Interesting Times No. 8
Wayne Thiebaud; utopian communes; The Business of a Marriage; a doctor-poet; artificial hearts; Sleepless in Seoul; Lorrie Moore; ladette culture
Hello! Welcome back, and welcome to new subscribers - thank you for signing up! I took a little break over the holidays, but am here again, ready to provide recommendations from inside the vast expanse of the World Wide Web. I hope you enjoy.
JOURNALISM
‘Pro-Vax Sheep and Goats form Outline of Giant Syringe.’ What more is there to say? <3
‘The Business of a Marriage […]For our honeymoon, we spent five days camping by the beach, and my wallet was stuffed with receipts: who paid for raspberry ice creams, who bought the hot-dogs, who bought the firewood. Friends inquired, Is this for your divorce lawyers? Meticulous records of the small purchases could hardly address the greater inequities: not only did my husband make twice as much money as I did, I had moved into the house he owned. I paid rent and half the bills, but every time he brought home a block of expensive cheese I had a sinking feeling that I was living a lifestyle I couldn’t afford and didn’t deserve. My husband’s parents have been married for fifty years, and in his eyes, keeping track of whose assets are whose is a purely academic exercise. To me, it seems dangerous to get too comfortable.’ On making sense of sharing one’s life with another.
‘How Are Rome’s Monuments Still Standing? […] Modern concrete construction might last 100 years with maintenance, but some Roman structures have survived for 1,000 years or more essentially unassisted.’
‘People Tell Us Their Worst Christmas Horror Stories’. Count your blessings, etc.
‘Into the woods: how one man survived alone in the wilderness for 27 years.’
‘The American Painter Wayne Thiebaud, Who Transformed Cakes Into Symbols of Joy and Longing, Has Died at 101.’
‘Plagues and Empires: What can the decline of the Roman Empire and the end of European feudalism tell us about COVID-19 and the future of the West?’
This man is a true treasure. ‘“Above all else, don’t bullshit”: Doctor-poet Glenn Colquhoun on caring, and writing, for young people. “[Sharing the poems] brought intimacy. Was it awkward? Yeah man, but some of the biggest moments in medicine are awkward. It’s awkward when people die, when they vomit, when they wet themselves. Being sick is awkward, and it’s like holding the energy of that awkwardness and saying you know what, we can get through a bit of awkward, eh.”’
‘Far from the treacherous peaks and ravines of Switzerland, Alpine cottages arose, unexpectedly, amid the hillocks and modest streams of 19th-century England. Seán Williams recovers the peculiar fad for “Little Switzerlands”, where the Romantic sublime meets countryside kitsch.’
‘Why America Is at War Over the History of Slavery. Wesley Lowery and Clint Smith discuss the "battle happening about how we tell the story of this country."‘
‘How to Build an Artificial Heart. Millions of hearts fail each year. Why can’t we replace them?’
Such a good read: ‘The two comics unpicking ladette culture.’
‘Nightmarish Stories from the Nannies of Super Rich Children.’
‘Half a century ago, a legion of idealists dropped out of society and went back to the land, creating a patchwork of utopian communes across Northern California. Here, the last of those rogue souls offer a glimpse of their otherworldly residences—and the tail end of a grand social experiment. The Last Glimpses of California's Vanishing Hippie Utopias.’
A brilliant piece, that for me shines a light on, amongst many other things, the hypocrisy that lives in all of us, no matter how hard we try. ‘Identity Fraud […] In practice, contemporary identity politics has been overtaken by a fetishization of optics at the expense of the tangible interests of the most marginalized.’
Tender and searching, Night Ride is a short documentary from Loading Docs and The Spinoff. ‘Todd's mum has an unusual ritual of returning to their old family home to care for stray cats. Worrying about the implications of her obsessive routine, Todd seeks to understand why.’
‘The Look Book goes to the rink at Rockefeller Center. We chatted with tourists and season-pass holders on a Sunday afternoon.’ And, spoiler, they met a character:
‘What do you do when you’re not skating?
At Marymount Manhattan College, I used to teach a course on the social construction of menstruation. It was an elective. It was very popular. It got known as “The Period Class.” The subject has stayed my focus. I’m on the board of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research — the only man there. I helped create the world’s first menstrual poetry slam. It’s called “The Red Moon Howl.”’ (Please let me never have to go to a menstrual poetry slam.)I found this so funny, so sad, so delightful, so wrenching. ‘Beowulf Thorne’s cooking column for people with AIDS claimed the right to pleasure, but in each recipe was embedded an urgent appeal: Get Fat, Don’t Die.’
Look at this!
The Daily Mail Headline of the Week will now be sharing column space with a new feature: Best of British Goop (an Instagram page dedicated to the best advice and psychic insights of British women’s magazines).
BEST OF BRITISH GOOP:
BOOKS
‘What Makes a Cult a Cult? The line between delusion and what the rest of us believe may be blurrier than we think’. A piece on the book ‘Don’t Call It a Cult’ by Sarah Berman, and related ideas.
‘The Best Graphic Novels of 2021’, according to The New York Times.
Five of the best crime and thrillers of 2021.
‘To the Dogs, a short story by Jianan Qian on stray dogs, desperation and re-education in rural China during the Cultural Revolution.’
The ‘Best of 2021’ book lists are just about done, and now we’re onto ‘The Most Anticipated Books of 2022’!! They never stop coming!
‘Although Kit and Rafe had met in the peace movement, marching, organizing, making no-nukes signs, now they wanted to kill each other. They had become, also, a little pro-nuke.’ Paper Losses, a short story by Lorrie Moore.
RECOMMENDED READING
PODCASTS
[The delightful] ‘Dolly Alderton on Turner, Monet and the Thames. The writer and journalist wanders along the river and explores its hidden depths.’
‘Korea is one of the most stressed and tired nations on earth, a place where people work and study longer hours than anywhere else. And statistics show Koreans are finding it increasingly hard to switch off and relax; they sleep fewer hours […] than almost anywhere else. As a result sleeplessness and stress have become big business in Korea, from sleep clinics, […] to “sleep cafes”, […] to relaxation drinks. Even Buddhism is moving in on the action.’ On being ‘Sleepless in Seoul.’
‘Why do humans struggle to think of ourselves as animals? The pandemic has demonstrated why humans are ultimately an impressive species. From monitoring the genetic evolution of Sars-CoV-2 to devising vaccines in record time, we have put our minds together to reduce the impact of Covid-19. Yet, the global spread of a new disease is a reminder that we are not invincible, and remain at the mercy of our biology and the natural world. Speaking to author Melanie Challenger about her new book “How to Be Animal”, Madeleine Finlay asks how we can come to terms with ourselves as animals and why it might do humanity some good.’
See you next time!
-Ellie
That essay on cults was so good! Really nuanced and well-researched. Thanks!