynell
We bid adieu to the summer with a very lovely and generous invitation for a weekend house party in Devon on the coast. There was minimal communications, croquet, amazing food, and wonderful company–we had a amazing time.
The weather was very British and temperatures and sunlight varied by the hour, but we got glorious chunks of time in the sun and good enough weather for a long hike on the Saturday afternoon. Mornings were spent at the massive kitchen table or out on the terrace, after a brisk swim in the sea, we played parlour games at night. The villages we hiked through and stayed in were beyond charming, there is no other word for them. Here, have a photo smorgasbord:
It was exactly what we needed to round off the summer. Quintessentially British, restful, and invigorating at the same time. I’m ready for another helping!
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ― Albert Camus
Kittens, this is a week for rejoicing. First of all, in a month, the US election will be decided. Secondly, Jeff and I have managed to do most of the furnishing of our flat in record time…seriously, we thought it would take longer to source some of our pieces but we are (if you’ll forgive me) ace sales shoppers. A couple of big ticket items will be purchases for 2017–slight pearl clutch to think how close we are to a new year–but from tomorrow we will have both internet and a sofa actually within our apartment. #adulting
Finally, we are planning an upcoming trip to Spain with good friends and really looking forward to is.
And so, lo though a new Monday is nearly upon us, we are not in despair and we have links.
Super excited for this. PS, if you didn’t already subscribe to British Vogue’s Youtube channel, you really should. From mini series to interesting content and with influencers, it’s got an authenticity I really enjoy.
I think this should be SDS canonized, or whatever our equivalent action of reverence is.
I’ve long coveted a Moicun cluster ring, so you may imagine how much I loved this interview with the designer.
First Lady Michelle Obama gave an amazing speech in New Hampshire, the second half of which is a good but somewhat typical stump speech. The first half, however, was an emotional punch to the gut on the issue of Mr. Trump’s language about women. The FLOTUS has given the best speeches by far in this cycle, in my opinion.
Hm, and I’ve just realized our entryway decor consists of an Ikea bag (full of shoes) and a Fortnum and Mason basket that I claimed from company gifting leftovers last Christmas season. Time to plot that space out a bit more.
“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ” ― Roseanne Barr
Hi, kittens. This week’s links post is short but brought to you mostly by a big heaping dose of Lady Rage. Sit back and let it wash over you.
First and foremost, Trump. I’ve long been baffled by his candidacy, actively dismayed in fact. But the whole garbage fire situation boiled over this week when lewd comments that frankly should have surprised no one, given his decades long public personality/persona, found their way into the light of day. Shock, surprise. Writing this, the fallout is still coming down, but at the end of the day, I’m more disgusted that this is what’s getting people to publicly distance themselves from his campaign. Not his racist comments or other sexist comments, not his strongman attitudes or attempts (or success) at demagoguery, not his statements flat out contradicted by fact checkers, his own previous public comments, or other world leaders…but this is the deal breaker? Being lewd/about a married white woman? You could not have encapsulated all of the conversations and flaws about our current political cycle and society, from gender and race, to rank and privilege, better if you tried. Political America, check your priorities.
I enjoyed The Girl on the Train, but it lacked the same punch for me that Gone Girl did. This piece on the genre of women hitting back violently against the world/patriarchy and why it’s not going away anytime soon is worth a read.
“I don’t mean what other people mean when they speak of a home, because I don’t regard a home as a…well, as a place, a building…a house…of wood, bricks, stone. I think of a home as being a thing that two people have between them in which each can…well, nest.” ― Tennessee Williams
We’re in the new place, we’re largely up and running but for the key element of internet not being set up. I type this tethered to one of our phone’s wifi, which is a band aid over a bullet hole as far as communications goes, but is survivable. Proper updates on the care and keeping of a new apartment coming soon. In the meantime, here’s a short rundown of things that captured my attention this month.
Image via Amazon
Ginger Pig Meat Book, by Tim Wilson and Frand Warde. I discovered this in the kitchen of the house we stayed in whilst in Devon and read it voraciously until we left. More than a cookbook, it starts by detailing the types of animals that The Ginger Pig (a famous butcher with a stall in Borough Market) farm rears and why. It details how the stock are reared, bred, butchered, and how different cuts of meat are best used. It also goes into the attempts of the owners to prioritize and reestablish British breeds whose bloodlines have largely been replaced by industrial style farming and the breeds that this sort of production favors. It’s not book for vegetarians, but it is a love letter to anyone who cares about good meat, ethically reared and harvested, and offered with care. I’ll definitely purchasing my own copy once the horrendous amount we had to put on the credit card to buy a sofa is paid off.
Image via Essie
Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil. A former nail biter and still occasional nail picker, I’ve dealt with hangnails my whole life. And yet, even as a woman who paints her nails almost as ritual once a week, I’ve been incredible slow up the uptake of cuticle care. I have reformed, thanks to this stuff.
Image via Amazon
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I wasn’t sure what I’d think going into this book, as I enjoyed whole chunks of Eat, Pray, Love while feeling that the overall book came off feeling enormously privileged and a bit over the top. I also don’t tend to love books that fall under “self help” with only rare exceptions. But the buzz around this book was enough for me to grab it in audio form and I ended up enjoying it tremendously. Parts personal anecdotes that didn’t feel preachy, part sensible advice around prioritizing and supporting creativity, it ended up being both an enjoyable and motivating listen.
Furniture shopping. Who knew I’d get into this? I still have no idea what we’re doing but slowly and surely a picture is forming for our new apartment. Even more slowly but surely, we’re figuring out how to make it happen in a way that doesn’t break the bank. Though the experience does have me hoping that my dad decides to hold onto his prized collection of middle eastern carpets for my siblings and my collective inheritance. Rugs are hilariously expensive, people!
Travel. At least one post on our trip to Devon will be up next week…subject to the internet gods smiling on us. Suffice it to say for now that getting out of the city and to the sea was exactly what we needed.
“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.” ― Beryl Markham, West with the Night
Saturday was a long and occasionally vexing day, but we got the whole move done in it. On Sunday Jeff got to go gallivanting off to an NFL game because we’d bought the ticket long before our move date (I still think sneakiness might have been involved) but we got our first batch of shopping done and almost all our things organized any way.
Next stop furniture, and what a doozy that will be. We’re preparing to be permanently poor for the foreseeable future! However after crunching some numbers, budgeting, and planning, we were able to afford plane tickets for Christmas in the States, which means we get to see both sides of the family two years in a row. Adulting, we are getting there.
…but we do not yet have internet so your links are a day late, though not a proverbial dollar short! Let me know what your weekend held in the comments!
Daunting but kind of exhilarating at the same time.
An intriguing piece on Secretary Clinton and the common problem of reactions to women looking for a promotion. Regardless of political affiliation, I’ve found her now famous comments about being torn down when seeking a new position as opposed to being relatively well thought of when doing that new position to be insightful.
Small Dog Syndrome 